Wednesday, January 11, 2012

WHITHER ART THOU, HOWARD BLUME?

a rant by smf for 4LAKidsNews

1whith·er

adv \ˈhwi-thər, ˈwi-\

Definition of WHITHER

1: to what place <whither will they go>

2: to what situation, position, degree, or end <whither will this abuse drive him>

Examples of WHITHER

  1. He grew up in New York City whither his family had immigrated in the early 1920s.
  2. <whither are you going, my lady?>

Origin of WHITHER

Middle English, from Old English hwider; akin to Latin quis who and to Old English hider hither — more at who, hither

First Known Use: before 12th century

source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whither

1/11/2012 :: Yesterday the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles  - the governing body of the L:os Angeles Unified School District - met and heard the superintendent propose a budget that by his own definition “violates the rights of youth” .

Dr Deasy also carefully and respectfully questioned the governor’s own budget projections and probed the states commitment to public education. He floated a proposal for a parcel tax and forecast and predicted the inevitable more layoffs, program eliminations and disasters to come whether or not parcel tax is floated, passes or fails.

He painted a dark picture. Not El Greco dark, Hieronymus Bosch dark.

The Board of Education discussed this and other matters, including eliminating attendance boundaries and creating open enrollment throughout the district – and began the process of directing the superintendent to study these proposals. Lawyers in the Office of General Counsel were offered golden handshakes.

The board heard from over twenty members of the public – including students and public officials - on various issues including withdrawal of Federal Title I funds to some of the best schools in the District, arbitrarily removing principals, magnet busing, budget cuts and all the rest. Maybe they didn’t hear – they certainly didn’t respond or acknowledge that testimony beyond the perfunctory “Thank you….. next!.”

Most of these things were touched on in blog postings in the LA Times yesterday, (some posted here) and the stories were covered in The Daily News and papers from San Francisco to Des Moines. The story was syndicated nationally by the Associated Press. http://t.co/rItVCYna

Today’s print edition of the Los Angeles Times did not have one column inch of any of this, not one mention  - not even a – oh, and by the way snippet in California Briefing  instead covering the meeting of the Tucson, Arizona Board of Ed.

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