RESOLUTIONS BY BOARD MEMBERS

U P D A T E

In L.A. UNIFIED OKS REFORM PACKAGE: (LAT July 11, 2007), Howard Blume, LA Times Staff writer reports:

"(School Board President) Garcia drove not only the meeting but also the blitzkrieg of reform motions. In that endeavor she had assistance from the mayor's office — help that became obvious when mid-level district officials discovered that Villaraigosa's office was listed as the author on the computerized draft files of her motions.

"The mayor's staff offered input and "help in terms of research and support and feedback," Garcia said.

"A spokesman for Villaraigosa characterized the effort similarly. "These documents are a result of a collaborative effort led by school board President Garcia," Matt Szabo said. "At her request, the office provided the board president with drafts she used as a launching point."

The mayor had sought substantial control over L.A. Unified through legislation that was thrown out by the courts. He succeeded, however, in efforts to raise millions that helped elect board members allied to him."

more detail/another viewpoint/same issue: See LA Weekly "Antonio's Kitchen Cabinet"

▲smf's 2¢: The mayors office's bully-pulpit and political-checkbook influence on the school board is one thing, the electronic DNA left on the reform agenda proposals is quite another – showing disrespect if not contempt for the court's opinions in the case that overturned AB1381 and held that the mayor and the City of LA could have no role in the governance of LAUSD. The mayor had an opportunity to challenge those opinions in the Supreme Court and chose not to — that was his opportunity to question the courts' opinions.

If city employees working on city time on city computers spending the city taxpayer's money worked on school district governance issues that would certainly have the appearance of a violation of the spirit if not the letter of the Villaraigosa v. LAUSD, et al. decision.

LAUSD Board of Education Annual Meeting - Order of Business, July 3, 2007

1. DISTRICT ACCOUNTABILITY: TRANSFORMATION METRICS

WHEREAS, The Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles is ultimately responsible for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s success and for improving student achievement;

WHEREAS, In order for the Board to set effective policy that will lead to improved student achievement and District success, the Board must have accurate and meaningful data related to student achievement, student retention, student safety, employee satisfaction, financial results and other areas related to overall District performance;

WHEREAS, The Board should have a defined set of key performance indicators of District success that it analyzes regularly to determine whether or not the District is performing well and improving at a fast enough rate;

WHEREAS, The Board, in collaboration with the Superintendent, should set annual goals that the District expects to meet for each key performance indicators;

WHEREAS, The Board must hold the Superintendent accountable for the performance of the District;

WHEREAS, Student and District performance data should be made available to the public in an easy to read format so that the public can interpret how well the District is doing on key performance indicators and can hold the District accountable for results;

WHEREAS, The current Superintendent has articulated that using data to drive decisions is one of his core principles for transforming the District; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles commits to using student and District performance data in order to drive policy decisions;

RESOLVED FURTHER, The Board directs the Superintendent to deliver a comprehensive report within 30 days which defines the key metrics for measuring District performance that the District is currently using;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board directs the Superintendent to deliver within 60 days a Key Performance Indicator Report which identifies the most critical metrics that the Board will use to measure the District’s performance monthly and annually going forward;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Key Performance Indicator Report include at a minimum:

• Graduation rates

• College acceptance, placement, and eligibility rates (by 2-year and 4-year colleges)

• API scores

• California Standardized Test results

• CAHSEE results

• CELDT scores

• ELL Redesignation rates

• Percentage of students taking/passing A-G courses

• Student retention rates (including reasons student left school)

• Drop-out rates (including reasons student left school)

• Student and teacher attendance rates

• Number of safety incidents reported by campus

• Number of student disciplinary actions taken (suspensions, expulsions, etc.)

• Parent satisfaction (based on evaluations)

• Employee satisfaction

• Employee staffing/vacancy rates

• Financial performance (actual financial expenditures vs. allocated dollars)

RESOLVED FURTHER, That Key Performance Indicator Report include an executive summary, a detailed report, and a summary report that is designed for use by parents and the community at large;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Key Performance Indicator Report breakdown key performance indicators by subgroup (demographics, free & reduced lunch, ELL, etc.), include both raw scores and growth from prior year, and include comparisons with other comparable districts on certain performance indicators;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Superintendent set annual, District wide goals for each Key Performance Indicator and report back to the Board after each school year on progress made against these goals;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board review progress with the Superintendent against certain key performance indicators at the first Board meeting of the month; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That the Board use the District’s performance on key performance indicators to drive policy decisions and hold the Superintendent and the District as a whole accountable for results.

2. LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT PAYROLL ISSUES AND BETTER TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS IMPLEMENTATION

WHEREAS, The Los Angeles Unified School District is responsible for paying its employees on time and accurately;

WHEREAS, If the District does not pay its employees accurately, it is critical that District respond quickly, effectively, and with courtesy to employees’ complaints about inaccurate compensation and fix the problems;

WHEREAS, If employees are consistently paid inaccurately and their complaints about inaccurate pay are not responded quickly and effectively, then they will likely have lower morale at work and this can directly impact student achievement;

WHEREAS, The District implemented a new Business Tools for Schools (BTS) payroll system and issued its first paychecks for certificated employees on February 5, 2007;

WHEREAS, Since February 5, 2007, tens of thousands of employees have received inaccurate pay;

WHEREAS, Since February 2007, employees throughout the District have complained regularly that their complaints about inaccurate pay have not been responded to effectively and employees have been consistently inconvenienced as they have been forced to travel downtown and wait in long lines to receive checks;

WHEREAS, The leadership of the United Teachers Los Angeles and the other unions representing District employees have communicated very clearly that it is a top priority for their members to get the BTS system fixed and get every employee in the District paid accurately and on time;

WHEREAS, As recently as June 5, four month after paychecks were first issued by the BTS system, approximately 32,000 District employees were incorrectly paid; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Education of The City of Los Angeles directs the Superintendent to provide a detailed report on the BTS Implementation to the Board by July 15, 2007;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the detailed report on the BTS Implementation will include an analysis of the BTS implementation to date, which includes at a minimum:

• The total number of employees that have received inaccurate pay since the BTS system was implemented including a percentage breakout by position;

• The total number of instances in which employees received inaccurate pay since the BTS system was implemented;

• Detailed descriptions from both the District staff and Deloitte and Touche of all of the issues that have been identified that contributed to the large numbers of inaccurate paychecks. These issues should be ranked in order from the issue that had the greatest negative impact to the issue with the least negative impact. Additionally, issues should be identified as being related to the software itself, being related to the Deloitte & Touche’s implementation of the software or being related directly to the District;

• A breakout of the total amount of money that has been overpaid to employees and not collected as well as a breakout of the total amount of money that is currently due to all employees;

• A description of any negative impact the BTS implementation has had on the STRS and PERS accounts of employees;

• A detailed description of the current processes available to District employees to remedy inaccuracies in their paychecks including the average time in number of days it takes an employee to receive an accurate remedy to a pay issue;

• A comparison of the current BTS system with the previous system in terms of effectiveness and productivity;

• A summary of the lessons learned from over the last four months from the BTS implementation;

• Description of the departments and individuals within the District most responsible for the problems with BTS and how those departments and individuals are being held accountable and

• Explanation of how Deloitte & Touche is being held accountable for their role in the problems related to BTS;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the detailed report on the BTS Implementation include a plan for solving all outstanding issues related to the BTS implementation, including at a minimum:

• The date that the District commits to hit for resolving all outstanding issues related to the BTS implementation as well as a detailed week by week and/or month by month plan for what issues will get resolved and when;

• The total estimated additional cost required to fix all of the outstanding issues related to the BTS implementation;

• A detailed plan of how to, most quickly and effectively, resolve employees’ complaints related to pay before all of the issues with BTS system are fixed;

• An analysis for whether or not the District could re-implement the old payroll system and stop the implementation of the new BTS system. This analysis should include a description of the pros and cons of reverting to the previous payroll system and a breakout of what it would cost to revert to the old payroll system;

• An assessment of the possibility of outsourcing some or all of the District’s payroll to a third party payroll provider for a temporary period of time while the district fixes the existing system;

• A description of the accountability that Deloitte & Touche has built into its contract for moving forward to ensure that the estimated additional cost required to fix all outstanding issues related to BTS does not increase;

• A description of the accountability for District employees responsible for resolving all outstanding issues related to the BTS implementation;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That by July 15, all employees will receive a reconciliation statement from the District that shows the amounts each employee has been paid since the BTS system was implemented and the amounts each employee is owed. This should include reconciliation for contributions made to STRS and PERS;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That additional funds, which were not originally budgeted, but must be expended to complete the successful BTS implementation should not come from educational programs that affect classroom teachers and students. These funds should come from additional revenue, cuts in the bureaucracy, or other areas that do not directly impact the classroom;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That until all outstanding issues related to the BTS implementation are resolved, the District will operate emergency pay centers in every local district and these emergency pay centers will either have the capacity to issue reconciliation checks directly or will receive checks in a timely manner from the central office and distribute those checks directly at the emergency pay center;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the District set up a process whereby employees who have documented evidence of financial hardship due to the District’s payroll errors can present their evidence to a designated person at the District and can be made whole by the District if the designated person determines that financial hardship did in fact occur as a result of the BTS implementation; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That the District hire an independent third party entity to monitor and audit the implementation of the BTS system moving forward.

3. “DIPLOMAS FOR ALL”: INCREASING THE NUMBER OF HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES

WHEREAS, The Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles is responsible for ensuring that children educated in the Los Angeles Unified School District have the opportunity to receive a quality education that earns them a meaningful, A-G high school diploma, and are college prepared and career ready;

WHEREAS, The Board believes that it is unacceptable that only 28,421 students graduated from the 12th grade in 2006 in spite of the fact that over 68,802 students started in the 9th grade four years earlier;

WHEREAS, A “Diplomas for All” policy requires that the District develop and implement a comprehensive strategy that includes a strong instructional program, leadership training, and development;

WHEREAS, In the competitive environment of the 21st Century it is essential for individuals in Los Angeles to have a high school diploma in order to obtain a living wage;

WHEREAS, The Board believes that the District has the potential to become the best school district in the nation and a school system that successfully educates children who attend its schools; now,

therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles be committed to a goal whereby within eight years all students that start school in Los Angeles Unified School District and do not move out of the District or go to a private school, will receive an excellent education and graduate from high school college prepared and career ready;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board directs the Superintendent to deliver a comprehensive eightyear strategic plan within the next 120 days which includes principal strategies needed for successful implementation (i.e. professional development, re-classification of English Learners,

etc.), benchmarks for measuring progress with annual targets to significantly increase graduation rates, and a student tracking mechanism that would allow the District to accurately measure its progress against the plan. This comprehensive, long-term, strategic plan should include extensive detail for the reforms and strategies that the District will implement over the next two years;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board directs the Superintendent to report to the Board semi-annually to discuss the progress the District is making towards the graduation of all students by 2015. The report shall include an analysis of the reasons for why the District has or has NOT met its graduation targets in the prior year as well as a detailed description of any new strategies the Superintendent will use in the subsequent year in order to increase the number of graduates. The report must also show how the budget for the subsequent year will be aligned with the District’s key priorities.

4. ENGLISH LEARNERS: HOPE ON THE HORIZON

WHEREAS, The Los Angeles Unified School District has undertaken the responsibility to provide every student with a high quality education and a coherent and rigorous curriculum leading to high school graduation college prepared and career ready;

WHEREAS, The District has framed the vision of providing every student with a stellar, state of the art pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade education within a safe and caring environment that fully engages parents and the community;

WHEREAS, The District has expressed its commitment to close the achievement gap among the lowest performing students in the District; and, in accordance with the resolution unanimously approved in 2002, schools, Local District staff, and central office personnel were encouraged to “fully embrace and implement the…initiative in its entirety, holding schools as well as local and central offices accountable for the academic success of English Learners.”

WHEREAS, The District provides services to approximately 290,000 English Learners in some 840 schools and education centers through Structured English Immersion programs, Basic Bilingual programs, dual language programs, newcomer programs, and Cultural Education;

WHEREAS, The District has failed to provide a District-wide vision, focus, and set of expectations to reverse the alarming drop out rates, the persistent gap in achievement; and the inequitable access to high quality instructional programs for English Learners;

WHEREAS, The District has not yet developed a cohesive approach to curricular, instructional or professional development needs that will create a sound foundation for success of English Learners;

WHEREAS, The Elementary Division’s Language Acquisition Branch and secondary staff in the content areas have failed to collaborate across grade configurations to create a cohesive pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade curriculum;

WHEREAS, The data demonstrates that current standards-based strategies, curriculum, and instruction are not uniformly implemented and contribute to a culture of lowered expectations that affect English language development progress and student achievement levels of English Learners and immigrant students;

WHEREAS, 84% of English Learners in the elementary grades receive instruction in the Structured English Immersion Program;

WHEREAS, 78% of English Learners in the secondary grade receive instruction totally in English;

WHEREAS, Approximately 49% of English Learners who received all their elementary instruction in the District entered middle school without reclassifying;

WHEREAS, Approximately 37% of English Learners who received all their K-8 instruction in the District matriculated from middle school into high school without reclassifying;

WHEREAS, The percentage of English Learners in the elementary grades who score Proficient or Above in the CST – English Language Arts is 13%;

WHEREAS, The percentage of English Learners in the elementary grades who score Proficient or Above in the CST – Mathematics is 32%;

WHEREAS, The percentage of English Learners in the secondary grades who score Proficient or Above in the CST – English Language Arts is 3%;

WHEREAS, The percentage of English Learners in the secondary grades who score Proficient or Above in the CST – Mathematics is 4%; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles directs the Superintendent to fully embrace and implement the Title III initiative in its entirety, holding schools as well as local and central offices accountable for the academic success of English Learners;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board directs the Superintendent to design a comprehensive English Language Development support system that meets the needs of English Learners in elementary, middle, and high schools;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board directs the Superintendent to develop a comprehensive Structured English Immersion program for Early Education and Full-day Kindergarten;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Superintendent directs the Office of Instruction to develop a 1-2 year program to transition recently reclassified English Learner students to a rigorous, content-based curriculum;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Superintendent institutes an after-school ELD enrichment program and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) preparation program for middle and high school students;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Superintendent directs the newly established Deputy Superintendent for Professional Development, Learning and Leadership to develop a program of on-going professional development for teachers assigned to Structured English Immersion programs, Basic Bilingual programs, and Dual Language Programs;

RESOLVED FURTHER, that the Superintendent convenes the appropriate administrative staff to rethink the current policies, practices, and procedures for the expansion of District-wide alternative bilingual programs, including Basic Bilingual and Dual Language Programs;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Superintendent directs staff to design an information sharing mechanism that includes an easily accessible, parent friendly tracking report to indicate a student’s course selection, current ELD level, and reclassification status; and be it finally RESOLVED, That the Superintendent reports back to the Board in six months on the methods of professional and staff development, parent outreach, and evaluation that have been employed for implementation by the Office and Instruction and local districts.

5. TEACH LAUSD CAMPAIGN

WHEREAS, In order for the Los Angeles Unified School District to become the best school district in the country and an educational system in which all students are able to receive a quality high school diploma, the District must effectively involve parents in the educational experiences of the students it serves;

WHEREAS, For purposes of this resolution, the definition of parents includes legal guardians;

WHEREAS, The Board of Education for the City of Los Angeles believes that effectively involving parents includes the following activities: welcoming parents into schools regularly; educating parents on what their children are experiencing at school; regularly communicating with parents through multiple means of communication; offering parents a wide variety of ways to get involved in their children’s educational experiences at school, after school or on weekends;

providing services to parents when possible; and quickly and respectably responding to parents’ requests.

WHEREAS, Parents play a critical role in public schools and are key factors in producing measurable gains in student academic success, closing the achievement gap, reducing drop-out rates, increasing graduation rates, promoting positive adolescent behavior, and furthering student’s emotional development;

WHEREAS, The District, in April 2006, developed a Title I Parent Involvement Policy to better engage parents and more explicitly define parental roles and responsibilities in Title I schools;

WHEREAS, The Superintendent stated in his Annual State of the Schools speech in 2007 that empowering and engaging parents was one of his core principles for reforming the District;

WHEREAS, The Superintendent has proposed to create the Office of Parent and Civic Engagement (OCE), which will engage parents in the community and be responsible for all parent involvement programs and activities to better incorporate parents into schools;

WHEREAS, The Board believes that it is the responsibility of all employees in the District to value parents and effectively involve parents in schools and the District as a whole; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles is committed to effectively involving parents in schools and in the Los Angeles Unified School District as a whole;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That every school in the District should employ the equivalent of at least one person with the direct responsibility for engaging parents in their respective school; \\

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board strongly supports the Superintendent’s commitment to the empowerment and engagement of parents as a guiding principle for transforming the District;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board directs the Superintendent to deliver within 90 days a report on the effectiveness of the implementation of the Title I Parent Involvement Policy (passed in April 2006) during the 2006-2007 school year. This report should include at a minimum the following:

• The total number of schools that implemented the policy,

• The actual increase in number of parents involved in their children’s schools as a result of the effective implementation of the policy,

• Any data related to whether or not parent satisfaction with schools increased as a result of the implementation of this policy,

• An assessment from the Superintendent’s staff regarding the effectiveness of the policy,

• A summary of the both the best practices and the challenges that resulted from the implementation of this policy;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board directs the Superintendent to deliver within 120 days a detailed plan that outlines how the Office of Parent and Civic Engagement will lead to an improvement in parent engagement and empowerment in the District. This plan should include at a minimum the following:

• A description of goals of the Office of Parent and Civic Engagement and a plan for how

those goals will be carried out,

• An outline of the process and training that will be used by the district to train administrators, classified staff, and teachers to better engage parents at schools sites,

• An overview of the different parent engagement programs that the Office of Parent and Civic Engagement will be recommending to schools,

• A description of how the district will hold itself accountable for results for parent engagement including what specific metrics the district will track,

• A summary of how the work of the Office of Parent and Civic Engagement will be an improvement over the work done to implement the 2006 Parent Involvement Policy,

• A budget for the Office of Parent and Civic Engagement.

6. LEADERS OF LEADERS PROGRAM

WHEREAS, In order for The Los Angeles Unified District to become a district where all students graduate from high school with meaningful high school diplomas it must have quality principals leading every school;

WHEREAS, Principals, teachers, and counselors as collaborative leaders are essential to the success of the schools they lead and are the instructional leaders responsible for inspiring teachers, classified staff, students, parents and the community;

WHEREAS, In order to effectively lead schools, the District must invest both in developing aspiring principals from its teacher, counselor, coach, and assistant principal ranks and in developing its existing principals to ensure that they are experts in instructional leadership and school management;

WHEREAS, Creating a district in which all employees are lifelong learners is one of the five guiding principles that the Superintendent has stated will be the foundation for transforming the District; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles directs the Superintendent to create a new, comprehensive Principal Leadership Program focused on developing outstanding

new principals and on providing principals with additional support in their first two years;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the primary purpose of the Principal Leadership Program will be to develop principals who will be strong instructional leaders, effective managers, parent and community centered and focused intensely on student achievement;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Principal Leadership Program be developed during the 2007-2008 school year and launched before the start of the 2008-2009 school year; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That the Board directs the Superintendent to deliver, within 150 days, a detailed plan for the Principal Leadership Program that will be launched before the start of the 2008-2009 school year. This plan should include at a minimum:

• Detailed description of the Principals Leadership Program for both aspiring principals as well as for first and second year principals,

• Target number of aspiring principals and first and second year principals that will be developed annually through the Principal Leadership Program,

• Projected cost of the Principal Leadership Program,

• Potential sources of philanthropy to fund the Principal Leadership Program,

• Partners that will be used to help develop the Principal Leadership Program,

• Partners and/or District staff that will be used to help in the delivery of the Principal Leadership Program,

• Metrics for measuring the success of the Principal Leadership Program,

• Recommendation of changes to make to the principal recruitment and hiring processes,

• Description of the relationship between the Principal Leadership Program and university credentialing programs.

7. SMALLER COMMUNITY SCHOOLS AND MORE K-8 SCHOOLS

WHEREAS, In 2006, the California Standardized Testing (CST) indicated that 72% and 71% of 7th grade students in the Los Angeles Unified School District were not performing at grade level in English and Math, respectively. The CST further indicated that 77% and 54% of 10th grade students in the District are not performing at grade level in English and Math, respectively;

WHEREAS, 90% of the District schools are above the State average, with the average size of middle schools being 1,960 with some middle schools serving over 3,100 students, and the average size of District high schools is 2,770 with some high schools serving as many as 4,700 students;

WHEREAS, Research has shown that making schools smaller is one strategy that school districts have taken to help increase student achievement, improve attendance rates, and lower dropout rates;

WHEREAS, The Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles passed a resolution in July of 2004,

stating its support of smaller learning environments through the development of Small Learning Communities (SLC’s) in schools and the Superintendent has expressed a desire to develop Small Learning Communities at many of the District’s low performing middle schools;

WHEREAS, Another strategy school districts have used for making middle schools smaller (in addition to Small Learning Communities) is to transform elementary schools into K-8 schools;

WHEREAS, Smaller K-8 schools can further facilitate stability for young adolescents by eliminating the transition from elementary to middle school and grant older students the opportunity to serve as mentors/tutors to younger students;

WHEREAS, Small schools, including K-8 schools, assist teachers in identifying and preventing students who may be failing or on the verge of dropping out, allow teachers to better understand their students’ emotions and academic needs, improve instructional sharing among the faculty, and strengthen relationships among teachers;

WHEREAS, Smaller schools, including K-8 schools, enable students to develop more personal relationships with administrators and teachers, and are generally safer;

WHEREAS, Small schools, including K-8 schools, increase the likelihood that parents will be engaged in their child’s school and form parent communities that will be actively involved in their child’s education;

WHEREAS, Parents in communities throughout the District have asked for more small schools and for their elementary and middle schools to be transformed into K-8 schools where possible;

WHEREAS, New school facilities, including their libraries, gymnasiums, athletic fields and swimming pools of these new facilities, more accessible to communities surrounding these schools which will increase the likelihood that communities are more engaged in their schools and will help to uplift communities surrounding new schools;

WHEREAS, The District is building an additional 77 new schools over the next 6 years that have not yet been designed and is also assessing how to redesign existing schools to make those schools more conducive to Small Learning Communities; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles directs that all of the remaining new schools where, as of the date this resolution is passed, a preferred site has yet to be approved by the Board will be built as small schools that serve ideally no more than 500 students but certainly no more than 1,000 students, unless otherwise approved by the Board;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board of Education be committed to identifying and maximizing joint-use opportunities for all new schools that are built so that new District schools may enrich the lives of the communities they are intended to serve;

RESOLVED FURTHER, that the Board directs the Superintendent to deliver within 60 days a report on school size and school configuration that includes the following at a minimum:

• Total number of schools in the District grouped by school size in categories of 0 – 500 students, 500 –1,000 students, and more than 1,000 students, and grouped by type of school (elementary, middle, k-8, high, continuation, other),

• Total number of small learning communities at the high school level

• Total number of small learning communities at the middle school level,

• Current plans for increasing the number of small learning communities within high schools,

• Current plans for increasing the number of small learning communities within middle schools,

• Current plans for increasing the number of K-8 schools;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board directs the Superintendent to deliver within 120 days a report which assesses the feasibility of transforming elementary and middle schools into K-8 schools. This report should include at a minimum:

• A list of all existing elementary schools that have the projected facility capacity to add a 6th, 7th and/or 8th grade,

• A prioritized list of the ten elementary schools that can most easily be transformed into K-8 schools. Prioritization should be based on: a) current and expected facility capacity of the elementary schools, b) prioritizing elementary schools that feed into middle schools that have exceeded their original intended operating capacity, and c) community demand,

• Preliminary analysis of the financial cost, the impact on school employees and the impact on the community of transforming prioritized ten elementary schools into K-8 schools,

• A detailed process for how the District will make a final determination on whether or not to transform the ten prioritized elementary into K-8 schools,

• A recommendation for whether or not the District should focus on transforming elementary and middle schools into K-8 schools.

8 “TEACH LAUSD” CAMPAIGN

WHEREAS, The Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles is responsible for ensuring that children educated in Los Angeles Unified School District graduate college prepared and career ready;

WHEREAS, Teachers are the drivers of high achievement;

WHEREAS, The District must attract highly qualified, teachers, counselors, classified staff members, administrators, police officers, and other employees to work in the District; WHEREAS, All schools must be fully staffed in order to provide optimal service to students and parents;

WHEREAS, The number of teachers that the District needs to hire annually over the next few years is likely to increase substantially due to implementation of SB 1133;

WHEREAS, The District should focus on attracting more educators from graduate schools and other school districts to work in the District, on getting more professionals from other industries to move into teaching, and on influencing more college graduates to go into the teaching profession.

WHEREAS, The Board believes more individuals would apply to work at the District if the District improved its marketing and recruiting capabilities;

WHEREAS, Partners such as Teach for America and the New Teacher Project have expressed an interest in increasing the scope of their partnerships to recruit high quality talent to the District;

WHEREAS, The Board has already launched efforts such as the Teacher Recruitment & Student Support Grant Program in order to attract more teachers to work in the District;

WHEREAS, The Board believes that recruiting is one of the most important functions performed by the District; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Board of Education of The City of Los Angeles directs the Superintendent to launch a “Teach LAUSD” campaign by November 1, 2007;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the goal of the “Teach LAUSD” campaign is to increase the total number of candidates that apply to be teachers, administrators, counselors, police officers, classified employees and volunteers in the District as well as the overall quality and experience level of those candidates;

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Superintendent delivers a detailed plan which lays out all key aspects of the “Teach LAUSD” campaign to the Board by October 1, 2007. This plan must include at a minimum the following:

• Identify target number of teachers, administrators, counselors, police officers, classified staff and other District employees that the District plans to hire by the start of the 2008-2009 school year,

• A description and timeline of the specific activities that the District will carry out during the 2007-2008 school year to increase the number of candidates that apply to work at District,

• A list of the partners and potential partners that the District will work with on the “Teach LAUSD” campaign as well as strategies for working with each type of partner. Partners should include universities, the City of Los Angeles and other municipalities, non-profit organizations such as Teach for America and the New Teacher Project, the business community, and for-profit recruiting agencies,

• Incentives the District could potentially provide to attract employees such as low-income housing, tuition reimbursement programs, and bonuses,

• Communications strategy including sample marketing materials that will be used in campaign such as TV and print advertisements, pamphlets and web pages,

• Specific strategies for influencing professionals to switch careers and come into education and for influencing more young people to come into education,

• A financial analysis of what it will cost to run the “Teach LAUSD” campaign during the 2007-2008 school year

• Strategies for funding the costs of the “Teach LAUSD: campaign that are not currently funded in the District budget.