Suggest menu items for racist restaurant owner Pete!

“In order to raise it above history, the nation is given the support of the race. History is viewed as the emanation of the race.” — Leon Trotsky

I am soliciting take out menu items for my parody of the racist restaurant chain. Feel free to contact me with menu item names and brief descriptions of what the dish contains. I have plenty of space remaining on the menu, and am sure that others can come up with more clever ones than I did.

The real life Pete Turner, owner of the restaurant chain with a hopelessly racist name, has refused to address genuine concerns that his ill conceived moniker fuels nativism and hatred. Dehumanizing others as means to market one's business is deplorable in the extreme.

As we see with the entire field of GOP presidential hopefuls, as well as with right-wing Democrats like Hillary Clinton, cashing in on fears by blaming immigrants for the economic crimes of our own 1% is a popular political tactic.

While mocking bigots like Turner provides some amusement, I suggest you join me in signing the M.E.Ch.A petition demanding the restaurant change its racist name.

Dr Cintli: ILLEGAL PETE’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT: CHANGE NAME OR SHUT IT DOWN

Dr Cintli: ILLEGAL PETE’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT: CHANGE NAME OR SHUT IT DOWN

Please sign, share and post. https://www.change.org/p/pete-turner-owner-of-illegal-pete-s-illegal-pete-s-mexican-restaurant-change-name-or-shut-it-down

Policing students and testocracy

http://itspeoplepower.tumblr.com/post/132028279148/policing-students-and-testocracy

Looking back to OccupyLAUSD as the way forward

"This is a call out to the 99% who live, work, play and learn in the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is time we Reclaim Our Schools from the 1% wealthy Billionaires (like Eli Board, Gates, and Walton) and Corporate Management Companies who continue to set educational policies of school giveaways, increases in corporate charter schools, and constant school lay-offs." — OccupyLAUSD

Four years ago today activists stood up to neoliberal bagman John Deasy, his ‪#‎NPIC‬ backers including the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, and his corporate charter ‪#‎LAUSD‬ BOE enablers Monica Garcia and Tamar Galatzan. We demanded they rescind their draconian budget that eliminated Adult Education, SRLDP, EECs, and K-12 Arts. In conjunction with the OccupyLA movement, OccupyLAUSD camped in front of Beaudry for weeks. Surviving the elements and constant ‪#‎LAPD‬ harassment, we were able to counterpose a community-first message that resonated and forced them to back down on some of their cuts. Deasy still stuffed the pockets of greedy charter operators, like Ref Rodriguez, full of our money, but at least some of the programs our community relies on were preserved. Glad to have participated in OccupyLAUSD, and know that our struggles are going to get more difficult as the death-spiral of empire will see our rulers look for more ways to gut the public commons.

California Attorney General upgrades charter profiteer Refugio Ref Rodriguez's sham 501c3 "Partners for Developing Futures" from DELINQUENT to SUSPENDED!

CA SOS upgrades charter profiteer @drRefRodriguez's sham 501c3 from DELINQUENT to SUSPENDED! #LAUSD @LASchoolReport pic.twitter.com/NEUP27IDR5

— RD Skeels LAUSD 2013 (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) September 30, 2015

Brief statement on Washington State Supreme Court finding charter schools unconstitutional

“Though boosted through a language of choice and effectiveness, the charters provide neither. Public funds pay for a system that lacks oversight, transparency, and funnels millions of dollars to privateers, who pocket salaries upwards of $1 million.” — Dr. Megan French-Marcelin

By now everyone has heard the wonderful news that the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that charter schools are unconstitutional. This watershed holding and ruling has seen the neoliberal corporate education reform machine shift into overdrive to try and prevent the plug from being pulled from their profit pipeline. Dick Cheney's former aide Nina Rees, now CEO of NAPCS, published a ham fisted plea to save their cash cow in the Huffington Post. In additional to the charter school profit mongers being terrified, the neo-segregationists clamoring for school choice (read redlining) are also up in arms that the courts would require public funding to go to public, rather than private, institutions. As a second year law student, whose sole reason for wanting to be an attorney is to put an end to the neoliberal privatization of our schools, I am following this closely. I've posted the following thoughts in the comments of several places discussing the court's ruling:

Generally, there is no such thing as a "public" charter school. Both existing case law and public policy have long established the logic for the Washington State Supreme Court holding. The California Court of Appeals (2007-01-10) ruled that charter schools are NOT "public agents." The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals (2010-01-04) ruled that charter schools are NOT "public actors." The National Labor Relations Board joins a host of other government agencies that have unequivocally ruled that that charters are "private entities."

By definition whether a charter is run by a for-profit firm, or a (501c3) non-profit, then it is not public. The United States Census Bureau frames this issue best: "A few "public charter schools" are run by public universities and municipalities. However, most charter schools are run by private nonprofit organizations and are therefore classified as private." (US Census Bureau. (2011). Public Education Finances: 2009 (GO9-ASPEF). Washington, DC: US Government Printing O ce. Print. vi).

Because these lucrative charter schools are not public, and are not subject to public oversight, they are able to get away with violating the constitutional rights of their students. The decision in Scott B. v. Board of Trustees of Orange County High School of the Arts saw Rosa K. Hirji, Esq. write: "The structures that allow charter schools to exist are marked by the absence of protections that are traditionally guaranteed by public education, protections that only become apparent and necessary when families and students begin to face a denial of what they were initially promised to be their right." It's time that we shut down the profitable charter school industry and divert our attentions to improving our public schools.

Their profit pipeline ruled unconstitutional, #saveWAcharterschools reveals industry's profit-(not kids)-first agenda. #edreform leeches

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) September 6, 2015

How do I feel even after UCLA '14, Peoples College of Law, and passing the CalBar June '15 FYLSX?

How do I feel even after @UCLA '14, @peoplescollolaw, & passing the @StateBarCA June '15 #FYLSX? [img: Wakaba*Girl] pic.twitter.com/T4U8FI1027

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) August 17, 2015

Los Angeles corporate education reform be worried...

Los Angeles corporate #edreform be worried. After I start evidence this Winter, I get to to this http://t.co/hg7n631qIC @iambenaustin #LAUSD

— RD Skeels LAUSD 2013 (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) August 24, 2015

Guest Post: Jose Lara's Open Letter to Parents on Common Core Testing Results

“We can get the same information from low-pressure testing of small samples of students every few years, each student taking only a part of the test, and extrapolating the results to larger groups.  This will save taxpayers’ money, reduce testing anxiety, and give teachers more time to teach. When you go to the doctor, they don’t take all your blood. They only take a sample.” — Professor Stephen Krashen

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The Honorable José Lara is a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Vice President of the El Rancho Unified School District. He is the Coordinator for ethnicstudiesnow.com and recipient the National Education Association's 2015 Social Justice Activist Award.

Open Letter to Parents on Common Core Testing Results

Dear Parents,

Soon California will release the results of your child’s Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, or SBAC tests. These tests are also known and the new Common Core test that California and states across the country implemented last year.

Please know that as you receive the results of your child's SBAC scores our child’s results may show up as failures. This does not mean that your child is not intelligent, that your child's teacher is doing a poor job or that the school your child is attending is failing.  However, it does mean that the SBAC test is achieving expected results. You see, the SBAC test is a failure by design.

The testing company, who was hired to design the SBAC tests,with no input from educators, has purposely designed it to produce a high failure rate. This is so those same testing companies can now sell your child's school the "new" curriculum, test prep materials, intervention programs, textbooks, apps, technologies, etc.to bring up test scores. Not only that, they also hope to fool enough people that they start demanding "better" schools (mind you the problem is the test not the school). Corporate Charter Schools can then come in and takeover. All the while the fat cat CEO's of these corporations make a killing off of our tax dollars.

This moves hundreds of millions of dollars from the public to the private sector where the focus is not in educating our children, but instead making a profit. After all, that is purpose of the business model.

So I write you to take heed of the your child’s results. The results are not a true measure of anything except that the test is working, as it was designed to produce failure. Do not be fooled. 

I write to you as a parent of two public school children and as a teacher to warn you of what is coming and to tell you that, no your child is not a failure and yes your child is more that just a test score. A test does not teach students anything, but teachers and schools do.

Lastly, if you are as upset as I am of this planned failure and the enormous about of money that is being wasted on this tests, then join me in opting out of school testing. There is a growing national movement to stop to over testing of our children and you actually have the right to opt out to have your child in a meaningful educational experience instead of testing. It is time to join this quite revolution against wrongful and over-testing of  our children. 

You can find more information about on the website here at www.unitedoptout.com

Sincerely,

Jose Lara

Schools Matter: This week's Questions and Answers on Neoliberal Corporate Education Reform

First published on Schools Matter August 29, 2015

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“Our rulers don’t just want exclusive control over the governance and finances of our schools, they want to control both what is taught and by whom.” — Robert D. Skeels

On the average week I answer a few inquiries regarding various education issues. This week I received two that I felt deserved publishing. The first was addressed to a group of us on facebook, the second was a private email. In both cases the identity of others is removed in order to protect them.

Question One

Anyone ever hear of blended schools network or global personalized academics?

They are for-profit firms, both held by Sibling Group Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: SIBE). The former is associated with Gooru, a 501c3 funded by right-wing donors including the Gates and Hewlett Foundations. The latter is Florida based and apparently has worked with privately managed charters associated with Jeb Bush and Joe Biden's brother. They "empower" students by profiting off of them staring mindlessly at computer screens.

Question Two

Robert-

A [reporter] from LA School Report contacted [redacted] today. I told her I've heard that LA School Report is very bad - biased..possibly part of corporate ed reform agenda.

More than one person has told me this about LA School Report. 

What are your thoughts?

The LA School Report  blog (LASR) is owned and operated by Jamie Alter-Lynton, sister of corporate reform cheerleader Jonathan Alter (cf. his attacks on Professor Ravitch), and wife of elitist Sony CEO Michael Lynton.

Alter-Lynton is a wealthy reactionary who sits as a board member on former Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent John Deasy’s LA Fund slush 501c3, and a number of other neoliberal corporate education reform outfits. They used their insider status with Deasy to know when to sell off all of their Pearson PLC stock before it took a big hit when the FBI investigation of LAUSD was announced.

Husband of John Deasy confidant, Jamie Alter Lynton, cashed in big on Pearson PLC's LAUSD iPad Deal

They are virulently anti-labor, hate the public commons, and are against elected school boards. She's sort of a West Coast Campbell Brown, except she was doing this first. The Sony leaks reveal they are connected to all of the worst neoliberal corporate education reformers in the country. She funded the right-wing Coalition for School Reform SuperPAC to the tune of $100,000 once, and continues to support charter industry profiteers taking over our public school boards.

I could go on and on, but nothing sums these wealthy, white hypocrites up like this:

How the Rich Get Into Ivies: Behind the Scenes of Elite Admissions

Let me know if you need any more on them.

Legalization For All Responds To Trump's Deport All 11-Million Proposal

Donald Trump's proposal is one that we as the Legalization for All Network (L4A) cannot and will not support. As fighters for immigrant rights across the country, we have asked many to respond to Donald Trump's costly and outrageous proposal. 

And while the majority of our responses are against Donald Trump, we would also like to shine light on Republican Candidate and Governor of New York Chris Christie's recent proposal. Christie's immigration proposal promises to treat immigrants like FedEx packages, tracking them with bar-codes; instead of treating them with equality. These same 11+ million undocumented, and mixed-status immigrants are forced into migration by U.S.A. policies like NAFTA/CAFTA, or coups in places like Honduras.

Deporting all of the undocumented and bringing back only a few chosen ones or stalking them like FedEx property, is no solution for any immigrant.

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"Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates call to overturn the right to citizenship for the children of immigrants echos the call made by Russel Pearce, author of the anti-immigrant Arizona SB1070.  The same call to strip citizenship from the Nisei, the American-born children of Japanese immigrants during World War II, and also Chinese Americans who were targeted by the anti-Chinese movement in the 1870s and 1880s.  This issue was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1898, in the case of the US vs. Wong Kim Ark, where the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment to the constitution meant what it said, that everyone born in the United States are citizens.  The 14th Amendment was passed in 1868 to guarantee rights to African American slaves and their children, and to overturn the 1857  Dredd Scott vs. Sanford Supreme Court ruling that African slaves and their children had no rights to citizenship.  By calling for the end of right to citizenship, Trump and other Republicans are in effect raising the banner of the Slave South.  Just as we fought to ban the Confederate battle flag, we must fight Trump and others who want to take this country back 200 years.   Masao Suzuki is a member of the San Jose Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) that organizes and educates around World War II concentration camps for Japanese Americans."
- Masao Suzuki Economics professor at Skyline College. San Jose, California

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"Donald trump promueve el odio y el racismo, y contra ese tipo de personas no se puede utilizar la razon, hay que derrotarlos con la organizacion y la mobilizacion. Como latino hoy mas que nunca debemos luchar por la legalizacion de todos nuestros herman@s indocumentados, Legalizacion para todos ahora."
- Edward C Tolentino, activist. Tucson, AZ

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"Since Trump announced he would be running for President, the Latino community has become Trump's obsessive target for discrimination and hate-speech. As a consequence we immigrants have to deal with this continued attitude of disrespect and hate. In stores we are treated with a disrespectful attitude. As mothers, we are getting sued for not being able to pay our medical bills after giving birth. We are getting mistreated and taken advantage of at our work-places, and our kids continue to experience discrimination at their schools. Regardless of our citizenship status, we as immigrants will continue to feel repression if Trump wins. Trump's plans promise to continue targeting us as immigrants - and myself as a Mexican immigrant- but we are only becoming wiser and stronger. And we will fight back!"
- Citlalli Martinez, undocumented mother of two. South Carolina

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In the beginning of his "Presidential Campaign",  Donaldo attacked the Mexican people. My tíos y tias. Mis primos. Mis abuelos y mi padre. Calling them rapist and violent when I've know them for all my life and those two things don't describe them. Words like loving, honest and trabajadores come to mind when I think of them and the Mexican people. But now, Donaldo has attacked me and the Chicano Nation of Aztlán! He threatens to take our citizenship but what he does not understand that even before the 14th amendment and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and even before the Spanish conquest and inquisition, the Chicanos people have been here! Out blood, sweat and tears are engraved in this land. So go ahead Donaldo, try to take our citizenship away, pero no llores when the Chicano Nation comes to take yours!"
- Bryan Orozco, activist. Tucson, Az

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"What we are seeing here is straight up racism. These people, Trump, Walker, Bush, and those who follow them, claim to be very patriotic. They stand to 'defend America from foreigners'. In reality, they just hate people of color, specifically Latinos, with a flaming passion, with no real education on who we are. These people need to turn off CNN and get to know their gardeners, maids, janitors, and the people who prepare their damn food. I'm not going to reduce my people to just those positions, cause we are everywhere. We are teachers, scientists, and doctors. This country doesn't run without us. People like Donald Trump live in their own little world. They're more scared of us, then we are scared of them. Remember, we are everywhere. Try to deport us all, and you will have a revolution on your hands. We Latinos can do anything we put our minds to. There's a Mexican proverb that says 'They tried to bury us, but didn't know we were seeds.'. Also, while we are talking about stripping citizenship from immigrants, have you renewed your passport yet, Mr. Bush? "
- Adrian Romero, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement. Salt Lake City, UT

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"Not only is this plan unrealistic, it's is in humane. Trump's slogan is "Make America Great Again", but who is he trying to make America great for when immigrants are the backbone and powerhouse that runs this country everyday? He cannot deport 11 million people!"
- Maria Belen Sisa, DACAmented student, worker and activist. Gilbert, AZ

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"Trump's racist comments against Mexican immigrants are another of the ongoing attacks on our community. These attacks usually intensify during elections and economic crisis. We are all united in denouncing these racists attacks; especially now since the other Republican presidential candidates are taking them up. Lets stand strong in our fight for legalization for all!" 
- Carlos M. Montes, Brown Berets Co-founder and Board Member of Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council. Boyle Heights, Los Angeles

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"Trump's plan to deport all undocumented immigrants in the U.S. is inhumane and won't happen. This country needs the labor of those immigrants and they are humans that have to be treated with equal respect. His massive deportation plan will lose him the Latino vote. However if he somehow wins the presidency, immigrant rights organizations across the country will stand up and resist any massive deportations."
- Oscar Hernandez student and immigrant rights community organizer with YES!. Milwaukee, WI

Open House Invite from LAUSD Board Member Scott M. Schmerelson

On Behalf of Board member Scott Schmerelson, please join us next Thursday, Sept 10 from 4:30-7:30pm to celebrate the Grand Opening of Scott’s District Headquarters. This is a good opportunity to meet some of the Valley’s School District leadership, school principals, parents, students, teachers, staff, supporters and community members. Light refreshments, light music and light hearts.

Open House Invite from LAUSD Board Member Scott M. Schmerelson by Robert D. Skeels

SJQA: The origin of charters and choice was the John Birch Society

http://socialjusticequotations.tumblr.com/post/125551604983/bradley-was-one-of-the-original-charter-members-of

Peoples College of Law Representing at UCLA Pre-Law Society’s Twenty-Third Annual Law Forum

UCLA Pre-Law Society’s Twenty-Third Annual Law Forum

I will be one of the representatives from Peoples College of Law (PCL) at The UCLA Pre-Law Society’s Twenty-Third Annual...

Posted by Robert D. Skeels on Friday, August 21, 2015

Peoples College of Law: Is Social Justice Law School for you?

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."—Frederick Douglass

If you’re a social justice minded person in Los Angeles, with at least two years of college credit, consider Peoples College of Law (PCL). PCL offers a four-year evening Juris Doctor program to accommodate working students. Successful completion of the Juris Doctor (J.D.) program provides qualification to sit for the California State Bar exam. From their site:

Our recruitment and admissions policies are strongly directed toward socio-politically conscious Native American, Asian Pacific Islander, African-American/Black and Latina/o students. Our goal is to have a student body that is at least half women and two/thirds Third World People. Peoples College of Law affirmatively recruits LGBT applicants.

AALA: Eli Broad and Charter Expansion

From the August 24, 2015 issue of Update

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation is leading an effort to expand the number of charter schools in LAUSD. The Broads are being joined by the Walton Family and the Keck Foundations, among others. The expansion of charter schools is supposed to decrease the number of children attending what the charter industry calls failing schools or those with lower test scores. The aim is to get at least 50% of these children in the privately-run charter schools which could potentially be located on District sites. LAUSD already has about 100,000 students attending charter schools, more than any other school district in the country. In an email to LA School Report, the officials from the Broad Foundation wrote, “Too many of our school children still aren’t getting the quality of education they deserve, which is why tens of thousands of students are currently on public charter school waiting lists. We are in the early stages of exploring a variety of ideas about how to help give all families—especially in low-income communities of color—access to high- quality public schools and what we and others in the philanthropic community can do to increase access to a great public school for every child in Los Angeles.”

Officials from charter organizations, such as ICEF and Green Dot, are, understandably ecstatic about the proposal as it will generate more dollars for their programs. The foundations could provide funding for early administrative costs of new charters and for teacher training. Board Member Mónica Garcia said she is open to the foundations’ plans and says that her district could benefit from additional charter schools. However, not everyone is happy about this expansion. Because charter school teachers are not unionized, UTLA is not supportive of these independent schools and feels that input of teachers is disregarded. In a call to members, Alex Caputo-Pearl, UTLA President, vowed to fight the plans of the foundations, saying they are “out to destroy collective bargaining.” Board President Steve Zimmer is concerned that the charter schools will continue to be selective about who they enroll, leaving those students who require more specialized services and resources at the District schools. A mass exodus of students to charters will also severely decrease state and federal funding for the traditional schools.

As has been noted before, Eli Broad, the Waltons and other billionaires have been active in LAUSD politics for many years and have supported controversial efforts for reform. Financial resources have been provided candidates for the Board of Education that AALA has not supported and who have been strongly procharter. It should also be noted that Dr. John Deasy, former LAUSD Superintendent, was a graduate of the Broad Superintendent Academy and is now the Superintendent-in-Residence for the Broad Center. In fact, it has been reported that Eli Broad said that John Deasy was the best Los Angeles superintendent in memory. That, in and of itself, should give us all a reason to pause and look at this expansion plan with a critical eye.

Community Justice Law-Scholarship By Francisco Chavo Romero

Community Justice Law-Scholarship By Francisco Chavo Romero

Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that has taken resources from home school

Press release – Stoner Elementary community to hold protest against charter school co-location that has taken resources from home school.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Monday, August 17, 2015, the first day of school, from 7:30-8:30AM, the Stoner Elementary School Community and local Del Rey neighborhood will be holding a protest against the co-location of ICEF Vista Charter School on the Stoner ES campus. Stoners parents are upset that the co-location has taken resource rooms including: music, special education, and language therapy among others. Local residents are upset because the co-location will bring traffic and safety issues to their neighborhood.

WHAT: Stoner Elementary Community is holding a:
      RALLY TO SUPPORT STONER ELEMENTARY AND OPPOSE THE CO-LOCATION
WHEN: Monday, August 17, 2015 at 7:30 – 8:30 AM
WHERE: on the corner of Stoner Avenue and Lindblade Street, 90230.
[map]

Media is invited to attend.

There will be speakers. There will be signs. There will be chanting and drums.

Most importantly, there will be calls for better schools, a safer neighborhood, and unity in the community.

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ICEF Vista Elementary, a neighboring school that is located two blocks from Stoner on the campus of the defunct St. Gerard Majella Elementary School, has taken classroom space at Stoner.  To many people in the neighborhood, ICEF is seen as ‘the school at the church’ and many ICEF families take pride that their school provides benefit to the local parish.  However, ICEF wants to expand and that means leaving the church grounds. Part of ICEF’s expansion plan includes co-locating at another campus to open up space at the St. Gerard campus.

ICEF is “stealing from Peter to Give to Paul”

Stoner ES parents are outraged that ICEF Vista’s will be co-locating this year and has taken set aside rooms that are used for music, art, parents center, and computer lab at Stoner so that ICEF can open up space on the St. Gerard campus to have room for an art room, parents center and computer lab.  ICEF is literally taking away resources from Stoner ES to give those same resources to the ‘school at the church.’

The Stoner parents and local residents are mad about the colocation and are fighting back

In February 2014 when the proposed co-location was announced, Stoner community leaders addressed the ICEF board and asked them to reconsider their co-location plans.    In March 2014, Stoner families and local residents sent over a hundred letters and emails to ICEF and LAUSD Boards urging them to not have the co-location at Stoner.  In April 2014, when a final offer was made for the co-location, the Stoner and local community held a protest in front of the ICEF Vista campus urging them to not co-locate.

The Stoner and local community will be holding a protest on the morning of the first day of school Monday August 17 to let ICEF families know about our concerns with the co-location. More protests are planned for later in this school year.

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WHAT DO WE WANT:

We want to let the ICEF community know the damage this co-location is causing and the harm it is bring to our community children. The Stoner parents are asking family of ICEF Vista to not support the co-location by selecting another educational option. We are encouraging the families of the 20 ICEF students who pertain to Stoner to consider sending their children to their local community school. We are asking parents from outside the area to consider their local schools or choose a non-colocated charter.

Adam C. Benitez
President, Friends of Stoner Avenue Elementary School
www.friendsofstoner.org

Protest against Eli Broad's charter putsch by Voices Against Privatizing Public Education

The activists comprising Voices Against Privatizing Public Education, whose efforts were recently highlighted on Professor Diane Ravitch's blog, are holding a rally/protest in front of the Broad Foundation's headquarters. This is in response to Broad and his fellow reactionaries' announcement of plans to privatize more than half the Los Angeles Unified School District within the next few years. Given the money these plutocrats have dumped into their profitable privatization projects, the Broad/Walton threat to eliminate public education is a clear and present danger. Join the rally/protest, sign the petition, and get involved with turning back the tide of school privatization by helping overturn avaricious billionaire Reed Hasting's 1992 California Charter School Act. For more on Eli Broad and school privatization, see the section entitled "The Neoliberal Emperor of Los Angeles" in this essay. — rds

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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Join us in showing your support for public education. Public schools are OUR schools, not Eli Broad's

SAVE OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS RALLY

Sponsored by Voices Against Privatizing Public Education

PROTEST LOCATION: Broad Foundation Headquarters (in front of building only) Avenue of The Stars Los Angeles, CA

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2015 AT NOON

The LA Times announced that the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, along with the Walton Family Foundation and the Keck Foundation met to discuss plans to have half of Los Angeles students attending charter schools over the next eight years. http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-charters-20150808-story.html

We say no more billionaire and corporate takeover of our public schools!

Charter schools cherry pick students, falsify records, commit enrollment fraud, close down public schools in predominantly low income areas, destroy jobs, bust up unions, appoint private school boards unaccountable to the taxpayers, and segregate student populations based on income and race.

Separate but equal has no place!!

A recent report entitled “Fraud, Waste and Lies: Charter Schools Cheating Communities out of Millions of Dollars” cited hundreds of millions of public education dollars being wasted due to fraud and other abuses in the charter school sector. Read here: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/29/fraud-waste-and-lies-charter-schools-cheating-communities-out-millions-dollars

The charter school industry is a cancer on our public education system. The only solution is to repeal the charter school laws in California once and for all.

Come to the rally - defend our public schools against the attack by greedy profiteers.

Please show your support for placing a statewide ballot initiative to repeal charter school laws in California by signing petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/repeal-charter-school-act-of-1992-in-ca-ballot

Please read more at: https://notocharterschools.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/defend-public-ed-statement.pdf For more information about this rally call us at: (415) 282-1908

Make your voices heard and be part of the solution to save our public schools!

Protest against Eli Broad's charter putsch by Voices Against Privatizing Public Education by Robert D. Skeels

Professor Wayne Au: The Opt Out Movement

Antioch University Friends of Education Speaker Series - Wayne Au will talk about various issues with high-stakes testing and organizing against the tests. Au is an Associate Professor in the Education Program at the University of Washington, Bothell, and he is an editor for the social justice magazine, Rethinking Schools. Most recently, he co-authored the article, "Rethinking schools: Enacting a vision for social justice within US education" for Critical Studies in Education and co-edited Pencils Down: Rethinking High-Stakes Testing and Accountability in Public Schools.

Join Voices Against Privatizing Public Education's efforts to repeal the California charter school law

There is a small grass-roots group that has been working diligently to create a ballot proposition to repeal the charter school laws. While a seemingly daunting task, there might not ever be another chance to do this before the privatizers eliminate public schools altogether (Eli Broad just announced his plans to cut LAUSD's public schools in in half). The group has an online petition that now has over 600 signatures. They also have a facebook group. Both of which are linked here:

Ballot Initiative to REPEAL the CA Charter School Act of 1992

Voices Against Privatizing Public Education

Most importantly, they have picked up a handfull of key labor leaders and organizations:

• AFT Local 6161 (Palomar Faculty Federation)
• North County Labor Alliance
• Escondido Public School Advocates
• Bill Freeman- NEA Board member for California
• Alita Blanc- United Educators of San Francisco

The coalition is working hard to get several more organizations on board, including local Democratic party clubs in several large cities. Please consider getting involved, and perhaps even endorsing the efforts of the group.

Class War: The Privatization of Childhood

Jacobin series: How austerity and education reform have segregated American schools like never before–and what to do about it.

Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State

Wayne Au: ”Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State" from Fairhaven College, WWU on Vimeo.

Wayne Au, Associate Professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell; an editor for Rethinking Schools.

Public education is currently seen as one of the last great “prizes” for proponents of neoliberalism as a large market for potential profit. In this talk Professor Wayne Au analyzes how the neoliberal restructuring of the state relative to public education has resulted in a shift from democratic government to an increase in non-democratic network governance by corporations, non-profit organizations, and philanthropies. Drawing from his upcoming co-edited collection, this talk offers a framing for the rise of neoliberal network governance in education and share different examples of social network analyses illustrating such governance in the U.S. Chile, and elsewhere.

MiSiS: The [John Deasy] Gift That Keeps On Giving

From the July 20, 2015 issue of Update

Just when we thought there could possibly be a light at the end of the dark and winding MiSiS road, the LAUSD community now faces another hurdle—faulty transcripts. Superintendent Cortines confirmed that there have been reporting issues with graduation requirements for students in the Class of 2015 resulting in potential errors on as many as 7,500 transcripts. For some reason, several transcripts show that students had met graduation requirements when they didn't and vice versa for other students. In other cases, summer school grades just disappeared from the system, affecting credits earned and matriculation to the next grade level. While it was announced that these most recent problems have been resolved, those in the field claim there are still inaccuracies. Several additional steps for school site and local district office staff have been put in place, most of them entailing checks and balances to ensure the accuracy of the information in MiSiS.

The issue with transcripts is not new. The same problems were occurring last October as seniors were preparing their college admissions applications. The District at that time hired retired educators to come in and verify by hand that the transcripts were correct and students were asked to compare their new transcripts with their old report cards. Several more millions of dollars were allocated to fix the problem then, so it is unsettling to see that the same thing is reoccurring now.

Superintendent Cortines had hoped that the system would be operating correctly by now, but recently admitted that it may take all of 2015-16 to get it fully functional. Last week, the MiSiS log of unresolved problems still exceeded 350. School staff members report that as soon as one problem is resolved another pops up. And now as we are less than a month away from the start of the new school year, administrators, counselors and teachers are holding their breaths that students will have accurate class schedules, that attendance reporting will be correct and enrollment counts can be taken.

Workshop: let the community drive LCFF/LCAP for Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve

Instituto de Padres / Parent Institute
Saturday, July 18, 2015
12:00 to 4:00PM
3303 Wilshire Blvd., 8th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90010

Instituto de Padres / Parent Institute by Robert D. Skeels

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[The Education Trust-West] and many of the cited sources in the [20]14-15 ETW/LAUSD Case Study are noted School [R]eformers aligned with Secretary Duncan, the Broad/Gates/Waltons — and the then superintendent John Deasy — whose [Local Control Accountability Plan] LCAP this was. The Walton Foundation is thanked for their support. — Scott M. Folsom (4LAKids)

The Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) and their billionaire backers saw Governor Brown's wrongheaded Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) proposals as a "double-play" against public education. On the one hand elimination of categorical funding would further expose the most vulnerable (e.g. Students With Disabilities—(SWD)) to inequitable funding at the whim of those controlling the LCFF/LCAP process, on the other it would further the designs of those wanting to destroy the public commons as per the Andy Smarick roadmap.

The NPIC drove the entire Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) LCFF/LCAP process. Authentic community, family, and educator voices were drowned out by a cacophony of corporate voices in the guise of "engagement" that only the well-funded NPIC can wield. The United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA), and its smaller NPIC allies like Community Coalition, and their man in LAUSD—Eli Broad trained Superintendent John Deasy, controlled the LAUSD LCFF/LCAP process from start to finish, with a blitzkrieg series of forums, surveys, public relations, and more. However, no one should be surprised that Community Coalition is now the front group suing the district on behalf of their funders. That's how to create a crisis part of neoliberalism, so well described by Naomi Klein, works.

A chance for community to drive the process

The activists behind the Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) movement have organized an Instituto de Padres / Parent Institute forum to train authentic parent and community leaders to advocate for students in their communities. Here's an excerpt from a note sent to me by a parent leader discussing the event:

I urge you to encourage adult student leaders in the community to learn about the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). We are having a Parent Institute on Saturday, July 18th. Please see attached flyers in English and Spanish. Khallid Al-Alim, LAUSD parent activist, will explain this budget process. It is crucial that we understand this, if we are to effectively push back against the NPIC that you so clearly describe.

SKrashen: The ELL "Problem" and the Common Core "Solution"*

SKrashen: The ELL "Problem" and the Common Core "Solution"*: Stephen Krashen    There is a problem with ELLs/Emergent Bilinguals (henceforth ELLs), but it is not the problem that is typically stated i... [READ ALL]

Schools Matter: 2015 Week 28 Education Odds and Ends

First published on Schools Matter on July 11, 2015

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“Our rulers don’t just want exclusive control over the governance and finances of our schools, they want to control both what is taught and by whom.” — Robert D. Skeels

Deasy not given his due

An EdSource piece by the respected Carl Cohn makes the tired old case for "breaking up" Los Angeles Unified School District. Cohn lists multiple recent missteps in his case — MiSiS cRiSiS and Pearson/iPad scandal among them — but never once mentions the common denominator of all the missteps, perhaps because of EdSource's sources of funding. I addressed Cohn's lack of attribution thusly:

Mr. Cohn, how coy of you not to provide full credit to John Deasy for nearly all of the woes you enumerate above? The Broad Superintendents Academy "graduate" oversaw (read masterminded) MiSiS, iPads, and many more projects that left the district in disarray, nearly bankrupt, with little more than the ability to manage damage control rather than implement any of the forward looking projects you allude to. While some say that Deasy, and all of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) organizations that supported his abject tenure, were following the Andy Smarick roadmap for scuttling school districts (outlined in his "Wave of the Future" essay in the fringe-right EdNext journal), I would posit it sounds more like Broad's meddling.

Dr. Mitchell Robinson's response to Peter Cunningham

http://socialjusticequotations.tumblr.com/post/118398294623/school-choice-is-a-false-choice-no-parent

Duncan given his due, for the most part

Arguably the doltish Arne Duncan is either the worst Secretary of Education in all of U.S. History, or the best corporate bagman to ever occupy the post. Honestly, he's both. The distinguished Professor Diane Ravitch excoriates the inept education chief in her response to Lyndsey Layton's ham-handed paean to Duncan.

Confronting a corporate reform neckbeard's mansplainin'

I was on Twitter the other day and noticed someone mansplainin' a teacher acquaintance of mine. The offender was none other than former Michelle Rhee minion Eric Lerum. When the teacher made the correct assertion that privately managed charter schools engage in selective enrollment, Lerum made the following bizarre statement:

.@cjnkira A frequently repeated talking pt not supported by evidence + unified enrollment system would actually help protect against that.

— Eric Lerum (@ericlerum) July 5, 2015

Incredulous at the neoliberal corporate reformer's statement I provided hard evidence from the Office of Independent Monitor (OIM):

@ericlerum @Rae_Shih @cjnkira Come again on the "not supported by evidence" thing? https://t.co/9j4FLjNZRw #LAUSD

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) July 10, 2015

Lerum did not respond to that tweet, presumably because his entire argument rests on ignoring facts. Neither he, nor any other corporate reformer, are able to address the issue. Instead, he kept berating my teacher friend by citing policy papers (as opposed to legitimate research) by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), a fringe-right think-tank funded by reactionary ideologues including: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Fund for Educational Excellence, The Joyce Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, National Alliance for Public [sic] Charter Schools, Walton Family Foundation, and The Broad Foundation.

At one point Lerum stated in regards to the significant under enrollment of Students with Disabilities (SWD), particularly low incident ones, "not enough to look at #s - must also examine cause of #s." Lerum holds a Juris Doctor, and I'm working on mine, so let me make this as simple as possible for him to understand in legal terms. The ostensible reasons why the lucrative charter school industry refuses to educate SWD are not important as this is a strict liability offense. Lack of specific intent, mistake of fact, or mistake of law are no defense here. Charters do not educate every child, and as such, must be held strictly liable for their crimes. Sorry to threaten the charter sector's profits, but that's the reality, and no amount of un-juried policy papers masquerading as "research" will change that.

The teacher then cited the illustrious Professor Antonia Darder's Racism and the Charter School Movement: Unveiling the Myths.

.@cjnkira This piece is all opinion & assertion, weak on facts & evidence. Does include good rhetoric for weighted student funding though.

— Eric Lerum (@ericlerum) July 5, 2015

Lerum's maladroit response speaks volumes to his limited understanding of education, and research in general. It is no exaggeration to say that Darder is an intellectual giant in the field of education. Years ago I remember one of my mentors, Dr. John Fernandez, saying "sure you've read McClaren, Macedo, and Giroux, but you need to read Darder, she's the closest thing to Freire." Professor Darder can write a piece like she did in Truthout precisely because she's written dozens of books, and peer reviewed articles. What does Lerum have to his credit? A few poorly composed and fact-free Huffington Post pieces? Yet leave it to the corporately sponsored Lerum to question the veracity of one of the preeminent scholars of our age.

It shouldn't surprise me that a neoliberal corporate education reformer like Lerum doesn't know the difference between peer reviewed works and policy papers. Nor should I be surprised that he didn't have the good sense to avoid insulting a luminary in the field of critical pedagogy. Moreover, while he had tons of mansplainin' on hand for my female teacher friend, as soon as I confronted him with the OIM report, he went silent. His only response to me was to assert that my questioning of CRPE's funders wasn't "substantive". I would posit that his staunch defense of his corporate funders and allies speaks for itself.

Ref Rodriguez watch

Corporate charter sector mogul Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez is under investigation by a number of authorities including the LAUSD Office of Inspector General and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Keeping up with all of Rodriguez's financial scandals and possible felonies is difficult, but the following articles and resources should help:

• LAUSD School Board Member-Elect Ref Rodriguez’s Financial Disclosures (And Possible Conflicts of Interest)
• Ref Rodriguez OIG Investigation Disclosure Neighborhood Council Resolution
• Was Refugio “Ref” Rodriguez self-dealing and running front groups?
• The Ref Rodriguez papers: Various documentation of Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez's alleged criminal acts and other sundry ethical lapses.
• Admitting no wrongdoing, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot resigned from all PUC Corporate Charter Boards

Admitting no wrongdoing, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot resigned from all PUC Corporate Charter Boards #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/xGZ5PQpmxz

— RD Skeels LAUSD 2013 (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) July 7, 2015

The NPIC further undermining LAUSD

The usual Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) suspects are hard at work in their never ending quest to bankrupt public education in Los Angeles. News that they were dissatisfied with the district's implementation of Local Control Funding Formula/Local Control Accountability Plan (LCFF) would be surprising given how they drove the entire process, except when viewed from the perspective that they never intended for LCFF to do anything but break the district. I had the following to say:

This is somewhat surprising given that UWGLA and their anti-public education CLASS "coalition" (read Eli Broad proxy groups) held so much sway over the entire LCFF process in LAUSD. For a while it looked like all the decisions for LCFF were being coined by John Deasy under the direct supervision of Elise Buik and Maria Brenes.

With more current news that a leading Broad Foundation funded group is suing the district, there's a need to create a community based opposition to the NPIC driving the entire process. Fortunately the folks at Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve are doing just that with their Instituto de Padres / Parent Institute next weekend.

The Non-Profit Industrial Complex’s role in imposing neoliberalism on public education

Originally written at the request of, juried by, and published in Regeneración, The Association of Raza Educators Journal, this essay on The Non-Profit Industrial Complex’s role in imposing neoliberalism on public education has been republished in Professor Henry Giroux's Truthout. Please read, discuss, and share widely.

Jan Resseger's critique of the privatization of the G.E.D. makes excellent use of Professor Mike Rose's work

.@JanResseger's critique of the privatization of the G.E.D. makes excellent use of Professor @MikeRose7971's work. https://t.co/ZGlCJYIcaE

— RD Skeels LAUSD 2013 (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) July 10, 2015

The New GED: Making A Second Chance So Much Harder

Admitting no wrongdoing, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot resigned from all PUC Corporate Charter Boards

Admitting no wrongdoing, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot resigned from all PUC Corporate Charter Boards #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/xGZ5PQpmxz

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) July 7, 2015

Admitting no wrongdoing, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot resigned from all PUC Corporate Charter Boards... by Robert D. Skeels

SKrashen: Stop the Summer Slide by Investing in Libraries

SKrashen: Stop the Summer Slide by Investing in Libraries

Sent to US News and World Report, June 18, 2015 There is an obvious, inexpensive and very effective way to deal with summer learning loss not mentioned in "Stop the Summer Slide" (June 16, Knowledge Bank): Provide more access to interesting reading material. 

Research tells us that those living in poverty have the least access to books and also show the most summer loss, and that those who read more over the summer make better gains in reading achievement.

Let's invest in libraries filled with books and other kinds of material that students will read, as well as librarians who will help children find what is right for them. We are living in a golden age of literature for young people; let's take advantage of it.

Stephen Krashen
Professor Emeritus
University of Southern California

Original article: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/06/16/summer-slide-is-bad-for-students

Sources:

Poverty and access to books:

Neuman, S. and Celino, D. 2001. Access to print in low-income and middle-income communities. Reading Research Quarterly 36(1): 8-26.

Summer loss and poverty, more reading and gains:

Allington, R. and McGill-Franzen, Anne. 2012. Summer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Reading Achievement Gap. New York: Teachers College Press.

Heyns, Barbara. 1975.  Summer Learning and the Effect of School. New York: Academic Press.

Kim, Jimmy. 2003. Summer reading and the ethnic achievement gap, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk 9, no. 2:169-188.

Shin, Fay. and Krashen, Stephen. 2007. Summer Reading: Program and Evidence. New York: Allyn and Bacon. (Available for free download at http://www.sdkrashen.com).

Is Social Justice Law School for you?

http://rdsathene.tumblr.com/post/121605284443/is-social-justice-law-school-for-you-ever

Is Social Justice Law School for you?

Ever consider wielding our oppressors’ weapons against them?

If you’re a social justice minded person in Los Angeles, with at least two years of college credit, consider Peoples College of Law (PCL). PCL offers a four-year evening Juris Doctor program to accommodate working students. Successful completion of the Juris Doctor (J.D.) program provides qualification to sit for the California State Bar exam. From their site:

Our recruitment and admissions policies are strongly directed toward socio-politically conscious Native American, Asian Pacific Islander, African-American/Black and Latina/o students. Our goal is to have a student body that is at least half women and two/thirds Third World People. Peoples College of Law affirmatively recruits LGBT applicants.

K-12NN Wire: Was Refugio “Ref” Rodriguez self-dealing and running front groups?

First published June 4, 2015 on K-12 News Network

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Currently under investigation by a number of authorities, including the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Office of Inspector General and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Charter industry mogul Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez's innumerable front groups are hard to keep track of. The following articles should help contextualize the situation, and the tweets and documents following are from various parent and community activist sources.

• LAUSD CHARTER GROUP GAVE FOOD CONTRACT TO AN EMPLOYEE’S FIRM: School Board candidate Ref Rodriguez’ PUC Schools partnered with Better 4 You Meals, a company partially owned by one of its employees
• L.A. UNIFIED WILL INVESTIGATE FOOD-SERVICE CONTRACTS AT PUC CHARTERS

Any surprise that Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez's Better 4 You Fundraising and Meals companies share an address? #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/CeYGvJNsBm

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) June 4, 2015

Reported Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez's Partners for Developing Futures front group to IRS. #LAUSD https://t.co/Vo1Kcbri8c pic.twitter.com/ZtuluD6p9X

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) June 4, 2015

Stopped by Ref Rodriguez's Partners for Developing Futures for 990s. Occupants-PUC Schools say PDF is defunct. #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/AfBrK5LbZP

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) June 4, 2015

No doubt about Ref Rodriguez's companies. Compare logos, websites, prose, and clients! https://t.co/NKxSOQs95n #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/de3Sqtn10r

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) June 2, 2015

PUC employee Jason Roberts ran Ref Rodriguez's B4UF "side business" just like Jacqueline Duvivier Castillo. #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/9WNpuhrdaH

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) June 5, 2015

Just called the #LAUSD OIG regarding Ref Rodriguez's Better 4 U business investments! https://t.co/NKxSOQs95n pic.twitter.com/pDAZs2xKpy

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) June 1, 2015

Ref Rodriguez under investigation for Better 4 U Meals, Form 700 reveals stake in Better 4 U Fundraising! #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/OyDzFNOkh4

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) June 1, 2015

Bad news for Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez and his PUC accomplices. They can be held liable! http://t.co/bAal9BunG6 #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/u4mT3MqOUF

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) May 27, 2015

Ref Rodriguez's Partners for Developing Futures and PUC shared an office, but no commingling of funds? #NPIC #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/olTpSoRqU0

— PESJA Los Angeles (@PESJA_LA) June 4, 2015

Charter mogul Ref Rodriguez's money laundering scheme should be called Better 4 U Profits! #LAUSD @CALcharters pic.twitter.com/BQX5Lst7eL

— PESJA Los Angeles (@PESJA_LA) June 2, 2015

Ref Rodriguez's Partners for Developing Futures, Inc. front group reported to IRS by Robert D. Skeels

Ref Rodriguez, under investigation for Better 4 U Meals scandal, Form 700 reveals stake in Better 4 U Fundr... by Robert D. Skeels

PARTNERS FOR DEVELOPING FUTURES, INC. WARNING OF ASSESSMENT OF PENALTIES AND LATE FEES, AND SUSPENSION OR... by Robert D. Skeels

More Ref Rodriguez self-dealing PDF/PUC Contract by Robert D. Skeels

CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's PUC Lakeview Charter Academy Audit by Robert D. Skeels