Saturday, February 28, 2009

The news that didn’t fit from March 1st

PARENTS ♥ Mrs. Thomas
LA Times photo by Mel Melcon TAFT HIGH RALLY: Steven Lazarek, a campus safety worker at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, holds up a sign at a rally in support of Principal Sharon Thomas, who was among six employees reassigned this week for allegedly not reporting a hazing incident in a timely matter.

CHATSWORTH HIGH CANCELS FALL PLAY, BUT SPIRIT LIVES ON IN YOUNG ACTORS
Picking up the threads of 'Quilters' Sandy Banks | LA TIMES COLUMNIST February 28, 2009 - The Chatsworth High School drama program boasts an illustrious list of movie alums: Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, action hero Val Kilmer and Emmy Award-winning actress Mare Winningham. But a look at a recent school newsletter shows just how far the program has fallen since Spacey and Winningham played

Opinion: INNOVATION WILL DRIVE NEW FEDERAL FUNDING FOR EDUCATION
By Ted Mitchell and Reed Hastings | Special to the San Jose Mercury News 02/27/2009 -- The passage of the stimulus bill last week instantly doubled the federal role in funding schools, with an unprecedented influx of $95 billion. The question is, in education, what will that money buy? Most of the answer is jobs: fewer pink slips for teachers, and dirt finally moving on long-stalled

LET’S KEEP EDUCATION THE PRIORITY
By L.J. Williamson | Opinion in the Daily News 2/26/09 -- I'm a former student of George K. Porter Middle School in Granada Hills. Between my memories of my experience there and the experiences I've had as the parent of a student in the Los Angeles Unified School District, I'm not at all surprised to learn that the administrators at Porter may have bungled an attempted drug sting. The

THE MAY 19 BALLOT MEASURES
The State Legislative Analyst’s Office has prepared a summary and analysis for each of the six measures. The Secretary of State has now posted the ballot summaries, arguments for and against, and other information.

The view from Cuba: PREVÉN 10 MIL DESPIDOS EN LOS ÁNGELES, CALIFORNIA | LA SCHOOLS TO LAY OFF THOUSANDS
pREnSA lATINA/ tHE cuban press agency Prevén 10 mil despidos en Los Ángeles, California Washington, 27 feb(PL) La Junta de Educación del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Ángeles (LAUSD, por sus siglas en inglés) prevé enviar unas 10 mil notificaciones de despido antes del 15 de marzo próximo. Ese número de avisos puede ser más alto porque todavía no

K-12: A NEW FORMULA FOR SUCCESS
By Jerry Large | Seattle Times staff columnist In a new book W. Norton Grubb from UC Berkeley posits that when we link money to outcome we may be using the wrong tools to measure the wrong things. The challenge is neither about funding nor data. It’s beyond numbers …about more compound, complex and abstract factors. Thursday

National Review: OBAMA GIVES FAILING SCHOOLS A PASS, The day of reckoning has arrived — except for teachers’ unions.
By Chester E. Finn Jr. & Michael J. Petrilli | National Review Online February 26, 2009 -- President Obama’s address to Congress is earning plaudits for its honesty, candor, and can-do/will-do/must-do spirit. Rather than just picking out scapegoats to pin our economic woes on, the president took pains to explain that we’re all responsible, that “we managed to spend more money and pile up more

BEVERLY HILLS ‘OPPORTUNITY PERMIT’ STUDENTS REMAIN IN LIMBO
by Seema Mehta | LA Times LA NOW blog 10:01 AM | February 26, 2009 The fate of nearly 500 "opportunity permit" students -- those who live outside Beverly Hills but attend the city's prestigious schools -- remains uncertain. Trustees of the Beverly Hills Unified School District agreed Tuesday not to issue any new opportunity permits. But during their five-hour meeting, trustees could not

Cortines: “UNITE, TAKE OVER THE SCHOOLS”
Opinion By Bill Boyarsky | http://www.jewishjournal.com February 25, 2009 -- Los Angeles Schools Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines has a strong message to Jewish parents and others nervously considering public school education for their children — unite and take over the schools. “They have done this in the past,” he said. I interviewed Cortines recently about a subject of great importance to

BUDGET SHORTFALL THREATENS ACADEMIC DECATHLON
By Rachel Heller | www.jewishjournal.com February 25, 2009 -- It’s 11:30 a.m. on an overcast Saturday, and high school juniors Dakota Glueck and Jimmy Biblarz are sitting on their desks in a second-floor classroom, counting how many species of fruit flies they can name. Somewhere after D. melanogaster, the shaggy-haired teens get stuck on a multi-syllabic word and furrow their brows. “I

A PROBLEMATIC PARTNERSHIP: MAYOR’S PROGRAM TO BOOST 10 NEEDY SCHOOLS HAS HAD A CHALLENGING FIRST SEVEN MONTHS
New parent center at Gompers Middle is a win for the mayor's Partnership for L.A. Schools, but the fledgling program has had its problems. Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times - Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hobnobs with parents after he inaugurated the refurbished center for them at Gompers Middle School, a victory for his Partnership program. By Howard Blume | LA Times February

Countdown: THE COMING BALLOT FIGHT + CONSTITUTIONALLY UNCONVENTIONAL
SacBee CAPITOL Alert | Shane Goldmacher The political establishment is already starting to gear up for the budget-centric special election on May 19. Here are the budget measures that will be on that ballot: Proposition 1A: Implements a spending cap based on the rate of growth from the last 10 years. If approved, it would extend the length of the taxes approved by the Legislature.

PTA ADVOCATES FINANCE REFORM
PRESS RELEASE February 23, 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Carol Kocivar Vice President, Communications (415) 577-1125 Alison apRoberts Communications Manager (916) 440-1985, ext. 106 California State PTA

EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS FROM ASSEMBLY EDUCATION CHAIR BROWNLEY
Committee and Legislative Appointments: Chair Education Committee Member Budget Committee Judiciary Committee Natural Resources Committee Budget Subcommittee #1 – Health and Human Services Budget Subcommittee #2 – Education Finance Legislative Liaison, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission Legislative Participant, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy

VAN NUYS HIGH MUSIC TEACHER HONORED AS INSPRITATION (Sic)
…and apparently spelling doesn’t count at the Daily News! By Dennis McCarthy, Columnist | Los Angeles Newspaper Group 02/21/2009 When producers of the 1995 hit movie "Mr. Holland's Opus" and its star, Richard Dreyfuss, were looking for a young, vibrant music teacher to model the movie's leading character after, they stopped by Robert Eisenhart's music class at Van Nuys High School. They sat

PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION RULING ON EXPO LINE CROSSINGS @ DORSEY & FOSHAY: Ped. Bridge for Farmdale but not for Foshay + LAUSD SLAMS ‘CLOSED DOOR’ PROCESS
Friday, February 20, 2009 by Damien Newton in StreetsBlogLA February 20, 2009 - Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) finally released its twice delayed, two-years in the making, decision regarding whether or not to allow Phase I of the Expo Line be constructed at grade past Dorsey High School and the Foshay Learning Center. The ruling clears the way for Phase I of the Expo

UTLA SECONDARY VICE PRESIDENT SPEAKS TO WEARY TEACHERS
Lauren Mendoza| USC ANNENBERG February 19, 2009 10:26 PM - United Teachers Los Angeles' Secondary Vice President Gregg Solkovits tried to ease the nerves of concerned teachers, or as he called them "teachers on the chopping block," at an informational meeting in the San Fernando Valley Thursday just a week after teachers rallied against budget cuts to education. "We can't predict the

No comments: