The news that didn’t fit from Nov. 9th

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

From the Associated Administrators Los Angeles Weekly Update of October 27, 2008

4LAKids doesn't necessarily agree with all the points below - but agrees wholeheartedly that LAUSD had a great tendency to leave business unfinished, responding to crises and not following through on the business at hand.

This is a failure of the Superintendent, The Board Of Education, District Staff - and because it's ingrained in the culture - of administrators and even the employee unions. If

We the District actually stayed the course and followed through on the reforms and initiatives we started out on we'd be farther along! – smf

AALA, in its continuing effort to keep LAUSD on track, is publishing this list of unfinished business facing the Superintendent and Board of Education.

· High Priority Schools Initiative

· Promising Practices

· Foster Care Initiative

· Senior Staff Development Program.

· Performing Arts High School

· Support For Principals

· Health Benefits

ARTS EDUCATION NEWS: CALIFORNIA BUDGET UPDATE

The Legislature is scheduled to convene a special session in the coming days to deal with the deficit in the state budget that has emerged since the budget was signed in September. Further cuts in state services, including education, will certainly be discussed, along with proposals to raise revenues.

ALLOW OUR SCHOOLS FREEDOM TO INNOVATE

by School Boardmember Tamar Galatzan in her Galatzan Gazette newsletter

At a meeting of the Governance Committee last week, Senior Deputy Superintendent Ray Cortines mentioned something very interesting that I’ve been thinking about ever since.

When addressing ways the District can support school-led innovation, he used Title I funding as an example.He said that many people wrongly believe that federal law prevents the use of Title I dollars for class-size reduction.This prohibition is actually imposed by the District.

STATE ALLOCATION BOARD DIVVIES UP $225 MILLION AMONG SCHOOLS

Thursday, November 06, 2008 -- The State Allocation Board, the state office that decides how state funds are disbursed for the construction and renovation of public schools, has approved payments totaling $225 million for some 310 public schools, or an average of nearly $726,000 per school. The board, in the state government flow chart, is linked to the Office of Public School Construction and the Department of General Services.

LOCAL ELECTIONS/NATIONAL TRENDS - VOTERS PASS ALL 23 L.A. COUNTY SCHOOL BOND MEASURES:

Fifteen receive more than a two-thirds majority, including LAUSD’s $7-billion Measure Q and LACCD's $3.5-billion Measure J + 82% OF BONDS PASS NATIONALLY

It wasn't Los Angeles County's 23 school bonds that drove people to the polls Tuesday, but voters willingly added all of them to the Barack Obama victory parade.

Despite a long ballot, national economic duress and competing tax measures, most of the bonds easily cruised to victory, including the largest ever for a California school district: the $7-billion Measure Q for Los Angeles Unified. It won support from 68.9% of voters.

3 FROM THE HOMEROOM: ROONEY REDUX

• LAWSUIT ALLEGES SCHOOL OFFICIALS KNEW ABOUT SUSPECTED MOLESTER
• OUTSIDE REVIEW ON MOLESTATION EPISODE GETS BAD MARKS
• L.A. UNIFIED'S NEW MEASURES TO PROTECT STUDENTS

LA UNIFIED SEEKS TO BUILD APARTMENTS ON ITS SURPLUS LAND

The district says the low-cost units could house teachers, helping to reduce the attrition rate. Families of students could live there as well, facilitating house calls by teachers.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is looking to develop low-cost apartments on as many as 12 campuses in an effort to help teachers find less expensive housing and live closer to their jobs.

District officials have begun asking real estate developers to submit housing proposals on school campuses in Hollywood and Harbor Gateway and are reviewing other campuses where apartments could be built on surplus land.

GROWING PAINS AND GREAT EXPECTATIONS

The premise of this series of blogs in the NYTimes is “How would you rebuild it if a hurricane came through and blew your school district away?”  Unfortunately it isn’t a hypothetical.

As part of our professional development sessions at the start of this school year, the faculty at my school participated in a team-building exercise to learn more about our leadership styles. Each corner of the room was labeled for one of the four compass points, and included a brief description of a guiding personality style — action, care, detail, and, the corner I chose, speculation: “likes to look at the big picture before acting.”