Jacobin series: How austerity and education reform have segregated American schools like never before–and what to do about it.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
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.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
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
[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.
Monday, July 13, 2015
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]
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Schools Matter: 2015 Week 28 Education Odds and Ends
First published on Schools Matter on July 11, 2015
“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
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, 2015Incredulous 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, 2015Lerum 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, 2015Lerum'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, 2015The 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
Friday, July 10, 2015
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, 2015The New GED: Making A Second Chance So Much Harder
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
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, 2015Admitting no wrongdoing, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot resigned from all PUC Corporate Charter Boards... by Robert D. Skeels
Friday, June 19, 2015
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).
Monday, June 15, 2015
Is Social Justice Law School for you?
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.
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
K-12NN Wire: Was Refugio “Ref” Rodriguez self-dealing and running front groups?
First published June 4, 2015 on K-12 News Network
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, 2015Reported 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, 2015Stopped 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, 2015No 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, 2015PUC employee Jason Roberts ran Ref Rodriguez's B4UF "side business" just like Jacqueline Duvivier Castillo. #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/9WNpuhrdaH
— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) June 5, 2015Just 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, 2015Ref 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, 2015Bad 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, 2015Ref 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, 2015Charter 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, 2015Ref 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
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Schools Matter: 2015 Week 21 Education Odds and Ends
First published on Schools Matter on May 22, 2015
“We believe that this recognition has come about because of the “blatant” move by corporations to take over public education and the creation of these charter schools who are limiting the rights of teachers and the type of education that our children are receiving.” — Juan Orozco
Professor Antonia Darder this weekend in Los Angeles
Dr. John Fernandez writes:
Roosevelt High School and the Boyle Heights community have a long and proud history of fighting for social justice, from the election of Ed Roybal to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949, to the fight against Prop.187, and to the current struggle against the scheduled layoffs of 23 RHS teachers and the struggle to dump PLAS. This video was taken when the Great Recession began and when PLAS came in. In June of 2008, when this video was produced, there were about 240 RHS teachers, now there are only 110 and dozens of classes have been cut. This Saturday, May 23, 2015 at 8:30 a.m., RHS will be having a youth conference. Dr. Antonia Darder will be presenting. Antonia is a world renowned writer on critical education theory, Latino education, and Paulo Freire. I am sure that Antonia will connect theory and practice to the situation at RHS. Please attend this important event. La Lucha Sigue
Charter billionaires buy L.A. school board election
Professor Mike Klonsky's post Charter billionaires buy L.A. school board election is worth the read. I left the following comments:
Thank you for this Professor Klonsky. Poverty pimp Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez has spent his entire career viewing and utilizing school children as ATM cards. Now that the billionaires have installed him at #LAUSD, he has the combination to the entire bank vault.
Karen Wolfe on LAUSD election fallout
Public school parent and member of the Venice Neighborhood Council Education Committee Karen Wolfe wrote an excellent piece looking at the May 19, 2015 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board elections entitled LA Election Lessons: Anatomy of a Shakeup … in the LAUSD Board Races. I made the following comments:
Thank you for this excellent analysis Ms. Wolfe. Charter profiteer and poverty pimp Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez has spent his entire career viewing and utilizing school children as ATM cards. California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) boasted that they "generated 30% profit margins in subsequent years–with 20-30% lead generation and 20-50% close ratios" when Rodriguez was a CCSA board member. Meanwhile he ran Lakeview Charter in the red for the better part of decade, and oversaw Jacqueline Duvivier Castillo's self-dealing with the now breaking Better 4 You Meals scandal. Now that these right-wing billionaires have installed him at #LAUSD, he has the combination to the entire bank vault. We can only hope that the LAUSD OIG and LA District Attorney's office will indict Rodriguez, but a cover-up is more than likely since José Cole Gutiérrez was one of Rodriguez's employees when Rodriguez sat on the CCSA board.
Professor Julian Vasquez Heilig testifies on Parent Trigger
Professor Julian Vasquez Heilig traveled to Texas to speak truth to Walton Family Foundation funded Parent Revolution's attempts to place a loaded "Parent Trigger" gun in corporate charter hands. Best quote from his testimony: "SB14 is parent empowerment without the empowerment. Parental involvement without the involvement."
Keeping up with Ref Rodriguez's possible crimes
Charter industry 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 the financial scandals and possible felonies by this Rodriguez charter is difficult, the following articles should help.
- 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
Whitney Tilson does rape culture!
Right-wing hedge fund manager and school privatization pusher Whitney Tilson was quick to jump on the blame-the-victim bandwagon. An email to his cult of fellow neoliberals said "I question her story" of Emma Sulkowicz.
Scott M. Folsom on student mental healthcare
Suing a school district for failing to provide mental healthcare may seem, at first blush, to be a stretch. What part of the 3Rs is mental healthcare? But this is a stretch that is needed – like those stretches people who exercise do before they exercise.
Education is about stretching our little grey cells. It’s about being safe and well and healthy. Maslows’s Hierarchy of Needs: Food, Comfort, Safety.
- You can’t learn if you are hungry.
- You don’t learn if you don’t have a place to live.
- You won’t learn if you don’t feel safe.
Then and only then can we get down to the Rs.
In Compton and in most of the brink o’ th’ apocalypse they inhabit the school nurse is most students’ primary-and maybe-only healthcare professional and medical provider. The school nurses’ office has become the Health Office has become the School Wellness Center – even as the School Nurse has become a vanishing species, repurposed to paperwork shuffling and IEP Compliance Officer – often traveling from school-to-school on a one-day-a-week rotation.
This has all worked out because school health crises: The flu outbreak, the second grader who falls out of a tree, the incident of diabetic or anaphylactic shock – these only occur on the days the nurse is at the school and is otherwise available. I have spent some of the last month reading essays by middle-schoolers about the impact of violence and trauma on their lives. Most need additional instruction on narrative storytelling (and grammar+punctuation) …but the far more pressing need is for mental health professionals to begin to have the conversation with them about their lives.
LAUSD in planning to eliminate some psychiatric social workers in next year’s budget. The bad-news masquerading otherwise is that the District is not going to eliminate as many as first proposed. Nobody in their right mind is proposing to rehire mental health workers previously laid off. But I am.
Post Traumatic Shock Disorder is not just for returning warriors anymore. This is not John Boy’s America. This is not the Bobsey Twins’ America. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm graduated decades ago and doesn’t come back for the alumni meetings ‘cause she’s scared of the neighborhood. Today’s narrative was written back in 1969: “Oh, a storm is threat'ning / My very life today / If I don't get some shelter / Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away.”
By ‘75 Bob was feeling better about it than Mick+Keith in ‘69:
“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”
It’s an apt metaphor to duck in under.
Alliance Charter's Judy Burton still union busting
Right-wing extremists Antony Ressler, Richard "Dick" Riordan, and Judy Ivie Burton are still turning children into profit centers, and union busting at the Alliance Corporate Charter Chain. The ongoing struggle for their beleaguered educators to organize themselves continues. Community activists are taking the struggle to the streets, and posted this and other photos on facebook with the following caption:
Attending the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood council asking them to adopt our resolution calling on Alliance to let teachers form their union without harassment ([i]t passed unanimously!)
I left the following thoughts on the photo:
I document Judy Burton's mind-boggling salary in this piece about her fellow charter school profiteer Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez. https://www.laprogressive.com/charter-school-profits/ That obscene $330,400.00 doesn't include the additional six-figure income she gets from CalSTRS+CalPERS. She will go to any length to prevent educators from exercising their lawful right to organize. Any movement to put students and educators ahead of executive salaries and board member sweetheart deals at Alliance Charter Corporation will be resisted with extreme prejudice, as you are already experiencing.
Refugio just dumped gallons of toxins on Santa Barbara for profit. Another Refugio (Rodriguez) is about to do the same to #LAUSD
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) May 22, 2015Monday, May 18, 2015
This morning saw me studying Sugiura Ayano style!
This morning saw me studying Sugiura Ayano style! @peoplescollolaw #lawschoolproblems Art by Namori. @BakkinAyano pic.twitter.com/TJzdNev5aW
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) May 18, 2015Previously: When someone asks me "How's Law School?"
Eli Broad "alumni" John Deasy, Jaime Aquino, and Matt Hill ran LAUSD's iPad Project
WHAT WENT WRONG WITH L.A. UNIFIED’S iPAD PROGRAM? To put it simply: There was a complete breakdown in the planning and execution of the initiative.
Eli Broad 'alum' John Deasy, Jaime Aquino & Matt Hill ran #LAUSD iPad project http://t.co/8QRhG7bBVq @RepairsNotIPads pic.twitter.com/sXM5s4iYVA
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) May 18, 2015Schools Matter: Ref Rodriguez's school scandals unreported by LA School Report?
First published on Schools Matter on May 17, 2015
“Of course, the network of power and privilege that eases access to the Ivy League isn’t severed at matriculation—it supports the scions of the superrich throughout. Further emails from the Sony hack show the Lynton nepotism machine gearing up for his elder daughter, Eloise, an undergraduate at Harvard who found herself unable to get into a very popular class with Dr. Jerome Groopman, a New Yorker writer and professor of biology.” — Sam Biddle
Jamie Alter-Lynton's blog byline should read "what Deasy wants you to think is really going on in LAUSD"
Professor Diane Ravitch discussed a recent Daily News piece in her Los Angeles School Board Race: Attack Ads and Lies Aplenty. The Thomas Hines article in question rightly points out that all of Ref Rodriguez's and his California Charter Schools Association's attacks on the Honorable Bennett Kayser have been patently false, but the issues brought up about Rodriguez—like the PUC Lakeview Charter Academy Audit—are true. Of course, not every Los Angeles media outlet has covered the myriad scandals surrounding the billionaire's candidate. I addressed this issue in the following commentary.
I keep wondering when Jamie Alter-Lynton, sibling of the dubious Jonathan Alter, will have her “news” blog — LA School Report — cover either the Lakeview Audit, or the Jacqueline Duvivier Castillo (Better 4 You Meals) self-dealing scandal, or both? Alter-Lynton’s site claims that it practices “journalism in the public interest”, yet somehow misses two of the biggest Los Angeles education scandals of the year, both centering around their candidate: charter industry profiteer Ref Rodriguez.
This quote says it all: “audits… indicated charter officials [i.e. Ref Rodriguez] knew of the alleged conflict of interest” http://4lakidsnews.blogspot.com/2015/05/lausd-charter-group-gave-food-contract.html
The well heeled Rodriguez was PUC Corporation’s CEO, and then their Board Treasurer during both the Lakeview financial malfeasance and Duvivier Castillo incidents. He claims to have known absolutely nothing about either situation, the former occurring for over a decade, the latter for several years now. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, that means Rodriguez is either grossly incompetent, or criminally complicit (there are some that would posit he manages to be both). Neither of those are desirable qualities for a trustee of the nation’s second largest school district.
Maybe the LA School Report can run this piece on education and privilege?
Friday, May 15, 2015
Guest Post: Citizen Jack further comments on L.A. Weekly's Yellow Journalism
"Jack," a frequent commenter on Professor Diane Ravitch's site, sent a follow up to his Citizen Jack's Open Letter To The Author Of The L.A. Weekly Article About Ref Rodriguez.
On the subject of class and socio-economic status in this election, some things need to be said.
Ref portrays himself as a poor Chicano from the barrio who cares about the education well-being of poor Chicanos in the barrio.
Well, let’s see… because his PUC charters are unregulated, Ref can pay himself whatever he wants, and his workers as little (or as much) as he wants.
So given that unchecked power, how does Ref use it to provide for the well-being of his fellow poor Chicanos from the barrio?
Rodriguez pays himself $350,000 (a third of a million dollars) annually, while he pays his custodial and cafeteria workers—all low-income Latinos—$8/hour instead of the living wage that their counterparts in the traditional public schools get paid… while principals in traditional public schools (a brutal job in so many ways) earn only around $100,000 annually. To quote Gordon Gekko, that's a zero-sum game. The money that Ref pays himself is money that doesn't go to those workers, (or doesn't get to the classroom, for that matter)
Try to live in L.A. on $8/hour.
Now let's say that you're a parent (or just a citizen concerned about public education) that objects to the gross salaries that Ref and other bosses at PUC receive, and also object to the custodial and cafeteria workers (all low-income Latinos) get paid slave wages... You want to go in front of the LAUSD Board (the one Ref is trying get elected to) and demand a reduction in the bosses' salaries, and an increase in those workers' salaries ... as those are your economic peers in the community.
WELL, YOU CAN'T. Well, you can, but you'd be wasting your breath. That's the way this whole privatized charter thing works. A huge multi-million-dollar amount of your tax money gets dumped into an account and is the school's annual budget. That's it as far as any oversight that the Board has from that point on. The charter bosses can spend that money any way they damn please (concerns about "Better Meals 4 You"-style nepotism corruption be damned). You can only uncover such corruption after the fact, and by that time, your tax money is gone, baby, gone... never to be returned. Ref makes $350,000 for supervising about 3,000 students, while LAUSD Superintendent Cortines gets less, ($300,000) for supervising 670,000 students.
I would like to know exactly what Ref does in a typical 9-to-5, 40-hour week to justify getting paid that kind of cash? It can't be improving the operations of the school, or helping teachers... critiquing instruction, helping design a lesson plan, assisting in classroom management, leading I.E.P. / S.S.T. meetings, or professional development. Ref has ZERO education, training, or experience teaching high school or working as an administrator. (Just out of college, he got in early on the whole charter school racket (1999), without ever learning anything from the ground up.)
As opposed to incumbent Board Member Bennett Kayser, who has 30 years in classroom followed by years as an administrator. Kayser went straight from decades of dedicated work in the schoolhouse to then serve on the Board, so he has an intimate, and detailed knowledge of what students, need, what teachers need, and, in general, what schools need.
Also... Bennet's most certainly not in it for the money... the job pays only $40,000 year., and that's all he earns, or desires to.
The choice is easy, but the trouble is that Ref is outspending Bennet 8-to-1.... dozens of colored cardboard stuffing your mailbox attest to this.
Now, think about that for a second. Billionaires from out of the state and within the state--money-motivated privatizers who don't even live here in LAUSD, whose kids don't go to school here---have pumped in $5 million total tp a PAC to elect Ref.. for a political office that pays only $40,000 ???!!
And we're supposed to believe that they're doing it because they care so much about the education of poor and middle class students? Does that pass the smell test? Look closer and you see how---once Ref is elected and has to power to do their bidding---they will profit from chunk after chunk of the district being given to charter school companies owned and/or allied with them (and then removed from any public oversight), and also profit from companies that they own---in whole or in part---that will reap billions in exchange for providing dubious digital learning, on-line learning, curriculum. etc. to both charters and traditional public schools.
Ref's backers are those oxymoronic and entrepreneurial creatures that populate today's landscape of what's called neo-liberalism... "vulture philanthropists"... "philanthro-preneurs". Unrelieved greed covered the thinnest false veneer of social responsibility.
If you want to keep a money-motivated privatizer like Ref Rodriguez (and his corporate backers) out of power...
if you want to keep our schools truly public---accountable & transparent to the public, controlled by the public via democratically-elected school boards, and educating all of the public, including... as the Good Book says.... the "least of our brethren"... the most vulnerable... special ed. kids, ESL kids, homeless, foster care kids... (the ones charters kick out with abandon, or refuse to accept in the first place)...
If you want all this, then donate to Ref's opponent, Bennett Kayser—a 30-year teacher and administrator who's not in it for the money, but for the students, and for the community. Tell eveyrone you know in District 5 to vote for Bennett Kayser--friends, neighbors, co-workers, people you went to high school with, grade school, college, whatever.
Here’s where you can donate on-line to Bennett Kayser’s campaign:
http://www.bennett2015.com/donate-online.html
Here’s his website in general:
Re-Elect Bennett Kayser for School Board 2015
AALA: Bain V. Cta, Another Attack On Unions
From the May 18, 2015 issue of Update
Bain v. CTA is the latest lawsuit to be filed against teacher unions specifically, but public employee unions in general. This lawsuit has been brought forward by StudentsFirst, the organization founded by former Washington, D.C., schools' chancellor Michelle Rhee, on behalf of four public school teachers. Named in the lawsuit are not only CTA, but UTLA, NEA, CFT, AFT, United Teachers of Richmond and various school superintendents. The plaintiffs (teachers from Los Angeles, West Contra Costa and Arcadia unified school districts) are challenging the law that allows unions to call them nonmembers because they only pay the agency fee. Those who only pay the agency fee exempt themselves from the political activities of the union, but also from some of the perks of membership such as voting on the contract, representation during conferences, extra insurance, etc. Bain and the other teachers in the suit say that it is unfair and unconstitutional (violates their free speech) for them to be denied any benefits of membership as a result of their decision to pay a reduced amount in union dues. In essence, they want to be able to both opt out of full membership in the union and pay significantly reduced dues, yet be able to vote for union officers and participate in other decision-making activities, which union rules currently prohibit.
Antiunion groups have been arguing for years that unions violate workers' First Amendment rights by charging dues. However, the question in this case is not that teachers can opt out of membership and pay a reduced amount of dues, but what benefits members and nonmembers receive from the union. Moshe Z. Marvit, a Philadelphia labor and civil rights attorney and Century Foundation Fellow, says that it is a strange First Amendment argument, that "...you should still have the right to vote in an organization that you don't want to be a part of...It is a strange irony of this case that the plaintiffs readily admit the myriad benefits that come with union membership, but argue that it is unfair to require them to be members of the union to get those benefits."
StudentsFirst, which is financially backing the suit, is funded by a virtual who's who of billionaires and right-wing education reform foundations that include the Walton Family Foundation, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, hedge-fund managers David Tepper and Alan Fournier, Charter Schools USA and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Attorney Marvit concludes, "...this case...is litigation funded and promoted by antiunion groups that is part of a general strategy to defund unions, destroy solidarity and erase the benefits of union membership..."
Guest Post: Joining Forces for Education's Ellen Lubic on the May 19, 2015 LAUSD Election
Why Would Anyone Want to Replicate Stupid, Greedy, Inept, Fraudulent?
On Tuesday there will be an election for three LAUSD Board of Education members. These candidates are Kayser v. Rodriguez, Galatzan v. Schmerelson, and Vladovic v. Gutierrez.
The most highly funded race by the billionaires who wish to privatize all of America's public schools (with the goal of making public schools Free Market Wall Street opportunities for vast profit) is that of Rodriguez. They have poured over $2,000,000 into the coffers of Refugio Rodriguez who is the multi millionaire PUC charter school chain organizer, owner, CEO, treasurer...and other titles he chose over the years. A forced internal audit of his PUC charter chain was finally exposed only weeks ago despite his (and his ally on the Board, the notorious charter supporter, Monica Garcia, the clone of Tamar Galatzan and John Deasy) great efforts to hide it from public view until after the election. It showed repeated violations at many of his schools over a long period of time. Most were financial and some leading to his own enrichment.
Last week, the LA Progressive published the article linked below, showing his insider dirty dealings with his own Board leadership in contracting for food services from companies they actually owned, to provide all school meals. This was a very profitable, though probably illegal, enterprise for Rodriguez.
The LA Times, which endorsed Rodriguez (and Galatzan who is also a Deasy and charter supporter), has not backed down from their ill advised endorsement even though they published a similar story on his potential illegal and ostensibly fraudulent behaviors.
How come with this audit evidence and the facts on the food services contracts which are possibly indictable, Rodriguez has not resigned as a School Board candidate, after running one of the dirtiest campaigns in history? And why is he allowed to join with the Latino SouthWest Voters program to now bribe inner city Latino voters to come the polls for a payoff of $25,000? An LASR article lauds them for getting out the vote with 2700 first time Latino student voters, who also are given the payoff motive to go to the polls. What a message for new voters, to sell their vote for cash and prizes! Of course, the 'wink wink' is to vote for the Latino surnamed candidate.
https://www.laprogressive.com/ref-rodriguez/
It would seem that the LA Times and their billionaire publisher Austin Beutner, and billionaire advisors Eli Broad and Richard Riordan, have learned nothing from the entire LAUSD/Deasy four year fiasco which cost the District over $167,000,000 in losses from the inept and possibly fraudulent dealings of former Superintendent John Deasy who is now being investigated by the FBI and the SEC, with his Apple and Pearson early emails indicating he gave them insider information on how to be the low bidders for $1.3 Billion for iPads and for Common Core Software curricula not even designed at that point of contractual assignment. Also with Deasy's poor judgement insisting on using the MiSiS software which he knew was flawed for many years, and at the point he insisted on using it in LAUSD, was still not viable. It failed, and it hurt students and schools immeasurably. Now LAUSD is trying to get some of the public's money back from these rotten deals. Do not forget that this huge amount of $1.3 billion in probable sweetheart deals, was snatched from the Construction Bond Fund that LA voters and taxpayers approved to build new public schools and to repair old schools which are falling apart. Taxpayers were 'snookered' by these machinations of the billionaires and their puppets.
Only yesterday did the public learn that the BoE, once again in secret, was influenced to hire interim Superintendent Cortines back for another year despite his rancor with and against teachers and their unions, and despite the second sexual harassment law suit filed against him. He also recently named charter school supporter, Thelma de Melendez, as his second in charge.
At Beaudry, Cortines and the Board of Education evidently never did start a national search for a better superintendent than Deasy (who trained to be their "CEO" at the Broad Academy, and who has now been hired full time to work for Eli Broad), and they seem to have no intention of doing so in the near future. Is this more of Broad's intrusion into the affairs of LAUSD?
Why are voters once again exposed to all this brouhaha and the buying of elections by these wildly wealthy Wall Street profiteers and non-educators who seek to bring all public services into the Free Market to expand their greed in forcing the direction of even more redistribution of American's wealth upward, to themselves?
Stigler, Schumpeter, and Milton Friedman, with their Ayn Rand parroted theories of the Invisible Hand, and Creative Destruction, have long been proven false by modern Nobel Prize winner economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, looking at a Free Market that is anything but FREE.
Please use good judgement and vote for Bennett Kayser and Scott Schmerelson when you go to the polls, without being bribed, on Tuesday, May 19.
Ellen Lubic, Director, Joining Forces for Education, Public Policy educator/writer
Roger Waters to Dionne Warwick: “You are showing yourself to be profoundly ignorant of what has happened in Palestine since 1947″
I'm a died-in-the-wool David Gilmour fan, but have mad respect for Roger Waters' principled stand on #Palestine! http://t.co/LQNURpVK9k #BDS
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) May 15, 2015Thursday, May 14, 2015
Guest Post: Parent reminds us that Tamar Galatzan and John Deasy were joined at the hip
Although much was initially promised to gain buy-in to school choice campaigns, most teachers, parents and communities of color have not experienced greater participation within charter schools.—Professor Antonia Darder
TAMAR GALATZAN + JOHN DEASY = 1.3 billion dollar iPad fiasco• WHO WOULD SHE PICK FOR THE NEXT SUPERINTENDENT? A JOHN DEASY CLONE?• WILL SHE ATTEMPT TO BAIL AGAIN ON LAUSD AND RUN FOR ANOTHER POLITCAL OFFICE(CD 2, 2009)?• WILL SHE WASTE MORE OF OUR TAX DOLLARS AND RESTART THE 1.3 BILLION DOLLAR IPADS, HER PET PROJECT, EVEN THOUGH IT IS UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE FBI AND SEC?• WHY WOULDN’T THE LA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY ENDORSE HER?Dear Friends and Neighbors:A few months ago, I wrote to you about the March 3 primary election which included a race for the LAUSD Board of Education. The result was that Tamar Galatzan faced a shocker - 60% voted against her. This Tuesday, we will be choosing who will be representing us for the next four years.I am writing to you again because I have become increasing disturbed by the visuals and verbiage of many of the flyers that are arriving in my mail on an almost daily basis. The funders of Ms. Galatzan’s campaign have chosen to use the lowest level of tactics to undermine and mislead the public. In one example, her opponent, school principal Scott Schmerelson, is referred to as a “paid” lobbyist for a school administrators’ organization. There is ZERO evidence to support these claims. WHAT OTHER LIES ARE THEY TRYING TO SPREAD??? WHY ARE THEY DEMONSTRATING SUCH DESPERATION???? MAYBE THE PUBLIC IS NOT BUYING WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO SELL!!!!These same funders were long and vocal supporters of disgraced superintendent John Deasy. They would like nothing better than to bring back a John Deasy clone to LAUSD and Ms. Galatzan, as Deasy’s closest ally on the board, would most certainly make that her priority. Money is no object for these billionaires when it comes to taking over our local school board elections.According to the LA City Ethics Commission, violations of election rules can be filed, but it is clear that any investigation would not take place until after the election and would only result in a fine. Clearly, it appears to be safe to print and distribute these false materials with the knowledge that any actions by the city would occur after the fact and would not cause a candidate to lose their seat.On Tuesday, we have a choice. On one hand, we have Tamar Galatzan, close ally of ousted superintendent John Deasy and whose board resolution prompted Deasy to create his “tablet for everyone” plan. In contrast, revered teacher, counsel and school principal Scott Schmerelson, has expressed a much different view of how our school construction bonds should be spent and how to prioritize spending where it belongs, in the classroom.Ms. Galatzan has received endorsements from politicians(she works full time in City Hall as a prosecutor) while Mr. Schmerelson’s main supporters are students, parents and teachers who have had the priviledge of working directly with him and witnessed his ability to make a difference on every campus he has worked at.
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