Saturday, July 05, 2008

The news that didn't fit from July 6th

SENIOR DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT'S OPERATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION 2008-2009

To: LAUSD Staff

From: Ray Cortines

The following is a copy of the district’s operational Plan of Action for the 2008-2009 school year. It builds on Superintendent Brewer’s transformational plan that was implemented in the 2007-2008 school year.

This plan is not a quick-fix document but rather a road map for effective change. The dynamics are such that when reviewed and evaluated, it will be modified to ensure systemic improvement.

It is focused in five specific areas: HIGH ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GRADUATION RATE, COUNSELING, PARENT/COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND SAFE AND ORDERLY SCHOOLS. The elements are not only practical but measurable and can be implemented in a short period of time.


CLASSROOMS UPROOTING AMERICAN HERITAGE

For most of America, celebrating the 232nd anniversary of our republic's Declaration of Independence from the British empire inspires at least a moment of reflection of what brought our nation to greatness.

Students at Jordan High School in Watts began a series of protests in June after the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) refused to renew the contract of Karen Salazar, an untenured English teacher at the campus. The LAUSD determined that Miss Salazar was engaged in blatant ethno-political indoctrination of her students.

smf: Lest anyone miss the point, this Op-Ed on the Californians for Population Stability website is titled: THE ENEMY WITHIN!

ANGER FLARES ON FUNDS FOR VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTER

CANOGA PARK - City officials are accusing the Los Angeles Unified School District of backing away from a promise to pay half the cost of a $6.6million community center for kids and senior citizens.

UNA NUEVA ERA ESCOLAR/A NEW DAY AT SCHOOL

After three years of steps forward and back, Mayor Villaraigosa’s project to improve LA’s public education system has finally begun.

MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA'S SCHOOL REFORM BUDGET

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school reform effort hopes to spend $15.5 million this coming school year to benefit the 10 schools it will oversee. This plan would require close to $6 million in additional fundraising.

MONICA GARCIA REELECTED AS L.A. SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT

As expected, Monica Garcia was reelected as board president for the Los Angeles Unified School Distirct, but not until one board member alleged that politics and backroom manipulation sometimes put the interests of adults ahead of students.

SEVENTEEN REASONS WHY FOOTBALL IS BETTER THAN HIGH SCHOOL

Ten years ago Herb Childress wrote: "Let me give you 17 reasons why football is better for learning than high school. I use football as my specific example not because I love football; I use it because I hate football. It's been said that football combines the two worst elements of American society: violence and committee meetings." The points Childress made a decade ago are still true today.

1. In football, teenagers are considered important contributors rather than passive recipients.

2. In football, teenagers are encouraged to excel

3. In football, teenagers are honored.

4. In football, a player can let the team down.

5. In football, repetition is honorable.

6. In football, the unexpected happens all the time.

7. In football, practices generally run a lot longer than 50 minutes.

8. In football, the homework is of a different type from what's done at practice.

9. In football, emotions and human contact are expected parts of the work.

10. In football, players get to choose their own roles. in the world.

11. In football, the better players teach the less-skilled players.

12. In football, there is a lot of individual instruction and encouragement from adults.

13. In football, the adults who participate are genuinely interested.

14. In football, volunteers from the community are sought after.

15. In football, ability isn't age-linked.

16. Football is more than the sum of its parts.

17. In football, a public performance is expected.


We give the appearance of not caring so that we won't be hurt when the students don't care either.


We need a varsity education.

MAYOR'S SCHOOL TEST STARTS

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa takes on one of the biggest challenges of his career today as his partnership to reform education formally begins working with some of Los Angeles' worst-performing schools.

INSTRUCTION DRIVES CONSTRUCTION ...OR SHOULD

"My colleagues and I work for an architecture firm focused on education, so we’ve attended and made presentations at various gatherings in the field. At one recent conference of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, we set up a small booth in the exhibit hall featuring images of school buildings we had designed. Most folks passed us by with quizzical looks on their faces, but a few stopped to ask, “Why are you here? This conference is about education.”

BAD TENURED TEACHERS HARD TO FIRE

"Protecting jobs of adults without regard to how well their students perform almost certainly will lead to greater costs, stagnant academic achievement, and greater dysfunction of our public education system" - B. Jason Brooks of the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability.

"Tenure provides the right to due process. It is consistent with the American way; a person is innocent until proven guilty." - Richard Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers

CSU SACRAMENTO STUDENTS FEEL TRANSFORMED AS THEY HELP IMMIGRANT PARENTS LEARN ENGLISH

Friday, June 27, 2008 - Every Saturday morning for the past month, behind closed doors and without fanfare, nine college students go about making their world a better place – one new word, one flipped flash card, one pat on the back at a time.

The students, all vocational education majors at California State University, Sacramento, provide tutoring services for immigrant parents with limited English skills so the parents can be more involved in their children's schoolwork.

THE GRADUATE, HOVERING

'Enjoy the ride,' the parents' card says, as the daughter readies for a life 3,000 miles away.

VILLARAIGOSA AND HIS PARTNERS SET FOR SCHOOL TO START: Two year-round campuses open today as part of his scaled-down reform effort.

Fundraising for the partnership has lagged, however, as gangs and gridlock have risen on the mayor's agenda, even as he focused more time on raising money for his reelection campaign.

GREEN DOT GETS $100,000 DONATION

The Westly Foundation announced a $100,000 donation to Green Dot Public Schools on Monday.

BOLD COLORS COMING TO BOYLE HEIGHTS. Yes, It's Another LAUSD School

Lordy, those Los Angeles Unified School District construction workers are busy putting up schools. While readers debate whether these schools are actually needed, here's a look at what's coming to Boyle Heights.

CHARTERS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HEAP IN ENGLISH

Charter school proponents love to brag about the large number of their high school graduates who move on to college. With this year's commencement ceremonies over, it's time to ask just how well those grads - from either charters or traditional high schools - are prepared for rigorous college work involving the use of the English language.

In Los Angeles County, on the one exam that is specifically designed to answer that question, test scores for 11th-graders in traditional high schools far exceed the results from charter schools.

"IT AIN'T OVER UNTIL IT'S UNDER!": The Expo Line @Grade Crossings at Dorsey HS + Foshay Learning Center

STOP THE INSANITY: INSIST THAT SCHOOLS GET THE PROMISED FUNDING

What are we California taxpayers to believe? That our schools are well funded? Children are learning? The state is honoring its Proposition 98 commitments?

Since January, we have heard that we have a $14 billion problem. Or is it $19 billion? Or $21 billion? Or $6 billion? These are all numbers that, at some point, were offered by those "in the know."

Through the years, we have seen Sacramento leaders of both parties play accounting games. They count money that is from next year. They pass on to the schools and other government entities expenses that were once covered by the state. The shell games get more creative each year, and the taxpayer has every reason to be confused, perplexed and even falsely content that "things in Sacramento" are well managed. But are they?

Learning Curve – THE HOME-SCHOOLING ISSUE NEEDS TO BE TAKEN OUT OF THE COURTS; THE LEGISLATURE SHOULD DECIDE

The Legislature should make clear that home schooling is a valid educational path

"The case that started it all was fairly simple: Parents suspected of child abuse, who had been home schooling, were taken to court in an attempt to force them to enroll their children in public schools for better monitoring by outsiders. "

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