L.A. UNIFIED CUTS SPARK PROTESTS, FINGER POINTING: In an attempt to redirect the budget ax, organizations have launched campaigns for each potential victim and rallied their members to make calls and write e-mails and letters to Supt. Ramon Cortines.

L.A. Unified cuts spark protests, finger-pointing

 

By Raja Abdulrahim | LA Times
7:19 PM PDT

Queen of Hearts: Who's been painting my roses red?

Card: Not me, your grace! The ace, the ace!

Queen of Hearts: You?

Card: No, two!

Queen of Hearts: The two, you say?

Card: Not me! The three!

March 29, 2009 — As Los Angeles Unified Supt. Ramon Cortines and the Board of Education attempt to bridge a $718-million budget deficit with widespread cuts and layoffs, supporters of each program, position and school at risk are pointing the finger elsewhere as they try to redirect the budget ax. It is oddly reminiscent of a scene from "Alice in Wonderland" as all sides try to escape fiscal pain. The board could vote on the budget cuts on Tuesday.

Parent groups, unions and other organizations have launched campaigns for each potential fiscal victim and rallied their members to make calls and write e-mails and letters. They've flooded the offices of the board and the superintendent, who said he has received between 50 and 100 e-mails, calls and letters a day.

"Because that's the way we do business in L.A., you come and scream and yell and you usually get your way," Cortines said in an interview. "Well I'm a little different. I listen, but it has to be logical, it has to be reasonable, you have to bring me a plan that lives within the budgetary parameters."

At last week's school board meeting, and at previous sessions, supporters (dressed in pink, yellow, purple and white T-shirts proclaiming their causes) of special education, assistant principals, cafeteria workers and custodians, art programs and graduation advisors spoke about why their positions must be saved.

In early March, parent groups and the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles discovered that more than 400 assistant principals were slated to be cut and replaced with 200 special education specialists. MOMS UNITE, founded by two mothers from Castle Heights Elementary School in Cheviot Hills, began an e-mail campaign with more than 5,000 parents.

"We understand the state mandate, yet they need to make sense," said MOMS UNITE co-founder Ginger Bower, a Cheviot Hills stay-at-home mother.

"We're not naive, we understand that cuts need to be made," added fellow co-founder Victoria Rierdan Hurley, a Beverlywood mother who works in public relations. "But we will protest things that will impact the quality of education that the students are getting."

Meanwhile, the administrators group, who are opposed to any layoffs, suggested a reduction in the number of assistant principals -- rather than replacing them with specialists -- that would still save money. Cortines accepted that proposal; this was the only group that offered an alternative, he said.

MOMS UNITE is now turning its attention to try to prevent cuts that would increase class sizes. Hurley said the group is different from others because they have no special interest.

"Our interest is to protect the entire school system," she said.

Others who are trying to protect their jobs and special programs, however, consider their positions to be equally crucial to the functioning of the district.

At Tuesday's meeting, one group dressed in bright yellow T-shirts handed out fliers of equally bright hue that read: "Why LAUSD schools need Diploma Project Advisors." Another flier distributed by Service Employees International Union members stated that laying off more than 1,000 cafeteria workers, custodians and teacher aides would deal "another devastating blow to our children's education."

In late February, Cortines and board member Tamar Galatzen attended a meeting at West Valley Special Education Center in Van Nuys where teachers and parents had heard rumors about a possible closure for months. Two days later, Cortines was at C. Morley Sellery Special Education Center in Gardena where parents and teachers had heard similar talk of closure. Both schools could be closed because of low enrollment, a savings for the district of $1 million to $2 million for each campus, officials said.

"This is a school that the teachers and parents and staff are passionate about, but there are dozens of other schools and programs that have its supporters," Galatzen said. "And everyone is 'no, no, not my program, this is the best thing the district's doing,' and we're hearing it from every angle."

Donnalynn Anton, associate superintendent of special education, said the finger-pointing campaigns are common during budget crises. "Given the budget and the state of the state and the state of the nation . . . everyone's going to hurt in this place, it's a pretty disastrous time."

Some who are at risk are trying to save their jobs and programs by insisting that their elimination won't save the district much money, or could even cost more.

"From a practical standpoint we were told passion is great, teaching is great, environment of the school is great, but all the school district cares about is dollars and cents," said Steve Rosen, a West Valley parent who spoke at the February meeting attended by Cortines. "We have to be practical."

Busing the more than 130 students to other campuses would be costly, supporters said.

At Sellery, parents told Cortines that savings from closing the school wouldn't be significant in light of the huge deficit, said Principal Karol McQueary.

"They say we're sort of a drop in the bucket," McQueary said. "Especially because of the cost of moving our students, they [the parents] feel that cuts should be made elsewhere."

 

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●●smf’s 2¢:

1. The quickest way to attract my attention is to quote Lewis Carroll; the very Wonderlandian/Through the Looking Glass absurdity of LAUSD is its most endearing quality.
2. "Because that's the way we do business in L.A., you come and scream and yell and you usually get your way," Cortines said in an interview. "Well I'm a little different. I listen, but it has to be logical, it has to be reasonable, you have to bring me a plan that lives within the budgetary parameters."  The Red Queen, talking backwards, couldn’t have said it better. This is bureaucratic public service at its most lazy. Cortines is saying that’s it’s not enough to prove him wrong – you must also solve his problem or he’s going to do it his way. He is paid the big bucks to solve problems. He has a big staff to solve problems.

When i was young
It seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees
Well they´d be singing so happily
Oh joyfully, oh playfully watching me
But then they sent me away
To teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh responsible ,practical
And they showed me a world
Where i could be so dependable
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical

There are times when all the world´s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won´t you please, please tell me what we´ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who i am

Now watch what you say
Or they´ll be calling you a radical
A liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
Oh won´t you sign up your name
We´d like to feel you´re
Acceptable, respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!

At night when all the world´s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won´t you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who i am, who i am ,who i am.

-- "The Logical Song" by Supertramp