Student Empowerment through Culture and Language

Student Empowerment through Culture and Language

Tuesday, January 31 at 4 PM - 8 PM

UTLA

3303 Wilshire Blvd Fl 10,

Los Angeles, California 90010

 Ethnic Studies, Dual and Mulitilingual Education. With the passage of Prop 58 the Multilingual Education Act and AB2016 Ethnic Studies we have a historic opportunity to advance issues and more. Join the UTLA Raza Ed. and Bilingual Education Commitee as we bring scholars, educators and community together for an engaging discussion. Best of all, this event is FREE!

Professors Solórzano and Krashen: Student Empowerment through Culture and Language by Robert D. Skeels on Scribd

Student Empowerment through Culture and Language

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) December General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) General Assembly

Every month students, parents, and teachers of #StudentsDeserve gather to discuss and plan for the future of educational justice inside and outside our schools in Los Angeles. Considering the political state we are in, now more than ever we know that our grassroots work is important and necessary. For that reason, we invite YOU (students, parents, and teachers) to our General Assembly THIS THURSDAY. Come hear about the work that students and parents are building!

Bring a fellow parent and/or student to our General Assembly to learn about the fight for the Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve. Join us! Details in flyer attached below.

If you have any questions please email us at: lastudentsdeserve@gmail.com

K-12 Wire: Thank you John Oliver for exposing how charter schools steal from children

First published on K-12 Wire on August 26, 2016

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“Fraud is a feature of deregulation, not a bug. When no one is looking, some people steal. Not everyone steals, but many do. That is why Ohio, Florida, Michigan, and California are scamming taxpayers.” — Professor Diane Ravitch

The vile poverty pimps and privatization pushers of the lucrative charter school industry were infuriated when John Oliver had the temerity to speak truth to their power. Given their fortunes at stake, the charter sector has launched an unprecedented attack on the truth teller. The Network For Public Education has begun a letter writing campaign to counter that of the well funded efforts by the school privatizers to silence Oliver and other public school supporters. Not one to use boilerplate text, I composed my own thank you note, reproduced here.

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Dear Mr. Oliver:

I've spent the past two decades of my life researching and writing about the lucrative charter school industry. For many of those early years I, and a few others, were subjected to scorn and abuse for our audacity to speak truth to power.

My motivation has always been to defend those with the most to lose because of the charter project's existence—students with disabilities (SWD), students with disciplinary issues, low-performing students, and so on. All these students are discriminated against because they threaten charter school revenues.

Today our voices are no longer alone, ignored, or silenced. The recent NAACP announcement, and your brilliant segment are testament to that. I understand that the charter industry has been launching vile attacks against you for exposing their insatiable greed. Please know that people of good conscience stand behind you. The neoliberal corporate education reform project backing the charter industry puts profits before pupils, and that's unacceptable.

It's time to end the horrifically failed charter school project, and turn our attentions to public schools.

Thank you for your courage.

Robert D. Skeels
Juris Doctor Candidate

K-12 Wire: Thank you John Oliver for exposing how charter schools steal from children

K-12NN Wire: California charter school industry bill attempts to eliminate only source of public oversight

First published on K-12NN Wire on April 1, 2016

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“…charter schools have used their public characteristics to qualify for public funding under state constitutional law, while highlighting their private characteristics to exempt themselves from other laws that apply to public schools.”—Professors Preston C. Green and Joseph Oluwole

School privatization promoting Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) EdSource has long been a source of both political cover, and highly biased "journalism" on behalf of the lucrative charter school industry. Their pay-to-advocate paradigm is evidenced by a donor list that is replete with the usual suspects of ideologically charged (read reactionary) billionaires and foundations. On March 30, 2016 they posted a puff piece on behalf of the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) regarding AB 2806, a bill that would further block oversight of charter schools, and impede any investigations into charter school wrongdoing. Trade association CCSA, essentially a U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the lucrative charter school industry in California, has increasingly used its seemingly endless source of lobbying funds to push the bill.

My comments are reproduced here:

The lengths these revenue hungry charter school executives will go to avoid any and all oversight is astonishing. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM) are the only organs of public oversight that come close to the de minimis scrutiny these privately managed schools should be subject to. As a legal scholar whose research into the various misrepresentation and malfeasance perpetrated by the charter sector, I depend on access to information gathered by the OIG/OIM. I would find impossible to discover facts that would otherwise remain undisclosed by the secretive charter industry without these bodies. I am not alone in this regard. The United States Census Bureau is on record for not being able to report information on charter schools because of their private nature (US Census Bureau. (2011). "Public Education Finances: 2009 (GO9-ASPEF)". Washington, DC: US Government Printing O ce. Print. vi).

It is in the public interest that charter schools be subject to a modicum of oversight. One would think that it would be public policy that any organization that takes public money should be subject to public scrutiny. AB 2806 would severely hamper the OIG's already minimal ability to investigate an industry that essentially runs with no other public oversight or control. The charter industry's attempts to eliminate this one mechanism for holding them accountable is unconscionable, but not unexpected.

The irony of well-heeled charter school executives like Caprice Young decrying the OIG should not go unnoticed. In defense of her beleaguered Magnolia charter chain, Young has written several Op-Eds. In them she discusses a 2015 audit of the schools claiming it was "financially solvent", but omits that scores of previous audits found the chain insolvent. For instance, the 2014 audit revealed them "operating on a $1.7 million deficit" and that there multiple instances of "missing, misused funds" (SPRC, 2014). This misrepresentation by omission alone impeaches Young's credibility beyond any reasonable standard. Moreover, it demonstrates why public agencies like the OIG and OIG are so critical. AB 2806 is further evidence of the lucrative charter school industry's revenue-first agenda, and their ongoing efforts to avoid any oversight is another example of how they harm both their own students, and the students in our public schools.

Defeat AB 2806 & Empower the LAUSD Inspector General's Office

K-12NN Wire: California charter school industry bill attempts to eliminate only source of public oversight

K-12NN Wire: California's charter school law repeal movement update

First published January 13, 2016 on K-12 News Network

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“charter schools comprise a divisive and segregated sector” — Frankenberg, E., Siegel-Hawley, G., Wang, J. (2011)

Voices Against Privatizing Public Education's (VAPPE) grassroots campaign to repeal the 1992 charter school laws imposed on California by corporate reactionaries Donald Fisher and Reed Hastings has been moving forward. In addition to their online petition, they've established a contribution committee, grown their endorsements, setup online fundraising, and have submitted their final ballot proposition language.

Recently VAPPE picked up a major political endorsement in the Green Party of San Diego County. In general the Green Party, unlike the Democratic Party, has been very astute on the grave dangers of charters, vouchers, and all other school privatization schemes proffered by the plutocrat class. Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein is a stalwart defender of public education. The following are quotes from two different interviews, as well as a video of Dr. Stein and Kshama Sawant discussing the scourge of charter schools.

Public education is another example where there has been a complete scam [regarding privatization]—charter schools are not better than public schools—and in many cases they are far worse. They cherry-pick their students so they can show better test scores. The treasure of our public schools system has been assaulted by the process of privatization. (Phone interview on 2016 presidential race by OnTheIssues.org , Jul 6, 2015)

Unfortunately, charter schools draw down on funding for our public schools, and they siphon off the more capable students and their families. At the same time they concentrate the real social problems in the public schools, which is guaranteed to collapse our public system from within. The advantages of charters ought to be features of all public schools: family engagement, additional resources and budget, and so on. (2011 AmericansElect interview questionnaire with Jill Stein, Dec 21, 2011)

VAPPE also picked up support of the brilliant Sharon Higgins of The Perimeter Primate, Charter School Scandals, and The Broad Report. Higgins was one of the first to bring to public consciousness the fact that the largest chain of taxpayer funded charter schools in the United States is run by a shadowy religious cult — the Gülen Network. I've used Higgins research extensively in documenting the ties between Gülen friendly Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board members elected with big money from the corporate charter school industry and their billionaire backers. Both political opportunist Monica Garcia, and charter school profiteer Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez have deep ties to the secretive Gülen religious cult.

VAPPE lists their significant endorsements as follows:

• AFT Local 6161 (Palomar Faculty Federation)
• North County Labor Alliance
• Escondido Public School Advocates
• Wellstone Progressive Democrats of Sacramento
• Chicano Latino Caucus of the California Democratic Party
• Labor Council for Latin American Advancement-Sacramento chapter
• Actor and Activist - Danny Glover
• Bill Freeman - NEA Board member California
• Alita Blanc - United Educators of San Francisco President
• Julian Nava - Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
• Wayne Johnson - Past President of California Teachers Association (CTA)
• Sharon Higgins - parent activist, public education blogger & researcher, Gulen charter school researcher and public speaker
• Francisco Martinez - KPFK Radio Producer (Los Angeles)
• Susan Rowe - Chair California Democratic Party Madera County
• Green Party of San Diego County
• International Socialist Organization - San Francisco chapter

This email was sent out to those who signed VAPPE online petition:

You have signed the petition in support of repealing the California Charter School Act of 1992. 

We have officially filed the text of the initiative with the CA Attorney General's office and requested a title and summary to allow us to gather the necessary signatures to place this on the ballot for November 2016. The link to the text of the proposed intiative at the Attorney General's office can be found here at this link: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/15-0114%20%28Repeal%20Charter%20Schools%29_0.pdf?

We will need to gather approximately 400K signatures. 

There are volunteers working hard throughout the state to make this happen. But we will still need to raise funds to gather all the necessary signatures. Please make a donation to this campaign - every little bit will help.

Make your check out to:

Repeal Charter School Laws

Send your check to:
Repeal Charter School Laws  (FPPC# 1378057)
Attention: Diana Mansker-Treasurer
7753 Laurie Way
Sacramento, CA 95832

This campaign recipient Committee is registered with the CA Secretary of State's Office:  http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1378057

Please help us save our public schools from the greedy profiteers!!

Thank you for your support,

Kathleen Carroll

Voices Against Privatizing Public Education—Repeal Charter School Laws Committee

Support this movement, it represents an important united front against the billionaire's privatization project.

K-12NN Wire: California's charter school law repeal movement update

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.

Looking back to OccupyLAUSD as the way forward

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

Brief statement on Washington State Supreme Court finding charter schools unconstitutional

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

Los Angeles corporate education reform be worried...

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

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

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.

Professor Wayne Au: The Opt Out Movement

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) May General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) General Assembly

Thursday, May 21, 2015
4:30-6:30PM
St. Marks Lutheran Church
3651 South Vermont Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(2 blocks north of the Expo line's Vermont station)

Final General Assembly of the school year. This year we have accomplished so much!

1. Parent Leadership Institutes provided space for parents from across the city to strategize about how to make changes in their children's schools
2. SLASD-GC parents exposed conditions at schools across LAUSD through participating in UTLA's Parent Caravan
3. In multi-day Youth Leadership Institutes, students discussed systemic oppression and resistance and built cross-school strategies
4. Students developed a social media campaign to spread awareness of issues at their schools
5. On their campuses, students took action to educate their peers about the Black Lives Matter movement 
6. Students gathered over 1,200 petitions to demand changes in their schools and delivered these to the School Board
7. We supported the fight for Ethnic Studies, and urged the School Board to fund new teaching positions to cover these new courses
8. Parents and students spoke at rallies across the city in support of the campaign for the Schools LA Students Deserve
9. In meetings with School Board members Zimmer, Kayser, and McKenna, we moved towards a School Board resolution
10. Overall, our campaign created more pressure on LAUSD to sign a good contract with UTLA!

At our General Assembly, we'll be assessing our work this year, and planning for our work over the Summer and next Fall to hit the ground running!

Please join us!

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) May General Assembly

100+ Labor, Education, Community Groups Representing More Than 7M People Call On Congress To Reject ESEA Proposal

For Immediate Release: April 8, 2015

Contact: Madison Donzis, madison@fitzgibbonmedia.com, 210.488.6220

 

100+ Labor, Education, Community Groups Representing More Than 7M People Call On Congress To Reject ESEA Proposal

 

Alliance To Reclaim Our Schools Address Consequences of the ESEA in Letter to Boehner and McConnell; Demand Revisions to the Act

 

On Wednesday, April 8^th, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS)—a coalition of parents, students, educators and community members—issued a letter to Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McConnell, calling on them to reject the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in its current form. Among other changes, the group is calling for $20 billion in funding for Title I, an amount they say is closer to what is needed than either the current House proposal of $14.4 billion or the President’s budget request of $15.4 billion.

 

The letter, signed by more than 100 groups, details recommendations for revisions to the Act that was originally written to address the impacts of poverty and discrimination in schools attended by the nation’s poorest children. Signatories on the letter come from organizations representing more than 7 million people.

 

“The only way to give every child some educational justice is through publicly funded, equitable and democratically controlled public schools,” said Jitu Brown, the National Director of Journey for Justice, an AROS member. “We believe that the federal government plays a critical role in ensuring that opportunity.”  

 

The group’s letter states, “As the reauthorization moves through Congress, we hope that you, as Congressional Leaders, will listen to the priorities of students, parents, and educators over the well-funded special interests who prioritize profits over real strategies to create the schools that all our children deserve. We hope that you will hear our voices as you move forward with reauthorization of ESEA.”

 

The groups signing the letter include Alliance for Educational Justice, Journey for Justice Alliance, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, Center for Popular Democracy, Service Employees International Union, Gamaliel Network, The Opportunity to Learn Campaign and more than 100 community, youth, civil rights and labor groups across the country.

 

See the letter here: http://www.reclaimourschools.org/updates/aros-esea

 

The letter to Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McConnell offered AROS’ demands for ESEA reform:

 

·       $1 billion dedicated to support the transformation of 5,000 high poverty schools into Sustainable Community Schools;

 

·       A moratorium on federal funding for the creation or expansion of charter schools, and increased regulation on charters to strengthen quality and oversight;

 

·      An allocation of at least $20 billion this year for Title I, which targets additional funding to high poverty schools. The group is demanding that Congress fully fund Title I within ten years, and points to the original goal of the law to offer an additional 40% per student above state average per pupil spending, targeted specifically at high poverty schools;

 

·      $500 million to provide training, staffing and supports to schools working to fully implement restorative justice and/or other programs to end the school-to-prison pipeline.     

 

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools is a national coalition of organizations working to strengthen public education and counter-act the effects of two decades of corporate-led reform efforts on high poverty schools and communities.

 

###

 

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) is a national coalition representing more than 7 million Americans who attend and work in public schools, and live in the communities most impacted by the ESEA.

100+ Labor, Education, Community Groups Representing More Than 7M People Call On Congress To Reject ESEA Proposal

SKrashen: Do education officials understand why the opt out movement is so strong?

Posted at: http://www.sfgate.com/…/Education-commissioner-Students-can…

In response to: "Education commissioner: Students can't opt out of testing"

Missing from this article is why parents are refusing to allow their
children to be tested: the parents are not against assessment but are
against excessive and inappropriate assessment. This is the reason the
opt-out movement is so widespread. I wonder if those imposing penalties
for opting out understand this.

S Krashen

SKrashen: Do education officials understand why the opt out movement is so strong?

Stoner families to present petitions to ICEF Board to oppose proposed co-location at Stoner ES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today Thursday, March 19 at 5 PM, parents of Stoner Elementary will be giving petitions to the ICEF Board at their monthly meeting to oppose the proposed co-location of ICEF Vista on the Stoner campus.

Over the past few weeks, Friend of Stoner Avenue Elementary conducted a petition signing and letter writing campaign to urge ICEF Vista to withdraw its co-location request for 2015/16.  Friends of Stoner will be presenting the petitions to the board and again asking ICEF to withdraw its co-location request.

*A PDF copy of the petitions is included with this press release.

WHAT: Friends of Stoner Elementary School booster club will be:

PRESENTING PETITIONS TO ICEF TO OPPOSE CO-LOCATION AT STONER 

WHEN: Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 5 PM
WHERE: ICEF Vista Main Office. Monthly Board Meeting.
5120 W. Goldleaf Circle, Suite 350, Los Angeles, CA 90056

_________________

ICEF Vista Elementary, a neighboring school that is currently located two blocks from Stoner on the campus of the defunct St. Gerard Majella Elementary School, has requested co-location 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 to learn that ICEF Vista’s plan to co-locate would to take 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.’

Stoner community collecting petition signatures

The Stoner parents are have been collecting signatures and handing out information in front of Stoner ES and ICEF Vista opposing the proposed co-location.  To the Stoner parent’s surprise, there are many in the ICEF community that are opposed to the co-location for various reasons and signed the petition opposing the co-location.

Some ICEF parents see the co-location as just flat out wrong.  Other stated that the reason they are at ICEF is they don’t want to be at Stoner. So, sending their child to the Stoner campus doesn’t make sense to them. Parents from outside the area said they would not be happy driving their children to a school across from the Mar Vista Gardens housing  projects, and would rather enroll their child at another school.

With opposition coming from both the Stoner community and the ICEF community, it is surprising that ICEF wants to continue down this path.

Co-location Protest at ICEF, more planned

The Stoner community is furious about the co-location and is working hard to oppose it. Last week, on March 10, Stoner parents held a protest in front of ICEF to oppose the co-location.  ICEF parents were present at the protest and were asking for a better school for their children. If the Stoner community is working this hard to oppose the co-location, and it hasn’t even happened yet, image how the opposition will be if the co-location happens.

If the co-location happens, the Stoner community has vowed to have protests against the co-location for the entire first week of school, and to have more protest throughout the year.

ICEF Facebook Bombarded with 1 star reviews

The co-location is also being opposed online. Stoner supporters have taken to the ICEF Facebook page to oppose the co-location. Supporters have bombarded the review section with comments opposing the co-location and 1 star reviews, bringing the previously 5 star rating down to 3 stars.

Stoner community documenting co-location woes

            The Stoner community is also online document the co-location struggle on the blogAdventures in Charter School Co-location available at http://cwcmarvista-co-location-stoner-lausd.blogspot.com/  Since the announcement of the ICEF co-location the blog has started to received hundreds of hits a day.

Petitions opposing co-location to ICEF board

Today, the Friends of Stoner booster club will present the 100 letters and signed petitions to the ICEF board and once again ask them to withdraw their co-location request. The petitions have been signed by members the Stoner community, ICEF community and local Del Rey community. A PDF copy of the petitions is included with this press release.

Media is invited to attend.
___________

WHAT DO WE WANT:

            The Stoner parents are requesting that ICEF Vista to withdraw it co-location request for space on the Stoner ES campus.

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

www.friendsofstoner.org 

Stoner families to present petitions to ICEF Board to oppose proposed co-location at Stoner ES

Alliance corporate charters, teacher organizing, and moral imperatives

"The shady nature of Alliance's real estate dealings, their dismal SAT scores and CSU remediation rates, and their refusal to educate every child are all compelling… [a]llowing these private entities to cherry pick students and avoid educating the most vulnerable and needy students is immoral. Taking a strong stand as a community against that kind of discrimination sends a strong message to these corporate schools that we demand equity for all our students." — Robert D. Skeels

The announcement that the nascent Alliance Educators United joined with United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) in order to empower their force of professional educators to advocate for their students is exciting news indeed. That this is occurring at Alliance Corporate Charters is noteworthy. We are witnessing authentic organizing in the belly of the beast — given how Alliance was formed by Republican venture capitalist Richard "Dick" Riordan and his cabal of profit-hungry businessmen as a means of trying to discredit public education. Alliance's top-down, business-rather-than-pedagogy informed methodologies have failed miserably. For example, in 2013: five of the seventy-five lowest SAT performers in LAUSD were Alliance schools. Add to their educational leadership vacuum administrators fixated on personal financial gain, rather than school community building, and you have Alliance's recipe for disaster. This is why they have had major teacher turn-over issues. Alliance's educators have been poorly treated, and they were fearful to advocate for their students against Alliance's business-banker management culture.

Unionized educators will go a long way towards addressing some of Alliance's more egregious practices.

There's another dimension to this story. In 2010 UTLA drafted their UTLA Proposed Charter School Policy document outlining a set of social justice principles that the union stated it "expects that all charter schools adhere to". These well reasoned expectations are very much like the demands put forth by the Honorable Jackie Goldberg founded Transparency, Equity, and Accountability in Charter Schools (TEAch) organization. Everyone should join TEACh, even families with children enrolled in privately managed charter schools.

Want to encourage both UTLA and Alliance Educators United to keep the UTLA Proposed Charter School Policy in mind for all their future organizing, and hope that they will transform many of those principles into concrete demands that Alliance begin to treat their students right. I'm including the UTLA Press Release, the UTLA Proposed Charter School Policy, and TEAch's mission statement below. I hope these serve to ignite a conversation about how we can force the lucrative charter school industry to finally place student need above corporate greed!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 14, 2015
 

CONTACT:

Josh Kamensky, 323-205-6634
josh@smogtownstrategies.com
Kim Turner, 213-305-9316
kturner@utla.net


ALLIANCE CHARTER SCHOOL EDUCATORS ANNOUNCE FORMATION OF UNION
TEACHERS, COUNSELORS AT LA’S LARGEST CHARTER SCHOOL CHAIN SEEK A VOICE TO ADVOCATE FOR STUDENTS

Teachers and counselors at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools announced Friday that in order to achieve the highest quality learning environment for their students and working environment for themselves at their fast-growing charter school organization, they are organizing a union at their schools.

Educators maintain that having a respected voice in all decisions impacting teaching and learning is critical to ensuring a strong foundation of student-focused, teacher-led collaboration. “I believe that using the teacher’s voice in policymaking for our schools is the surest way to develop the best environment for our students and to create a legacy of greatness for the Alliance,” said history teacher Elana Goldbaum.

Alliance College-Ready Public Schools began operations in 2004 with the opening of Alliance Gertz-Ressler High School in the Pico-Union neighborhood. Today, with 550 teachers and counselors serving 11,000 students at 26 schools, it is the largest charter operator authorized by the Los Angeles Unified School District. The organization’s Board of Directors includes some of Los Angeles’s most active civic figures, including former mayor Richard Riordan and former ambassador and investment banker Frank Baxter.

“By giving teachers a voice in the decision making at Alliance, we can ensure that we are allocating resources appropriately and serving our kids in the best way possible,” said teacher Xochil Johansen of Stern Math and Science School. Added teacher Aaron Livingston, “Organizing the union will help the Alliance keep good teachers from leaving.”

Many Alliance educators note that retaining and recruiting talented staff is vital for student success and the well-being of the school community. Teachers at other schools agree. “Students deserve a sense of stability and safety in the relationships they build and they deserve educators who are invested in providing the best instruction,” said Bre Delgadillo, a teacher at Apple Academy Charter School in South L.A., who formed a union with her colleagues in 2014.

A letter signed by community leaders expressed support for teachers and called on Alliance to “listen to your teachers and to respect their fundamental right to organize a union […] without management influence or interference, and come to an agreement with Alliance teachers for a fair and neutral process to organize their union.” The letter was signed by leaders from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), California Partnership, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE).

“It’s this simple: Every school does better when teachers have a voice,” said UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl. “UTLA is proud that Alliance teachers are organizing to join with more than 35,000 educators—over 1,000 of whom teach at independent charter schools here in Los Angeles—to protect educational standards for students in our city.”
 
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Josh Joy Kamensky

www.smogtownstrategies.com

323-205-6634

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UTLA Proposed Charter School Policy by Robert D. Skeels

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About TEAch: Transparency, Equity, and Accountability in Charter Schools

We are an organization of parents, teachers, school employees, taxpayers and community members who want to ensure that charter schools are Transparent, Equitable, and held Accountable for their practices, for the outcomes of the students they serve, and that they do no harm to students attending traditional public schools.

TEAch exists because charter schools have largely abandoned their original purposes:

1. To provide research and development for all public schools on best practices in order to ensure that ALL young people have access to a high quality education; and

2. To lead the way, by example, in transforming public school outcomes for ALL students through teacher-led schools, relieved of the hierarchy of central administration.

We support the original goals of charter public schools.

The current goals of some charter school operators are to greatly expand and capture as many taxpayer dollars as possible for their own schools, thereby removing funds available to traditional public schools. The almost ENTIRELY UNREGULATED CHARTER school system in Los Angeles currently receives at least $683 million (more than $1/2 billion!) per year in taxpayer funds, money that used to go to Los Angeles Unified School District students. Without Transparency, Equity, and Accountability, we know that many charters are not living up to their own goals as stated in their charter applications.

Taxpayer-funded charter co-location on traditional public school campuses is also causing great harm to students in traditional public schools by permanently overcrowding their campuses, and causing huge reductions in their funding. This has resulted in teacher layoffs and increased class sizes in LAUSD traditional public schools.

What We Want: TEAch seeks reasonable state and district regulation of public, taxpayer-funded charter schools to ensure Transparency, Equity, and Accountability.

Alliance corporate charters, teacher organizing, and moral imperatives

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) March General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) General Assembly

Thursday, March 19, 2015
4:30-6:30PM
St. Marks Lutheran Church
3651 South Vermont Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(2 blocks north of the Expo line's Vermont station)

Following an invigorating Parent Institute this past Saturday, parents are full of ideas for how to move our work into the next stages!

Students have ideas for on-going political education efforts at their campuses, especially around the Black Lives Matter movement and issues, and how to launch the social media campaign through a cross-school online video.

Our campaign at the School Board is moving forward too, as meetings continue with School Board Members to develop a resolution for the changes students deserve to see in their schools.

Please join us to put all this into action.

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) March General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) January General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) General Assembly

Thursday, January 29, 2015
4:30-6:30PM
St. Marks Lutheran Church
3651 South Vermont Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(2 blocks north of the Expo line's Vermont station)

Lots of potentially exciting organizing is coming up this year for the Schools LA Students Deserve Grassroots Coalition. We hope that you all can join students, parents, and teachers as we continue to fight for a socially just schools and communities!

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) January General Assembly

Schools Matter: Manhattan Institute extremists credit anti-racist activists with Marshall Tuck's defeat

First published on Schools Matter on December 23, 2014

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"Robert D. Skeels, writing in L.A. Progressive, rips Marshall Tuck for closing down ethnic studies programs and heritage language studies programs while running the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. He reviews Tuck’s record at Green Dot charter schools and the Mayor’s Partnership and renders a scathing judgment." — Professor Diane Ravitch

Right-wing reactionary Ben Boychuk's profound disdain for public education is somewhat legendary, and his tenures at the fringe-right think-tanks Heartland Institute, and now Manhattan Institute are testament to that. When he's not cheerleading for book banning, hosting privatization forums with the Walton Foundation funded Parent Revolution and its former Executive Director Ben Austin, or solidifying the vile Parent Trigger as ALEC template legislation, he's writing political analysis for his fellow baggers, birchers, and neoliberal corporate education reformers.

Last month Boychuk penned a postmortem on Wall Street banker Marshall Tuck's failed bid in California to join Arizona's Tom Horne and John Huppenthal as an ideologically charged non-educator holding a Superintendent of Public Instruction seat. Amidst his anti-union screed Boychuk admits, somewhat surprisingly, that Tuck's wrongheaded championing of plutocrat David F. Welch's Vergara lawsuit was a major misstep. Boychuk then makes a statement that is breathtaking inasmuch as he places the blame for Tuck's loss squarely on the anti-racist crowd. My commentary to follow, but let's look at his statement and my November comment in response.

The teachers’ unions and their surrogates, such as Diane Ravitch, used Tuck’s charter school ties to paint him as a racist, a bigot, and a tool of “the power elite.” Their attacks bordered on defamation, but they worked.

Addressing his misinformed and churlish assertions regarding defamation, I responded thusly:

Robert D. Skeels November 13, 2014 at 2:47 PM
There was no need to 'paint [Marshall Tuck] as a racist, a bigot, and a tool of “the power elite”', since an honest account of his actual record did just that by itself. No one was more forthcoming about Tuck's record than I was, because as a law student I am well aware that truth always serves as an affirmative defense to defamation, and every statement I made about Tuck was a well documented truth.

I, for one, think it's wonderful that the fringe-right wants to credit anti-racists with Marshall Tuck's defeat. Even more so because corporatist Tuck would have defended, in Boychuck's words, "charter schools and public [sic] school choice." While Boychuck uses Professor Ravitch's name, it's irresponsible and inaccurate to say that she made all the comments that he credits her with. What is true, and the link he provides is a good example of it, is that Professor Ravitch was sure to disseminate all of the wonderful essays and articles about Tuck that weren't going to be published in the corporate media. The RedQueeninLA, Ellen Lubic, Cheryl Ortega, Dr. John Fernandez, Jose del Barrio, and many other social justice activists wrote about Tuck's abject record, bigotry, and veritable crimes against students.

I too wrote a bit about Tuck. In exposing his bigotry and myriad failures, I had to put up with abuse from his obtuse Hollywood supporters, some profoundly ignorant rich white guys, and even had to block some abusive Tuck supporters on twitter. One of the more intriguing critics of my work was Conor P. Williams of the right-of-center think-tank New America Foundation. My friends at PESJA forwarded me this tweet by Williams, in which he took issue with an excerpt from one of my polemics against Tuck.

I support dual language programs, but this anti-reform ad hominem is unnecessary and unhelpful: https://t.co/poCfVK6bwg

— Conor P. Williams (@ConorPWilliams) September 18, 2014

Neoliberal corporate eduction reform apologist Williams rarely has anything substantive to say when confronted by facts, and here when the PESJA folks grilled him he went into derailment mode. I'd challenge him to an honest debate in which he could try to make the case that shuttering Ethnic Studies, Heritage Language Programs, and Dual Language Immersion Programs isn't racist, but he isn't the type to engage in actual debate. For example, his laughable straw man arguments against Corey Robin's brilliant 2012 essay. I would hope that Williams would be astute enough to know that Robin's point speaks to the attitudes of the type of well-heeled folks that fund Williams' employer. Williams' big paychecks (despite his persistent whining about still paying student loans), are, of course, derived in large part from the anti-public education plutocracy. By making everything about himself, he effectively deflects the conversation about the neoliberal corporate elite he works for.

Many of us worked tirelessly to keep Marshall Tuck from being elected. My first semester of law school suffered mightily until, ostensibly, after the election. With money flowing in from the wealthiest white men in the world, Tuck had every advantage except the truth. We told the truth about Tuck, and if Tuck's fringe-right supporters like the Manhattan Institute want to say that "worked", then it makes it all worth it.

2014 was a wonderful year in which bigots Marshall Tuck, Tom Horne, and John Huppenthal all lost their elections.

Schools Matter: Manhattan Institute extremists credit anti-racist activists with Marshall Tuck's defeat

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) November General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) General Assembly

Thursday, November 6, 2014
4:20-6:45PM
St. Marks Lutheran Church
3651 South Vermont Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(2 blocks north of the Expo line's Vermont station)

The 2014-2015 school year is our time to take concrete action together and change the educational system and bigger systems that shape it.

Our key focal areas are:

1. Criminalization, punishment culture and push out in schools
2. Lack of Nurses/health services for youth through schools
3. Limited College Counselors for students
4. Narrow curriculum because of an over-emphasis on standardized testing - lack of electives (arts music, ethnic studies, etc.)
5. School destabilizations like reconstitutions that force an end to critical programs or push out veteran staff, especially African-American staff

Please join us as we move forward with exciting new steps and actions!

Rosa Jimenez's notes from previous General Assembly:

At SLASD's most recent General Assembly (October 2), participants forged ahead with a new student campaign, parent organizing, and coordination of teacher actions at 14 schools across LA.

The meeting was largely facilitated by students, and students led their own student-only discussion to develop their plan of action.

This week, students in at least 6 different schools across LA are kicking off a postcard petition drive to demand changes in their schools. Students from several different high schools collaborated to develop the postcards, which postcards will be delivered to the School Board in a creative action that highlights students' voices.

Parent and community organizers are in the process of reaching out to neighborhood councils & parent advisory councils, and plan to participate in UTLA parent / community forums, as well as build townhall meetings to represent the power of parents and community.

Teachers plan to support student and parent/community organizing, as well as organize co-workers at their schools sites around an understanding of the importance of building connections with parent and student communities.

Schools Present:

• STEM Academy of Hollywood
• Maya Angelou Community High School
• Santa Monica College
• UCLA Community School - Robert F. Kennedy Campus
• New Open World Academy - Robert F. Kennedy Campus
• Manual Arts High School
• Dorsey High School
• Charles White Elementary School
• Los Angeles High School
• Loreto Elementary School
• Palms Middle School
• Hamilton High School
• Alta Loma Middle School
• North Hollywood Highly Gifted Magnet High School

Movement Snapshot:
The Blowouts in East LA - focus on role of base-building and organizing in making the Blowouts possible

Discussion & Vote on Our Strategy & Demands for the Upcoming Period:

Approved Strategy:

1. Student-Led Tactics Including Post Cards for the Board of Education & Escalating Actions
2. Big Parent Meetings
3. Small Amounts of Focused Energy to Meet with Friendly Board Members
4. Building with Other Schools
5. Build with Other Organizations
6. Strengthen Communication Between Schools & Across Sectors (students with students, for example)

Approved Demands:

1. College Counselors, Nurses, and Librarians at our schools
2. More Elective & Art Classes and Ethnic Studies as a Graduation Requirement for All LA Schools
3. Fewer Students Per Class
4. Resources for School Improvement, Not IPADs for Testing
5. Stop Reconstitution in All its Names

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) November General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) October General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) General Assembly

Thursday, October 2, 2014
4:15-6:30PM
St. Marks Lutheran Church
3651 South Vermont Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(2 blocks north of the Expo line's Vermont station)

Rosa Jimenez's notes from previous General Assembly:

Students and Parents from 10 different schools across LA participated. Many teachers from an even more schools and community college students attended the General Assembly as well.

Members from half a dozen community organizations participated as well as reps from various labor organizations and neighborhood councils.

As always, the General Assembly started with a Snapshot of a Social Movement—this time focusing on lessons that can be learned from students getting organized for educational justice across the nation.

Then the General Assembly created space for students, parents and teachers to discuss where to take our movement. We want to build off of our last year’s organizing and successful actions, including our March where we called upon LAUSD’s School Board to take up the issues that students, parents and teachers of the Grassroots Coalition have been organizing around.  Students met as a constituency group, as did parents and the teachers in a third group.

The Grassroots Coalition of Schools LA Students Deserve came up with some great ideas which we will be announcing soon.

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) October General Assembly