MEETINGS BREED: More meetings for LAUSD Board

by Rick Orlov, L.A. Daily News from Rick Orlov’s Tipoff: Playing chicken at City Hall |  http://bit.ly/17fzcjl

Richard Vladovic officiated last week over his first full meeting as president of the Los Angeles Unified board, announcing assignments to seven standing and ad hoc committees that will have members trekking down to district headquarters at least three times a month. Yet even as he scrambled to assign senior and mid-level administrators and clerical staff to each of the panels, Superintendent John Deasy was looking to add seven more committees to the mix.

In a letter sent to Vladovic on Thursday, Deasy suggested he create committees to handle issues related to the arts, human resources/personnel, school safety and discipline, government relations, charter schools, magnet schools and ethics.

And if that isn’t enough to crowd the Day-Timers of district officials (not to mention gadflys and education reporters), the board also passed a resolution ordering Deasy to schedule a slate of meetings to get input on “fiscal priorities” as debate begins on the 2014-15 budget. The superintendent is still trying to figure out how to squeeze in public forums at each of the five local district offices, meetings with his Student Advisory Council and sessions with all nine labor unions, given the tight time frame mandated by the resolution.

Maybe Deasy should take up his dilemma with the new ad hoc committee created to study ways to improve the meeting process.