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Saturday, June 29, 2013

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 6-29-13


4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA DONATES $25,000 TO LAUSD AVIATION SCHOOL

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 14 minutes ago
By Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/17JTvIe 6/27/2013 06:02:35 PM PDT/Updated:  6/27/2013 08:33:59 PM PDT  ::  A University of North Dakota group is giving thousands of dollars to a top-flight LAUSD mechanics school that trains students at Van Nuys Airport for high-paying jobs in aviation. The University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation on Saturday will present

LAUSD UNABLE TO GET MOLESTATION COVERAGE IN NEW INSURANCE POLICIES

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/16G5Qss 6/28/2013 08:14:54 PM PDT  ::  Facing multimillion dollar sex-abuse settlements, Los Angeles Unified signed contracts Friday to buy five liability insurance policies for the next fiscal year starting Monday, but was unable to get coverage for molestation, officials said. The premiums total $2.2 million -- about $1 million

On the eve of the board president election, ‘The Daily News has learned…’: LAUSD BOARD MEMBER RICHARD VLADOVIC ACCUSED OF HARASSING EMPLOYEES

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/13ajJ57 Richard Vladovic (Daily News file photo) 6/26/2013 07:46:22 PM PDT /Updated:   6/27/2013 06:54:04 AM PDT  ::  Los Angeles Unified has launched an investigation into allegations of employee intimidation and sexual harassment leveled against school board member Richard Vladovic, the Daily News has learned. LAUSD's General

LAUSD WEBSITE – AND TICKING CLOCK – ADDRESSES MIRAMONTE VICTIM’S PARENTS

The LAUSD has created a website to detail their settlement offer for the parents of students who say they were abused by teachers at Miramonte Elementary. (AP file photo/Damian Dovarganes) LAUSD launches website to explain Miramonte sex-abuse settlement offers By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA DAILY NEWS | http://bit.ly/121MSIe L.A.

UTLA President’s perspective: NEW FUNDING BRINGS NEW OPPORTUNITIES

By Warren Fletcher - UTLA President | United Teacher Newspaper | http://bit.ly/15HTDRH       “The Los Angeles Unified School District needs better schools and more resources to help all of our students meet or exceed their potential. That is why I became a teacher so many years ago. That is also why I ran for the Los Angeles School Board.” —

OCR Schools: NEXT MASSIVE FEDERAL DATA DRIVE COULD DIG FURTHER INTO DISCIPLINE

The U.S. Department's office for civil rights asks for public comment By Nirvi Shah in EdWeek Rules of Engagement blog |  http://bit.ly/14sHxwv June 25, 2013 8:59 AM |::  The next federal collection of data about every U.S. school district could probe districts further on how students are disciplined, how many pre-K kids are spanked, and whether bullies harassed classmates because of their

U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION DUNCAN VEHEMENTLY CHALLENGES CRITICS OF COMMON CORE

Secretary Arne Duncan’s prepared remarks for his speech to the American Society of News Editors Annual Convention in Washington, DC. tweeted by @HowardBlume | 12:29 PM - 25 Jun 13 Duncan on Core 6-25-13 by 4LAKids

DUNCAN INDICATES SUPPORT FOR DISTRICT WAIVER, PRAISES BROWN’S FUNDING REFORM + Video & smf’s 2¢

By Kathryn Baron EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/15CARLi June 25th, 2013 ::  U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan set aside years of acrimony and disagreements with Gov. Jerry Brown and sang the governor’s praises during an event Friday night in San Francisco. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in San Francisco. (Source: Public Policy Institute of California). >> “I’m really

iPADS FOR SCHOOL KIDS: Blushing at unanswered questions? ….or leveling the playing field for the poor?

By Doug McIntyre, L.A. Daily News columnist | http://bit.ly/12fH1TJ 6/22/2013 04:40:07 PM PDT  ::  At first blush, it seems crazy. The perpetually destitute Los Angeles Unified School District will spend $30 million to purchase thousands of iPad tablets to give away to students at 47 LAUSD campuses. At second blush, it seems crazier. This purchase all but commits the nation's second largest

AN OPEN LETTER TO PEARSON

By Jacob Tanenbaum in Education Week |  http://bit.ly/15AVLui Pearson PLC is a British multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London. It is the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world |  http://bit.ly/146qCkx   Pearson is a prime developer of the Common Core

SUIT BY RESTAURANT HECHO EN MEXICO ACCUSES DISCREDITED ACADEMIA SEMILLAS CHARTER SCHOOL OF TRESPASS, HARASSMENT, DESTROYING BUSINESS

LAUSD also named in lawsuit GLOBE NEWSWIRE - Source: Hecho en Mexico Authentic Mexican Cuisine LOS ANGELES, June 24, 2013 (A popular restaurant in the El Sereno section of East LA is seeking more than $1 million in damages in a lawsuit against a controversial charter school and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The suit by Hecho en Mexico Authentic Mexican Cuisine and its

Letters: PROS AND CONS OF iPADS IN SCHOOLS

Letters to the Editor of the LA Times | http://lat.ms/12jNY1R Re "LAUSD awards pact to Apple," June 19 June 23, 2013 The decision by the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide its 660,000 students with tablet computers is a step in the right direction. As the head of a nonprofit funder that provides computers and training to parents and teachers in three LAUSD schools, I have lessons

A thru G: LAUSD STUDYING NEW CURRICULUM PLANS + smf’s 2¢

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | Pasadena Star-News http://bit.ly/16mWxxx 06/20/2013 06:03:21 PM PDT    Los Angeles Unified's incoming freshmen class will be the first that will have to pass a rigorous college-prep curriculum with a "C" in order to get a diploma, which has district officials scrambling to identify and replicate successful programs that can get and keep students on

FIRST DETAIL OF THE iPad DEAL FROM LAUSD & APPLE + smf’s 2¢ U P D A T E D

smf: as a member of the LAUSD Bond Oversight Committee – School Construction and Modernization bonds are controversially the exclusive source of all funding for this project – I resent the fact that my questions yesterday about the contract award were unanswered because negotiations are in progress - and that far more detail as to the software and educational content of the deal is

ED. SECT. DUNCAN LETS STATES DELAY USE OF TESTS IN DECISIONS ABOUT TEACHER’S JOBS

By MOTOKO RICH, New York Times | http://nyti.ms/10zmkUq June 18, 2013   ::  Acknowledging that the nation’s educators face large challenges in preparing students for more rigorous academic standards and tests, Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, told state education officials on Tuesday that they could postpone making career decisions about teachers based on performance evaluations tied to

The Deasy iBooks/iPad Video: THE CLIP AND THE WHOLE SHEBANG

from January 2012 In fairness, he above clip is out of context – but shows the Deasy segment in its entirely. For the entire context of the 2012 Apple iBooks textbook presentation view the following. The Deasy segment begins at 44:56

THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING OF JUNE 18th – or how I spent Paul McCartney’s birthday (+ additional coverage)

By smf for 4LAKids NewsJuneteenth, June 19, 2013  ::  Yesterday’s (seems so very far away) school board meeting started late - 25 minutes after noon - and ended far, far later – after dark. I don’t know how late – I didn’t stick around. I gave my speaker card to another speaker who had better things to say – she had waited in line since the morning and hadn’t been able to get in until late in

NCTQ: NEW TEACHER TRAINING STUDY DECRIES CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITIES + smf’s 2¢

A controversial policy group singles out teacher training programs at UCLA and Loyola Marymount as hardly worth attending. But the schools say the report is flawed. By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/14gBevW June 18, 2013, 12:05 a.m. ::  A new front is opening in the education wars as a report released Tuesday derides California's teacher training schools as among the worst in a

LA Times Edito®ial: TOUGH CHOICES AT LAUSD + smf’s 2¢

Proposals to restore staffing to pre-recession levels and cutting class sizes don't make sense. What's workable is extending the school year. By The Times editorial board | http://lat.ms/12GXDpj Money is flowing again to the Los Angeles Unified School District after years of budget cuts and officials must decide how to spend the money. Above: Marshawn Martindale, from Crenshaw High School

PREVIEW OF TUESDAY’S LAUSD BOARD MEETING: Controversy, Budget, P-Rev, Charters and iPads …w/footnotes +smf’’s 2¢

  Controversy Awaits $30 Million iPad Vote by Hillel Aron- LA School Report http://bit.ly/16cTfwz Posted on June 17, 2013   :: The School Board will face a mini controversy tomorrow when it votes on whether or not to to purchase roughly 31,000 Apple iPad tablets at a cost to LAUSD of $30 million. The appropriation would be the first step in Superintendent John Deasy’s ambitious plan of

NEW LAUSD BOARD MEMBER MONICA RATLIFF SEEKS END TO ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/17iez8E Teacher Monica Ratliff is the newest member of the LAUSD Board of Education. Dateline:  6/18/2013 - Posted:   06/17/2013 06:43:07 PM PDT - Updated:   06/17/2013 07:47:26 PM PDT  ::  Having spent more than a decade teaching in a Los Angeles Unified classroom and chatting with colleagues, Monica Ratliff's perception

AS POVERTY INCREASES, ®EFORMERS CLING TO THE “NEW STATUS QUO”

By Tim Walker, NEA Today | http://bit.ly/1bOgq1E June 17, 2013  ::  A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Education released new data that confirms what every advocate of public education has been trumpeting for years: poverty is a growing scourge on public schools. According to its 2013 Condition of Education report, one in five schools in the United States are considered high poverty.

Local Control Funding Formula: SCHOOLS WITH FEWER NEEDY STUDENTS DECRY CALIFORNIA FUNDING CHANGE + smf’s 2¢

California's new funding formula gives more money to districts with more needy students and less to districts with fewer needy students. By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/11jzYJS In their first year of learning English, English Language Development students, from left to right, Norma Hernandez, 18, Kavidha Peoyashani, 16, and Yoola Lee, 17, work on reading skills