TAX PLANS WOULD BOOST SCHOOLS BUT LEAVE SOCIAL SAFETY NET VULNERABLE

 

By Kevin Yamamura, sACRAMENTO bEE | http://bit.ly/AhhHh1

Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 - 12:00 am  ::  As education groups battle over which California tax initiative would give the biggest boost to schools, advocates for low-income residents fear safety-net programs remain vulnerable no matter what happens on the ballot in November.

Proponents for three competing tax measures are focusing heavily on schools because voters prioritize education funding most. But it remains an open question how other programs will fare.

Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal raises several billion dollars for the state's general fund that he says would help protect schools from severe reductions. But he has proposed deep cuts in welfare-to-work and child care in the first year even if his taxes pass.

Two rival plans largely bypass the state to send money directly to schools and counties. They leave unanswered how the state would close an estimated $9.2 billion deficit through June 2013.

TAX PROPOSALS AT A GLANCE Here's a look at the effects of three multibillion-dollar tax proposals proposed for the November ballot. The context: Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers enacted an $85.9 billion general fund budget for the current year. 'Millionaires tax' How much: Ultimately raises $4 billion to $6 billion a year – a little more than half of that for schools. The rest would go to counties for seniors, children, disabled public health services, road maintenance and public safety. How: Raises tax rates by three percentage points for income between $1 million and $2 million; by five percentage points for income above $2 million. Duration: Permanent 'Our Children, Our Future' How much: Provides the most money for education and early childhood programs, ultimately raising $10 billion to $11 billion a year. In first four years, provides up to $3 billion to help reduce the state deficit. No direct funding for higher education. How: Raises rates for income taxpayers starting at $17,346 in taxable income for a single filer. Duration: Through 2024 Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal How much: Ultimately raises $5.5 billion to $6.9 billion annually, with 40 percent to 50 percent going to K-12 schools and community colleges. Would eliminate nearly $2 billion a year for schools by shifting sales taxes to counties. How: Raises tax rates on income starting at $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers. Increases sales tax by half a percentage point. Duration: Through 2016

"If tax revenues aren't available to help balance the budget … it puts pressure on higher education, on health and social service programs, on parks," said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, which advocates for low-income residents. "It puts pressure on everything that isn't constitutionally protected."

Democratic lawmakers and powerful unions have signed on to Brown's plan because it could benefit the entire state budget while maintaining control over spending in the Capitol. The Service Employees International Union State Council, which represents In-Home Supportive Services workers and government employees, has quietly endorsed the governor's proposal.

The California Teachers Association is backing the governor's plan as well. The group prefers that education dollars flow through the state, where it is a principal player in budget talks. But President Dean E. Vogel also said last month that it was important to build a broader coalition by helping programs beyond education.

Michael Herald, a lobbyist with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, said he prefers taxing only the wealthy, as the "millionaires tax" does. But he fears that plan doesn't do enough for state programs beyond education.

"All of the state-funded programs will be subject to ongoing threats to their budget, and even their ongoing existence, if we don't fix the structural budget deficit," Herald said, mentioning Medi-Cal, In-Home Supportive Services and welfare-to-work in particular.

Herald said his group has not taken a position – "other than we'd like more money." But he is concerned that the plans rivaling Brown's distribute funds outside of state coffers.

The "millionaires tax" is spearheaded by the California Federation of Teachers and Courage Campaign, with recent support from the California Nurses Association. It directs 60 percent of funds to K-12 schools and higher education and nearly 40 percent to counties for public safety, road maintenance, health care, children and disabled residents.

CFT Secretary Treasurer Jeff Freitas said the plan makes up for past state budget cuts. Counties, for instance, could use their new funds to help low-income residents who have suffered from state reductions in social services.

But that would be an imperfect solution, suggests Ross, because some counties may avoid spending on welfare-to-work or In-Home Supportive Services.

Freitas said the governor's plan isn't particularly friendly to health and welfare in the first year. Brown has proposed slashing welfare to work and child care for the poor by $1.4 billion.

"All I see are massive cuts to CalWORKs … and, I believe, cuts to IHSS and similar programs," Freitas said of Brown's budget. "I don't know where any of that gets repaired. He's cutting those programs even with his initiative passing."

A third initiative, dubbed "Our Children, Our Future," is backed by wealthy civil rights attorney Molly Munger. The plan would raise at least $10 billion annually by hiking taxes on middle-class and wealthy earners along a sliding scale.

Munger's first version raised concerns for social service advocates because it directed all funds to schools, preschools and child care. She filed a new version in December that contributes $3 billion annually to the state's general fund budget for four years "in recognition of the state's very serious economic crisis," said spokeswoman Hilary McLean.

Munger's campaign says Brown's proposal, which relies on volatile income sources, may not raise as much as the governor thinks. If so, the campaign believes its measure's $3 billion contribution to the general fund would provide more budget relief than Brown's plan.

Finally, there is an obvious way in which state leaders could turn some local education dollars into funds for other state programs: As schools see a windfall, the state could reduce its own contributions to education.

To do this, state leaders would have to get a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to suspend the state's minimum guarantee for school funding – not an easy task following an election in which voters opted to raise taxes for education. Or they could reinterpret the constitution and use new maneuvers that cut spending, as the governor has said he would do if his tax plan fails.

McLean said her campaign hopes the state would not go down that road.

"I think the education community would be very distressed to see that outcome, and voters and supporters would find that distasteful," McLean said.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/21/4278335/tax-plans-would-boost-schools.html#storylink=cpy

From “Bad Teacher” to “Won’t Back Down” to “Vouchers 3-D: The Movie” - IN REALITY AND FILM, A BATTLE FOR SCHOOLS + smf’s 2¢

By MICHAEL CIEPLY. New York Times | http://nyti.ms/wtTCpa

February 21, 2012 - LOS ANGELES :: On Tuesday officials in Adelanto, a California desert town, are set to consider whether parents there can be the first to take over a failing public school under a new state law that is being closely watched around the country.

Kerry Hayes/20th Century Fox - Viola Davis, left, and Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Won't Back Down,” about school reform. >>

The Hollywood version? It’s already a done deal.

In a rare mix of hot policy debate and old-fashioned screen drama, 20th Century Fox is preparing a September release for “Won’t Back Down.” The film heads smack into the controversies around so-called parent trigger laws that in California and a handful of other states allow parents to dump bad teachers and overrule administrators in bottom-ranked schools.

Viola Davis, an Oscar nominee as best actress for “The Help,” plays a teacher who risks career and friendships to join the revolt. Maggie Gyllenhaal is the single mother who sells cars, tends bar and rouses parents to take charge of their grade school.

Holly Hunter, the union rep, loves her teachers and so she fights the takeover with a ploy you might expect from a corporate villain.

“When did Norma Rae get to be the bad guy?” Ms. Hunter mutters. Her role recalls the title character in the pro-union film “Norma Rae,” as she navigates the ferocious politics of education reform’s nuclear option, the trigger laws.

These measures have backers on both ends of the political spectrum and on both economic extremes: from Bill Gates, whose charitable foundation supports the takeover movement, to the poor or working-class parents of Adelanto. But they have also pushed unions and school administrators into an unwelcome role as opponents of change.

Now the trigger laws have connected with a movie culture whose new preoccupation with timeliness lends urgency and risk to reality-inspired dramas that in the past were usually set safely in the past.

“Won’t Back Down” describes itself as being “inspired by actual events.” But it portrays a fiercely contested school takeover — set in Pittsburgh, though Pennsylvania does not have a trigger law — before any has occurred in real life.

be Texas, Ohio and Connecticut are among states that now permit a trigger process. But a take-over in Adelanto would be the country’s first, according to Ben Austin, the executive director of Parent Revolution, which promotes the tactic with backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

<< IGNORE THE BILLIONARES BEHIND THE CURTAIN   Parent Revolutionary Ben Austin: Brentwood millionaire - part-time LA City Attorney - Green Dot consultant/LA Parent Union employee (the two are the same)  - orchestrator of the attempted charter parent take-overs of McKinley in Compton and Desert Trails in Adelanto - author of the Parent Trigger Law  with backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He wrote the treatment for a movie to produced by a company backed by billionaire developer/stadium builder Philip Anschutz. photo from the LA Times/comments by smf

“I thought it was a prank,” Mr. Austin said of his surprise at a call in which he learned that Walden Media, backed by the conservative-leaning billionaire Philip Anschutz, was shooting a drama in which teachers and parents aim to take charge.

For Walden, the film is a second shot at an education-reform movie. With Mr. Gates and the progressive-minded Participant Media, Walden was among the financial backers of the documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman.’ ”

That film, released in 2010, advocated, as potential solutions to an education crisis, charter schools, teacher testing and an end to tenure. But it took in only about $6.4 million at the box office and received no Oscar nominations after union officials and others strongly attacked it.

“We realized the inherent limitations of the documentary format,” said Michael Bostick, chief executive of Walden. Now, he said, the idea is to reach a larger audience through the power of actors playing complicated characters who struggle with issues that happen to be, in his phrase, “ripped from the headlines.”

“Detachment,” by Tony Kaye, another film set in troubled schools, is set to open in New York and Los Angeles next month.

Daniel Barnz, the director and a writer of “Won’t Back Down,” said he had wanted to recreate the thrill of past action-inspiring social dramas without being snared in partisan debate. Working from an earlier script by Brin Hill, he introduced the parent-trigger mechanism as a plot device but insisted that the character played by Ms. Davis be a teacher, thus bringing teachers into the reform process.

“I am extremely pro-union,” Mr. Barnz said. In the movie’s fictionalized law for Pennsylvania (which, because it was shot there, helped subsidize the film’s $20 million budget with a tax credit), a school takeover could occur only if a majority of both parents and teachers were to demand it, rather than parents alone, as in California.

Wythe Keever, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, a teacher’s union, said his organization, though wary of existing trigger laws, would look more kindly on a system that included teacher input. But he cautioned against another premise of “Won’t Back Down”: that union contracts have sometimes impeded reform.

“Collective bargaining is not the problem,” Mr. Keever said in an interview on Friday. “It produces protections not only for the teachers, but for the students.”

Mark Johnson, who produced “Won’t Back Down,” said the film’s humanity might outshine its politics. “With issues movies, some of those you remember best you remember for the people, not the issues,” he offered.

For Ms. Davis, certainly, the appeal is personal. In what she called her first real leading role — in “The Help,” she fronted an ensemble — Ms. Davis described her character as wrestling personal demons while fighting for something that does not involve race. “I’ve never had that,” she said.

As for education, she added, experience persuades her of the need for teachers and mentors who can operate outside the system. “I’m sorry, I just know if you don’t have a strong advocate for a child, they’re not going to make it,” she said in an interview.

Ms. Gyllenhaal framed her character, a frustrated parent, as “someone who doesn’t think of herself as an activist at all,” but “gets radicalized by the situation she’s in.” She is much like Meryl Streep in the activist thriller “Silkwood,” Ms. Gyllenhaal noted, or the flawed, sexy legal crusader played by Julia Roberts in “Erin Brockovich.”

Events in that film occurred in Hinkley, Calif., which, coincidentally, is near Adelanto, the town where a trigger petition will be reviewed on Tuesday at a school board meeting that could match a big moment in “Won’t Back Down.”

“Next Tuesday night’s board meeting will see a show of force” by both parents in favor of the takeover and the California Teachers Association, whose Adelanto chapter has helped those opposing it, said an internal memo circulated among Parent Revolution executives last week. The memo predicted confrontations between supporters and opponents and said that “a range of provocative techniques” would frame the session.

If teachers were included in a trigger attempt — as happens in “Won’t Back Down” — the California Teachers Association, which has avoided taking a formal position, would look more favorably on the action, suggested Frank Wells, a union spokesman.

Still, he voiced surprise that the parent trigger laws should become a subject for Hollywood at all. “I can’t wait for ‘Vouchers 3-D: The Movie,’ ” he said.

A version of this article appeared in print on February 21, 2012, on page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: In Reality And Film, A Battle For Schools.

 smf: I’m sorry, I grew up in Hollywood, I worked in the Film Trade.  Reality and Movies are mutually exclusive. “Based on a True Story” is is close as it gets – and it’s so removed from fact as to be balderdash. In Hollywood “Reality” means unscripted drama, usually produced by a non-union crew. (If you had a script you’d have to pay a writer.) 

• At it’s worst Reality in Hollywood is sending a mylar balloon aloft and then calling 911 and saying the baby hidden in the attic is missing …or giving lots of beer and all terrain vehicles to rednecks to see what will happen.
• At it’s best it’s sending dysfunctional but verbose couples around the world in a competition and pretending that there isn’t a cameraman with them every misstep of the way.
• With billionaire investors and their political agendæ  there are no limits to reality, scripted or non.

U P D A T E D: PARENTS, STUDENT GROUPS CRITICIZE CHICAGO CHARTER SCHOOLS STUDENT FINES; Chicago Tribune (parent of LA Times) likes the idea!

Noble Network raised nearly $200,000 last year from discipline penalties, protesters say

Students and parents protest the system of disciplinary fines at the Noble… (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune reporter | http://bit.ly/xvzJD0

February 14, 2012  |  A charter network praised by Mayor Rahm Emanuel for its academically competitive schools is charging students $5 for minor disciplinary infractions like having untied shoelaces, bringing chips to school or dozing off in class. Critics say the network is using the fines to push out troubled students so it can boost graduation rates, but school leaders say tougher discipline has led to a safer school environment.

The Noble Network of Charter Schools, which runs 10 high schools in the city, has raised nearly $200,000 from the disciplinary fees last year and almost $400,000 since the 2008-09 school year, according to three parent and student advocacy groups who held a joint news conference Monday at Chicago Public Schools headquarters.

"It's nickel-and-diming kids for literally nothing that really matters," said Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education.

But Noble Network CEO Michael Milkie said by sweating the smaller disciplinary issues, the charter operator manages to keep a lid on school violence.

"If you have rules, you have to enforce them," Milkie said. "We maybe have one fight per year, per campus. It's an incredibly safe environment from a physical and emotional standpoint, and part of it comes from sweating the small things."

And he said students who behave poorly should be forced to pay.

"For far too long in the city, students who behave well have had their education diverted to address students who behave improperly," Milkie said. "We have set that fee to offset the cost to administer detention."

Students with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, who have called for a new student disciplinary policy across the district, called Noble's rules draconian and totalitarian. They marched to City Hall carrying signs like "Secret Sauce Shouldn't Cost $200,000." The mayor has said the Noble Network, with its 86.2 percent graduation rate, has the "secret sauce" to providing a high-quality urban education.

At the Noble Network, which will be adding another four campuses in the next two years, that "secret sauce" includes a strict student code that issues a detention for infractions such as chewing gum, possessing soft drinks or energy drinks like Red Bull, eating chips, not tucking in a shirt after being warned and carrying a permanent marker. The three-hour after-school detention comes with a $5 fee and can include silent study period, behavior improvement work or cleaning and maintenance chores.

The costs rise if the behavior doesn't change. More than 12 detentions lands students in a discipline class priced at $140.

Critics are also concerned that the behavioral problems of students with disabilities are not being taken into consideration when doling out discipline.

"It's exploiting the parents," said Joan Blackwell, who said she has had to pay for night behavior school for her son, a student at Gary Comer College Prep who has been punished for things such as declining to shake a visitor's hand. "I don't see how it has anything to do with discipline. (Her son) was not disciplined for hurting or kicking anyone, or cursing or doing drugs. These were minor things that could've been dealt with."

Charter schools are public schools run by private groups and often have their own rules and enforcement policies.

Milkie said the network takes disabilities into account when deciding whether to discipline students and offers waivers and payment plans for low-income students. Still, last year the network lost 473 students — more than double the previous year. Milkie said the higher number takes into account more students — two new schools opened, and additional grades were added. He said the network's 91.3 percent retention rate is better than the district's. CPS could not provide its retention rate.

CPS said it's working on revamping the district's student code with input from student groups like those at VOYCE.

Some Noble parents, though, have seen the discipline policy work.

After paying more than $300 for behavior classes and detention fees, Kimberly Davis said her daughter is now on track to graduate from Comer.

"You have to buy into the program," Davis said. "For (her daughter), it worked."

 

THE NOBLE RULES: Why discipline matters

Chicago Tribune Editorial : http://trib.in/wbu4F9

Parent, student groups criticize charter schools' student fines

February 16, 2012  ::  Thousands of kids line up every year for a chance to attend one of the excellent high schools run by Chicago's Noble Network of Charter Schools. There's a long waiting list for those schools because they have dedicated teachers and safe, orderly environments and they prepare their students to go to college.

There are a lot of reasons for Noble's success. One is its strict disciplinary policy. A student caught chewing gum earns a demerit. Late to class—that's not tolerated. Untucked shirts and untied shoes—not allowed. You don't shout or throw things in the lunchroom. And so on. It's a matter of respectful personal conduct.

A student who gets four demerits within two weeks must attend a three-hour detention class and pay a $5 fee for the class. Get more than 12 detentions — you really have to work at that — and you land in a discipline class that carries a hefty $140 fee. Rack up 25 to 36 detentions in one school year and you have to attend two discipline classes. Fee: $280.

All of that is "dehumanizing" to students, says Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE). "It's nickel-and-diming kids for literally nothing that really matters."

There's a wearying little game going on in Chicago. As the Chicago Public Schools and the Illinois Legislature grow less tolerant of failure in education, as they push for status-quo-shaking change in schools, the defenders of the old ways of education get more nervous. They try to undermine reform in nickel-and-dime fashion, picking targets here and there. This is a case of that.

Nothing poses a greater threat to the status quo than charter schools. So charter schools get targeted with nonsensical claims like this, that Noble Network is "dehumanizing" students.

If these schools are dehumanizing students, why are students lining up to go to them?

What does Woestehoff dismiss as "nothing that really matters"? Crucial keys to personal success. Focus. Discipline. Respect for others.

All those little violations — gum chewing and rowdiness and tardiness — matter. They matter because good conduct creates an atmosphere of responsibility and accountability in a school.

"Kids learn punctuality, dependability, and that there are consequences for behavior," says Michael Milkie, the former teacher who founded and runs Noble. "If kids feel they're going to be safe, if they're in a protected environment, they are more likely to develop the habits that make them successful in class."

Schools that let the small things slip can find themselves with a chaotic school environment. What do kids learn in those kinds of schools? They learn to duck.

PURE and other critics claim the Noble Network gouges students to raise cash. Last year, the 10 campuses of Noble raised nearly $200,000 from disciplinary fees. But those fees cover only part of the expense of staffing those classes and detention periods, Milkie says. "If we didn't have the fees, we would divert dollars from everyone's education to staff these classes and detentions."

Noble's tight discipline and demanding academics aren't for everyone. Last year, 473 of Noble's 5,000 students left for other schools.

Look at the kids who stay. Last year, all of the Noble schools beat the Chicago Public Schools' average in math, science and reading scores. Noble sent 91 percent of its graduates to college.

Kids and parents have a choice of schools. If the Noble rules are onerous, a student can transfer to another school. (As long as he can talk his parents into it.)

But most students and parents know that Noble's leaders are right: Discipline helps create a safe school atmosphere. It helps create success.

Ms. Woestehoff, check the name of your organization. A responsible education is exactly what Noble delivers.

 

Update: Voice of the People

letters to the editor of the Chicago Tribune | http://trib.in/AtPq1n

February 20, 2012

Fining students. (Michael Osbun / February 17, 2012)

 

Fining students

This is in response to "Parent, student groups criticize charter schools' student fines; Noble Network raised nearly $200,000 last year from discipline penalties, protesters say" (News, Feb. 14), and your Feb. 16 editorial "The Noble rules; Why discipline matters." While I applaud the novel efforts to fund schools, the fines in the disciplinary program of the school run by Chicago's Noble Network of Charter Schools are a bridge too far.

I find fining students for disciplinary infractions wrong in principle. Critics who call the program draconian are absolutely on target. It is not the list of ridiculous infractions alone; the fines truly set this reprehensible disciplinary scheme apart.

Though the Noble Network does allow waivers for low-income students, the fines are inherently unfair. Five dollars, or a multiplication thereof, means much more to families driving Camrys than families with BMWs.

The Noble Network defends the program, citing its results. For argument's sake, let us take Noble's word that the program produces a well-behaved student body. However, is it the fines that are doing it, or is it the detention? What is really keeping the students in line? Are the students just too terrified? Fear is not the proper way to keep order. Students should behave because they respect their teachers and administrators, not because they fear crossing the line.

The fines give teachers and administrators a perverse incentive to discipline students. Every can of soda, bag of chips, untied shoe or untucked shirt is an extra five bucks in the disciplinary coffers. The infractions are so minuscule, they provide a huge opportunity for abuse. Disciplinarians can easily find an infraction on a student they would like to target; they just have to wait for the student to slip up.

— Jerry Bauer, Chicago

Noble rules

The Noble Network does a good job. So do the Catholics, Lutherans and many other private schools. By definition these folks do things differently.

The arguments of the public-school advocates are not that these folks are not doing a good job. The real argument is that these are not public schools.

Public schools must take everyone. As demonstrated by many other groups: If we take a selected population, change the rules, give them money and facilities, outcomes increase.

Remember that these are not public schools taking all young people. This is not merely school choice but a wholesale change in public education.

— Patrick Beach, Palatine

School discipline

The Tribune editorial got it right! The Chicago Noble Network of Charter Schools needs to continue to enforce its school rules. Learning cannot take place in schools without discipline. It is the one element that must always exist in a successful school. Without discipline failure will inevitably occur.

— Dennis Skinder, Chicago

Earned respect

I graduated from Lane Technical High School, a Chicago Public Schools facility, in 1964. Like Noble, students were lining up to get into the school. Unlike Noble, no one was charged for breaking the rules.

Lane was a school of more than 4,000 teenage boys. There were no food fights in the large lunchroom; no fights between classes; no one ever, ever walked on the grass. If you didn't wear a belt, you were sent to the counselors' office and got a piece of rope to wear. Shirts were tucked in and disciple maintained by very competent teachers and counselors.

We weren't perfect (teenage boys rarely are), but we had respect for our teachers and parents. Respect is earned, not charged for.

— Neal S. Mehr, Deerfield

Locke+Reload/Deja Vu²: 'PARENT TRIGGER' CAMPAIGN DIVIDES FAMILIES AT TROUBLED ADELANTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Some angry parents want to remove their names from petitions seeking charter status before the school board votes. Principal claims the conflict among parents has filtered to the students, who have begun fighting .

By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/xvVlQj

David Mobley, principal of Desert Trails Elementary School, receives signed petitions from parents. He said the conflict among parents has filtered to the students, who have begun fighting as well. (Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times / January 12, 2012)

Also :

	Adelanto school is targeted in second test of 'Parent Trigger' law
	<<●● smf: CSI Investigators: Look for this man’s fingerprints! Lessons of 'parent trigger'

February 19, 2012, 9:51 p.m.  ::  Julie Rodriguez wanted improvement — but not a wholesale change of staff — at her children's school in the High Desert community of Adelanto. So late last year she signed what she thought was a petition, circulated by parents she considered friends, for more programs and better teachers.

But she learned that what she actually signed was a petition to convert Desert Trails Elementary School into a charter campus, a change she says she had specifically told organizers she didn't want. Furious, Rodriguez has rescinded her signature and is working to help other parents do the same before the Adelanto school board votes Tuesday on whether to accept the petition.

"They lied to me," Rodriguez said of supporters, "and now it's a big old mess."

In the second effort to use the "parent trigger," a landmark state law giving parents unprecedented power to force sweeping changes at low-performing schools, proponents turned in signatures last month representing 70% of Desert Trail's 665 students to convert to a charter. Those campuses are mostly nonunion, publicly financed but independently run.

Parent leader Doreen Diaz said at the time that the school, where two-thirds of sixth graders failed state proficiency tests last year in English and math, needed a major overhaul.

But some parents say the Desert Trails campaign has divided the campus, destroyed friendships and given rise to charges on both sides of harassment and deceit. Some say that parent organizers, trained by the Los Angeles nonprofit Parent Revolution, confused them by presenting two petitions — one for district reforms and one for a charter — and they signed them thinking they were backing such improvements as better security.

Cynthia Ramirez, a leader with the pro-petition Desert Trails Parent Union, said her group has not misled or harassed anyone. She said its members have carefully explained their strategy to all parents. That strategy, she said, has been to circulate two petitions but to submit only the charter petition as leverage to press the school district into certain reforms.

A letter explaining the group's strategy was left with all parents contacted, she said. Parents had canvassed school families on their desired changes, held meetings to vote on objectives, then gathered petition signatures, she said.

Now, she said, the effort is being sabotaged by a few parents and the California Teachers Assn., which she accused of sending staff to Adelanto in recent days to organize a signature-rescission effort.

Teachers association spokesman Frank Wells said the union was not engineering any efforts to sink the petition. He said union staffers have only provided information to parents about the parent trigger law and other related questions. The local Adelanto District Teachers' Assn. also helped secure a meeting room for information sessions because parents did not have insurance, he said.

"The effort up there is parent-led," Wells said. "As far as us going around and telling people to do something one way or another, the answer is no."

School principal David Mobley said the conflict has spilled onto campus. He said he has had to intervene to calm parents and ask them to step off school grounds as they try to distribute dueling information and corral support. The tension has also filtered to the students, who have begun fighting as well, he said.

"It's sad because these kids used to be really good friends," Mobley said. "Now these kids have become pawns in a political mess, and it just breaks my heart."

The first test of the parent trigger law in Compton late in 2010 also sparked controversy. Parents at McKinley Elementary School submitted petitions to convert their campus to a charter school, but the school board rejected it; the issue is still tied up in court.

In Adelanto, Ramirez said former school board member Lisa Marie Garcia approached her and others about a parent trigger campaign. Larry Lewis, then principal at Desert Trails, also got involved and is a board member of Desert Trails Kids First Inc., a new nonprofit that aims to convert the school into a charter.

The Adelanto organizers contacted Parent Revolution for training. Pat DeTemple, organizing director of that group, said that although the Compton campaign divided the community, the vast majority of parents at Desert Trails continue to back the petition and that any controversy has been fanned by a few dissident parents.

Lori Yuan, an anti-petition parent who has two children at Desert Trails, said she wants to give Mobley a chance to turn around the school without the upheaval of a charter conversion. Mobley, she said, has a track record of improving low-performing schools and has helped heal the division left in the wake of the previous principal.

Adelanto school board president Carlos Mendoza said that officials intend to follow state law and that, if the petition is found to be valid, they will move toward a charter conversion.

FRANKLIN DECATHLON TEAM SUCCEEDS WITH TEAMWORK, DEDICATION: The 2012 California Academic Decathlon kicks off March 16 in Sacramento.

By Andrea C. Quezada, Highland Park/Mt. Washington Patch | http://bit.ly/w5CK0F

Franklin High School's 2011-12 Academic Decathlon Team.Credit AndreaC.Quezada</AHREF=">

 

20 Feb 2012 6:00 am  ::  After months of diligent study, nine students from Highland Park are about to put their knowledge to the test in one of California's most prestigious academic competitions.

Franklin High School’s academic decathlon team amassed 47,812.3 out of 60,000 possible points in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Academic Decathlon competition, good for a fourth place overall finish and will compete in the California Academic Decathlon next month.

“The decathlon is challenging itself, but the thing that is important to remember is that it’s not just about you, it’s about your teammates as well,” senior Wendy Renteria said. “You have to try your best, not for yourself and your own individual medals because it’s for the team, we’re all working for it together.”

The team also snagged a second place finish behind LAUSD decathlon champion Granada Hills Charter School at the Super Quiz relay on Feb. 5.

FHS—in addition to 10 other LAUSD schools—earned wildcard invitations to the state event as a result of their high team scores. According to a press release on LAUSD’s website, Academic Decathlon Coordinator Cliff Kerr said Franklin is one of four schools in the district to have earned the highest regional scores in the United States.

California's Academic Decathlon extends only one automatic entry to the top school from each county.

The Panthers grabbed a sixth place finish in the California competition last year.

“Believe it or not, Los Angeles Unified School District has the very best academic decathlon competition in the entire country. The top four teams that competed in it, were literally the top four teams in the country,” FHS academic decathlon coach Sam Kullens said.

“When we came in fourth place overall, we not only came in fourth place in the city, but the state and the entire country,” the fifth-year coach added.

Since 1987, LAUSD has captured 17 state contests and 12 national titles, according to the press release. The 12 national titles the district boasts are more than any other district in the nation.

Every year the contest has a curriculum theme and this year the theme is Imperialism. Students on the FHS roster studied a broad spectrum of subjects revolving around the theme, including art, music, literature, history, mathematics, science and economics.

Academic decathlon students were given 10 multiple choice tests, each containing approximately 50 questions, in addition to essay and speech portions of the contest.

Franklin team captain Kenia Alfaro said the squad spent a great deal of time preparing for the Super Quiz relay, making sure to get all the facts down. The 18-year-old senior said now all the team has to do is some fine tuning as the state competition draws near.

“It was very hard work, but it was fun. During winter vacation, we got together at other peoples’ houses and on the weekends we go to the library or park and just work wherever we can,” Alfaro said.

Kullens said the accolades the team has received are great, however, there’s no point in participating if the students aren’t having a good time.

“We went to the Hollywood Bowl to listen to the music we had to study. It’s not just about doing well in the competition; it’s about being a more well-rounded individual in general. Knowledge gives them strength for the future,” Kullens said.

Renteria said, “We’ve all tried really hard and hopefully that shows. We all owe our success to each other and how close we are to each other, and just how supportive the whole community has been and the help of our coach.”

L.A.’s TRUANCY TROUBLE – A FRESH LOOK: Hefty tickets for students who are late or ditch school are counterproductive. Requiring community service is a better idea.

LA Times Editorial | http://lat.ms/w7Izns

February 19, 2012  ::  It's no secret that school attendance is a good indicator of a child's future success. Students who are chronically tardy or who cut school tend to lag academically and are ultimately more likely to drop out. But how to prevent truancy is a vexing question.

Next week, the Los Angeles City Council will consider whether to amend the existing "Juvenile Daytime Curfew Ordinance" that allows police to conduct sweeps and issue hefty tickets to truants and replace it with a policy that requires counseling and mandatory community service for first- and second-time offenders. That's a sensible and much-needed change.

Under the current rules, city and school police may issue tickets of up to $250 to students who are out on the streets during school hours or who arrive at school late. The cost of such tickets often balloons to more than $1,000 after court fees and state fines are added. And school officials, who might be better able to help address the underlying issues than police and court officials, are never notified of the tickets.

The problem is that students, especially poor ones, often can't afford to pay the fines. Indeed, some choose to avoid school altogether rather than risk being cited for showing up late. So rather than deterring truancy, such fines may be fueling absenteeism. Statistics are hard to come by, but what's known is that between 2005 and 2009, the police issued more than 47,000 tickets; the truancy rate during the same period increased from 5% to more than 28%, according to the California Department of Education. That's hardly a success story.

The proposed rules won't end truancy, but they offer a more common-sense approach to dealing with young people who are trying to stay in school. Barring police from giving tickets in the first hour after the start of school as students are headed to class might give some breathing room to those who rely on public transportation, for instance. Mandatory counseling could help students who face problems at home.

Districts that have implemented similar changes have seen a marked improvement in attendance. In 2008, Alhambra Unified School District adopted new measures, including counseling and school assistance. The district, which has more than 18,000 students, predominantly low-income immigrants, saw a 42% reduction in truancies the next year, according to a report by the L.A. County Education Coordinating Council.

No doubt some will argue that Los Angeles' proposal offers kids a free pass. That's simply not true. Police would still have the authority to ticket minors who are intentionally and repeatedly avoiding school or who are involved in illegal activities. What the new rules would do is give those students struggling to remain in school a better chance of succeeding.

Letter to the Editor: TEACH IT TOO

from LA Times | 19 Feb 2012 |http://lat.ms/yvf7rb

Re "LAUSD puts off budget cut plan," Feb. 15

In an entertainment town, sandwiched between the Grammys and the Oscars, L.A.'s public schools system is contemplating cutting its arts programs in elementary schools.

There really are two Los Angeleses.

Pamela Nagler

Claremont

An Op-Ed Appeal from a Redistricting Commissioner: LAUSD REDISTRICTING COMMISSION NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!

By Lindsey Horvath, LAUSD Redistricting Commissioner in the Chatsworth Patch | http://bit.ly/zEyy0Y

How and where districts are drawn can shape communities' abilities to elect the representatives of their choice. Districts must be made as equal in population as possible and practicable so that communities have equal access to political representation.

20120215_104657_LAUSD proposed maps[1]

February 17, 2012 ::  Every 10 years, districts are redrawn to account for population changes. A special commission made up of elected board members of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is tasked with advising the Los Angeles City Council on the creation and adoption of a redistricting plan.

Fifteen people are appointed to the Commission: four by the Mayor of Los Angeles, four by the Los Angeles City Council President, and one by each of the seven LAUSD board members. I was appointed by former City Council President Eric Garcetti to serve on this Commission.

Factors that the Commission must consider when drawing the lines include the protection of communities of interest and the Voting Rights Act of 1965—federal legislation that outlaws discriminatory voting practices used to disenfranchise voters based on race or color. Communities of interest are geographically connected populations that share common social and economic interests.

To ensure that the Commission is meeting these and other legal requirements, there have been noticed meetings and public hearings that include testimony from the public for the Commission's consideration when drawing the lines.

As an example of lack of community involvement, On Feb. 7, a public hearing for L.A. City Council District 4 was held to provide members of the community with an opportunity to address Commissioners before draft maps were drawn and circulated. Despite having hundreds of thousands of people included in the District, only four members of the public chose to provide comment on the process at this meeting, none of whom lived within the City of West Hollywood.

In the West Hollywood region, the Commission has since approved three maps for circulation. Each map is intended to spark discussion and elicit feedback from communities on the best ways to draw the boundaries. Maps A & B would divide schools serving West Hollywood between the newly-drawn Districts 4 and 5.

The map proposed by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Education Fund & Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) would divide schools serving West Hollywood between the newly-drawn Districts 1 and 4.

(from West Hollywood Patch article, Feb. 17)

See an interactive map of proposed LAUSD redistricting draft lines

On Feb. 15, I proposed a motion to request a 30-day extension for the LAUSD redistricting process in order to allow ample time for additional input from the community. Despite receiving the support of 50 percent of the 14 voting Commissioners, the motion did not pass, which means that final maps must be completed within two weeks to submit to the Los Angeles City Council.

These public hearings are intended to focus on testimony regarding specific Districts; however, all comments will be heard and entered into the record. The Commission will then meet on Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. in the LAUSD Board Room downtown to determine a final draft map to submit to the Los Angeles City Council for approval. A final map must be submitted by March 1, as required by Los Angeles City Ordinance.

I encourage the residents to share your opinions with the Commission to ensure that your voice is heard. You can submit testimony to the Commission through the website - http://redistricting2011.lacity.org/ - or by emailing redistricting.LAUSD@lacity.org - or calling 213-473-5961. You can also draw your own maps to submit to the Commission through the Advancement Project's website - www.redrawlausd.org.

—Lindsey Horvath, LAUSD Redistricting Commissioner

SAVE ADULT ED: Funding for K-12 must come first but adult education classes provide benefits that can't be ignored so options must be found to keep program alive

long beach press telegram editorial | http://bit.ly/yuLGCw

2/19/2012  ::  AMID the L.A. schools' budget crisis, the most emotional reaction has been inspired not by an issue directly affecting children - but by an issue directly affecting adults (and their children). A proposal that would have virtually scrapped public adult education in the Los Angeles Unified School District was met with a petition drive netting 200,000 signatures, demonstrations outside district headquarters and heartfelt speeches at what was expected to be a pivotal school-board meeting last week.

No wonder: At a time when poverty is on people's minds more than usual, adult ed offers a chance for the poor to lift themselves up. It is not a handout but a way for those with the will to succeed to earn better lives for themselves and their families. Its elimination would take away affordable vocational training, English and math classes, and GED and diploma programs from as many as 300,000 students - and deny their children the handed-down benefits, not only financial but scholastic, of having more accomplished parents.

Adult ed, as well as early-childhood and after-school and elementary arts programs, won a reprieve Tuesday when the board voted to delay its budget decision for a month to give officials a chance to find additional funding or find other programs to cut. So, now comes the hard part. Hard, but necessary.

Los Angeles Unified is suffering from declining state funding because of the state's money trouble and the district's declining enrollment.

Like many of the fiscal decisions government agencies have faced in these lean times, the LAUSD's pits two principles against each other. Should it preserve "core services" and shed programs it deems nonessential, or should it lay out a plan for "shared sacrifice" among all departments?

The core services would be, according to LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, the education of kindergarten- through-high-school students. To preserve as much of the K-12 program as possible, Deasy would have the board take $178 million from adult ed.

If it comes down to a choice, the only right one is to fund the district's main mission - K-12 education. But it might not have to come down to such an all-or-nothing decision.

There are ways to save adult ed - partnerships, fee enhancement, teacher pay cuts. School and civic leaders should consider these options before ending the program. There is an assumption in this discussion that it's purely a zero-sum game, that taking funding away from adult ed will help children. This slights the importance of adult ed in raising the standards of living of not just adults but their kids.

And this skims over the roll of adult ed in providing better-trained workers for a recovering economy. A lot of people, and companies, will lose out if the $1,200 aviation-mechanics training program at LAUSD's North (San Fernando) Valley Occupational Center in Mission Hills were faced with spending $35,000 for the private alternative, one of the examples reporter Barbara Jones cited in an article last week.

Yes, community colleges provide some classes that are similar to those in adult ed program. But in many cases, we're talking about students who are not ready for community-college-level programs.

The issues are not unique to Los Angeles. Adult ed is in the crosshairs in school districts all over the state; in Long Beach, cutbacks have reduced enrollment from 10,000 four years ago to 1,500 now.

The challenge is to save as much of adult ed as possible. An L.A. teachers-union official said employees might be willing to accept cuts. Administration staffing is always a tempting target for reductions. Surely, raising registration fees for students would be better than shuttering entire programs. If the industries that benefit from trained workers haven't stepped forward with offers to help, they should be shamed into doing it.

And there is the possibility of financial aid in the form of Gov. Jerry Brown's tax-hike initiative, aimed at bailing out education, and Deasy's proposed parcel-tax measure, which could raise $200 million a year.

All possibilities should be considered. Adult education does too many good things to be easily swept aside.

Save it for the adults' sake. Save it for their kids' sake.

GENEROUS BEQUEST OF NEARLY $392,000 LIFTS SPIRITS AT PACOIMA MIDDLE SCHOOL

By Melissa Pamer, Daily News, Los Angeles/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services | http://bit.ly/wEYlzt

A large portion of the nearly $392,000 left to Pacoima Middle School by Khadijeh Haghani will be used to buy new equipment. The computers students are using now are more than 10 years old. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer)

February 18, 2012  ::  When Pacoima Middle School Principal Marcy Hamm opened an envelope in her office last November, out fell a check for nearly $392,000. A donation had been expected, but the amount stunned her.

Telling her staff later about the gift to the school, she broke down in tears. The waterworks start up again when she retells the story.

"I cried in front of my faculty. It's just huge," Hamm said. "I get choked up when I talk about it now. This money will do so much for our kids here."

The bequest came from a donor who died last spring in Iran. Khadijeh Haghani had never been to Pacoima or heard of the school, where the students are overwhelmingly Latino and from low-income families.

Khadijeh Haghani, pictured right, had never been to Pacoima Middle School, but she learned of it through friends Harry and Azar Sagheb of Encino. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer)>>

But Haghani's close friends, an Encino couple named Harry and Azar Sagheb, did know Pacoima Middle School -- they'd been longtime donors though they also had no personal connection to the school. A few years ago when Haghani was figuring out what to do with her wealth, the Saghebs encouraged her to donate to the campus.

"My husband said, 'I don't tell you what to do, but we are involved in Pacoima Middle School and the kids need that,"' Azar Sagheb said. "She said, 'OK, that's it, it goes to Pacoima Middle School."'

Haghani died of a stroke in her sleep at age 62, after a day of preparing for a Persian New Year's party. A complicated set of negotiations to get the money to the school ensued. The donation was officially recognized and accepted by the LosAngeles Unified School District on Tuesday.

The surprise donation from around the globe grew out of the 16 years of quiet support that the Saghebs have offered to Pacoima Middle School. Since 1996, when they saw a television news story about arsons that gutted one classroom and damaged another, the couple essentially adopted the school.

"The next day, we went and had a cup of coffee at the school," remembered Harry Sagheb, an 86-year-old retired biochemist. "We made them promise everything (had) to be replaced within two weeks."

The Saghebs footed the bill, knowing that without their donation it would take the school district many months to rebuild and replace charred instructional materials. After that, they began making annual donations to Pacoima Middle School -- replacing broken musical instruments, paying for air-conditioning units and tutoring services. Harry Sagheb said he had no idea how much they had donated over the years, but estimated between $12,000 and $25,000 annually.

Before Harry's back went bad, the couple used to take students on outings to museums, the theater and restaurants, exposing them to life outside Pacoima. Every Thanksgiving, they still donate a few hundred gift cards to families at the school.

They even put a few students from the community through college on private scholarships.

Hamm calls "Uncle Harry" Sagheb the school's "benefactor."

"Someone chose us," Hamm said. "That's what he wanted to do and he's continued to do it year after year."

The Saghebs, whose money comes from a medical diagnostic lab they ran and sold in 1989, downplay their contributions, saying they just recognize the need in a poor community and want to give the "smart kids" at Pacoima a chance.

"I don't have jewelry; I don't have a Rolls-Royce. I don't have any of those things because that doesn't satisfy me," said Azar Sagheb, 77.

Haghani had married a friend of the Saghebs who

was also in the medical laboratory business. All of them had American passports and citizenship.

Harry Sagheb said Haghani, whose husband had died a number of years ago, had spoken to her investment banker about the plan to donate funds to Pacoima Middle School, but it was never written into a will. After Haghani died, arrangements for the donation were made through a life insurance company, but getting the check required some delicate diplomacy -- and a lawyer familiar with Iran -- to obtain a death certificate.

The large chunk of cash will be used as needed to replace equipment, Hamm said, including computers that are more than 10 years old.

Pacoima Middle School is one of 488 low-performing schools in California that get special funding to keep teacher-student ratios low -- so it has not suffered the same teacher layoffs as some other LAUSD campuses, Hamm said.

School board member Nury Martinez, who grew up in Pacoima and represents the area, said the donation was well deserved.

"I'm very proud and happy for them," Martinez said. "I know they can use the money especially during this horrible financial crisis for public education."

The donation is eye-popping for a single campus, LAUSD officials acknowledged, but it's not unprecedented.

In 2007, Woodland Hills resident Israel Baran left more than $1.5 million to Aggeler High, a community day school and opportunity high school in Chatsworth where he had been a volunteer. The funds are dedicated to a new library that will be built by the end of next year.

LAUSD SUPT. JOHN DEASY ADDRESSES MIRAMONTE SEX ABUSE ALLEGATIONS + LA TIMES CORRECTS INCORRECT REPORTING

Rick Rojas/LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/wsbQc6

LAT: This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

February 18, 2012 | 12:17 pm (corrected 9:52PM) In the wake of teachers being charged with lewd acts with students, Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. John Deasy has sought to reassure teachers and staff in a video address.

The two accused teachers at Miramonte Elementary School have been removed and face criminal charges.

In his four-minute address, Deasy said the rest of the staff at Miramonte, which had been temporarily relocated to the unopened Augustus Hawkins High School nearby, will have the opportunity to eventually return.

PHOTOS: Parent uproar over sex-abuse claims

"The reason that I wanted to address you is because I know that the actions of the arrested teachers at Miramonte, and the other schools, do not reflect on you or your professionalism," Deasy said. "I want to say that again. Just because a few members have [allegedly] done terrible things, that are being dealt with appropriately by law enforcement officials, that does not reflect on the amazing teaching, leadership and classified staff that I see every day in LAUSD."

He also said that lessons could be learned from the tragedy, and that the primary lesson is that the district could bolster training of its staff on how to handle and report child abuse.

"Despite our efforts to improve instruction and survive massive budget cuts, our first responsibility is to protect the children in our care," he said, adding, "It is important that our communities continue to feel safe in our schools. As you know, better than any, often our schools serve as a refuge for families."

For the record, 9:52 p.m., Feb. 18: A previous version of this post incorrectly reported that Deasy said the investigation into the allegations at Miramonte was complete. In fact, he said: "After all investigations are complete and no additional issues emerge, every staff member from Miramonte who is now at Augustus Hawkins will have the opportunity to return to the school."

Deasy: MIRAMONTE PROBE COMPLETE; ALL STAFF EXCEPT THE TWO ACCUSED CAN RETURN.

smf: Having just reviewed the video cited in this UPI story I have pulled it from the 4LAKids News website – its reporting is fundamentally incorrect

The following AP story from the Washington Post is more correct

LA schools head tells employees lewd charges no reflection on them, urges lessons from arrests

By Associated Press, Saturday, February 18, 7:57 PM

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles Unified School District official has sent a video message to all district employees, saying the allegations of lewd acts against two longtime teachers do not reflect on them.

The brief video titled “Breaking the Silence” was posted Saturday by the LA Daily News (http://bit.ly/ADAtP5 ). In it, Superintendent John Deasy (DAYE’-see) thanks district employees for “amazing” work, but encourages them to learn from the incidents at Miramonte Elementary — starting with a review of the district’s child abuse training.

Deasy also explains the status of the Miramonte staff and faculty who were replaced while the district investigates the allegations. The removed staff members have been relocated to a new, unopened high school nearby.

Deasy says they’re being interviewed by investigators and counselors, and are getting professional development classes. He says all will have the chance to return after the investigation.

 

Deasy: MIRAMONTE PROBE COMPLETE; ALL STAFF EXCEPT THE TWO ACCUSED CAN RETURN.

smf: So many investigations, so little time: Just yesterday LAUSD board president Monica Garcia said the district has launched its own investigation into how the Berndt case was handled, and that it will be thoroughly reviewed by an independent commission led by retired California Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Moreno.

BY  UPI.COM | FROM OUTCOME MAGAZINE - HTTP://BIT.LY/WZCIMW

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 18 (UPI) — Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy said Saturday the investigation of two teachers accused of lewd acts with students is complete.

In a 4-minute video address sent to all employees in the district, Deasy said the investigation at Miramonte Elementary School is complete, and the rest of the staff — minus two teachers facing criminal charges — will be able to return, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“The reason that I wanted to address you is because I know that the actions of the arrested teachers at Miramonte, and the other schools, do not reflect on you or your professionalism,” Deasy said. “I want to say that again. Just because a few members have [allegedly] done terrible things, that are being dealt with appropriately by law enforcement officials, that does not reflect on the amazing teaching, leadership and classified staff that I see every day in LAUSD.”

Trouble at the school surfaced in 2010 when a third-grade teacher took some film to be developed and a clerk told police it contained disturbing images of children.

Mark Berndt faces 23 felony counts for allegedly blindfolding, gagging and spoon-feeding semen to third graders.

Last week Martin Bernard Springer, a second-grade teacher, was arrested on charges of fondling children in separate incidents within the last three years.

“Despite our efforts to improve instruction and survive massive budget cuts, our first responsibility is to protect the children in our care,” Deasy said Saturday, adding, “It is important that our communities continue to feel safe in our schools. As you know, better than any, often our schools serve as a refuge for families.”

Deasy said the investigation found the district could better train staff on how to handle and report abuse.

Miramonte is one of the largest elementary schools in Los Angeles with 150 teachers and administrators and some 1,500 students.

“Clearly, several individuals have violated the most sacred trust we have,” Deasy told parents earlier this month.

WHAT’S NEW AT THE PTA, DAD? -Men Shift the Dynamics of a Changing Organization

By KYLE SPENCER/The New York Times | http://nyti.ms/zHVjON

Ángel Franco/The New York Times - Juan Brea, a PTA leader at P.S. 11 in Chelsea, with his daughters, Sadie, 5, and Chelsea, 8.

February 17, 2012  ::  AT Public School 11 in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, the senior president of the Parent Teacher Association is a vivacious chatterbox who ascended the school’s executive board the way many do: forging bonds with parents and teachers, doing an impressive stint as treasurer and finally being drafted for the top slot by a growing fan base.

Librado Romero/The New York Times - Eli Janney is a PTA leader at P.S. 261 in Brooklyn.

The one thing this executive officer did not do is man the cupcake table.

“I’m not into the baking,” said Juan Brea, an admission that once would have been unheard-of in the PTA.

Mr. Brea, a 43-year-old who favors football, blue blazers, Polo cologne and chopping wood in his Catskills backyard on weekends, is part of the changing face of the PTA. What was once an easygoing volunteer group made up mostly of stay-at-home moms has begun to give way to male leadership.

“This is like running a small business,” said Mr. Brea, whose day job is chief operating officer at a small nonprofit. “I’m an operations guy. I believe I add value.”

A 2009 study by the National Congress of Parents and Teachers and the National Center for Fathering, a nonprofit educational organization, found that 590 of 1,000 fathers surveyed nationwide said they attended school parent meetings. That is up from 470 out of 1,000 a decade earlier.

And in many of the top-rated public schools across New York City, where parent groups have become ever-more-efficient fund-raising machines in the face of mounting budget cuts, fathers with financial expertise and a zest for leadership are not just going to those meetings, but running them.

The shift reflects a number of underlying social trends: more women with demanding jobs, more men underemployed in a lingering recession, more shared parenting responsibilities over all and the professionalization of the PTA itself.

In School District 2, which winds through some of Manhattan’s priciest neighborhoods, at least 10 of the approximately 40 elementary and middle schools now have male parent-group leaders, up from just a couple 15 years ago.

On Staten Island, the male firefighters, police and emergency-medical technicians who used to shy away from PTA meetings now call many of them to order. And in brownstone Brooklyn’s District 15, PTA boards have been inundated with male leadership, in what officials say is a 15 percent jump from five years ago.

For the most part, female PTA leaders applaud the injection of testosterone. But “both women and men would be lying if they were to say gender dynamics were not an issue,” said Michelle Ciulla-Lipkin, a president of the PTA at P.S. 199 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where 5 of the 18 board members last year were male.

At P.S. 110 on the Lower East Side, some have said that John Mooren, an investment banker whose platform as PTA president includes the ambitious goal of building a new gym, has been trying to corporatize the once laid-back board. “My response is: we need money,” said Mr. Mooren, 58, whose sons are in kindergarten and first grade.

In the cramped PTA room with the bright pink door at P.S. 75 on West End Avenue in Manhattan, Hector Rios, a co-president, said that being the lone man among eight board members has its downside: “Sometimes I feel like everybody’s husband.”

And at P.S. 3 in the West Village, Nick Gottlieb (a PTA co-president and Papa Nick to students) said that years as a stay-at-home dad have not erased his own perception that he is occasionally an interloper in the land of bake sales, recess volunteers and pajama parties.

“I have to make an extra effort not to be perceived as stepping on people,” said Mr. Gottlieb, who has daughters in kindergarten and third grade. “And I think that does have to do with being a man.”

A 1997 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal agency, found that children whose fathers were involved in their schools were more likely to stay in school, do well and enjoy themselves while they were there.

A decade later, in 2008, the National PTA — a 5.5-million-member organization headquartered in Alexandria, Va. — paired with the National Center for Fathering in the hope of getting more active male members. Its Web site now lists tips on recruiting men, including scheduling meetings in the morning, which many New York City schools now do.

In 2009, the national PTA elected Charles J. Saylor, a construction industry executive and father of four in Greer, S.C., as its first male president.

“I grew up in a home where both parents were involved,” said Mr. Saylor, who started out heading the fund-raising committee at his oldest son’s elementary school because of, he said, “an inability to say ‘no.’ ” Over the years, he said, “I just started noticing on the county, state and national level more men in the room.”

In 2010 the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, for its part, started NYC Dads, a 14-agency initiative designed to get men to support their children’s development in and out of school. And Dennis M. Walcott, chancellor of the city’s department of education, pushes father-involvement at events like one in St. Albans, Queens, where fathers brought neckties to P.S. 36 and taught their sons how to tie them.

The surge in male leadership has, in many places, followed a more fundamental shift in the nature of the PTA. Women with advanced degrees, high-powered jobs and technological savvy have brought a new level of sophistication and seriousness to the business of supporting schools. The changed dynamic — committees that are better organized, deadlines that are taken seriously, goals that are more ambitious, schedules that accommodate working parents — helped make many PTAs more comfortable for men.

In interviews around the city, many female PTA leaders praised their male counterparts for overhauling disorganized talent shows, automating bookkeeping, building gardens, cultivating contacts with local politicians and silencing parents who go off on tangents during meetings.

Not that women cannot or do not do the same things, but “men on the board can add a calm,” said Kathy Ellman, who has three sons and who served on the PTA board at P.S. 11. “They can be a little more relaxed.”

Still, for every admiring story about a father whose PowerPoint presentation revolutionized the Read-a-Thon, there is one about the bossy treasurer whose budget-balancing came with an off-putting tone. Or the president who chose the wrong time to talk school politics.

And what seems to be a perennial gripe: men going missing when it’s time to do the grunt work.

“You don’t see many male presidents with the cellophane and the curling ribbon working on the auction baskets,” said Bijou Miller, who lives on the Upper West Side and has sat on a half-dozen school-related boards over the last decade.

Mr. Brea of P.S. 11 said he was focusing on appealing to big-ticket donors and setting up processes that future boards can benefit from. He recently helped convert the PTA into a tax-exempt organization, and helped secure a $2,500 computer program that tracks donations.

At P.S. 295 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Dan Janzen used his stint on the grant-writing committee to persuade Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, to give the school $150,000 in interactive white boards.

“That was my aha! moment,” said Mr. Janzen, 44, a freelance copywriter and father of two. “I said, ‘This is real. I can really get things done.’ ”

And at P.S. 261 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, Rick Knutsen, 46, who has a daughter at the school, can sometimes be spotted playing piano for the chorus, or doing a PowerPoint presentation for the PTA, for which he is a president.

Eli Janney, one of the group’s vice presidents, is often at a table in the lobby, Starbuck’s coffee by his side, peddling tickets to a fund-raising event and imploring parents to “Support the school!”

But Mr. Knutsen has faced some discouraging moments. He was recently dressed down, he said, by a mother irate that he chose the cherished winter concert, which draws a big crowd, to vote on a letter opposing a new charter school nearby. She thought his timing was wrong.

“My kid tap-danced and then I got yelled at,” Mr. Knutsen recalled glumly.

Among the beneficiaries of the new PTA dads are their wives.

“If our daughter comes home and tells us about something that happened at school, Rick pretty much already knows about it,” said Mr. Knutsen’s wife, Frances Barney Knutsen, who works for BNY Mellon. “That’s comforting.”

●●smf: PTAs in New York City schools are not affiliated with the National PTA, but beside for that the story and the thinking and the gender dynamics are the same.

SANTORUM + PUBLIC EDUCATION: The backstory

smf: (in)apropos of the previous RICK SANTORUM SUGGESTS OPPOSITION TO PUBLIC EDUCATION, a 4LAKids reader from PA forwarded some ancient history:

Santorum school flap continues

By Daniel Reynolds, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW | http://bit.ly/nSjtbZ

Friday, November 19, 2004  ::  U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum should reimburse $100,000 to the Penn Hills School District for taxpayer money used since 2001 to cover online charter school tuition for his children, four school board members said Thursday.

The senator will not respond until the board makes a formal request, said Santorum's deputy chief of staff, Robert Traynham.

"He has done nothing wrong," Traynham said. "The Penn Hills School District for the last four years has paid for (Santorum's) children to attend the charter school and have seen nothing out of the ordinary. They have basically said, 'This is OK.' "

Questions over his residency prompted Santorum to announce Wednesday that he is withdrawing his five school-age children from Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in Midland, Beaver County. The No. 3 Republican in the Senate, Santorum owns a $106,000 home next door to his wife Karen's parents in Penn Hills, but he and his family split time between there and a $757,000 house in Virginia. Santorum's annual Senate salary is $157,000.

"He's admitted he's not a resident. I'm going to put up a motion for him to pay back the entire amount," said Penn Hills School Board member Erin Vecchio, chairwoman of the local Democratic Committee.

She plans to call on the board during its regular meeting Dec. 7 to urge Santorum to return the tuition money to the district. Three other board members side with Vecchio. One board member said the district should not seek the money. Another declined to comment, and three board members could not be reached.

"When I heard about it, it didn't seem quite right, but I knew if there was an appearance of impropriety, he would pull out of the cyber charter school," said board member Margie Krogh.

Penn Hills Superintendent Patricia Gennari said she phoned the senator Wednesday afternoon to arrange for the district to query him about his residency. Santorum issued a statement late that night saying he had decided to pull his children from the online school and home-school them instead after being told by district officials that "only children who live in a community on a full-time basis" are eligible for the tuition money.

"I just raised the issue and the next thing I know there was a statement," Gennari said.

Santorum decided to avoid subjecting his children to a public fight over his residency, Traynham said.

"The senator does not want to interrupt his children to go into any battle," he said.

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School yesterday offered to allow Santorum to enroll the children without the tuition provided he pick up the technology costs.

"PA Cyber stands behind the Santorum children," Nick Trombetta, the school's CEO, said in a statement. "We made a commitment to the Santorum family. ... We have no intention of abandoning that commitment."

Traynham declined to comment on the offer.

State law requires that traditional public schools pay 80 percent of their per-pupil costs as tuition for students registered in their districts and enrolled in online charter schools.

Santorum began enrolling his children at Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in 2001. Tuition this school year was $38,000 for Santorum's children: Elizabeth, 13; Richard, 11; Daniel, 9; Sarah, 6; and Peter, 5. A sixth child is not yet of school age.

Online charter schools provide parents with computers, textbooks and evaluation services, and pay for Internet connections, allowing children to be taught at home.

Penn Hills board members were unaware the district was footing Santorum's online school bill until stories appeared in local newspapers, Vecchio said.

That the district no longer will be paying those costs is enough for board member Heather Hoolahan, who does not think the district should press Santorum to pay back cyber charter tuition.

"The problem is not with Senator Santorum. The problem is that the law is inherently flawed," she said. "He believed he was entitled to it, and that's a common misconception -- that taxpayer equals resident."

Santorum bought his home at 111 Stephens Lane in Penn Hills in 1997, but spends much of his time with his family at his home in Leesburg, Va., just outside the capital, an arrangement he says is in keeping with the demands of his job and his duties as a husband and father.

"Karen and I believe it is important for our family to be with me when I am working in Washington," he said in Wednesday's statement.

But Penn Hills officials said where Santorum lives matters when it comes to paying online school tuition bills.

District Solicitor Al Maiello said a 2000 case involving the Cumberland Valley School District provides a court definition of residency.

The district challenged the residency of a mother whose regular family home was outside the district, but who spent five days a week with her two children in a townhouse in Cumberland Valley. The state Supreme Court ruled the mother and children were residents of the district based on where they spent their time.

"They stay there during the days and sleep there at night," the court said. "Mail and phone calls are received there. Clothing, books and supplies are kept there as well."

Santorum's niece and nephew, Bart and Alyssa DeLuca, live in his Penn Hills home when he and his family are out of town. Bart DeLuca identified himself as the caretaker when a reporter visited the home. Traynham declined to say how many days a year the senator lives in Penn Hills, or when he last spent the night there.

"He is away when the Senate is in session," Traynham said. "When the Senate is not in session, he is able to stay at his home in Penn Hills."

The Senate is in session an average of 100 days a year, or about 20 weeks.

Santorum receives a tax break known as the homestead exclusion on the Stephens Lane house. Under the break targeted for owner-occupied homes, $15,000 is deducted from a property's assessed value, allowing the owner to reap a small savings -- about $30 for Santorum last year -- on county taxes.

Homeowners must complete applications -- which stipulate that the home must be the primary residence -- to get the tax break.

"How you determine primary residence means you live there most of the time, where you pay wage taxes, where you're registered to vote and what your driver's license says," said Allegheny County Treasurer John Weinstein.

Santorum has a Pennsylvania driver's license, is registered to vote in Penn Hills and pays wage taxes there, Traynham said.

The debate over the senator's residency brought to mind his 1990 House race against Democratic incumbent Doug Walgren, said Dominick Gambino, former director of the Allegheny County Property Assessment office. Santorum labeled Walgren as a carpetbagger for living near the capital rather than in the 18th District.

"I find it kind of interesting that the same issue presents itself today," Gambino said.

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School takes in more than $18 million annually in tax money from districts statewide to enroll about 3,100 students. About 9,000 students are enrolled in the state's 11 cyber charter schools.

Santorum is the only U.S. senator who home-schools his children, according to the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Association.

“Unprofessional Conduct”: LAUSD’S FAILURE TO NOTIFY SACAMENTO OF MIRAMONTE TEACHER’S DISMISSAL COULD RESULT IN SUPERINTENDENT DEASY’S LOSS OF CREDENTIAL FOR FAILING TO COMPLY WITH MANDATORY REPORTING REQUIREMENT

Supt. Deasy told by state agency LAUSD failure to inform on Miramonte teacher posed potential risk to student safety

By Tami Abdollah | KPCC pass/fail  http://bit.ly/wcNmjY 

AFP/AFP/Getty Images -- Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy speaks during a press conference at South Region High School #2 in Los Angeles, California February 6, 2012. Deasy earlier informed parents at a community meeting that the district is replacing the entire staff of Miramonte Elementary School after the arrests of two teachers on lewd conduct charges.

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Feb. 16, 2012  :: The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing wrote Superintendent John Deasy a letter dated Wednesday informing him that the district was posing a "potential risk to student safety" by not filing timely reports required by state regulation when a teacher's employment status changes.

In the case of former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt, accused of spoon-feeding his semen to children, the district did not file paperwork with the commission until nearly a year after it moved to dismiss Berndt.

Nanette Rufo, the commission's director and general counsel, cites the California code of regulations in the letter, which warns Deasy that "failure to make a report required under this section constitutes unprofessional conduct. The Committee may investigate any superintendent who holds a credential who fails to file reports required by this section. (Emphasis added)."

Deasy, who holds a "clear administrative services credential," could not be reached for comment Thursday. District spokesman Thomas Waldman said he is in Sacramento all day testifying on the budget. Waldman could not confirm receipt of the letter.

According to the regulation, the superintendent must report the change in employment status no later than 30 days after the status changes when it is a result of alleged misconduct or an allegation of misconduct is pending.

From the letter, which is subject-lined "Re: Superintendent's Mandatory Reporting Requirement":

"In one recent case we have no record of a report related to the teacher after the final settlement was reached and were only notified that the teacher was charged with multiple counts of lewd acts upon children more than six months after final settlement was reached by your District with the credential holder. Although the Commission is aware that errors can occur, please be aware of the potential for harm to students by not meeting your mandatory requirement to report information to the Commission when credential holders separate while charges of misconduct are pending."

 

Miramonte abuse scandal: LAUSD failed to notify California credentialing commission of accused teacher's suspension

By Tami Abdollah | KPCC Pass/Fail |http://bit.ly/wcNmjY

L.A. Sheriff's Department

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Feb. 16, 2012  ::  The Los Angeles Unified School District violated state law by waiting nearly a year to inform the agency that oversees teacher credentials that it had moved to dismiss former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt accused of spoon-feeding his semen to children.

The state's Commission on Teacher Credentialing suspended Berndt's credential on Jan. 31, the same day he was arrested and charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct on children. But according to the state code of regulations and the education code, the LAUSD should have informed the credentialing commission of Berndt's February 2011 suspension without pay by mid-March of 2011.

The district paid Berndt a $40,000 settlement in June to ensure, it says, that he would no longer work for LAUSD and resign. But with his credential intact, Berndt could have legally obtained employment as a teacher at another district up until January 31.

"We did not, during the course of the investigation inform the CTC about Berndt," said district spokesman Thomas Waldman. "We contacted the Sheriff's Department over the course of the year on 15 occasions to check on the status of the investigation and our ability to move forward. We were told they were conducting an investigation, that we were to refrain from taking any actions that could jeopardize the completion of the investigation, so that was interpreted on our end as not informing the commission regarding Mr. Berndt's status."

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, said that once L.A. Unified removed Berndt from the classroom "our interest in his status as a teacher stopped."

According to the state code of regulations and the education code, when certain actions have been taken against a teacher, such as a dismissal or suspension without pay for more than 10 days, the superintendent is required to inform the state's Commission on Teacher Credentialing of the change in employment status no more than 30 days after the action.

When the commission is notified it then has the ability to investigate and recommend a particular case go forward to its Committee of Credentials for review. During this process the committee can decide to take action against the teacher in various ways, including a private admonition, as well as suspending or revoking his credential, said Marilyn Errett, an administrator for the Office of Governmental Relations for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. If a teacher is convicted of a crime, the credential is automatically revoked, Errett said.

"Even if a case is not necessarily a criminal case, or even if a court has not convicted someone of [something] criminal, we're still looking at unprofessional conduct," Errett said. "...It might not rise to the criminal conviction arena but it might be unprofessional."

The state code of regulations states that the "failure to make a report required under this section constitutes unprofessional conduct. The Committee may investigate any superintendent who holds a credential who fails to file reports required by this section."

Superintendent John Deasy, who holds a "clear administrative services credential," could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In Berndt's case, the LAUSD moved to dismiss him on Feb. 15, 2011, and stopped paying him the next day. The commission should have been informed of this action by mid-March; however, the district sent no paperwork until Jan. 31, 2012, when it e-mailed the charging documents to the commission, said Errett.
Once the commission became aware of the charges against Berndt, it automatically suspended his credential as required by law, Errett said.

During the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's year-long investigation, Berndt, who appealed the dismissal Feb. 17, 2011, received a $40,000 settlement from the district, which included back pay for lost wages, reimbursement for health insurance payments, and $16,000 in legal fees, according to the documents. As part of the agreement, Berndt was reinstated, then allowed to resign on June 30 and thereby keep his lifetime health benefits.

District officials have said their goal was to avoid a lengthy appeals process that could take years and ensure Berndt was out of the classroom.

LAUSD board president Monica Garcia said the district has launched its own investigation into how the Berndt case was handled, and that it will be thoroughly reviewed by an independent commission led by retired California Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Moreno.

"I will be very interested in learning what the commission tells us...about our handling of all the information and [how it can] help us understand what needs to be changed," Garcia said.

Board member Steve Zimmer said that the district's failure to follow procedure was wrong, but that he didn't believe children were in imminent danger.

"Obviously if we didn't follow procedures, we should follow procedures and that's wrong, and that makes me upset," Zimmer said.

UPDATE: On Wednesday, the commission sent Deasy a letter informing him that the district's failure to provide a timely report on teachers posed a "potential risk to student safety."

Clarification: An earlier version of this post stated that Berndt had been dismissed. While the school board approved his dismissal Feb. 15, 2011, Berndt's appeal and later settlement agreement with the district allowed him to be retroactively reinstated to his post. He resigned June 30.

Tami Abdollah can be reached via email and on Twitter (@latams).