MORE SCHOOLING: letter to the LA Times + smf seconds the motion

letter to the editor | http://lat.ms/ozaUFz

Re "Keeping pupils' skills sharp," July 7 | http://bit.ly/nVyqwY

12 July 2011 - With 2 1/2 months off, of course students lose a lot over the summer. The assertion that drop-in-the-bucket, feel-good grants by some corporations to school districts to "close the achievement gap" make a significant difference obscures the central issue.

Why does any state embrace the antiquated agrarian calendar for education that caps learning at 180 school days? Increasing the school year to 216 days and mandating that there are no breaks of greater than three consecutive weeks would have a significant impact on reducing student retrenchment.

To do so would require increasing education funding, which the U.S. Department of Education can do in the form of a per capita block grant. It's time to make education a federal priority to provide equal opportunities for all.

Stephen Jarvis
Los Angeles

smf: Jarvis is right.

But if we want more education we will have to pay for it – and there is no popular enthusiasm for paying for more – instead+regretfully we are merrily on track for settling for less.

• LAUSD has cut instructional days per year – (the state didn't say we had to, it was an an option we chose) and adds furlough days at every turn.
• Testing reduces instructional days.
• And the new state budget will further reduce instructional days if revenue targets are not met – and they are currently not on track to do so.

RFK SITE TO BECOME SCHOOLS + smf comments

 

By Tony Castro, Staff Writer | LA Newspaper Group (Daily News)

October 11, 2009 -- On the grounds of the old Ambassador Hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, officials Saturday dedicated a site of national tragedy into one of potential local triumph.

Two of Kennedy's grandchildren were among those who witnessed ribbon-cutting ceremonies for a new elementary education facility featuring two pilot schools.

"This is sacred ground," labor leader and Kennedy friend Dolores Huerta told about 500 people who attended the dedication.

The ceremony marked the culmination of a long political battle to raze the famed hotel and convert the 24-acre grounds into an urban school site. In addition to the new elementary schools, a new Robert F. Kennedy High School is scheduled to open in September 2010.

"My father was a champion of those who suffered disadvantages in America," Kennedy's son Maxwell said in a statement released by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

"This new K-12 learning center will educate and empower our young people and their parents to fight for economic and social justice. "I know of no better way to advance the living legacy of Robert Kennedy."

When complete, the educational complex will serve 4,400 students in grades K-12 in heavily Latino neighborhood west of downtown.

"My dream has been to make the schools a living memorial to Robert Kennedy," said Paul Schrade, a former senior aide to the late senator and head of the RFK-12 Community Task Force, the local group that worked toward construction of the learning complex.

Among obstacles that had to be overcome were Donald Trump's dream to build five towers at the site, one of them 125 stories tall, plans by Wal-Mart to put a store at the location and a movement by the Los Angeles Conservancy to preserve the landmark.

"Robert Kennedy told us what makes life worthwhile is the health of our children and the quality of their education," said Schrade.

Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel just minutes after winning the Democratic Party's 1968 California primary, an attack in which Schrade was also wounded.

LAUSD school board President Monica Garcia said Kennedy's message is "alive with us as we celebrate the opening of not one, but two exciting new pilot schools."

"We are inspired by the memory of Senator Kennedy who reminds us every day that we each have something to contribute," Garcia said. "And he reminds us every day that we can absolutely do better."

______________________

●● what smf said at the RFK-12 ribboncutting:

The good news is that I'm the last speaker today.

The really good news is that the youngsters behind me haven’t waited for any of us to sit down and shut up to play on the playground equipment behind this stage!

President Obama reminded us yesterday that we rise to meet challenges far more often than we solve them. This city and this school district have risen to meet the challenges of overcrowding and forced busing and the year round calendar; of disrepair and lack of vision. Those will, in time certain, be obstacles in the rear view mirror, thanks to the voters and taxpayers of this city.

Other challenges loom: Class sizes and underinvestment; a misunderstanding of the roles of art and music and physical activity in education and society. You kids must rise and meet the challenge of education and education reform --- you must rise to it, accept it and make the best of it …here in this new school, your new school – and onward – ever onward …into the high school that will be part of this incredible complex – and on to colleges and universities and art schools - to law school and medical school and engineering school; architecture school, trade school and business school.

Be safe here, Make lifelong friends. Do good work. Learn from your mistakes. Have fun.

It is a hero's journey: You must go forth …and come back and build the future. That is the dream and the vision and the promise of RFK-12.

Robert Kennedy made Bernard Shaw’s words his own: "Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not”. Those words, Boys and Girls, must be your words; those dreams must be your dreams. THEN we will be the City of Angeles we aspire to be.

Dare to dream. Ask "Why not?" Re-imagine the American Dream. Your dreams are our future.

Because you, the students, are the magic, and the promise.

YOUNG OAK KIM ACADEMY: LAUSD school relies on treating boys and girls differently + smf remarks at school's dedication

LAUSD school relies on treating boys and girls differently

By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer | LA Daily News

10/6 -- With special math and science programs for girls and "brain breaks" for boys, Los Angeles Unified embarked Monday on an educational experiment as it opened a campus that segregates students by gender.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony formally recognized the opening of Young Oak Kim Academy Middle School in the Pico-Union District, where 750 boys and girls attend academic classes on separate floors and come together only at lunch.

"This is yet another element of reform," school board President Monica Garcia said. "We have to try as many strategies as possible to see what helps our students excel and grow ... We cannot continue to do one-size-fits-all."

Garcia said the single-gender concept could someday be replicated at other district schools.

Studies cited by the National Association for Single Sex Education have shown that students in a single-gender classroom can outperform their counterparts taught in a coed setting.

A three-year study conducted by Stetson University in Florida found that boys in single-sex classes demonstrated a proficiency of 86 percent on standardized tests compared to 37 percent for boys in coed settings.

And students in all-girl classes earned a 75 percent score, compared with 59 percent proficiency among girls in coed classes.

At YOKA, educators have taken the program a step further, creating separate lesson plans for boys and girls.

Because research shows that adolescent girls thrive in groups and learn well in lectures, teachers at YOKA assign the girls a lot of collaborative projects. There's also an emphasis on math, science and technology because girls traditionally do not pursue these fields as aggressively as boys do.

The boys' classes, meanwhile, incorporate "brain breaks" that allow the students time to digest the lesson they've just been taught. There are even amplifiers in the boys' classrooms because studies show that adolescent boys have a less developed sense of hearing than adolescent girls.

Teachers say YOKA provides an opportunity to understand the differences in how boys and girls learn - and experiment with ways to help them achieve.

"You need to think about equity versus equality," art teacher Katherine Harrison.

"`Equity' says everyone has access, `equal' says everyone gets the same thing ... But we are not all exactly the same," she said. "This is about finding individual strengths and using them to overcome weaknesses."

The process of introducing the single-gender campus started in 2004, under the guidance of then-District 4 Superintendent Richard Alonzo, who began recruiting teachers and counselors trained for the alternative environment.

"We didn't just bring children to a new school," Alonzo recalled. "We thought very carefully about what kind of school we wanted."

Advocates for a single-gender school faced an obstacle early on because of federal laws that mandated equal access to programs and services for boys and girls. Changes made in those laws in 2006, coupled with incentives for innovation included in the No Child Left Behind Act, paved the way for YOKA and other single-sex campuses.

Now, more than 500 schools in the country offer single-sex educational programs or classes.

Named for the first Asian-American colonel to lead a U.S. battalion in war, YOKA was built as part of LAUSD's $20 billion construction program. It is designed to relieve overcrowding at Virgil and Berendo middle schools, which still operate on year-round calendars.

For many parents in the Pico-Union community - home to many Latino or Asian immigrants - the single-sex concept is very familiar.

"I was raised the same way in El Salvador," said Lucy Cortes, whose sixth-grade son attends YOKA. "I think it's a great option that allows our kids to focus more in school."

 

smf's Dedication Speech at YOKA

Comments by Bond Oversight Committee Representative Scott Folsom

Good and Glorious Morning. This is a great and glorious day for this Community, for this school district and for the greater community - for the City of Angels we aspire to be.

This community, your community - you kids - is getting a new middle school.

There is no more important or challenging level of education than middle school; it is here - within the walls we dedicate today , that the future will be formed, dreamed and begun …or lost and allowed to get away.

Building schools is the best thing any community does. When we build schools we make positive investments in our future way beyond the news cycle or the election cycle or the demographic projection …we are stretching the blank canvas that will be your masterpiece.

I did my homework for this little speech: I refreshed my memory about Young Oak Kim. How his father ran a grocery at Temple and Figueroa. How he graduated from Belmont High School and attended LACC. How, with war on the horizon he fought for the right to fight for his country. How he said "There is no Japanese nor Korean here. We're all Americans and we're fighting for the same cause."  He fought long and hard and well; he truly served his country, in war and peace; in the military and in civilian life. He won medals and he built museums and monuments, education and cultural and health centers. The headline in his obituary said Young Oak Kim was "a World War Two and Korean War Hero …and a Uniter of LA Asian Communities". A Hero among heroes …and a Uniter. An inspiration and a visionary. It doesn't get any better than that …and we dearly need more Americans like him.

I read in a book once that kids find magic because they look for it …I believe in magic because I believe in kids.

The kids who will go to this school - some of the young faces we see here today - will learn things in their lives that Nobel Prize winners haven't discovered yet. And as they go through life they will discover and learn even newer things …things they will teach their children; things that will win them Nobel Prizes. That is what civilization and the magic of education is all about.

These things are not easy; challenges never are.. They are promises made in one generation and kept by the next - in making the promise and keeping the promise we pass the challenge into the future.

We have made a promise to parents, voters and taxpayers — but mostly to the children; present and future: We promised to build new schools and fix up the old ones when the approved Proposition BB and Measures K, R. Y  and Q.

You don’t need me to tell you, you only have to look around you to see the promise is being kept.

• We are building new schools.
• We are fixing the old schools.
• We are creating and fostering partnerships in the community.
• We are ending Involuntary Busing.
• We have implemented Full Day Kindergarten in every elementary school in this district.
• And we will eliminate the Multi-Track Year-round Calendar, once and for all.

We need it put up our magic tent many more times …and we will.

Kids, Treat this school and the schools you attend today well and learn good things. Treat each other well. Work hard, Play fair and be safe. Make lifelong friends. Do your homework. Earn extra credit. Take every opportunity and make the best of it. Learn from your mistakes. Paint. Sing. Graduate. Win medals, build museums. Unify. Make a little magic every day. Go from here on to high schools, colleges and universities and community colleges and art schools — to law school and medical school and trade schools and – go to teachers colleges. Win medals, build museums, unite communities. And if you go to beauty school become the best beautician in the history of beauty itself!

Parents and teachers, fellow adults: Help them do these things - and then stand back!

Because you kids are magic and you are the future. So let's roll.

smf to Board of Ed on Sept 22nd

Text of smf speech re rules changes

Good afternoon President Garcia, Dr. Morris, and members of the Board. I officially bring you the Happy New School Year greetings and best wishes of Los Angeles Tenth District PTA and - unofficially - the seventy thousand card carrying PTA members of PTA in LAUSD.

There has been talk of this action and other recent actions of the board being "done deals" - I hope not. I'd like to believe that I'm not wasting my time and your time by tilting at windmills here.

The agenda item itself: "Proposes specific changes and suspension of specific board rules to align the operational rules of the board with current practice, create efficiencies and effectuate cost savings..." seems a cynical nod to the "done deal": - "…and adds Board Rule regarding authorizations required for teachers to teach English Language learners." seems like a bit of sugar coated misdirection.

My first suggestion is parliamentary and procedural - I call for a Division of the Question -- I ask that you break these proposed rules changes into individual items and debate each on their merits.

PTA participates in the Parent Engagement Task Force - a group charged under a resolution from the board - and you Ms Flores Aguilar - with creating parent involvement policy - which is a good thing - and opening LAUSD to greater parent and community engagement - which is a great thing. Many of us on the task force having been working at this for years -- we are well on our way.

But the message being sent here today - limiting public board meetings, eliminating committees, abridging public comment and standardizing meeting times is a series of big steps in the wrong direction. You endanger the progress being made by throwing out the baby with the bathwater - and Ms LaMotte is always reminding us that it's about the babies!

The committees which you propose to abandon offer unique public forums for the board to interact with district staff, community members, experts-in-the-field, and parents as equals - up there on that horseshoe in the comfy chairs - in conversations that drive policy. The advent of Full Day Kindergarten in LAUSD grew out of a discussion David Tokofsky and I began at the Facilities committee.

The book BEYOND THE BAKE SALE - An Essential Guide to Family School Partnerships poses some interesting themes: Who's in charge hare anyway? - Developing Relationships - Linking to Learning - Supporting Advocacy and Sharing Power.

It describes two models of parent organizations: THE TRADITIONAL MODEL built on bake sales and fundraising, regular meetings at convenient times to staff and supporting the principal's agenda - and THE LEADERSHIP MODEL, where the focus is on supporting student achievement, the agenda responds to issues within the community and meetings take place at the convenience of stakeholders.

You are creating policy here that compounds the issues we face and isolates this board to your offices, whether upstairs or in the field. You are making the same mistake that traditional parent organizations make: you need to reach out - not withdraw into policy and rules.

We - LAUSD - are making progress and we need your leadership. We need transparency and we need accountability. Parents need access to this Board of Education. We are not asking you to micromanage, we are asking you to lead. You need to embrace a leadership style that doesn't lead from the twenty-fourth floor but from this boardroom and out into the district - leading not from the top ….but from the center.

Thank you.

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.

“WE HONOR OURS” AWARDS GO TO EDUCATION ACTIVISTS: Twelve people are honored with WHO awards at annual dinner by the UTLA/NEA WHO Committee

By Ana Valencia, UTLA /NEA Vice President |From the June 19, 2009 United Teacher • UTLA Newsletter

May 18, 2009, will be remembered as a warm and sunny day when 11 UTLA/NEA members and one community member were honored for their individual achievements at the annual UTLA/NEA “We Honor Ours” Awards dinner.

The WHO awardees, along with their family and friends, enjoyed a hosted dinner at the Monterey Hill Steakhouse.

<The 2009 WHO award winners, with NEA Executive Committee member Paula Monroe (far left) and UTLA/NEA Vice President Ana Valencia (far right). Front row: Janice Lee, Scott Folsom, Mignon Jackson, Mary Toggenburger. Back row: Jimmy Jones, Gwendolyn Baker,Paulette Shelley, Steve Seal, Janet Lucar, Michael de la Torre, and Ernesto Silva-Valdivia.

The audience was treated to a poem from Steven Stovall from Clinton Middle School and a song by Abel Rodriguez from Hollywood High School.

Paula Monroe, National Education Association (NEA) Executive Committee member, delivered the keynote address.

Monroe spoke of the budget crisis that has demoralized our members, robbed our students, and exasperated our association as we seek solutions.

She spoke of the need to get everyone on board the expressway to reform.

As an educational support provider, Monroe is acutely cognizant of the role that each member of the education family plays in developing the whole child.

She explained why it takes a village of determined individuals to nurture a student.

Monroe shared the vision of NEA and its aggressive plan to change the face of public education in the next four years.

Recognition and celebration filled the night as each of the WHO award recipients was honored for his or her outstanding service to UTLA/NEA and its members.

This year, awardees have fulfilled many roles that help make our association stronger through delivering services to the members.

The committee chose to honor the recipients for leadership that distinguished them and inspired their fellow union members to nominate them.

Whatever form their activism takes, these members have devoted countless hours to their union for the betterment of all.

WHO Local Awards

Gwendolyn R.Baker

With 30 years of teaching under her belt and an employee number that begins with a “1,” Baker has served in a variety of leadership roles, from South Area Steering Committee member, cluster leader, House of Representatives member, elected PACE member, African American Committee member, and Inner City Committee member.

Serving for the past 18 years as chapter chair, she has gained the respect of teachers, classified staff, parents, and even administrators to build a coalition of all stakeholders at Compton Avenue Elementary School.

Baker has provided exemplary service to UTLA as South Area cluster leader, and she continues to be an outspoken activist for improved work conditions, compensation, instructional support, and parent-community relations.

Michael de la Torre

Commitment, dedication, and altruism are words that personify de la Torre.

He has brought great honor and recognition to UTLA.

Nationally, he is the only California director for the National Board for the Professional Teaching Standards.

After receiving his National Board Certification, he has unselfishly donated his time to assist other future NBC teachers.

Within UTLA, he has served as chapter chair, a House of Representatives member, and co-chair of the Peer Assistance and Review Panel.

His commitment has not ended there; he has organized a multitude of events at Bryson Elementary School, where he went to school as a child, like Family Reading Night at South Gate Park.

He is also a docent for the L.A. Zoo Education program and involved in many other community organizations.

Jimmy Jones

Throughout his 30-plus years in education, Jones has served UTLA in multiple capacities.

He has been a chapter As the UTLA Constitution Committee chairperson, chair, a West Area Steering Committee member, and a cluster leader.

He has been incredibly dedicated to the members of West Area, and he is one of the most dependable members we have.

He works collaboratively with all members in his elected positions on the UTLA House of Representatives and the CTA State Council and as a delegate to the NEA Representative Assembly.

At the NEA-RA we can always count on him to help put the seat covers for our delegation on the floor of the assembly.

He has also been featured on the cover of the California Educator for the work he has done in early childhood education.

He has also served on the CTA scholarship selection committee and on the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Committee.

Janice Lee

Janice Lee is hardworking, dedicated, and committed.

She has been a servant of students for more than 40 years, 22 of those spent with LAUSD.

As past chapter chair, House of Representatives member, PACE Committee member, CTA State Council representative, and NEA Representative Assembly delegate, she presently devotes most of her time to the Christa McAuliffe and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship fundraisers.

Because she has a passion for helping new teachers improve and encouraging veteran teachers to succeed, Janice Lee holds the office of chair of the UTLA African-American Education Committee’s annual community workshop for salary points.

Janet Lucar

Janet Lucar is a champion for the rights of adult school educators.

Through her efforts in drawing attention to the inequitable implementation of the new LAUSD payroll system, a UTLA grievance on behalf of retired adult educators was filed.

She advocated for and served UTLA/NEA members in a wide range of positions that have included elementary and adult school chapter chair, cluster leader, Valley West Steering Committee member, Adult Education Committee member, House of Representatives member, CTA State Council representative, NEA Representative Assembly delegate, and UTLA/NEA WHO Awards Committee member.

Stephen Seal

Seal has earned the recognition of his peers through his hard work and dedication.

He has been a chapter chair, School Site Council member, and cluster leader.

He has served as chair of the UTLA Human Rights Committee and on the UTLA Board of Directors for the Harbor Area, in addition to being a delegate to the NEA Representative Assembly.

Steve is an active participant in UTLA actions, recruiting members to get involved, and he often lobbies legislators in Sacramento on budget and education issues.

Paulette Shelley

Shelley has served UTLA members as chapter chair at her school for six years.

She is a member of the House of Representatives and the South Area Steering Committee and a delegate to the NEA Representative Assembly and the CTA State Council.

Shelley has recently been elected to the UTLA Board of Directors for the Central Area.

She also served as the WHO Committee chair from 2006 to 2008.

Ernesto Silva-Valdivia

Silva-Valdivia is a dedicated teacher who has demonstrated union activism for more than 25 years.

His tireless support for his colleagues is demonstrated both citywide and in the heart of East L.A., as a UTLA chapter chair, past House of Representatives member, East Area Steering Committee member, and NEA-RA delegate.

He also volunteers at his current site, Humphreys Avenue School, with the Nutrition Network and on intiatives involving information technology.

His fundamental union belief of “An injury to one is an injury to all” helped to displace some of the most difficult administrators.

Mary Toggenburger

Toggenburger throws a party like no one else.

The UTLA Retirement Dinner that Mary Toggenburger hosts is the talk of the town each year, and she makes sure all retiring teachers feel truly honored.

Mary has UTLA in her blood.

During the 1989 strike, her mother, current UTLA-R President Loretta Toggenburger, and Mary both walked the line, Mary as a substitute teacher and Loretta as a Valley East activist.

After subbing, Mary moved on to Angeles Mesa and, of course, became chapter chair.

She did her best to improve working conditions there.

In fact, she made sure the principal was removed before she left to come back to the Valley.

Mary currently works at Burbank Boulevard, where she is the chapter chair.

She is also on the Valley East Steering Committee and serves on the Chapter Chair Appreciation Dinner committee.

Albert Vargas

Vargas is a community-based educator who co-founded the Elysian Valley United Community Center.

The center helps to bring UTLANEA activism into the heart of a small, sleepy neighborhood, home to the Frogtown Raiders.

In fact, one of the students who attended the Elysian Valley United Community Center was a speaker at the National Education Association Convention in Washington, D.C., a few years ago.

As chapter chair of Central High School, Albert helps members who are dispersed throughout the city to come together to voice their issues and act as advocates for their students and their program.

Albert rose through the ranks of UTLA quickly to oversee UTLA political action branch under the direction of Bill Lambert.

WHO State Award

Mignon Jackson

At the local, statewide, and national level, Mignon Jackson is a longtime, well-known, and respected activist.

<Mignon Jackson (center), with NEA Executive Committee Member Paula Monroe and UTLA NEA Vice President Ana Valencia, won the state-level WHO award.

Jackson is the daughter of two of the founding members of UTLA, and she has never forgotten the lessons that her parents taught: to be active in your association.

She has served as chapter chair, West Area treasurer, and member of the UTLA Board of Directors, the CTA Board of Directors, the CTA Budget Committee, the UTLA Elections Committee, and the Good Teaching Planning Committee.

Jackson’s dedication is further exemplified by her 24 years as NEA/RA delegate, serving as chairperson of the CTA Protocol Committee.

WHO Gold/Community Award

Scott Folsom

Scott, a frequent visitor to the LAUSD Board Room, is the former president of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA.

It was through his affiliation with PTSA that he came to represent the organization as vice chair of the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen’s Oversight Committee.

< Scott Folsom, UTLA/NEA WHO Gold Award Winner

This Marshall High School parent maintains a blog called 4LAKIDS, where up-to-date information about LAUSD is disseminated.

4LAKIDS present a wealth of information about Los Angeles Unified School District.

Pithy, witty commentaries accompany news briefs about the state of education affecting the 650,000 students within our boundaries.

Folsom is one of those rare individuals who has committed his life to the District in an effort to create a better learning environment for all.

He is an advocate for kids, students, parents, programs, and the people who make education happen.

He has served on numerous District committees, school committees, and state committees.

He serves on various school district advisory and policy committees and is or has been a PTA officer or a governance council member at three LAUSD schools.

He has kept a vigilant eye on the ever-expanding Facilities Department as a member of the Budget Committee. (smf correction: the Facilities Committee)

Scott also serves as an elected neighborhood councilmember of the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council in Northeast Los Angeles, representing Mount Washington, where he is often found bringing up issues about education and equity.

 

The UTLA/NEA WHO Awards Planning Committee (Sonia Martin Solis, Janet Lucar, Bruce A.Lee, Greg Laskowski, Jimmy Jones, Linda Guthrie, Dr.Frances Copeland, Sue Cirillo, Susana Betancourt, Jenny Chomori, and Lorena t.Valenzuela) would like to thank all of the people who were involved in this endeavor.

A special thank-you is extended to our CTA directors, Mignon Jackson and Mary Rose Ortega, for hosting the wonderful reception. Do you know an UTLA-NEA colleague who is an advocate of public education and serves the membership in many capacities? You may want to nominate them for a WHO award next year.

The nomination form will be in the winter issue of the UNITED TEACHER, and forms will be available at your area meetings and online.The 2010 UTLA/ NEA WHO Award Dinner will be on May 17, 2010. We look forward to seeing you there.

●●smf's 2¢: If you’ve read this far you’ve undoubtedly figured that that this is a bit of me-me-me narcissistic self-promotion; I hope not. Instead this is a thank you to those who have read and have made sense of the ravings of a lunatic about  the madness and the beauty of public education in our city of angels.  It was and continues to be an honor to be included in the same room as those who were also honorees; to be a recipient is an undeserved honor that I shall try to merit going forth. To be included among the previous recipients of the award given me is a truly daunting honor.

Thank you UTLA and NEA, we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but we are there shoulder-to-shoulder in the vineyards where the grapes of wrath are sown – hopefully we will be witness when the bounty of knowledge is reaped. Onward!

The news that didn’t fit from April 19th

THE TWO MAJOR CALIFORNIA TEACHERS UNIONS AGREE THAT THE STATE OWES EDUCATION BILLION$, CTA Goes to the Ballot Box, CFT to the Courts
Thursday, April 16, 2009 11:43 PM
The latest on California politics and government  Posted by Kevin Yamamura, SACBEE  April 16 - The California Teachers Association has pumped $5 million so far into a campaign to pass Propositions 1A and 1B, with the carrot of $9.3 billion in total additional education revenues starting in 2011-12 under 1B.  But the California Federation of Teachers believes there's a different way to get that

L.A. ACADEMY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST PROPOSED LAUSD TEACHER CUTS
Saturday, April 18, 2009 12:57 PM
by Nadra Kareem | Contributing Writer The Watts Times  April 16, 2009 -- Lamar Queen considered applying to three school districts in Southern California upon graduating from Louisiana’s Grambling State University. In the end, the math teacher settled on the Los Angeles Unified School District.  “They had a nice incentive program for new teachers who were going to teach math, so I went with

YouTube: CTA’s YES ON 1A & 1B COMMERCIAL
Thursday, April 16, 2009 6:16 AM
4LAKIDS unenthusiastically recommends  YES votes on 1A, 1B & 1C. We don’t like any of them, but they are the best we are going to get in this economy with politics-as-unusual in Sacramento.     1D  and 1E hold early childhood education and mental health programs temporary hostage for education, if you can accept that – vote YES.     1E is a no brainer.    Familiarize yourself with the measures

NY Times’ Los Angeles Journal: GIVING LESSONS IN TRAFFIC SAFETY AT MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Thursday, April 16, 2009 5:18 AM
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER | NEW YORK TIMES    Michal Czerwonka for The New York Times - Mitchell Summer, the dean of students at Florence Nightingale Middle School in Los Angeles, helps students cross the street  April 10, 2009 — LOS ANGELES — At 2:58 each weekday afternoon, the adults brace for traffic chaos at Florence Nightingale Middle School.  The bell sounds, and children dash to the left

5000? 5400? 6850? THE NUMBERS OF LAUSD LAYOFFS LIKE THE SIZE OF THE BUDGET DEFICIT AND THE SIZE OF THE FEDERAL STIMULUS REMAINS UNKNOWN. BUT HOWEVER MANY OF THEM THERE ARE THEY ARE LIKE, SO FIRED! OR NOT.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 3:17 PM
Update 4/15 | 3pm:           Before yesterday’s vote to “save” 1996 elementary school jobs Reduction in Force/RIF/layoff  notices  had been sent to 10,571 employees.            The final vote technically authorized 8,541 layoffs,             Superintendent Ramon Cortines and Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly said the district would route state funding to individual schools, allowing them to

“DO THE RIGHT THING FOR KIDS …AND THE RIGHT THING IS NOT TO PROCEED WITH THIS BUDGET”
Saturday, April 18, 2009 2:48 PM
“You have heard from Jackie Goldberg and John Mockler;  you have heard from teachers and parents and student. Listen to them.” 

smf to the Board of Ed at the April 14th Meeting:  Members of the Board of Education, I speak today as Vice President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTA and I bring the greetings of Thirty-first District. Together we represent the entirely of PTA in LAUSD.   I am here in

LABOR ORGANIZES AGAINST BUDGET MEASURE 1-A + Strange 1A fellows move their beds closer together
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 8:10 AM
By Kevin Yamamura | Sacramento Bee     Monday, Apr. 13, 2009 - A powerful California public employee union formed a campaign committee Monday with two other labor groups to oppose Proposition 1A, a May 19 ballot measure that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders have said will solve future budget problems.  Service Employees International Union's California State Council, which says

 

COALITION OF LAUSD UNIONS & H.O.P.E PARENT COALITION TALKING POINTS

Saturday, April 11, 2009 10:34 PM
Spend the Stimulus monies to ensure a future for the kids  &  Deny the District’s self-defeating and rash cuts.     Guiding Principle From 4/6 Meetings                        Public Interest Message of Hope· Maintain level of consistency of instructional and operational support.· Equity.           ·

THE LAUSD BUDGET: What we know/What we don't know.

by smf for 4LAKids

●THIS MUCH WE KNOW:

· The Federal government though the stimulus package is committed to maintain and create jobs in public education – that is the goal of this initial phase of the stimulus. Reform comes later, with different dollars.

· LAUSD's budget, approved last Tuesday, is reform and 'rightsizing' driven: the Board of Ed voted to reduce and eliminate, not save and create jobs, positions and programs.

· Yes, 1996 elementary teacher positions from a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) pool of over ten thousand were 'saved' – but 8,541 jobs were done away with Tuesday. The possibility of saving 3,167 of these jobs through the federal stimulus was relegated to the school sites' discretion – if they can find the money and can figure out the district, state and federal mandate. 5,374 jobs cannot be saved under the 4/13 budget plan.

· The California Ed Code says that only the Board of Education has hiring and firing authority.

· The first of the Federal Stimulus was released by the feds to the state Friday; California was the first state in the nation to receive the funding.

· The feds say the governor has authority and responsibility to send the money to school districts. The legislature says the California Constitution gives them that sole authority. Where the California Superintendent of Public Instruction – the state's premiere elected official in education fits in is unclear – but he has weighed in (see $3.1-BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS WINDFALL OFFERS A CHANCE TO REFORM CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS, TOP EDUCATION OFFICIAL SAYS, following) In LAUSD the Board of Ed and the superintendent are at odds with O'Connell's advice to come up with "creative solutions that benefit all students" while saving jobs of teachers, administrators and employees. They are intent on rightsizing – pushing the decision making authority on saving jobs out to the 900 school sites.

· The March 10th Board of Ed meeting – the first reading of the district budget – was held with no public witnesses, broadcast by a single TV camera controlled by the board from am undisclosed location behind locked doors, inaccessible to the public — in extremely dubious compliance with the state's open meeting law.

· At the next Board of Ed budget hearing on March 31^st Dr. Vladovic recused himself – removing himself from the process – citing a conflict of interest. His son was subject to layoff under the proposed RIF proposal.

· Absent consensus, under pressure of the District's congressional delegation and in deference to the public the board voted to postpone to a certain time (the regular April 13^th meeting) the motion on the floor (the budget resolution).

· Immediately prior to the April 13^th meeting a special meeting was held and Dr. Vladovic's son and 1995 other teachers were removed from the RIF list. Dr. Vladovic did not participate in the special meeting.

· At the April 13 regular meeting – at which the budget resolution was reconsidered as amended – Dr. Vladovic was recorded at the opening roll call as absent. Whether he was ever recorded as present is unclear. From time to time he came and left. At no time did he announce he was no longer recused.

· When the final vote was taken there was a 3 to 3 tie; Dr. Vladovic not being present. In a tie vote the motion would have failed – but the vote was left open pending Dr. Vladovic's return

· When Vladovic returned he explained his absence as illness (…with perhaps more detail then was required!) Asked for his vote he made an inquiry of counsel: [LATimes: "He then asked for a legal opinion on whether the district could spend more restricted money to save jobs. The district's top lawyer warned against it." — this in itself is parliamentarily questionable, no further information should be provided during a vote], He got a reply and recorded an Aye vote. 4 to 3 the motion carried.

● WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW:

· Questions arise as to whether Dr. Vladovic's participation was correct in light of his:

1. previous recusal on a continued motion,

2. absence at the roll call and

3. absence at the vote – which was understood by some witnesses as his continued recusal.

· There is also question as to whether the decision to save the 1996 elementary positions was engineered to secure Vladovic's participation.

· 4LAKids questions what the intended and unintended consequences of saving the 1996 elementary teachers will be. The initial RIF was proposed to facilitate class size increase; now 2000 more teachers are available but the class size increase mandate was not addressed in the budget. What exactly will those teachers are doing?

· How School Site Councils – charged under this budget with determining which RIFed teachers and staff will be rehired — and untrained and unprepared for this fiduciary and ethical responsibility – will function when they are likely to be composed of RIFed employees and their co-workers – and by parents whose children will be served by impacted employees.

· The composition of SSCs is statutory, they are elected bodies and their makeup is formulated to create equitable representation of employees, administration, parents and community, and in secondary: students. Wholesale recusal would disturb the equity

· SSC meetings, normally open, will be closed as they would be discussing personnel matters. This creates both the appearance-of and actual conflicts of interest of biblical proportions with little or no transparency, accountability or oversight. Stay tuned.

Tune in and watch: The April 13th Board meeting will be rebroadcast Sunday, April 19, 10:24 AM on KLCS/Channel 58 - CHANNEL 58.1 Check your cable listings for which channel it is carried.

CHICAGO SCHOOLS vs. LAUSD: Their supe is Obama's new education man. Our supe is nice, but ...

By David Ferrell | LA Weekly

 

Jan 21, 2009 - It’s been a rocky start for Ramon Cortines.

The genial 76-year-old bureaucrat — who was never on anyone’s list of tough-minded academic reformers — was thrust into the top job at the woefully problem-plagued Los Angeles Unified School District because he seemed the steadiest hand after Superintendent David L. Brewer was booted out the door.

Almost immediately, critics questioned whether Cortines has the chops to helm wholesale changes in the city’s failing middle and high schools. He was seen as a good-intentioned man who paled in comparison to change agents like Chicago Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan, chosen to be Barack Obama’s secretary of education, and Washington, D.C.’s Michelle Rhee, a young freethinker lauded by Time for her “battle against bad teachers” in the abysmal schools of the nation’s capital.

While nobody’s ready to put Cortines in the dunce corner, many see him merely as a competent stand-in until a true savior arrives. To counteract the inevitable whisper campaign against him, Cortines unleashed two salvos last week: an eight-page mission statement detailing goals for his first 100 days, and districtwide school “report cards” mailed to homes to provide parents with data about how each campus is doing.

Illustration by Ken Garduno

“While nobody’s ready to put Cortines in the dunce corner…..” - OK, apparently the LA Weekly editor and/or illustrator Garduno are!   The School Report Card site More than you ever wanted to know about the school report card: REPORT CARD FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR PRINCIPALS The First 100 Days Plan:  THE OVERVIEW  (1/7 | 2 pages) |    THE WORK PLAN (1/12 | 8 pages) No Cost @ What Cost? - The 4LAKids article referenced

 

Both salvos were, by many accounts, duds. The mission statement was vague while breaking no new ground. It cited the usual ideals, like “growth” and “progress” — part of any academic program for time immemorial. In the words of one high school–level educator on the city’s Eastside, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, “It’s mumbo jumbo.”

Sounding pugnacious, Cortines defends himself to L.A. Weekly by saying, “People will be critical — and I will accept that criticism — but you can either do something or not do anything at all. And I choose to do something. It’s a step in the right direction.”

His 100-day plan may appear vague to some, he concedes, but he disagrees with that view, saying, “I don’t think it’s vague. I think it makes it very clear what we intend to do and when we intend to do it. Nothing like this has ever been done before. It’s not an intellectual document. It’s not a strategic plan — this district doesn’t have a strategic plan. What I’m trying to do is model what we’re trying to do and let the people know if you’ve met those benchmarks.”

But in fact, his 100-day plan states some pretty obvious, well-worn points as goal No. 1: “Guide, train and equip teachers, administrators, staff and those providing support services to achieve consistently high-quality levels of instruction and learning through a coherent three-tiered instructional framework that aligns evidence-based pedagogy, behavioral supports and differentiated interventions to ensure every student by name receives equitable access to instruction and supports that result in high levels of proficiency.”

And that prompts the doubting Eastside educator to respond, “Is that perhaps the worst grammar-syntax education piece you’ve read in your life?”

Cortines’ second salvo, his school report cards, were grandly unveiled at a press conference that featured Cortines and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. While the 100-day goals struck many as uninspiring, the report cards were even worse, perhaps — an act of political grandstanding to many. The report cards include percentage scores in a multitude of academic subjects that provide little context, if any, for comparing similar schools against each other, and provide no way for parents to determine if their child has an effective teacher, or a teacher whose students are known to chronically fall behind.

Savvy cynics suggest that the report cards could be useful later on, once Cortines has been in charge for long enough to issue a new round of equally vague, but more glowing, scores.

While acknowledging that the report cards do not yet show all the information he hopes they will, Cortines says parents with whom he’s talked appreciate receiving the feedback. Sending out the reports “is not for the purpose of comparing schools one with another,” he says. “It’s to give you facts about your school. Yes, all of the data is not there, but it will be forthcoming each year when we get that kind of data.”

Yet activist Scott Folsom, vice-chairman of LAUSD’s Bond Oversight Committee, expressed his frustration on his blog, 4lakids.blogspot.com, saying, “I don’t believe most parents have an understanding of what they’ve been handed. The district was in a hurry to roll this puppy out — in a hurry, I think, because of the change in regimes.”

Folsom is bothered by the persistent impression that nearly all of what happens at LAUSD headquarters, and on its highly politicized elected school board, is a product of clashing adult political agendas, with a continual failure to focus on ways to improve teaching and classroom achievement. “I don’t see a lot of evidence that children are being placed first,” he says.

Though not a rah-rah leader, Cortines has solid credentials, having worked in education — and having dealt with the political squabbles — in New York City, San Francisco, Pasadena and San Jose in addition to Los Angeles. Folsom, who knows Cortines, says he is seen by many as a straight shooter who may have what it takes to rescue the city’s many bad high schools and middle schools.

“I want to give Ramon Cortines every chance in the world to succeed at what he’s doing now,” Folsom says. “But the school district is a huge bureaucracy. We churn through superintendents. . . . We have a history of starting on the road to reform and not following through.”

Cortines may be hamstrung at the outset due to the district’s $400 million deficit. However, one of his staunchest supporters is LAUSD’s former Chief of Instruction Ronni Ephraim, whose departure during Brewer’s bungled reign was seen as a big blow to LAUSD’s one success story: the steady, sizable gains in reading, math and other subjects among poor and minority Los Angeles grade-school kids — achieved in large part through improvement of classroom teaching.

Ephraim led those instruction reforms under former Superintendent Roy Romer, moving steadily ahead despite intense opposition from longtime political factions which, even now, hope to dumb down what is being taught in grade schools so that more students will seem to be succeeding.

Ephraim, who is training future teachers at USC these days, believes that Cortines is capable of hacking the flab out of the budget while improving student and teacher performance. She adds that Cortines’ 100-day mission statement may have been deliberately nebulous to give him the flexibility to tackle what many see as an all-but-impossible task.

“The man is totally focused on improving instruction for students,” she says. “If he says he’s going to do something, he does it. He has integrity. He has a work ethic beyond most human beings. ... He will hold people accountable for doing their jobs.”

Both his 100-day game plan and the school-report-card gambit were dreamed up in part by a hired gun — Boston Consulting Group, a global idea factory with offices in Moscow, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Dubai and other cities, including L.A. Using grants from the Gates Foundation, Dell Foundation and other sources, Boston Consulting has gone just a bit overboard, according to critics, in putting a glossy sheen on what the district is doing, at the expense of transparency.

Cortines says he played a direct role in developing the report cards along with Boston Consulting, and that the content and format were vetted by 700 people before the cards were mailed to parents. He downplays the firm’s role in shaping the 100-day plan, saying much of the work was also done by the district’s own personnel.

Nobody from the firm responded to L.A. Weekly’s requests for an interview. The company’s Web site explains, “The Los Angeles office has developed numerous innovative concepts, including a blueprint for how media companies can thrive in a world of consumer control, groundbreaking work on offshoring biopharma research and development, and a new way of capturing value through IT outsourcing.”

No mention of any expertise in public education. “The word ‘children’ doesn’t appear there” either, says Folsom, the academic blogger. “They’re about profit, about producing widgets. They’re bean counters with stopwatches who are trying to do time and motion studies. Education is a completely different creature.”

More disturbing is the idea that such political razzmatazz may mask what Cortines is really about — one of the problems that plagued the departed David Brewer and led to his demise. Or maybe, as longtime LAUSD observer Joe Hicks says, the masking is necessary because Cortines is not a take-charge reformer like Chicago’s Washington-bound Duncan or Washington’s charismatic and controversial Rhee.

The schools in Los Angeles are not nearly as bad, by test-score measures or any other yardstick, as the infamously inept schools in Washington, D.C., which spend $13,000 per student — to no effect. Washington is now undergoing “Rhee-form,” and several other cities, including Chicago and New York, have made bold moves to focus on why and how some teachers continually fail while other teachers, given the same set of circumstances and the same mix of student backgrounds and student income levels, continually succeed.

So far, in his short time as superintendent, Cortines has not addressed that fundamental reform issue in public statements, nor in his report cards or his 100-day goals.

“We need someone like that who’s willing to come in and clear the decks,” says Hicks, vice-president of Community Advocates Inc., a local think tank. “Someone who says, ‘We’re going to fire teachers, fire principals. We’re going to arm-wrestle with the [teachers] union.’

“I know Ramon Cortines. He’s a very nice man. He certainly will be more efficient and effective than David Brewer was. Brewer was just an abysmal failure. But Cortines is just not the kind of kick-butt [superintendent] the district requires. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is not what this city needs.”

The news that didn’t fit from Dec 14th

SUPERINTENDENT BREWER’S STATEMENT

Statement from Superintendent David L. Brewer, III, made in the LAUSD Boardroom at 2PM on December 8^th:

smf's STATEMENT

Statement from Scott Folsom, made to the LAUSD Board of Education at 10AM on December 9^th:

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2nd L.A. SCHOOL BOARD HOPEFUL WON’T BE ON BALLOT

Bill Ring, a second Los Angeles school board hopeful was told this week that he had not gathered enough voter signatures to qualify for the March ballot.

SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE BEN AUSTIN DISQUALIFIED FOR INVALID SIGNATURE PETITIONS

Austin,  former Deputy Mayor and Green Dot Employee, was favorite of Villaraigosa, Broad & Co.

2 from The Wave: BREWER’S FORCED EXIT STUNS BLACK EDUCATORS + RUSH TO REMOVE: ANOTHER TAKE ON THE BREWER EXIT

· The impending departure of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent David L. Brewer leaves only 13 Black superintendents in school districts across California, down from 23 in 2007.

· As L.A. school board moves to oust superintendent, African-Americans wonder how big a factor race will play in charting the district's future.

· Rush to Remove: Another Take on the Brewer Exit

· What happened to LAUSD Superintendent David Brewer wasn’t so much racist as it was a naked power play on the part of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who never liked Brewer from jump street.

L.A. SCHOOL BOARD HOLDS TALKS ON REPLACING BREWER

Ramon C. Cortines, 76, the district's No. 2 official, who is Latino, is expected to take the post. At a news conference Thursday, a coalition of black leaders sought a role in picking the next chief.

Steve Lopez: MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA, RECESS IS OVER ON L.A. SCHOOLS REFORM.

Back when he was running for mayor of Los Angeles and calling education the No. 1 issue in the city, Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign put out a news release chiding his opponent for not being more involved with the schools.

The headline was:

"Jimmy Hahn, Please Report to the Principal's Office."

No one can dispute that Villaraigosa has been more involved in the schools, but somebody needs to call Tony V. into the principal's office too.

SCHOOL BOARD MEETS ON SUPT. BREWER’S EXIT, RAMON CORTINES EXPECTED ENTRANCE

The school board at this hour is meeting in closed session, with the main order of business being how to terminate the employment of Supt. David L. Brewer, who is midway through a four-year contract.

LA UNIFIED’S BREWER EXPERIMENT

The outgoing LAUSD superintendent showed signs of succumbing to pressures within a year of his taking the job.

LA UNIFIED SUPERINTENDENT IS OPEN TO A BUY OUT OF HIS CONTRACT

For a week since school board members signaled they wanted him out of the job, David Brewer's defended his achievements as Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Yesterday at an L.A. Unified headquarters press conference, Brewer came closest to saying he wants out of the appointed position.

LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT ASKS BOARD TO BUY OUT HIS CONTRACT

A statement released by LAUSD board President Monica Garcia indicated the panel will buy out the contract of Superintendent David L. Brewer III.

‘Although this debate is disconcerting and troubling, it must not become an ethnic issue,' says David Brewer.

LAUSD CHIEF WANTS A BUYOUT

After a week of controversy over his future, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent David Brewer III said today he wants the LAUSD board to buy out his contract.

Brewer will ask the board Tuesday to buy out the last two years of his deal, he said during a press conference this afternoon.

"To the people of Los Angeles, demand that political and adult agendas take a back seat to student agendas," he said, calling himself "an experienced warrior that had come to battle on behalf of the students of Los Angeles."

SCHOOL BOARD MEETS ON SUPT BREWERS EXIT

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► FROM A STATE WITHOUT A BUDGET, A GOVERNMENT WITHOUT A CLUE: 4LAKids tardy/absent excuse notes on the state budget

Bad headlines to make you feel good: “OHIO ISN'T THE ONLY STATE WITH BIG BUDGET WOES”

On Friday,  December 12, 2008 3:17 AM  Jim Siegel writes in THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH : “Ohio's budget misery certainly is getting plenty of company.

“State officials across the nation are facing daunting budget shortfalls and painful cuts, particularly if the federal government does not provide help.

“States face shortfalls this year of at least $32 billion, and are staring at $65 billion in funding gaps for next year's budgets, according to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures.”

●●What’s 2¢ worth of $65 billion?: Of that $65 billion, almost $44 billion is California's. – smf

OtherState’sWoes.pdf — State Budget Update: November 2008 from the National Conference of State Legislatures

from the NCSL report:

As early as fiscal year (FY) 2008, nearly half the states faced budget gaps. That number rose to two-thirds by the time states were crafting their FY 2009 budgets. But despite closing a cumulative gap of nearly $40 billion during budget development, the states were not done addressing FY 2009 budget problems.

Another sizable gap has opened and an even bigger one looms for FY 2010. The state budget situation is grim and getting worse with each new revenue revision.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Notice:

DUE TO BUDGET CUTS, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS BEING TURNED OFF

Effective Immediately

CALIFORNIA BUDGET SHORTFALL SEEN NEARING $42 BILLION: California's general obligation debt rating is paired with Louisiana's at the bottom of Wall Street's state rankings.

• Standard & Poor's Ratings Services late on Wednesday expressed its concern about California's financial condition by lowering its rating on the state's recently issued $5 billion revenue anticipation notes.
• S&P also placed $46.6 billion of the state's general obligation debt on negative credit watch for a possible downgrade, reflecting concern over the weakening finances of the biggest issuer of U.S. public debt.

S&P DOWNGRADES CALIFORNIA BOND ISSUE

Extended bickering over the California budget led Standard & Poor's on Thursday to downgrade the state's recently sold $5 billion revenue bonds and put more than $50 billion of debt on watch for a downgrade.

GOVERNOR SAYS STATE’S BUDGET CRISIS HAS GOTTEN WORSE

KPCC's Shirley Jahad talked with the Sacramento Bee's Dan Walters about the governor's dark words.

The $41 billion/growing-at-$470-a-second deficit: SCHWARZENEGGER’S FULL COMMENTS (AND LAWMAKERS' RESPONSES)

SCHOOL BOARD MEETS ON SUPT. BREWER’S EXIT, RAMON CORTINES EXPECTED ENTRANCE

by Jason Song and Howard Blume  | LA Times LA NOW/Breaking News blog  | 11:15 AM, December 9, 2008

The school board at this hour is meeting in closed session, with the main order of business being how to terminate the employment of Supt. David L. Brewer, who is midway through a four-year contract. Brewer announced Monday his willingness to accept a buyout, one week after Board of Education President Monica Garcia made it clear she would seek to replace him.

Garcia -- and some of Brewer's critics -- have said the superintendent has not moved quickly enough and effectively enough to improve the school system. Brewer has pointed out that gains on test scores this year well outpaced the state as a whole and that the district last month successfully passed its largest bond issue ever.

In April, Brewer brought in veteran educator Ramon C. Cortines to manage day-to-day operations as well as long-term planning, and Cortines is expected to replace Brewer as interim superintendent once a deal is made. Brewer's contract entitles him to an 18-month buyout, which apparently could cost in excess of $500,000 including salary and expenses.

Today's meeting, which began in open session, proved an anticlimatic sequel to Monday's dramatic events. A sober Brewer said nothing during the 10 minutes of open session before he and board members went behind closed doors.

Only two of six scheduled speakers came forward to the microphone. One of them was Scott Folsom, a PTSA board member who also sits on the appointed committee that oversees school-bond spending. He spoke in support of Brewer staying on, praising the superintendent's effectiveness as a lobbyist on behalf of the district during the current budget crisis.

With Brewer apparently departing without a fight, activism on his behalf also has wound down. Community activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson had scheduled an event this morning at board headquarters, where he planned to present a letter to board members urging them not to rush to judgment on Brewer and to disclose their reasons for wanting to replace him. The event was canceled.

 

smf’s statement: 

Good morning Madame President, members of this board. Mr. Superintendent.  I speak to you today as a member of the LAUSD community to which we all belong.

You have a packed closed session before you.

· You will discuss a pending lawsuit and acquisition of millions of dollars worth of land for new schools - the futures of many peoples' homes and businesses. The lives and livelihoods of people you will never meet.

· You will discuss with your negotiator the state of ongoing contract negotiations with seven employee unions (including the teachers) and unaffiliated employees and personnel. Your negotiator is Superintendent Brewer.

· And, item # 2: You will discuss the future of Superintendent Brewer himself.

· You do this against the backdrop of the Global Economic Meltdown, the State Budget Crisis and a potential $400+ million mid year/this year budget cut. There is the inevitability of layoffs and possibility of the District's insolvency and bankruptcy; the very real possibility that LAUSD may have to close down and send the kids home - their schoolwork incomplete - three weeks early this year for lack of funds.

Much has been said and written already about Superintendent Brewer's performance.

I hope you have done your homework and read the Superintendent's statement yesterday; it is an eloquent claim to success and an appeal to reason.

And - in due respect to the Superintendent, I hope you respectfully reject his offer.

I have been with the superintendent in the halls of power an Sacramento; I have seen how well he represents the interests of this district - yourselves, your employees, this community of educators and parents, citizens and taxpayers we call LAUSD - and most of all the best interests of schoolchildren -- in the state capitol.

I have spoken with others who have seen him at work in the nation's capitol.

David Brewer in his Navy career if anything learned to navigate the deep water and the shoals of bureaucracy and power; the skill set of a modern peacetime navy admiral is to obtain an audience and support for mission and programs from politicians who would prefer to invest their money and influence somewhere else.

Politicians live to argue with other politicians ….but they listen to admirals - whether they want an aircraft carrier or flexibility in categorical funding.

Against the economic crisis and the budget squeeze David Brewer is an admiral when we need one.

So please thank the admiral for his suggestion and table agenda item number two until another time. Support him in what he does best - which is supporting our children - and move forward.

I'm going to end here by quoting my friend and fellow LAUSD parent Bob Sipchen from his Op Ed in today's Times: "The LAUSD could do worse than having a superintendent who has already made the school board so mad he has nothing to lose."

I started by saying good morning; you can make one of it. Thank you.