Monday, February 10, 2014

LA schools' superintendent to report on arts plan | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

LA schools' superintendent to report on arts plan | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:



LA schools' superintendent to report on arts plan

Deasy walks campus

Tami Abdollah/KPCC

Superintendent John Deasy walks through an economics classroom at Los Angeles High School. Deasy is set to address the district's new arts education plan at Tuesday's school board meeting. The plan was released over the summer without financial details that were due July 1.
More than seven months after financial details for Los Angeles Unified's new arts education plan were due, district officials told KPCC Monday that Superintendent John Deasy will provide an update on the arts plan at Tuesday's board meeting.
But it's unclear whether he will release the long-awaited budget, which advocacy organizations have been clamoring for. Little information - and no supporting documents - accompany the "arts to the core update" item on the board's agenda.
Arts for LA launched a parent action center on Feb. 5, encouraging parents to pressure school board members for the budget. As of Friday, parents had submitted about 225 letters to their representatives on the board.
The report was added to Tuesday's agenda on Feb. 5 as well.
Arts for LA's executive director, Danielle Brazell, had first written to Deasy in Januaryasking for the budget. She said she got no response.
The arts plan was released to the public in July 2013. The 44-page document called for increasing the number of roving elementary arts teachers in the district, creating a citywide cultural network of partners from organizations like museums and art galleries, and boosting general classroom teachers' knowledge of how to