L.A. COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD CONTINUES TO PLAY FAST+LOOSE WITH VAN DE KAMPS COLLEGE CAMPUS IN NORTHEAST LOS ANGELES

smf - A Little History: From 2001 through 2008, the Los Angeles Community College District passed a series of construction bonds promising (in the ballot language)  to build a Community College Campus on the site of the landmark Van de Kamps Holland Dutch Bakery in Northeast Los Angeles. The voters approved the measures and the taxpayers are paying property taxes for that campus. The LACCD built the facility – as part of a building program compromised with cost overruns, lax oversight and allegations of corruption. Against this background of scandal and incompetence the LACCD never opened the Community College the voters voted for and that the taxpayers are paying for – opting instead to lease the building to a charter high school and City of LA sponsored employment development programs and non-profits. The leases do not repay the bond costs and were not competitively bid. The State Controller has investigated the program and identified illegality. The LA Times investigated and won awards for their scathing reports. The courts have found the charter lease – to an “Environmental High School” violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and ordered the lease terminated. There has been lots of activity – but nothing has changed. Wednesday evening the LACCD Board is having a not very well publicized (ie: secret and illegal) meeting to decide what to do with the buildings. They really should have no choice – THEY NEED TO OPEN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE THE VOTERS WANT, THE COMMUNITY NEEDS AND THE TAXPAYERS ARE PAYING FOR.

No End to LACCD’s “Kabuki Politics”: Public Meeting Kept Secret

Miki Jackson and Laura Gutierrez -VOICES – LA City Watch | CityWatch Vol 10 Issue 75 | http://bit.ly/RmIeFq

09.17.2012   ::  Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) has begun taking steps to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report to examine future use of the $91 Van de Kamps campus in Northeast Los Angeles.  This is part of the court victory of the Van de Kamps Coalition we represent.

The first step is a Public Scoping meeting which the Board will conduct at the Van de Kamps campus (corner of San Fernando Road and Fletcher Drive) this Wednesday, September 19th at 6:00 p.m. at a building on the Van de Kamps campus. There’s one funny thing: the LACCD has conducted no public relations outreach effort to actually encourage the public to attend the meeting.

What if a public agency held a public meeting to solicit the public’s opinion about the future of the Van de Kamps campus but the only outreach was to the existing tenants of the campus?  Yes, that is what will unfold this Wednesday as part of the strange Kabuki Theatre called “LACCD”: The Board adopted a resolution in August declaring its intent to move its Board meeting location to Van de Kamps in order to “hear from the public” about the future of the Van de Kamps campus.  But then, LACCD Vice Chancellor Adriana Berrera, who runs Van de Kamps, made sure that only the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools and the Mayor’s politically favored tenants were informed of the date, time and place.

Did Ms. Berrera send out a press release announcing the meeting? Not that we know of.  Were the City’s Neighborhood Councils notified?  None of the NC representatives we inquired with had received any notice of the meeting from LACCD.  OK, well, did they at least post a notice on the email list servers and blogs that focus on Northeast Los Angeles issues?  You can guess the answer.

But you can bet that the current tenants at Van de Kamps, the people who were handed this multi-million dollar campus with no competitive bidding, are busy rallying THEIR supporters to make sure the LACCD Board only hears their support for continuing to give them this valuable community college facility at a grotesque below market price.  Here is the link to the charter school’s website which is whipping students and parents into a frenzy to attend the Wednesday Board meeting:

What if LACCD held a meeting where they declared they wanted to hear your opinion and then they only told selected members of the public when and where the meeting would be held?  Does this make you feel that your tax dollars are being spent for your interest?  Would you really vote for Prop 30 this November to give the LACCD more tax money to waste as they have done in leasing our community college facility to outsiders who have no business occupying these buildings?

(Miki Jackson and Laura Gutierrez are members of the Van de Kamps Coalition and CityWatch contributors.  Miki Jackson can be reached at Mikijackson@sbcglobal.net) –cw

Apples+Oranges: COMPARING ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION COSTS BETWEEN CHARTER SCHOOLS AND TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS IN LAUSD

a study by consultant Thomas A. Rubin for the LAUSD Bond Oversight Committee

The Report:

BOC FSD vs Charter Construct Cost 10 20 10

The POWERPOINT PRESENTATION:

BOC Conventional and Charter Schools 10 20 10

Q&A@HS#9

by smf for 4LAKidsNews

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - Yestereve, at Central Los Angeles High School #9, otherwise known as The High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, there was a Community Forum, sponsored by the school's PTA/PTSA in formation. It was billed as a Meet-and-Greet The New Principal, Luis Lopez - and The New Local District Superintendent, Dr. Dale Vigil - and a Q&A about the recent transfer and replacement of last year's principal, Suzanne Blake. The meeting was chaired pretty darn well by acting PTSA President Judi Bell. There were histrionics and name calling but no furniture or fruit was tossed and the angry multitudes did not resort to barricades.  School Police were not called.

It would be nice to say a fine time was had by all ...and it would be completely untrue. I doubt if anyone had a good time or a a good day - with the possible exceptions of those spectacularly absent.

One can often judge a meeting by those not in attendance. School Board President Mónica García , seen by many as the behind-the-scenes manipulator of the ouster; Superintendent Ramon Garcia - whose promise to Blake and her staff that she would be back next year was reversed. And Principal Blake, the aggrieved party ...unless you count the students, faculty, staff, parents and school community. And believe me, they consider themselves uncounted.

Seeing as García, Cortines and Blake weren’t there there they were subjects of most of the questioning.

There was one recurring question, asked over and over, re-parsed, rephrased - made hypothetical and deconstructed ad infinitum. It is the question posed in this week’s AALA newsletter. It is The Big Question, asked and not answered:

Q:Why was Ms. Blake removed and replaced?

And the answer offered by Dr. Vigil:

A:For personnel reasons that I am not a liberty to disclose to protect District employees.

He himself called it a wall: "I've put up a wall." A wall of silence. Of obfuscation. All in all, just another brick. That wall.

This much was disclosed:

• By personnel he means personnel, not personal.

• Ms. Blake has not been informed of the transgressions, actions or lack thereof  that triggered her ouster; she will be notified in due course.

• Whatever occurred or didn't occur does not approach criminal activity; this removal should not be considered disciplinary. It is administrative. Or perhaps: administrival.

• Superintendent Cortines was not aware of the allegations when he spoke to Blake and her staff, he has since been informed.

• The alleged mistakes/error/procedural missteps were uncovered by Virgil himself in his first few days in the job, based on interviews, staff reports and data he reviewed - all confidential.

• As far as Vigil is concerned his decision is final and irreversible. Blake will not be back at HS#9.No way, no how.

• Because this is a personnel matter the reasons will probably never be disclosed.

As to the protocol of the Pilot School Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) - which gives the School Site Council a role in administrator selection, -being violated: Vigil stated that because the SSC never approved their by-laws the issue is moot: HS#9 does not have and never had a functioning SSC!

Of those questioned, new principal Luis Lopez came off best. He defended his tenure at Franklin High School and that school itself and pointed out that he has an arts background in dance - is a credentialed math teacher - and has experience administering at high achieving schools like Bravo Medical Magnet and at schools with challenges: Manual Arts and Franklin.

In fairness, Dr. Vigil acquitted himself admirably - he was constantly under attack from an overwhelmingly hostile audience; made all the more so by their questions being unanswered.

Suzanne Blake was universally praised and praised again, by teachers, by students, by parents. "Ms. Blake believed in us more than we believed in ourselves". "Ms. Blake came down and ate lunch with us" ― the first year was "a raging success".

But that said - there are questions besides the The Big Question - some asked and some not - that deserve an answer.

1. There are allegations of strings being pulled and back room deals being made. What was the role of Board President Mónica García in this matter …and was it appropriate?

2. Ditto for Mayor Tony and Eli Broad – both of whom were instrumental in the MOU.

3. Ms. Blake's transfer out was obviously involuntary; was Mr. Lopez' transfer from Franklin voluntary?

4. Did any of this contribute the Superintendent Cortines decision to retire before his contract is up?

5. If the SSC did not exist what is the legal status of their decision-making over the past year? Isn't the failure to constitute a SSC the responsibility of the LAUSD Parent Community Services Branch? Was last year like that 'Bobby's Dream' season of Dallas?

And finally: When Ms. Blake's' transfer was first announced the reason given was that she lacked High School experience, indeed she was initially reassigned to a Middle School. The rationale now given is this undisclosed/undisclosable personnel matter.

And, gentle readers, if you've read this far let me take you out on an editorial limb - in a direction I feel drawn uncomfortably and inescapably - with two questions and a bit of irony drawn from the McCarthy Era.

• What did Dale Vigil, Ray Cortines, and Mónica García know and do ...and when did they know or do it?

• How exactly is a secret list: "I have here a list of X communists" different from a secret accusation, "I have a personnel matter I cannot disclose"?

• The school play next year at LA Central High School#9, The Visual and Performing Arts High School is Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

So, does Eli Broad save HS#9 with a charter school? ...or do the parents and staff?

COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRUSTEES PULL BACK LEASE AND SPENDING AT VAN DE KAMPS BUILDING: Van de Kamps Coalition Accuses Vice Chancellor Linked to Mayor’s Office of Contract Conflict-of-Interest in Lease That Would Benefit His Own Non-Profit

Van de Kamps Coalition Press Release

smf background: The LA Community College District, using bond funds and seed money obtained by  Senator Richard Polanc0 purchased and is renovating the old Van de Kamp’s Bakery in Glassell Park – to serve the Northeast LA community as  a satellite campus of LACC.  Recently the CCD Board has reneged on the promise to the voters and taxpayers and leased part of the college to charter school and the rest to a workforce development project sponsored by Mayor Tony. VdK Coalition Home● The VdK Satellite Campus●The Bait and Switch●The Lawsuit●Fundraisers / Donations

(Los Angeles, CA) On Wednesday, April 14, 2010, a grim-faced Los Angeles Community College District (“LACCD”) Board of Trustees, started its meeting almost one hour late and “pulled” from its agenda a proposed five-year lease of the historic Van de Kamps Bakery building to a non-profit corporation linked to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The corporation, Community Career Development, Inc., was proposed by LACCD staff to receive a “sweetheart” no-bid lease of the newly reconstructed historic landmark building, and in turn the lease would have allowed the non-profit to sublease to other non-profits lined up to get space for their unemployment programs in the building.

“We have been told by other workforce providers in the Los Angeles region that Deputy Mayor Larry Frank played a role in steering at least $240,000 to Community Career Development without the federally required competitive bidding among workforce center operators for the right to open a new workforce center. In turn, we believe LACCD staff, led by Vice-Chancellor Marvin Martinez, General Counsel Camille Goulet and others, tried to illegally give the Van de Kamps building away without meeting state law competitive bidding requirements for leases,” said Van de Kamps (“VDK”) Coalition member Miki Jackson.

On Monday, April 12, 2010, the VDK Coalition’s attorney, Daniel Wright, sent a objection letter to the proposed lease that identified at least four laws that would have been broken if the lease had been approved. Because the LACCD Board continues to refuse to conduct environmental review of changes at the Van de Kamps campus, the California Environmental Quality Act is violated.

Further, the particular sections of the Education Code the District proposed to award the no-bid lease did not grant authority to award the lease to a mere unemployment program. Furthermore, because the District’s bond counsel has previously informed the Board of Trustees that expenditure of bond funds to pay for construction of offices for the proposed tenants is unlawful, Wright argued that the Proposition 39 restrictions would be knowingly violated by Board members. Finally, Vice-Chancellor Martinez’s conflict-of-interest was alleged to nullify the proposed lease under Government Code Section 1090 anti-corruption law.

“The LACCD staff has acted with reckless disregard for the most basic laws governing community colleges and led its Board of Trustees into illegal actions at Van de Kamps. As a result, the students who need the adult, for-credit educational opportunity intended by voters who approved bonds for the Van de Kamps site, are at risk of having it snatched away by the Mayor’s office and his non-profit allies who want the building for their own purposes,” said Wright.

In testimony before the Board, East LA Activist Jose Aguilar warned that he guaranteed that their bond abuse would be remembered by voters when they run for re-election and any time a new bond measure is put on the ballot in the future.

New LACCD Board of Trustees, Miguel Santiago and Tina Park, have emerged as uncomfortable with the actions of the Board “old guard” who have ruled the Board for years. Santiago expressed frustration that for three Board meetings, the Interim Chancellor, Tyree Wieder, has failed to bring to the Board a report he requested on the extent that voter-approved bond funds may have been used to construct tenant improvements inside what is supposed to be a community college classroom building.

Weider deferred to LACCD Facilities Director, Larry Eisenberg. He told the Board that in the construction industry, the term “tenant improvements” means “any interior wall of a building.” Laura Gutierrez of the VDK Coalition scoffed at this claim. “Anyone with common sense knows that tenant improvements are undertaken by a landlord and the tenant’s lease payments recover the cost of constructing those improvements. At Van de Kamps, we tabulated $7.1 million of tenant improvements and in no way will the District ever recover the cost of those changes,” she observed. “LACCD staff ordered the tenant improvements out of bond funds before bond counsel informed them that such expenditures violate the constitutional spending limitations under Proposition 39. Now they are scrambling to cover it up.”

Trustee Santiago concurred with concerns of the VDK Coalition that a second item on the agenda to award $99,499 to a contractor to build custom reception desks, shelving and other items in the tenant spaces might also be an unlawful expenditure. In a split vote, Santiago made a motion to pull this second contract from the consent calendar and ask the Chancellor to investigate whether any of the items were more tenant improvements. Trustees Santiago, Park and Pearlman voted in favor of pulling the item and investigating. Trustees Mercer, Canaele, and Scott-Hayes voted to approve the expenditure without further inquiry. In a moment of drama, Board President Mona Field hesitated and moaned that the vote was “difficult.” Then she cast the deciding vote in favor of investigation.

In discussing the tenant improvements at Van de Kamps, Trustee Sylvia Scott-Hayes appeared to coach Facilities Director Eisenberg and Los Angeles City College President Jamillah Moore to make a claim that all of the re-designed office space and smaller training rooms inside the Van de Kamps building were actually intended to support the College’s educational program. Dr. Moore hesitated before claiming that City College had been consulted in the plans for the new configuration of walls in Van de Kamps.

“Those claims that there was an educational purpose in the re-design of the building are false,” charged VDK Coalition members. “We have Eisenberg’s e-mails showing he directed the conversion of the Van de Kamps building into a ‘building shell, leased tenant facility” as they called it at the time,” said Miki Jackson. “We have documents that contradict the statements made by Eisenberg and Moore at last Wednesday’s Board meeting,” said Gutierrez, “Their own documents tell a devastating story of the misuse of taxpayer funds to deliberately destroy the classrooms in that building.”

more …or more than ever wanted to know . . . .

• April 16, 2010 - CA Assembly Member Kevin de Leon (45th District) letter to Mona Fields / LACCD (PDF file)

• April 16, 2010 - Reports from bond legal counsel regarding LACCD illegal use of bond funds:

• - Fulbright & Jaworski report: Recommendations to Insure Compliance with Proposition 39 (PDF file)

• -Capstone Advisory Group report: Recommendations for Bond Construction Program (PDF file)

• April 13, 2010 - Van DeKamps: URGENT! Send a letter to LACCD to Halt Illegal Lease of Van de Kamps (PDF file)

• April 11, 2010 - VdK Fundraiser at Eagle Rock Brewery featuring appetizers from Netty's

• April 11, 2010 - VdK Fundraiser flier (PDF file)

• April 11, 2010 - LACCD Spent Over $1.3M on Additional Overhead at Van de Kamps pt.2 (PDF file)

• April 7, 2010 - The Los Angeles

• Community College District Expended Over $7 Million of Restricted Bond Funds to the Benefit of Private Projects Politically Favored by Antonio Villaraigosa (PDF file)

• March 12, 2010 - LACCD Board President Mona Field Admits To Misuse of Bond Funds As The Van de Kamps Coalition Demands Expedited Investigation Of Its Allegations Of Other Abuse Of Bond Funds (PDF file)

• February 22, 2010 - Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee Moves To Investigate Conversion of Van de Kamps Satellite Campus To A Profit-Making Leasing Scheme Of LACCD Board Of Trustees (PDF file)

THE DENOUEMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE: The day that was: Tuesday Feb 23rd as of 8:35 pm

`de·noue·ment

/ˌdeɪ|nuˈmɑ̃/  Show Spelled[dey-noo-mahn]|

–noun

1.the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.

2.the place in the plot at which this occurs.

3.the outcome or resolution of a doubtful series of occurrences.

smf writes for 4lakids:

The board meeting today produced interesting results, some expected – some not. For the most part the superintendent's recommendations were accepted – but there were notable exceptions.

• ICEF, Green Dot and The Alliance for College Ready Schools – powerhouse charter operators with programs recommended for acceptance – were repudiated.

• The Mayor’s Partnership for LA Schools picked up a school that they weren’t recommended for.

• The veracity of evidence and data challenging charter school acceptance of English Language Learners and Special Ed students was intensely questioned – 'good data' supports one's position, 'bad data' is to be denied.

• And though the entire PSC evaluation and review process was supposed to be data driven and evidence based, it t turned out that potential operators were not evaluated on past performance on but on whether they agree to follow the rules in the future.

• The board followed the unwritten 'Don't mess in my bailiwick' rule of following the lead of the member in their district when Boardmember LaMotte offered an amendment that was accepted denying ICEF at Obama Middle School in her district.

• Board President Garcia then violated the same rule on the next vote (denying Green Dot and The Alliance at Estaban Torres High School) by offering an amendment on a school not in her district but in Yolie Flores’. Garcia's amendment carried.

• As Flores is the author of the PSC resolution – and the champion of the superintendent’s recommendations – the tension rose, the board grew more and more divided and the politics got fast and furious.

• Horsetrading happened in the open – and operators denied this time were assured of better treatment next time (unless some wise judge stops them before they choose again!)

• Advance approval was guaranteed of a Pilot School at Gratts Elementary next year even though one wasn't even requested.

Democracy is messy when the sausage is made.

Notable quotes:

NURY MARTINEZ resurrected Connie Rice's metaphor of LAUSD reform as building the aircraft in flight. They have built their plane and it follows the script of Flight of the Phoenix – where it turns out the designer of the plane has only built scale models. Now they have to fly it – and land the puppy!

SUPT. CORTINES: “The Public School Choice process has divided us..... (that's Freudian) ….I mean provided us with an opportunity.....”

STEVE ZIMMER: (On the 'Parent Trigger'): “You can't declare war on people and not expect them to act like combatants.” “The 'red shirts' and the 'white shirts' are not the future. The future is in the plans.”

TAMAR GALATZAN: “Nothing is happening in my district, no Focus Schools, no pilots for individual student funding. You are ignoring half of the valley; successful schools are and need to be part of the wave of the future.”

MARGUERITE LAMOTTE: “It has been said by some that charter schools reestablish segregation; I cannot and will not say to my constituents that the money you gave for the bonds is being given to charter schools.”

RICHARD VLADOVIC: “In the past we have written the best plans in the worlds. We have placed them on the best shelves in the world where they collected the best dust in the world.”

MONICA GARCIA: “No one on this board takes their job lightly; I hope I can say no one in this district takes their job lightly. Tomorrow it takes all of us.”

 

from Google News

LA School Board Snubs Charter School Operators

CBS 13 - Christina Hoag - ‎27 minutes ago‎

The district already boasts the highest number of charter schools of any school district in the country. More than 160 of its 800 schools are run by ...

City Approves School Plan

Wall Street Journal - Tamara Audi - ‎44 minutes ago‎

He recommended awarding the remaining 28 schools to groups led by Los Angeles Unified School District teachers. The board ratified most of Mr. Cortines's ...

Los Angeles Times

LAUSD turns over control of schools to outside groups

Los Angeles Times - ‎1 hour ago‎

... outside the downtown Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters. Bidders inside and outside the district have been vying for the schools under a ...

LAUSD Grants Control Of Several Campuses To Outside Groups

LA Weekly (blog) - Dennis Romero - ‎2 hours ago‎

23 2010 @ 5:58PM ​Despite a demonstration by members of the teacher's union, the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District Tuesday voted to roughly ...

LA school board OKs handing schools to nonprofits

San Jose Mercury News - Christina Hoag - ‎2 hours ago‎

AP LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles school board has approved a plan to turn over the operation of 30 campuses to nonprofit educational groups, but most of the ...

 

LAUSD board approves new administration for 36 schools

89.3 KPCC - ‎2 hours ago‎

The powerful United Teachers Los Angeles, which helped teachers craft successful reform plans, wants to put a stop to the process before then. ...

School Handoff Plan Divides LA

Wall Street Journal - Tamara Audi - ‎3 hours ago‎

He recommended awarding the remaining 28 schools to groups led by Los Angeles Unified School District teachers. The changes would affect 38000 students. ...

Awards for Teachers and Schools in Arts Education to be Held Downtown

LA Downtown News Online - ‎6 hours ago‎

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - The Music Center of Los Angeles County this week announced the 14 teachers and six schools named as finalists in the 28th annual ...

Hundreds protest LA board vote on school choice

MyMotherLode.com - ‎7 hours ago‎

Hundreds of teachers and parents chanted slogans and waved placards in front of the Los Angeles school district headquarters Tuesday as the school board ...

Hundreds to protest LA board vote on school choice

Education Week News - ‎7 hours ago‎

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hundreds of teachers and parents plan to protest at a Los Angeles school board meeting in which the district could approve the transfer ...

 

SUPERINTENDENT’S BOARD INFORMATIVE RE LETTERS OF INTENT RE PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE - 17 Nov 2009

Psc Letters of Intent Board Informative 11 17 09

This just in: SCHWARZENEGGER SIGNS 14 EDUCATION BILLS, VETOES 17

 

from Capitol Alert | SAcramento Bee

October 11, 2009 | As legislative leaders continue talks on a package of water bills, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office released word of the fate of 183 bills.

The governor, who threatened to veto "a lot" of bills if leaders can't strike a water deal, has until midnight to act on the more than 500 bills remaining on his desk.

See the governor's office's list of the 89 bills he signed and the 94 bills struck down with the veto pen after the jump.

EDUCATION BILLS IN RED

Bills Signed:

• SB 19 by Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) - Education data.
• SB 36 by Senator Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) - Real estate, finance lender, and residential mortgage lender licenses: mortgage loan originators.
• SB 48 by Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) - Joint powers agencies: City of Santa Clara.
• SB 102 by Committee on Local Government - Validations.
• SB 103 by Committee on Local Government - Validations.
• SB 117 by Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) - Adult day health care services: eligibility criteria: Medi-Cal reimbursement methodology and limit.
• SB 136 by Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) - State real property.
• SB 143 by Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) - Hazardous materials: California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act of 2004.
• SB 147 by Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) - California State University: career technical education courses.
• SB 148 by Senator Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) - Mammogram machines: inspection: posting of results.
• SB 149 by Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) - Claims against the state: appropriation.
• SB 150 by Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) - Sentencing.
• SB 224 by Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) - Housing assistance.
• SB 237 by Senator Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) - Real estate appraisers.
• SB 239 by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) - Mortgage fraud.
• SB 240 by Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) - Vehicles: Department of Transportation vehicles.
• SB 247 by Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) - Instructional materials.
• SB 249 by Senator Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) - Vaccinations: meningococcal disease.
• SB 273 by Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) - Domestic Violence.
• SB 283 by Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) - Department of Water Resources: recycled water.
• SB 285 by Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) - Disability benefits: attachment.
• SB 312 by Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) - Public meetings and hearings.
• SB 337 by Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) - Health information.
• SB 357 by Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San Diego) - Tribal gaming: grants to local jurisdictions.
• SB 412 by Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) - Electricity: self-generation incentive program.
• SB 419 by Committee on Veterans Affairs - County veteran service officers: funding.
• SB 448 by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) - California State Safe Harbor Agreement Program Act.
• SB 471 by Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) - California Stem Cell and Biotechnology Education and Workforce Development Act of 2009.
• SB 478 Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) - Employment safety: manlifts.
• SB 481 by Senator Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) - Airports: wildlife.
• SB 511 by Committee on Education - Education.
• SB 519 by Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) - Public employment.
• SB 532 by Senator Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) - State Highway Routes 1, 108, 132, and 201.
• SB 538 by Committee on Public Employment and Retirement - County employees' retirement: mandatory retirement.
• SB 588 by Committee on Public Safety - Sex Offender Management Board.
• SB 592 by Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) - Charter Schools Facilities Program.
• SB 614 by Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) - Vessels.
• SB 619 by Senator Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) - Flood control: County of Santa Barbara: Lower Mission Creek.
• SB 651 by Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) - Pupil retention.
• SB 680 by Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) - School attendance: interdistrict transfers.
• SB 702 by Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) - Ancillary day care centers: employees: trustline providers. See attached signing message.
• SB 734 by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) - Transportation.
• SB 744 by Senator Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) - Clinical laboratories.
• SB 751 by Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) - Teacher credentials.
• SB 792 by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) - Tidelands and submerged lands: City and County of San Francisco: Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Candlestick Point.
• SB 822 by Committee on Revenue and Taxation - Property taxation: local administration.
• SB 826 by Committee on Governmental Organization - General obligation bonds.
• SB 827 by Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) - South Coast Air Quality Management District: CEQA: permits.
• SB 831 by Committee on Governmental Organization - California State Lottery: multistate lottery.
• SB 833 by Committee on Natural Resources and Water - Natural resources: mining: conservation lands: Native American historical sites: tidelands and submerged lands.
• SBX3 18 by Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San Diego) - Corrections.
• AB 14 by Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar) - Vehicles: nuisance abatement: impoundment.
• AB 37 by Assemblymember Warren Furutani (D-South Los Angeles County) - Public postsecondary education: honorary degrees.
• AB 66 by Assemblymember Joel Anderson (R-El Cajon) - Pupil work permits.
• AB 73 by Assemblymember Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward) - Marriage licenses: vital records: fees: domestic violence.
• AB 74 by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) - Flood control: Middle Creek and Hamilton City Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Projects.
• AB 92 by Assemblymember Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) - State claims.
• AB 93 by Assemblymember Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) - Claims against the state: appropriation.
• AB 94 by Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) - Natural Heritage Preservation Tax Credit Act of 2000.
• AB 136 by Assemblymember Jim Silva (R- Huntington Beach) - Horse racing: imported harness or quarter horse races.
• AB 154 by Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) - Adoption assistance: federal law.
• AB 167 by Assemblymember Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia) - High school graduation: local requirements: foster children.
• AB 236 by Assemblymember Sandré R. Swanson (D-Alameda) - Employment: car washes.
• AB 242 by Assemblymember Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) - Dog fighting.
• AB 246 by Senator (former Assemblymember) Curren Price (D-Inglewood) - Horse racing: deductions and distributions: trust funds: harness and quarter horse racing.
• AB 262 by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) - American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan: energy activities, programs, or projects.
• AB 275 by Assemblymember Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) - Missing persons: DNA database.
• AB 282 by Committee on Transportation - Transportation.
• AB 286 by Assemblymember Mary Salas (D-Chula Vista) - Vehicles: additional registration fees.
• AB 287 by Assemblymember Jim Beall (D-San Jose) - Persons with developmental disabilities: employment.
• AB 292 by Assemblymember Yamada (D-Solano) - Personal income taxes: contributions: Alzheimer's disease.
• AB 293 by Assemblymember Tony Mendoza (D-Norwalk) - Gambling regulation.
• AB 299 by Committee on Insurance - Insurance.
• AB 318 by Assemblymember Bill Emmerson (R-Redlands) - Bureau of Automotive Repair: inspection fees.
• AB 329 by Assemblymember Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) - Reverse mortgages.
• AB 343 by Assemblymember Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego) - Pupils: military families.
• AB 344 by Assemblymember Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) - State highways: relinquishment.
• AB 386 by Assemblymember Ira Ruskin (D-Redwood City) - Public postsecondary education: instructional materials: disabled students.
• AB 399 by Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) - Public employee benefits.
• AB 483 by Assemblymember Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo) - Workers' compensation: Internet Web sites.
• AB 485 by Assemblymember Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) - Civil Air Patrol: California Wing: employment leave.
• AB 523 by Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) - Hospitals: seismic safety.
• AB 530 by Assemblymember Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) - Unlawful detainer: controlled substances and firearms.
• AB 547 by Assemblymember Tony Mendoza (D-Norwalk) - Commercial feed: license fee: inspection tonnage tax.
• AB 595 by Assemblymember Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia) - Placement of children: criminal background checks.
• AB 601 by Assemblymember Martin Garrick (R-Carlsbad) - Motor vehicle insurance: special assessments.
• AB 636 by Assemblymember Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) - Charter-party carriers: busdrivers.
• AB 654 by Assemblymember Tony Mendoza (D-Norwalk) - State teachers' retirement.
• AB 665 by Assemblymember Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont) - State adoption services: investment.

Bills Vetoed:

• SB 20 by Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) - Personal information: privacy.
• SB 34 by Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) - Petitions: compensation for signatures.
• SB 45 by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) - Public works: payment of prevailing wage: violations.
• SB 84 by Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) - Education finance.
• SB 86 by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) - Public postsecondary education: executive officer compensation.
• SB 109 by Senator Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) - Auctioneers: real estate.
• SB 115 by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) - Public employment.
• SB 158 by Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) - Health care coverage: cervical cancer screening: human papillomavirus vaccination. .
• SB 161 by Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) - Health care coverage: cancer treatment.
• SB 172 by Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter) - Voter registration.
• SB 173 by Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter) - Food safety: testing and recalls.
• SB 193 by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) - Class size reduction: Long Beach Unified School District.
• SB 196 by Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) - Emergency medical services.
• SB 201 by Senator Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) - Vehicles: illegal taxicabs.
• SB 212 by Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter) - Pupil health: communicable diseases.
• SB 213 by Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter) - Gambling licenses.
• SB 218 by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) - Public records: state agency: auxiliary organizations.
• SB 219 by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) - Disclosure of improper governmental activities: University of California: damages.
• SB 242 by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) - Civil rights: language restrictions.
• SB 248 by Senator Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) - Educational equity: Title IX.
• SB 257 by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) - Lactation accommodation: state employees.
• SB 262 by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) - Coastal resources: California Coastal Commission: meeting.
• SB 272 by Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) - Local government: organization.
• AB 1 by Assemblymember William Monning (D-Carmel) - Teachers: program of professional growth: conflict resolution. See attached veto message.
• AB 3 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella) - Workforce development: Renewable Energy Workforce Readiness Initiative: local workforce investment boards.
• AB 6 by Assemblymember Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego) - Initiatives: paid circulators.
• AB 8 by Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) - Education finance: working group.
• AB 21 by Assemblymember Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) - Renewable energy resources.
• AB 24 by Assemblymember Marty Block (D-San Diego) - California State University: feasibility study: Chula Vista.
• AB 43 by Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) - California Earthquake Authority: employees.
• AB 56 by Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (D-Pasadena) - Health care coverage: mammographies.
• AB 57 by Senator (former Assemblymember) Curren Price (D-Inglewood) - University of California hospitals: staffing.
• AB 82 by Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) - Dependent children: psychotropic medications.
• AB 98 by Assemblymember Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) - Maternity services.
• AB 101 by Assemblymember Joel Anderson (R-El Cajon) - Elections: vote by mail ballots.
• AB 115 by Assemblymember Jim Beall (D-San Jose) - Adult Health Coverage Expansion Program.
• AB 120 by Assemblymember Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward) - Healing arts: peer review.
• AB 132 by Assemblymember Tony Mendoza (D-Norwalk) - School safety: immigration investigations.
• AB 146 by Assemblymember Tony Mendoza (D-Norwalk) - Instructional materials: delivery.
• AB 147 by Assemblymember Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego) - Hazardous waste: electronic waste.
• AB 213 by Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) - Vehicles: parking.
• AB 217 by Assemblymember Jim Beall (D-San Jose) - Medi-Cal: alcohol and drug screening and brief intervention services.
• AB 241 by Assemblymember Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) - Dogs and cats: breeding for sale.
• AB 243 by Assemblymember Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) - Animal abuse: penalties.
• AB 244 by Assemblymember Jim Beall (D-San Jose) - Health care coverage: mental health services.
• AB 245 by Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) - Physicians and surgeons.
• AB 249 by Assemblymember Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) - Health facilities: marking patient devices.
• AB 261 by Assemblymember Mary Salas (D-Chula Vista) - Pupil records: privacy rights.
• AB 267 by Assemblymember Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) - Education finance districts: taxes.
• AB 311 by Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) - Property taxation: certificated aircraft assessment.
• AB 320 by Assemblymember Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) - County jails: reentry facilities.
• AB 322 by Assemblymember Jim Silva (R-Huntington Beach) - Less lethal weapons.
• AB 324 by Assemblymember Jim Beall (D-San Jose) - Aging: Elder Economic Security Standard Index.
• AB 330 by Assemblymember Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego) - Elections: voting devices.
• AB 335 by Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes (D- Sylmar) - Employment contracts.
• AB 337 by Assemblymember Norma Torres (D-Pomona) - Juvenile court records: sealing and destruction.
• AB 338 by Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) - Transit village developments: infrastructure financing.
• AB 358 by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) - Criminal procedure: narcotics and drug abuse cases.
• AB 368 by Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) - State lands: oil, gas, and mineral leases.
• AB 369 by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Solano) - Adult day health care centers.
• AB 374 by Assemblymember Marty Block (D-San Diego) - Consequences of dropping out notice.
• AB 382 by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) - Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: inmates and wards: classification.
• AB 402 by Assemblymember Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles) - Employment: entertainment work permits.
• AB 423 by Assemblymember Norma Torres (D-Pomona) - Emergency telephone systems.
• AB 429 by Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) - Public school accountability: advisory committee.
• AB 436 by Assemblymember Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego) - Elections: initiatives.
• AB 442 by Assemblymember Juan Arambula (I-Fresno) - Notaries public.
• AB 443 by Assemblymember Cathleen Galgiani (D-Livingston) - Apple pests: pest and disease prevention.
• AB 469 by Assemblymember Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park) - Sales and use taxes: qualified use tax payment.
• AB 472 by Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley) - Earthquake and emergency preparedness.
• AB 473 by Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland) - Solid waste: recycling: multifamily dwellings.
• AB 476 by Assemblymember Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) - Standardized Testing and Reporting Program.
• AB 503 by Assemblymember Warren Furutani (D-South Los Angeles County) - Battered women's shelters: grant program.
• AB 504 by Assemblymember Warren Furutani (D-South Los Angeles County) - Peace officers: training.
• AB 513 by Assemblymember Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) - Health care coverage: breast-feeding.
• AB 517 by Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) - Safe Body Art Act.
• AB 527 by Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar) - Employee complaints: proceedings: payroll records.
• AB 543 by Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) - Perinatal care: The Nurse-Family Partnership.
• AB 1401 by Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) - Transition to Organics Act.
• AB 1404 by Assemblymember Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) - California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: offsets.
• AB 1435 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Perez (D-Coachella) - Public school accountability.
• AB 1439 by Assemblymember Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) - Gang and youth violence: prevention.
• AB 1447 by Assemblymember John Perez (D-Los Angeles) - State Compensation Insurance Fund: audits.
• AB 1462 by Assemblymember Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) - Medi-Cal: inpatient hospital services contracts.
• AB 1510 by Assemblymember Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park) - Public schools: parental access.
• AB 1512 by Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) - Food and drugs: sale.
• AB 1527 by Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) - Motor vehicle emission reduction projects.
• AB 1559 by Committee on Labor and Employment - Workforce development: summer youth job training.
• AB 1561 by Committee on Labor and Employment - Occupational safety and health: citation outcome analysis.
• AB 1562 by Committee on Labor and Employment - Employment: garnishment of wages.
• AB 1563 by Committee on Labor and Employment - Employment: contracts or agreements for labor or services.
• AB 1567 by Committee on Veterans Affairs - Employment training panel: 3-year plan: training programs: veterans.
• AB 1577 by Assemblymember Joe Coto (D-San Jose) - Problem and pathological gambling.
• AB 1580 by Assemblymember Charles Calderon (D-Montebello) - Taxation: federal conformity.

GARFIELD HIGH IS ELIGIBLE FOR TAKEOVER: Control of the East L.A. school, setting for 'Stand and Deliver,' could shift because of its low academic standing [+ more]

By Howard Blume | LA Times

September 26, 2009 -- Garfield High, which became nationally known as the real-life setting for the film "Stand and Deliver," will be among the initial 12 local campuses, including six high schools, eligible for takeover because of persistent academic failure, officials announced Friday.

The nation's second-largest school system will invite bidders from inside and outside the district to run these schools next year through a proposal process that is still being developed.

The Los Angeles Board of Education authorized this school-control plan in August; it applies to low-achieving existing schools and to 51 new campuses set to open over the next four years in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Garfield, which for decades has served a largely immigrant Latino population in East Los Angeles, reached a high-water mark in the 1980s, when math teacher Jaime Escalante built his famed calculus program.

Under his leadership, dozens of students passed the Advanced Placement calculus test every year, a rare feat even at the nation's elite schools.

Last year, only 5% of Garfield students tested as "proficient" in any math class.

"All these schools need the attention that this will focus on them," said board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, author of the policy.

Other schools include:

* Maywood Academy in the southeast Los Angeles County city of Maywood. The school opened four years ago. Maywood city officials are interested in obtaining substantial control over the school, said City Councilman Felipe Aguirre.

* Jefferson High in Central-Alameda. District officials successfully opposed a previous charter conversion attempt by Steve Barr and his Green Dot Public Schools. Barr later engineered a takeover of Locke High.

* Lincoln High in Lincoln Heights. Teachers helped staff a volunteer summer school after budget cuts slashed district offerings. One potential course that failed to attract sufficient enrollment was an activism seminar with the proposed class project of recalling Flores Aguilar because she voted for budget cuts that resulted in layoffs.

* Burbank Middle School in Highland Park, where parents have long worried about gang influence on campus. The school also has two new magnet schools that, some argue, already are the basis of a promising reform.

* San Fernando Middle School, the only Valley campus.

The other schools are Gardena High, San Pedro High, Carver Middle School in South Park, Griffith Joyner Elementary in Watts, Hillcrest Elementary in Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw, and Hyde Park Elementary in Hyde Park.

L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said that being on the list "should not be viewed as a negative" and that "this process is about providing our schools with the appropriate supports."

More than 250 schools are eligible under the board resolution, which applies to schools that consistently failed to meet federal benchmarks for at least three years.

Cortines refined the formula as recently as midweek, finally deciding that the "focus" schools, as he called them, would meet additional criteria: fewer than 21% of students proficient in math or English and no school-wide improvement on the state's Academic Performance Index, which is largely based on standardized test scores.

In addition, high schools would have a dropout rate greater than 10%.

Garfield qualified easily.

The school also owns the lowest rank, 1 of 10, when compared with schools statewide. But that does not make Garfield's selection incontestable.

When compared with schools that serve similar students, Garfield rates a 6 of 10, which puts it in the upper half of state schools.

And although Garfield dropped three points on this year's Academic Performance Index, it had improved by 44 and 25 points the previous two years, among L.A. Unified's better gains.

Garfield's uncertain future has engendered fear and anger among the faculty, said social studies teacher Brian Fritch.

"We have a lot of teachers confused about what the next step will be," he said. "People don't feel included in the process and feel rushed."

Fritch is hustling to organize an internal reform proposal.

Junior Karen Flores, 16, said she and her classmates are worried about the loss of cherished Garfield traditions and a disrupted senior year, with the potential to affect classes and college applications.

"It feels like people are giving up on us," she said.

Garfield became a reform battleground as a target of the Parent Revolution, which emerged out of Green Dot.

Its organizers have asserted that they have signatures from dissatisfied community parents equal in number to more than half the Garfield student body and that the district must either improve Garfield or face competition from start-up charter schools that would surround it.

Green Dot has agreed to step aside and let another charter group, the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, manage new charters near Garfield.

Alliance chief executive Judy Burton said she's interested in submitting a proposal both for Garfield and for a new high school, under construction, that will relieve Garfield's overcrowding.

more:

Valley middle school on list for takeover

Los Angeles Daily News - Connie Llanos -

The district selected 36 schools - 24 new campuses and 12 underperforming sites - to ensure that every "focus" school, as LAUSD Superintendent Ramon ...

Gardena and San Pedro schools are high on takeover list

Daily Breeze - Connie Llanos, Melissa Pamer -

... schools in the South Bay - could be taken over by independent operators next year under a Los Angeles Unified reform plan, district officials said ...

LAUSD’s NEXT STEP/PRÓXIMO PASO DEL LAUSD

LAUSD’s next step Editorial| La Opinión 2009-08-30  -- The Board of Education of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) approved a measure this week to open up 250 schools to private operators in an attempt to improve student achievement. The action is one positive response to the frustration expressed by parents, but it is just the beginning of a direction that will need to be carefully monitored by school authorities. It should be apparent to all that simply shifting a school to a charter system doesn’t guarantee success as a site of excellence in teaching and learning. While some studies have shown better results than from public schools, other studies have shown no improvement. The LAUSD has as much responsibility in the selection of a school operator as it does in its oversight. Selecting new management will be the key for low-performing schools. The goal is to stimulate innovation with rigorous and creative curriculum as well as with the provision of extra-curricular activities and an environment conducive to learning. In this respect, LAUSD needs to correct current problems with the division that addresses charter schools. Some administrators of smaller charter schools have complained that they do not receive the same treatment as larger operators, charging that they are measured by different standards and that the LAUSD guidelines lack consistency. On the other hand, the position of the teacher’s union to oppose change at all costs is disappointing. We believe that it would be far better for educators to search for the way to be part of this new initiative. Teachers like parents share the same goal —that children learn. Our support for the Board’s decision isn’t an ideological stance against public education at all; on the contrary, it is the search for alternatives given a dismal situation in which there are few options. It is now time for LAUSD and the Board to address the issues in the Charter Schools Division so that the new schools can be successful. It would be a huge mistake to believe that it is enough to simply hand over the schools to new management without making changes in the system’s administration and oversight.

Próximo paso del LAUSD Opinión | La Opinión 2009-08-30  -- La Junta Educativa del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Ángeles (LAUSD) votó esta semana en favor de abrir 250 escuelas a operadores privados en un intento de mejorar el aprendizaje de los alumnos. La acción es una respuesta positiva a la frustración de los padres, pero apenas es el comienzo de un camino que debe ser seguido de cerca por las autoridades escolares. Debe quedar en claro que por el sólo hecho que una escuela pase a ser administrada bajo el sistema charter no tiene garantizada su éxito como sitio de enseñanza. Hay estudios realizados que muestran mejores resultados que sus similares públicas y a otros que no indican mejoría alguna. En este aspecto el LAUSD tiene una responsabilidad en el otorgamiento de la escuela, como en su monitoreo. El proceso de selección de nuevos administradores será clave para las escuelas de bajo rendimiento. El propósito es alentar la innovación con un currículo exigente y creativo, al igual que proveer el ambiente necesario para el aprendizaje y las actividades extraescolares. El LAUSD en ese aspecto debe corregir problemas actuales dentro de su división que atiende las escuelas charter. Algunos administradores de estas escuelas se han quejado de no recibir el mismo trato que los operadores grandes, de ser perjudicados por que se los mide con varas diferentes y han denunciado una falta de consistencia general de parte de las guías del LAUSD. La misma queja ha surgido de integrantes de la Junta Educativa, que un día reciben reportes internos malos sobre una escuela para posteriormente recibir una buena recomendación y viceversa. Al mismo tiempo, desilusiona la actitud asumida por el sindicato de maestros quien ha recurrido a los tribunal para detener el cambio a toda costa. Creemos que sería mejor que los educadores buscarán la manera de ser parte de esta nueva iniciativa. Tanto padres como maestros tiene la misma meta de que los niños aprendan. Nuestro respaldo a la decisión de la Junta Educativa no es ideológico en contra de la educación pública, por el contrario es la búsqueda de alternativas ante un presente insostenible cuyos resultados no deja muchas opciones. Ahora es el turno de la Junta de hacer correcciones en la División de Escuelas Charter para que las nuevas escuelas puedan tener éxito. Sería un gran error creer que basta con entregar la dirección de las escuelas sin hacer cambios en la administración y supervisión de las mismas.

PLAN B/ROUND 1: The Mayor Has His Way – <cut …I mean> A New Way with LAUSD

By smf for 4LAKids

These WebPages mourn.

We mourn the death Tuesday night of "Liberal Lion" Teddy Kennedy - A champion if not THE champion of public education. As his friend Ramón Cortines said: "He was a friend of public education all the time, every day he was in office."

And we mourn the tragic outcome for public education in the LAUSD boardroom Tuesday afternoon with the passage of Yolie Flores Aguilar's "Public School Choice" Resolution.

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Barr …which schools do you choose?

We do not question Yolie's heart or her good intent. Her frustration at the lack of urgency of reform in LAUSD is heartfelt and genuine - but 4LAKids cannot miss the genesis of her plan and respectfully questions the authorship. Mayor Villaraigosa probably over describes his role as it being his "Plan B" - Plan A being his failed attempt at mayoral takeover and control, thrice quashed in the courts. But the fingerprints are there - and the confession: "my plan" - must mean something.

Despite public denial of the 'done deal" by the doers - and anguish and attempts-at-amendment and pretence-at-compromise, the Deal as realized was Done.

It wasn't pretty.

The list of advocate organizations named in whereas #5 grew with each draft as the 'me too's' tasted victory and wanted their logos on the t-shirt. A least one of the alphabet soup sponsors (and the most potentially powerful partner) withdrew their support at the last moment. Ultimately the entire list - the total active membership of which is probably a couple of thousand at most - was amended out.

ON THE DONE DEAL: According a speaker in public comment the mayor at one time claimed to have "six school board votes in his pocket".

All six came through Tuesday.

As Meredith Willson wrote:

Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table.
Pockets that mark the diff'rence
Between a gentlemen and a bum,
With a capital "B,"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!

Friends, we got trouble right here in (L.A.) River City!

DONE DEAL II: A couple of weekends ago Board President Garcia had a soiree at her house and invited the Board of Ed and the superintendent. Apparently District Counsel Bobbi Fesler gave this get together her blessing - as long as the Boardmembers didn't discuss certain things. Like any pending or potential action before the board.

All well and good - if they didn't discuss those things.  As long as they didn't think about the elephant in the room.

• The Ralph M. Brown Act is an open meeting law - a by-invitation-only-meeting at anyone's house is not an open meeting in my appointment book …even if partners and the kiddies are invited!
• Make no mistake, the invitees were invited in their official capacity; the invitation is addressed  "Dear Board Members" – this was not "Dear Yolie, Tamar, Richard, Steve, Nuri and Marguerite".
• Of course I'm strict constructionist (What part of 'no!' is it you don't understand?) who considers the intent of the law rather than the wiggle room within it.

DONE DEAL III: After the big vote at Tuesday's meeting - but before the meeting was over and adjourned - the Board of Ed had special visitors: Mayor Villaraigosa and entourage! How kewl is that? And did Hizzonner stand in the well of the boardroom and congratulate the Board of Ed? No. He took the superintendent's chair up on the dais and sat therein -- master of all he surveyed. When Superintendent Cortines returned another chair had to be found for him.

• Fifty new schools, financed by $20 billion+ in public financing - schools the taxpayers are about to get higher tax bills for - are to be up for grabs. Charter operators? Mayor's Partnership? Jiffy Lube? C'mon down!*
• As an afterthought - or perhaps a 'leftover' - two hundred existing underperforming schools were added to the mix of schools up for grabs.

It remains to be seen how interested outside operators will be in taking over those "Program Improvement " schools in light of the Mayor's Partnership's record at his ten schools …and that of Green Dot at Locke.

The promise of 'Choice' in the resolution is the resolution is illusory. The charter school model  (parents choose their child's school) is incompatible with the neighborhood school model (all students attend their local school per attendance catchment areas). The lesson of the Belmont Zone of Choice (open enrollment within a greater geographic area) has apparently been lost completely. The YFA resolution commits the District to continue attendance area boundaries - if anything perpetuating lack-of-choice.

The Board of Ed chooses between operators who choose to apply. Yes, the resolution promises to involve parents and teachers and the community in the decision making process - but their role is advisory. The superintendent recommends; the Board of Ed decides. Who's 'Choice' is that?  How many 6 to 1 votes will it take before we realize what's going on?

I suppose operators get to choose whether to honor collective bargaining agreements; under some interpretations of the plan they may get to choose which education standards and provisions of the Ed Code they choose to observe.

Bill Ring, in last week's 4LAKids wrote: "…. true public school choice means I have a choice as a parent as to the school my child will attend."

"Me."

"I choose."

Bill wasn't allowed into the Boardroom Tuesday. There wasn't room for him. Or maybe his radical ideas.

Three speakers spoke extraordinary Truth to Power Tuesday afternoon:

Jackie Goldberg, the liberal lioness of L.A. politics presented the actual bond language of the five school construction bonds to the board. It may be language previous boards wrote but is nonetheless binding on this board because it was enacted overwhelming by the voters. "If this resolution passes," Ms Goldberg warned, "Have no doubt. You will be sued!"

Boardmember La Motte posed a couple of good questions but in the end questioned the Board's authority to give up any schools to anyone, citing the California Constitution, Article IX, §6, ¶3: "No school or college or any other part of the Public School System shall be, directly or indirectly, transferred from the Public School System or placed under the jurisdiction of any authority other than one included within the Public School System."

And Boardmember Zimmer - almost a tragic figure - spoke of his anguish, disputing the process and the outcome - bemoaning the raw politics and threats made against him by both sides. Decrying the fact that the fight was about the fight and the color of the t-shirts - not about the kids. Ultimately Zimmer held his nose and voted yes - in order, he said, to be at the table in the future.

Ms LaMotte retorted that she was not voting for it and she would be at the table too ...because that's what the people elected her to do.

As for Winners and Losers…

The parents in the light blue t-shirts, paid for by the mayor and Green Dot celebrated their victory and filed back onto the buses that bused them in.

As Jackie Goldberg said three years ago in the fight against Plan A, when adults fight with adults over adult issues it is always the kids who lose.

---

* OK, Jiffy Lube, a for-profit corporation is excluded. But the Jiffy Lube Educational Foundation? C'mon down!

Report from the First of the Districtwide Community Meetings: RE - BOARD RESOLUTION ON PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE

by smf for 4LAids

August 10th -- Democracy is not a pretty thing. It's her cousin, Liberty, who stands all statuesque with the aquiline nose in New York Harbor.

Nobody bothered to tart Democracy up for the debut engagement of her cross-city tour at Griffith Middle School Monday night. Some people didn't get the word that the venue for gala premiere event: "Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines Invites You To Attend a Community Meeting to Discuss How The District Opens New Schools and Improves Low-Performing Schools' had changed from Roosevelt High School to Griffith Middle School …and it didn't help that the school police at Roosevelt weren't sure where Griffith was. (It's about twenty blocks east.)

Once at Griffith it just Democracy, warts and all. And the audience was hungry for something besides what was being served. Newly Minted Interim Local District Superintendent Robert A. Martinez started off right on time with Slide One of his PowerPoint     …and made the mistake of asking for questions or comments right then and there.

There were a couple of hundred folks in the audience and a couple of hundred questions and comments - most generally centered on variants of the same three themes:

• The plan presented in the PowerPoint had the appearance of a done deal - based on models in New York, Chicago and Denver. Were the folks present, teachers, parents and community, being asked …or were they being told? And what exactly do New York, Chicago and Denver have to do with LA?
• Is this a plan to implement the Flores Aguilar "School Choice/School Giveaway" resolution before it is even voted on by the Board of Ed?
• There were few in the audience that support bringing in partners or charters or outside operators to run "their" schools. One charter operator spoke up - and one representative from the Parent Revolution spoke out - but for the most part the audience was not supportive of charters and/or the mayor's partnership or any outside operator operating their schools - and were pointed in their derision of Mayor Villaraigosa and Monica Garcia.

If it had been a dress rehearsal it wouldn't have been half bad - as a show it pretty entertaining. It was, however, nothing like the script. Much is said by the superintendent about transparency -- there's a joke in here somewhere about amateur night at the burlesque - let's just say we saw more than we were supposed to see.

Was the crowd, probably about 300+, representative of the community? Who knows, it was the crowd that turned out on short notice.

Were there a lot of UTLA members? Yes. Was it packed with UTLA members. No.

Was it an ugly crowd? No. Was it boisterous and assertive and sometimes angry? Yes. It listened - though not always politely - to things it didn't want to hear. It cheered and booed.

Duffy from UTLA made it clear that the union was not 'involved' in process, only 'aware' of it.

Superintendent Cortines mad it clear he was there to listen.

Some teachers made their grievances, as did some parents. Anyone who would say that the folks in attendance arere accepting of the status quo has had a little too much sweetener in their own Kool Aid.

These are folks who give a damn about public education in their community …and they're not going to take very much more of the same-old/same old or the new miracle cure for very much longer.

Which leads me to beat my drum about  Relational Trust.

One down, six more to go …and why does the valley, with the two largest-in-size local districts, get only one meeting?

Check here or the latest schedule - times and venues - and one suspects, the message - are subject to change!

 

And here's the feedback form.

NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOL STUDY/PAID FOR BY CHARTER ORGANIZATIONS: “As a collective group, students in charter schools are not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.”

from Larson Communication On behalf of CREDO at Stanford University

Stanford University released a major report today providing the most detailed look to date at how charter schools are performing across the nation compared to their traditional public school counterparts.  The report provides an in-depth examination of 16 states, including: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado (Denver), DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois (Chicago), Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

Key findings from the report include:

• As a collective group, students in charter schools are not faring as well as students in traditional public schools.
• 17 percent of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools, while 37 percent of charter schools showed gains that were worse than their traditional public school counterparts, with 46 percent of charter schools demonstrating no significant difference.
• For students that are low income, charter schools had a larger and more positive effect than for similar students in traditional public schools. English Language Learner students also reported significantly better gains in charter schools.
• Students do better in charter schools over time. While first year charter school students on average experienced a decline in learning, students in their second and third years in charter schools saw a significant reversal, experiencing positive achievement gains. 
• The report found that achievement results varied by states that reported individual data, with charter schools in five states significantly outperforming their traditional peers, four states showing no difference and with six states significantly underperforming their traditional peers.

●●smf’s 2¢: Caveat Emptor/follow the money/who paid for the study? -- For all of it’s ambivalence about Charter School performance  this report  A Framework for Operational Quality: A Report from the National Consensus Panel on Charter School Operational Quality  is from  The Center for Research of Educational Outcomes at Stanford University [CREDO] in partnership with the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the Colorado League of Charter Schools  - collectively the the Charter School Quality Consortium.

National Charter School Study - Press Release

National Charter School Study - Executive Summary

National Charter School Study - Full Report

National Charter School Study - Technical Appendix

 

Press Release
State Report