Teachers union to superintendent: “GO TO ‘TEACHER JAIL’”

BY FERMIN LEAL / Staff Writer - LosAngelesRegister.com http://bit.ly/1un2Tt9

<< The Los Angeles Unified School District's teachers union will call Wednesday on Superintendent John Deasy to report to &#8220;teacher jail&#8221; until investigations into the district's much-maligned iPad program and MiSiS student data system have concluded. FILE: THE REGISTER

Sept. 2, 2014  Updated 10:32 p.m.  ::  The Los Angeles Unified School District’s teachers union will call Wednesday on Superintendent John Deasy to report to “teacher jail” until investigations into the district’s much-maligned iPad program and MiSiS student data system have concluded.

Leaders of the 35,000-member United Teachers Los Angeles said earlier this week that they will hold a news conference in front of district headquarters this morning to ask Deasy to place himself on administrative leave effective immediately.

For years, the district has sent teachers under investigation to one of six administrative offices, dubbed “teacher jails,” while their cases were under review. Beginning this year, the district began sending teachers under investigation to their homes instead of district offices.

Union President Alex Caputo-Pearl said Tuesday that Deasy should face the same sanctions.

“Deasy has championed ‘teacher jails’ for a long time. He has supported the idea that if someone is under investigation, they should be removed. He should now play by his own rules,” Caputo-Pearl said.

Deasy’s office declined to comment Tuesday.

The superintendent has faced heavy criticism over the past two weeks following a disclosure that he and another high-ranking administrator exchanged several emails with executives at Apple and Pearson Education about the implementation of the district’s $1 billion iPad program before the two companies were awarded contracts.

Deasy has since canceled the Apple and Pearson contracts and ordered a new round of bidding for the remaining phases. Deasy has defended the email exchanges, saying they discussed an iPad pilot program rather than the subsequent large-scale implementation.

Additionally, critics say some schools have been a mess since the start of the school year, due to problems with MiSiS, the computer system used take attendance, track grades and schedule classes for the district’s 650,000 students.

The MiSiS system has been riddled with problems since its launch last month. In some cases, students have not been able to see their class schedules, and teachers haven’t been able to use the attendance tracking system.

District officials are conducting internal investigations of both the iPad program and MiSiS system. Some activists, lawmakers and parent groups have called for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office or state investigators to open separate inquiries.