AP/EIS ARE STILL BEING CUT: “A LOSE-LOSE PROPOSITION”

 

On May 12, 2009, at 8:14 PM, a RIF'ed AP/EIS wrote:

This is a copy of a letter that I sent to the parents at my school. [Despite assurances to the contrary] AP/EIS's (Assistant Principal/ Elementary Instructional Specialist) are still being cut. There will not be enough of us to be effective. It's a lose/lose proposition.

4LAKids background: The LAUSD definition of the AP/EIS position:

• The position of Assistant Principal/Elementary Instructional Specialist (AP/EIS) is an intervention brought about by the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) initiative to address the way special education services are delivered to children in LAUSD's elementary schools.
• Further, the District addressed the interventions that are undertaken to address the educational needs of at-risk students.

Dear Parents:

Have you ever had a concern about your child's speech, motor skills, socialization, or academic development?

Has your child's teacher ever come to you and expressed concerns over their school performance?

If you've had these concerns, you usually come to me to address the issues and to find out how to solve potential problems.

The procedure is to convene an SST or Student Success Team meeting where we discuss these issues and find solutions. If this new plan goes through to split assistant principals between two or more schools, I will no longer be available to do those meetings. Classroom interventions, such as scheduling teacher assistants in the specific classrooms based on the students, will become a thing of the past.

Does your child have special needs? Addressing those special needs through an IEP, (Individualized Educational Program) will be seriously compromised. At (our school) , we've been 100% compliant in all areas of special education because of a wonderful team of support personnel, such as our school psychologist, speech teacher, occupational therapist, adapted P.E. teacher, and resource staff.

I coordinate that team, but I won't be at (our school) to work on that as consistently.

IEP compliance is seriously in jeopardy, but more importantly, your students may not receive services that are necessary to their educational success. In short, if this plan goes through to split my position, children will suffer because they won't be able to receive the appropriate educational services that are necessary for their success.

Please take some time to email the following people. If your child already receives special education services, tell them that. It's very important that they hear from the people who will be most directly affected by this change.

ramon.cortines@lausd.net donnalyn.anton@lausd.net marlene.canter@lausd.net richard.vladovic@lausd.net marguerite.lamotte@lausd.net

monica.garcia@lausd.net tamar.galatzan@lausd.net yolie.flores.aguilar@lausd.net julie.korenstein@lausd.net

Thank you.