LA Superintendent rumored to resign
The superintendent of the country’s second largest school system may step down from his post within months. Officials in Los Angeles Unified School District told the Los Angeles Times that Superintendent John Deasy will resign, but Deasy has yet to submit a formal letter of resignation or confirm that he is leaving.
John Deasy
The rumors come in the wake of LAUSD’s failed one-to-one iPad initiative, where within a month the devices were taken away from students. Deasy would have other, more enduring legacies in the district, though. Since taking the post in April 2011, he pushed through a new policy that ties teacher evaluations to student test scores and weakened the influence of seniority in determining layoffs.
These last two reforms in particular made Deasy an enemy of the teachers union. In April, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) polled their members, finding that 91 percent had “no confidence” in Deasy. On a scale of 1 to 10, he earned a 1.4. The UTLA’s website proclaimed Thursday: “It’s about time.”
“It is no secret that UTLA has had major concerns with John Deasy’s leadership,” said UTLA President Warren Fletcher in a statement. “Nonetheless the future of LAUSD is not about one man. The challenge going forward is to make sure
Getting beyond `hatred and bitterness,’ will improve education in Mississippi
Jackson, Miss — In a sun-dappled square at the top of a bluff, an unlikely group of politicians, civil rights veterans and educators gathered this week to commemorate some of the darkest moments in the Magnolia State’s history. The occasion? A groundbreaking ceremony for the nation’s first civil rights museum, a permanent tribute to horrific events like the murders of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers