4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT
Science Teacher’S Suspension Spurs Petition Drive
Cortines School's Greg Schiller was removed by L.A. Unified after two students' Science Fair projects were deemed to resemble weapons. By Howard Blume | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1gNU4zb Also see: IN TEACHER JAIL: by Gerald and Esther Schiller in 4LAKidsNews | “Our son is in jail. But there are no bars or armed guards, or wardens. And he does go home to his wife each afternoon. Our son is
Career Tech & Ag Ed: LEG PANEL REJECTS LOCAL CONTROL OVER SPECIALIZED ED PROGRAMS
by Kimberly Beltran SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet http://bit.ly/1i2WuP9 April 9, 2014 (Calif.) :: The Brown administration asserts that agriculture education and career technical training for high school students will receive greater focus – and continued funding – if state money for these programs is rolled into the governor’s
The Reed Case: L.A. UNIFIED SETTLES LAWSUIT OVER LAYOFFS
The agreement will provide $60 million in raises, services and staff at 37 campuses, but doesn't address whether seniority should be the basis of layoffs. By Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/1endsbU A student passes by a mural of President Obama at Markham Middle School. The lawsuit was launched after layoffs in 2009 at Markham, Gompers and Liechty middle schools. (Christina
YESTERDAY’S LAUSD BOARD MEETING: The headlines say it all + smf’s 2¢
LAUSD outlines plan to spend $837 million on disadvantaged students Los Angeles Times :: April 8, 2014, 8:35 p.m.. Disadvantaged students in L.A. Unified stand to benefit from a multimillion-dollar infusion for more tutoring, counselors, English language coaches, nurses, librarians and other support under a budget plan presented Tuesday ... Los Angeles Unified's draft
L.A. Times editorialist: “WHY MY FAMILY IS OPTING OUT OF THE COMMON CORE TESTING” + smf’s 2¢
By Karin Klein, LA Times editorial writer | http://lat.ms/1qjzUnV Students at Sage Hill School, a private school in Newport Beach, take the PSAT. (Los Angeles Times /April 8, 2014) April 8, 2014, 11:47 a.m. :: Sixteen consecutive years of the state's standardized testing are now under my belt, all of them spent covering the accountability program as a journalist, as well as having one or
APR 08
In Teacher Jail
by Gerald and Esther Schiller, from an email circulating widely Our son is in jail. But there are no bars or armed guards, or wardens. And he does go home to his wife each afternoon. Our son is in “teacher jail.” For those who may be unaware of this bizarre institution, “teacher jail” is the name applied (with no affection) to what the Los Angeles Unified School District calls teacher “
APR 07
L.A. Unified Supt. Deasy Unveils New Budget Proposal
By Howard Blume, L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/1lL7xPQ 8:04 PM PDT, April 4, 2014 :: Buoyed by rising state funding, the Los Angeles Unified School District's draft budget proposal for the new fiscal year is the healthiest spending plan in years. The general fund would increase from $6.2 billion to $6.8 bill under the proposal for the 2014-15 fiscal year, which begins July 1, officials said. The
APR 05
AB 215: DEAL ANNOUNCED ON ‘SEVERE MISCONDUCT’ TEACHER DISMISSAL BILL THAT GOVERNOR WOULD SUPPORT + smf’s 2¢
By John Fensterwald | EdSource Today http://bit.ly/1jPIbxK April 4th, 2014 | Signaling the resolution of an acrimonious issue, Assembly Education Committee Chairwoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, introduced a bill Friday to make dismissing teachers charged with severe misconduct quicker, easier and cheaper. Buchanan praised the compromise that was reached, and said that Gov. Jerry Brown, who vetoed
STAKES RUN HIGH IN TRIAL RUN FOR EXAMS: Field-Testing Set to Begin on Common-Core Exams
By Catherine Gewertz | Education Week | http://bit.ly/1dZKiiT Sydney Matai and other 7th graders at Marshall Simonds Middle School in Burlington, Mass., look at a PARCC practice test to give them some familiarity with the format before next week's field-testing of the computer-based assessments aligned with the common core. —Gretchen Ertl for Education Week Published in Print: March 26,
OKLAHOMA MOVES TO DUMP COMMON CORE: A landslide vote in the Sooner State follows Indiana withdrawal.
By Alec Torres, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE | http://bit.ly/1h1miLw Bucking the Trend: Range Riders statue at the Oklahoma state capitol APRIL 2, 2014 5:31 PM :: The Oklahoma state senate passed a bill Tuesday to withdraw the state from the Common Core standards. If the bill is signed by Governor Mary Fallin, Oklahoma will become the second state to withdraw from the Common Core. Indiana
Deasy Releases Draft Of Lausd’S Next Budget, With New Money
by Vanessa Romo, LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1skr4bw [THE SUPERINTENDENT’S PROPOSED BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS 2014-2015 – are posted here: http://t.co/4WX9QQxA0D] April 4, 2014 6:50 pm :: LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy made public today the first draft of a $6.8 billion budget for the 2014-15 school year, a presentation that offered the first glimpse of how the new Local Control
First Look: SUPERINTENDENT’S DRAFT PROPOSED BUDGET RECOMENDATIONS & FORMAL PRELIMINARY DRAFT OF THE LOCAL CONTROL ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN (LCAP)
from LAUSD | http://bit.ly/1gwNw7T Board Presentation/Public Information Deck Board Presentation LCAP Draft 4-4-14 FINAL from: http://lausd.schoolwires.net/Page/5124 Proposed Budget/LCAP Recommendations 2014-15 The budget recommendation by LAUSD Superintendent John E. Deasy and his administration represents the fiscal prudence and beliefs in the just investments necessary to support
APR 04
Battle Lines Forming In La Unified For ‘Local Control’ Spending
by Vanessa Romo, L.A. School Report | http://bit.ly/PxO8UT April 3, 2014 4:55 pm :: The battle over the new money coming into LA Unified from the state’s new Local Control Funding Formulastarts in earnest tomorrow when Superintendent John Deasy lays out his plan for the 2014-15 budget. Deasy is meeting with reporters to unveil his spending priorities plan for an estimated $390 million the
