LOS ANGELES TIMES
A TIMES INVESTIGATION: Accused on complaints once police or prosecutors dropped criminal actions, leaving students vulnerable to molesters.
By Jason Song
May 10, 2009
The 13-year-old on the witness stand looked to be an ordinary adolescent, her diffident smile unveiling a set of braces. Her attorney began gently, with questions about her favorite band and trips to the mall.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers10-2009may10,0,1000273.story
Principal, executive director named for new arts high school
Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times
OPENING IN SEPTEMBER: The administrators of High School No. 9, the striking new arts high school in downtown Los Angeles, must hire a teaching staff, complete the curriculum, evaluate students and open the doors in four months.
Suzanne Blake and Rex Patton come from within L.A. Unified. They plan to be ready to open the new campus in September.
By Mitchell Landsberg
May 9, 2009
Months behind schedule and under withering criticism, Los Angeles school officials have selected a leadership team for a new downtown arts high school that is intended to become a national model for teaching dance, theater, music and visual arts to underprivileged students.
A YEAR AT LOCKE: These exams also put teachers to the test
Benchmark exams not only improve student performance, they help make instructors accountable.
May 10, 2009
At any point during the academic year, the teachers and principals at Locke High School know precisely how much progress their students are making toward satisfying state standards. Several times a year, all students take benchmark exams, with the results loaded into a computer so that teachers and administrators can analyze their progress within a day or so.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-assess10-2009may10,0,2296326,print.story
California Briefing
LOS ANGELES: A drive to avoid teacher layoffs
More than 100 parent members of the activist group ACORN, along with students and teachers union members, held a forum Saturday at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex in downtown Los Angeles to kick off a statewide campaign to underscore state-level reforms needed to avert teacher layoffs and class size increases.
In the short term, organizers want Los Angeles Unified School District officials to use federal stimulus money.
Organizers also want to have eliminated the two-thirds vote requirement for passing the state budget.
-- Ruben Vives
DAILY NEWS
LAUSD releases details on early retirement package
Daily News Wire Services
Updated: 05/11/2009 07:39:50 AM PDT
School officials plan to release details today on a plan to offer Los Angeles Unified School District workers in non-teaching positions early retirement in order to save hundreds of jobs and delay layoff notices for 2,600 district employees.
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12342573
A new generation of parents demands a voice in school budget decisions
By Connie Llanos connie.llanos@dailynews.com 818-713-3634 Staff Writer
Updated: 05/10/2009 10:25:15 PM PDT
In neighborhood coffee shops, on the playground after school and at Little League games, parents of public school children are plotting.
http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_12340667?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
LA OPINION
Graduación a pesar del desamparo
Alejandra Juárez demuestra que se puede terminar los estudios aunque se viva en un garaje
Alejandra Juárez, estudiante de la secundaria Garfield, se graduará en junio.
Alejandra Juárez junto a su consejera Marlene Correa, quien la animó en su recuperación y la apoyó para que retomara sus estudios
Rubén Moreno | 2009-05-11
Sin cuarto propio, sin escritorio, sin nada. No son las circunstanciales ideales para que un alumno repase las lecciones aprendidas en clase, pero Alejandra Juárez tuvo que aprender a hacer en un garaje de Montebello la tarea que los maestros asignan para casa.
http://www.impre.com/laopinion/noticias/2009/5/11/graduacion-a-pesar-del-desampa-124141-1.html
DAILY BREEZE
LAPD targets adults buying liquor for minors
From wire service reports
Posted: 05/11/2009 07:31:58 AM PDT
It's unusual for authorities to reveal an undercover operation in advance, but Los Angeles police announced today they will send minors to ask adults to buy alcohol for them near Los Angeles high schools later this month.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_12342673?IADID=Search-www.dailybreeze.com-www.dailybreeze.com
SACRAMENTO BEE
Teachers federation sues governor for school funds
Published Saturday, May. 09, 2009
The California Federation of Teachers has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials to recoup $12 billion in education funds it says the state owes schools.
The suit in San Francisco Superior Court comes as CFT campaigns against Proposition 1A, a spending limit and temporary tax hike on the May 19 ballot. That proposal, along with Proposition 1B, would help provide schools $9.3 billion of the $12 billion that CFT is demanding.
But CFT opposes Proposition 1A because it believes the measure would limit long-term funding for schools. The pre-election lawsuit is partly an attempt to undercut the argument for Proposition 1A by saying the measure is unnecessary because schools can recover the money in the courts.
"Proposition 1B is going to fail, and besides that, we still have to worry about funding for 2009-10. ... We want to make sure they understand they have to repay us," said Marty Hittelman, CFT president.
– Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau
MERCURY NEWS
California's education community split on Prop. 1B
Posted: 05/09/2009 08:20:27 PM PDT
Proposition 1B, a school funding plan, is married — some say unwisely — to Proposition 1A on the May 19 special election ballot, a union that educators worry may doom chances of schools getting back the money they have lost during the state's recent economic crisis.
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_12335986?source=rss
NEW YORK TIMES
For Many Teachers, a Famously Fertile Market Dries Up Overnight
Larissa Patel dreamed of teaching English at a Brooklyn public school this fall, motivated by a desire to help low-income children. But instead, on Friday, Ms. Patel spent the day filling out applications for 30 jobs at private schools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/nyregion/11teachers.html?_r=1&ref=education&pagewanted=print
DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND.COM
ColbertWatcher's Journal
Today's LA Times story on teachers
Posted by ColbertWatcher in General Discussion
Sun May 10th 2009, 05:52 PM
This time, the LA Times describes the most sensational examples of molesters in the classroom.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/ColbertWatcher/761
CITY NEWS SERVICE
Sober Graduation
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - It's unusual for authorities to reveal an undercover
operation in advance, but Los Angeles police announced today they will send
minors to ask adults to buy alcohol for them near Los Angeles high schools
later this month.
The 11th annual Safe & Sober Graduation Operation, which will begin May
23, is an attempt to reduce the availability of alcohol to minors, according to
the Los Angeles Police Department.
The operation coincides with graduation ceremonies in the Los Angeles
Unified School District, and will be carried out at markets and liquor stores
near the 61 LAUSD high schools, police said.
The LAPD is announcing the so-called shoulder tap sting in advance to
warn adults not to buy alcohol for minors.
Surveys by major universities indicate that 46 percent of high school
students who drink alcohol get it from adults they solicit outside markets and
liquor stores, police said.
During last year's operation, decoys asked 338 adults to buy them
alcohol, and 41 people were cited as a result, police said. Supplying
minors with alcohol carries a $1,000 fine and 24 hours of community service,
police said.
Subsequent operations using decoys will be used throughout the summer on
a citywide basis, police said.
LAUSD Layoffs
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A proposed early retirement program for non-teaching
employees in the Los Angeles Unified School District could save jobs or delay
layoff notices for thousands of workers, district and union officials said
today.
The Board of Education is expected to consider the proposal on Tuesday.
If the board backs the proposal, the issuance of layoff notices for classified
employees would be delayed from Friday until June 18.
The proposal, which was hammered out by the district and officials with
SEIU Local 99, which represents many of the classified workers, would affect
about 2,500 workers and is similar to the early retirement incentive package
already offered to teachers and principals. Nearly 1,400 teachers, principals
and administrators have taken the early retirement package, according to the
district.
``From the main office to the cafeteria, school staffs outside the
classroom have been hard hit by this budget,'' school board president Monica
Garcia said. ``Offering them early retirement to save jobs is the right thing
to do. Every librarian or janitor who retires early will save another's job.''
Under the early retirement proposal, workers who have been with the
district for five years would receive 40 percent of next year's salary for five
years.
The district's Board of Education voted April 14 to eliminate nearly
5,400 positions in hopes of closing a deficit of nearly $600 million in the
budget for the coming school year. The exact number of layoffs was expected to
be lower, depending on the number of employees opting for early retirement and
the use of state and federal stimulus funds to maintain jobs.
``The early retirement program is a positive step toward reducing
layoffs and the impact that job loss would have on essential student
services,'' said Blanca Gallegos of SEIU Local 99. ``We hope to continue to
work cooperatively to review all options that will prevent these devastating
cuts to our schools and communities.''
LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said classified workers are
``critical to the operations of our schools.''
``Often the first employee a child sees is a bus driver,'' he said.
``Our buildings and grounds workers keep schools clean, and office staff
workers help parents and members of the public.''
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