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Saturday, July 12, 2014

7-12-14 This Week in LA - School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD



LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):






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Weingarten comes out swinging: attacking Vergara, Duncan
In a fiery speech delivered to her core constituents, Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers went on the assault today, taking on the verdict of the Vergara trial, criticizing Common Core testing and singling out political figures for reprimand. Striking a more combative tone than she used earlier this month when she shared a stage with LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy,
VIDEO: Verdugo Hills high school glee club makes us smile
The glee club, the Verdugo Voices, an acappella group from a singing group at the Visual and Performing Arts Magnet at Verdugo Hills High School released this new video, ‘Move.’ Enjoy!
Teachers union is in town, Vergara front and center
GOP leader asks Brown not to appeal teacher ruling Republican lawmakers on Thursday asked Gov. Jerry Brown to resist union pressure to appeal a Los Angeles judge’s decision striking down tenure and other job protections for California teachers SacBee/AP Schools’ next test is getting tenure ruling to pay off in class If the ruling stands, the challenge for California will be to craft a system that
‘Fiscal mismanagement’ cited in closing 2 Magnolia charters
LA School Report has learned that ‘fiscal mismanagement’ and a host of other irregularities as the reasons behind the sudden closure last month of two LA Unified charter schools, Magnolia Science Academy 6 and Magnolia Science Academy 7, according to a letter sent from LAUSD’s Charter Division. Both are considered high-performing schools; MSA-6 is a middle school in Palms serving about 140 student

JUL 10

LA Unified students find their inner artist with help from CalArts
Click to view slideshow. A group of 250 high school students from LA Unified and the surrounding area are putting finishing touches on their art projects this week under the guidance of college faculty and graduate students from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), a university focused on visual and performing arts. Administered through Community Arts Partnership (CAP), an off-shoot of CalA
How to find schools that teach arts education in LAUSD
South California public radio station, KPCC, just launched a new map widget that identifies the level of arts education access at LA Unified’s elementary schools for the coming year. According to KPCC’s findings, only 70 out of more than 500 elementary schools in the district will provide all four forms of arts education required by California law. This is the first comprehensive survey of arts ac
Morning Read: Firing Centinela Superintendent could take a month
Process for firing Centinela Superintendent could take a month Although the Centinela Valley school board has voted to fire Superintendent Jose Fernandez following an investigation into his excessive pay, the process of terminating the embattled leader could take another month. LA Daily News California’s top political watchdog agency looking into Inglewood school spending California’s Fair Politi

JUL 09

At AFT convention, teachers union expected to fire up the base
Randi Weingarten, AFT President The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) kicks off its annual convention in downtown Los Angeles tomorrow bringing more 3,500 national union delegates to the home of LA Unified, the second largest school district in the country. On the agenda: fending off what the union sees as its biggest threats, including billionaire money, an assault on tenure, and the “pervasi
LA Unified to add more dual language immersion programs
The LA Unified school district plans to expand its dual language immersion program next fall, adding Spanish language programs to three elementary schools in the district. According to LAUSD officials, that brings the total number of dual language programs offered by the district to 57, including 43 in Spanish, 10 in Korean, and four in Mandarin. Hilda Maldonado, the director of the multi-lingual
Morning Read: Overpaid Centinela Valley superintendent fired
Centinela Valley school board fires embattled Superintendent Jose Fernandez The Centinela Valley school board Tuesday night voted to fire Superintendent Jose Fernandez, ending a five-month chapter that began with revelations that the leader of the tiny school district might have been among the nation’s best-compensated public servants. The Daily Breeze Arts education in schools could grow under L

JUL 08

Former opponents pick sides in LA Unified District 1 run-off
From left: Sherlett Hendy-Newbill, Genethia Hudley-Hayes, George McKenna, Rachel Johnson and Hattie McFrazier Heading into the final month of the special election run-off to fill LA Unified school board’s District 1 seat, candidates George McKenna and Alex Johnson are collecting endorsements from former opponents. The seat, which represents much of South LA, was left vacant when longtime school bo
What LAUSD’s New Minimum Wage Means for My Family
By Raul Meza | Via: Thinking L.A., a partnership of UCLA and Zócalo Public Square The Worst Thing About My Job as a School Custodian Has Always Been the Pay. Now I’m Imagining What a Difference $15 Per Hour Will Make. Monday through Friday, my full-time job is cleaning restrooms at Van Nuys High School. But that work is not the hardest part of my life. The hardest part is saying goodbye to my 4-ye
Ouch! LAUSD to pay $1.1 billion for teacher pension rescue
LA Unified must come up with $16 million this year to pay an unexpected bill as a result of legislation signed by Governor Jerry Brown aimed at rescuing the state’s teachers retirement pension system known as CalSTRS, but the district’s total increase is much higher, estimated to reach an extra $1.1 billion over the next seven years. While teachers and school districts across the state will see th
Morning Read: School funding reforms give leg up to student grads
School funding reforms spur decisions at local level California’s new school funding system is driving districts in diverse regions of the state to shift their resources to achieve one of the key goals laid out in the sweeping financial reform effort – graduating students so they are ready for college or careers. EdSource Schools expanding social media use to reach parents With plenty of research

JUL 07

Two LAUSD charter schools face closure after fiscal audit
Two high performing LA Unified charter schools, Magnolia Science Academy 6 and Magnolia Science Academy 7, have been ordered to shut down after failing a new round of scrutiny, leaving the possibility that 450 students will be looking for a new school in the fall. The two schools had initially been approved for renewal by the school board in March, pending the results of an internal fiscal audit b
Arne Duncan launches plan to address inequities in education
Stating that “teachers and principals are not the problem,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan took to the podium at the White House today to unveil a national initiative aimed at addressing “systematic inequities” that shortchange some schools and disproportionately affect students in high-poverty, high-minority areas. While Duncan called teachers and principals “absolutely essential elements of
Morning Read: Big questions linger in shadow of Vergara
For Vergara ruling on teachers, big questions loom Among the lingering questions: Will the ruling, at a slim 16 pages, hold up on appeal? Will California’s notoriously polarized legislature, fearful of additional litigation and bad press, consider changing the statutes at issue on its own? And finally, will similar lawsuits elsewhere—one is already primed for introduction in New York—be as initial

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 7-12-14


The Answer Sheet:


All Week @ The Answer Sheet





How Microsoft will make money from Common Core (despite what Bill Gates said)
Microsoft founder Bill Gates got somewhat indignant when my Post colleague Lyndsey Layton asked him in an interview this past spring about concerns  of some opponents of the Common Core State Standards  that his important support for the initiative has been driven by business interests. The interview was part of the extensive reporting Layton did […]

JUL 10

What libraries need from key U.S. technology program
I’ve published two posts this week about the federal “E-Rate” program — which offers discounts to schools and libraries  for Internet access and telecommunications — and a modernization plan that the Federal Communications Commission will take up at its meeting Friday. The first post urged the FCC to approve the plan as a first step […]
What 4 teachers told Obama over lunch
President Obama sat down this week for lunch at the White House with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and four teachers to talk about education, teaching and school reform. What the teachers said to Obama is explained in the following post by Justin Minkel, the 2007 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, a board member of the […]

JUL 09

Will the FCC ignore educators in modernizing key U.S. technology program?
This post is a rebuttal to one that I published a few days ago about the federal “E-Rate” program — which offers discounts for schools and libraries to get Internet access and telecommunications — under the headline “A watershed moment for technology in education.” The earlier piece was co-written by Julius Genachowski, managing director of […]

JUL 08

Why so many kids can’t sit still in school today
The Centers for Disease Control tells us that in recent years there has been a jump in the percentage of young people diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly known as ADHD: 7.8 percent in 2003 to 9.5 percent in 2007 and to 11 percent in 2011. The reasons for the rise are multiple, […]
Largest U.S. teachers union calls for Education Secretary Duncan to resign
Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s relations with teachers unions just got more difficult. Delegates of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, voted at their annual convention to call on Duncan to resign after similar efforts had failed in previous years. And the NEA is about to get a new president, Lily Eskelsen García, […]

JUL 07

How college remediation rates are distorted — and why
Are a large percentage of high school graduates so unprepared for college when they get there that they have to take remedial courses to catch up? School reformers like to say so, and throw out big percentages of students who are said to need remediation. But where do these figures come from, and are they […]
A watershed moment for technology in education
It is more than likely that many of you don’t know much, if anything, about the “E-Rate,” which is formally the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund administered  under the auspices of the Federal Communications Commission.  The E-Rate offers discounts for schools and libraries to get Internet access and telecommunications. This week, the […]

JUL 06

Departing NEA president blasts ‘incredible onslaught of corporate reformers’ — including Michelle Rhee
National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel delivered his final keynote speech at the 2014 Representative Assembly of the nation’s largest teachers union, blasting Michelle Rhee and other corporate school reformers, and urging the organization’s more than 3 million members to work to change the course of education. “Proceed until apprehended!” he urged. Van Roekel,who […]

JUL 05

Why many Democrats have turned against teachers unions
For years now it’s been clear that Democrats have splintered over the issue of corporate school reform. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have been leaders of the movement to transform public schools through standardized-test-based “accountability” and the expansion of charter schools, with other Democrats arguing that these reform measures are not effective ways […]

7-12-14 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society All Week


Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:
Schooling in the Ownership Society


Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk 
Schooling in the Ownership Society







Sen. Kirk has outdone himself
Our "moderate" Republican Senator Mark Kirk, who has called for the mass incarceration of 18,000 young black men as a crime-fighting strategy, has outdone himself this time. Kirk, who has to legitimize himself with his anti-immigrant base, is now demanding criminal background checks on all unaccompanied children that have crossed the U.S. border with Mexico looking for sanctuary.FREE WRI

YESTERDAY

Byrd-Bennett's Folly
WHO BESIDES THE MAYOR and BBB thought this was a good idea? When CPS officials first announced the plan to borrow two months' worth of revenue from the 2015-16 school year to pay for 2014-15 expenses, Catalyst reported on the plan with skepticism and incredulity. Now the Tribune does the same:The money grab would be a "bridge," they said, to "help us get to structural reforms."

JUL 10

More fudging the numbers on Chicago's horrific gun violence
Gwen Ifill interviews Chicago Tonight's Paris Shutz on the PBS News Hour about the city's killing fields, after the horrible July 4th weekend when 82 people were shot, 14 fatally. Nobody seems to have a handle on the actual numbers from that weekend and PBS strangely offers three different weekend shooting totals ("up to 80", "58 people were injured in 50 shootings", "at l

JUL 08

Rahm: 'Don't ask, don't tell' on shootings
Edward Marshall, Political Producer for WBBM TV/CBS2 Tweets:We are not to ask @RahmEmanuel questions about weekend violence say his press team. — Edward Marshall (@edmarshallcbs2) July 7, 2014I can understand why the Little Emperor is refusing to take questions about the horrific July 4th weekend shootings. He has no clothes.Weekend shooting victimsRahm has already called in national Democratic Pa
Rahm tries to outflank unions and political opponents on minimum wage
Members of the Progressive Caucus, including Aldermen Bob Fioretti (2nd), Roderick Sawyer (6th) and Scott Waguespack (32nd), proposed raising Chicago's minimum wage to $15 an hour. | Al Podgorski~Sun-TimesThe Little Emperor is caught between a rock and a hard place on the minimum wage. Unions and community groups want the MW raised to $15.  Rahm's corporate patrons want something far less are even

JUL 07

Weekend Quotables
"Vergara was the straw that broke the camel's back.The Secretary's response to the Vergara verdict—it was just shameful. And it underscored his lack of understanding." -- CTA Pres. Dean Vogel    Dennis Van Roekel, outgoing NEA president"Let's be clear—we as educators are not opposed to tests. Good God, we invented them! But we know that the purpose of testing should be to drive lear