Cheryl Ortega for UTLA Director of Bilingual Education

Maestros Unidos Los Angeles con Oaxaca

Cheryl Ortega’s tireless advocacy and effective activism for students and bilingual education stems from her years of dedication to the same. There is no better choice for United Teachers of Los Angeles’ (UTLA) Director of Bilingual Education. Her vast experience, institutional knowledge, and devotion to providing students bilingual programs is peerless. Let all persons know that I endorse and strongly support her candidacy for reelection.

— Robert D. Skeels, Education Rights Attorney and Law Professor

Cheryl Ortega for UTLA Director of Bilingual Education

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

Rally against the cuts to Adult Education, Early Education, School Nurses, and Counselors

All the Pieces Matter

Join us at LAUSD headquarters on Beaudry next Tuesday, May 12, for UTLA's "All the Pieces Matter!" rally against the RIFs. Come together and show support for our students and Adult Education, and other programs being cut such as Early Education, and counselors. As educators, we are all an important piece in the fight for the Schools L.A. Students Deserve: Parent-enriched Early Education to K-12 to Adult Ed to every classroom to Health and Human Services.

Rally against the cuts to Adult Education, Early Education, School Nurses, and Counselors

The Perfect Person for Imperfect Circumstances (the AvalonSensei, Martha Infante)

The Perfect Person for Imperfect Circumstances
by David B. Cohen

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The Perfect Person for Imperfect Circumstances @AvalonSensei http://t.co/fIByPw09yg h/t @K12NN @CohenD #LAUSD #edu pic.twitter.com/x2VLTi73Io

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) March 20, 2015

My commentary:

I count myself among the lucky people to know this outstanding educator. My wife and I even attended one of her fundraisers for her students’ D.C. trip. Her essays on her various blogs are some of my favorite reads in that she conveys hope at such a critical time. Teachers like Martha Infante are the reason I spend much of my free time advocating for public education and in support of our local teachers. She is a gift to the community and to the profession as a whole, and she is not alone. I stand behind our public school teachers.

The Perfect Person for Imperfect Circumstances (the AvalonSensei, Martha Infante)

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.”
 
 #  #  #

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

SAVE THE DATE!!! UTLA Rally at Pershing Square!

Building on our successful November 20 regional actions, UTLA members will rally in downtown L.A. to put pressure on LAUSD to offer us a fair contract. The rally is 5 days before the School Board election. We need 100% participation to send a strong message to the District.

SAVE THE DATE!!! UTLA Rally at Pershing Square!

The Adult Education Committee of UTLA meet and support Bennett Kayser

I'll be there!

The Adult Education Committee of UTLA meet and support Bennett Kayser by Robert D. Skeels

The Adult Education Committee of UTLA meet and support Bennett Kayser

Schools Matter: The Gates Foundation's Teach Plus once again trying to undermine United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)

First published April 30, 2014 on Schools Matter

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"Bill Gates's foundation pays educators to pose alternatives to union orthodoxies regarding seniority and test scores." "Two other Gates-financed groups, Educators for Excellence and Teach Plus, have helped amplify the voices of newer teachers as an alternative to the official views of the unions. Last summer, members of several such groups had a meeting at the foundation’s offices in Washington." — New York Times

Although it's being debated vigorously in United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), let's leave the discussion about UTLA online voting aside momentarily. Let's even ignore the all too transparent reasons why Teach Plus—a member of the nonprofit industrial complex (NPIC)—is pushing for it, and is willing to host dinners and drinks at four different restaurants.* Instead, why don't the online voting petition wielding UTLA members ask their Teach Plus "allies" some important questions. Here are a few of my questions for these supposedly unaligned teachers to ask the Teach Plus cadre as conversation starters:

How do you feel about being associated with an organization that was intimately involved with this tragic incident?

Often the decisions about which teachers will stay and which will go are made by new principals who may be very good, but don't know the old staff. "We had several good teachers asked to leave," said Heather Gorman, a fourth-grade teacher who will be staying at Blackstone Elementary here, where 38 of 50 teachers were removed. "Including my sister who's been a special-ed teacher 22 years."

How do you feel about Teach Plus' founder, Celine Coggins', close ties with the fringe-right The Hoover Institution at Stanford University? Coggins is also on the advisory board of the dubious National Council for Teaching Quality (NCTQ) along with folks like Rick Hess, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Eric Hanushek, and Stefanie Sanford. NCTQ is funded in part by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Searle Freedom Trust, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

How do you feel about receiving the majority of your funding from Bill Gates, a plutocrat who also funds the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), The Discovery Institute (which actively advocates teaching creationism), invests in Monsanto, and for-profit prison companies?

How do you feel about your organization receiving large sums from the right-wing NewSchools Venture Fund, led by reactionary Ted Mitchell, whose role in the wholesale privatization of California schools earned him a spot in billionaire Forbes' Top Education "Disruptors" list?

While we can all agree that this language: "Teach Plus, with its teacher members, is focused on developing innovative policy solutions in the following areas: measuring teacher effectiveness; improving performance evaluation systems" is a euphemism for using widely discredited "value added methodologies," what is Teach Plus' current stance on this issue now that the American Statistical Association has just released a very important document on Value Added Methodologies?

That's probably enough questions to get the party started. I hope the free dinners are worth hearing the answers.

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* These aren't cheap restaurants either. We held our wedding reception at "El Cholo" Koreatown. It's a nice place by my humble, working class standards.

Schools Matter: The Gates Foundation's Teach Plus once again trying to undermine United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)

Cheryl Ortega of UTLA: SB 1174 and Civil Rights

Tonight's UTLA House of Reps meeting will take up the question of whether to endorse SB 1174 (Lara). Senator Lara's bill proposes to put on the ballot in 2016 a repeal of Prop 227. This is seen by bilingual supporters and researchers statewide as a first step in returning full language rights to the students of California. These are the words of Dr. Patricia Gandara, Director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA:

Rather than to describe the legislation as "undoing 227", presenting 1174 in the positive, about what it will DO positively and that is to give both parents and teachers the freedom of choice, something that has been denied to them over the last 15 years.  Teachers will be able to choose to use the most effective pedagogies and parents will be able to choose the best programs for their children.  To have put this decision into the hands of people who had no expertise and no stake in the outcome was a real abuse of democracy.

Over the last 15 years while California has become an increasingly diverse state with an economy that is increasingly dependent on our commerce and relations with other nations, we have also developed a whole new body of research that illuminates the amazing benefits of multilingualism.  We now know that students who graduate as bilinguals will have significantly better job prospects—a recent survey shows that 2/3 of California employers—across all types of industries—prefer to hire bilinguals over monolinguals—the bilinguals will get the jobs!; we know that young bilinguals will earn more money and hold higher level positions than equally qualified monolinguals; that Latino bilinguals will graduate high school and go on to college at higher rates than monolingual Latinos, and based on a new study that followed students in both bilingual and dual language programs in San Francisco (where they continued their bilingual programs) compared to English immersion, from kinder to high school—the bilinguals reclassified to English proficient at higher rates and scored higher on ELA than English immersion students (I can provide the study).  All of these benefits are in addition to what had already been established—the cognitive and social-emotional benefits of bilingualism. — Professor Patricia Gandara

Senator Lara intends to present his bill, 1174, to the Senate Education Committee in early April. To have UTLA's endorsement would weigh heavily in his favor. To have UTLA vote it down would be seen favorably in the eyes of those in Sacramento who oppose language rights.

PACE voted (with no dissent) to recommend endorsement. The Board of Directors also voted unanimously in favor of recommendation.  We strongly urge you to be at the House tonight to help pass this language rights endorsement.

In unity,
Cheryl Ortega - Director of Bilingual Education
Marina Salas - Bilingual Education Committee Chair

Cheryl Ortega of UTLA: SB 1174 and Civil Rights

Open note to Bill Gaffney of Steve Barr and Bill Gates' Teacher Action Network

Mr. Gaffney:

Last time we spoke you were very angry that I had exposed your ties with Bill Gates and Steve Barr's privatization organization. That's understandable, since no public school teacher would want to be associated with wealthy individuals bent on privatizing education. You abruptly left our conversation with the following statement:

Bill Gaffney: Please become a real teacher and then we can talk. Sorry you lost the campaign for school board.

I wanted to respond, but was very busy with both my course-load at UCLA, and my full time job. Now is my chance to return your pleasantries.

Sorry you lost the campaign for UTLA President, and I'll become a "real teacher" so we can talk just as soon as Bill Gates and Steve Barr do.

Your attempts to silence those that speak truth to power are hypocritical at best when your exhortation to become a "full time classroom teacher" would also have to apply equally to all of the politicians, corporate education reformers, and nonprofit industrial complex operatives meddling in education if it was to have any weight.

Moreover, for all your mocking of my school board run, at least I garnered a double digit percentage of votes. In fact, I managed to triple your vote percentage without the backing of one of the world's wealthiest billionaires. Put another way, you were the candidate for the 1% and your colleagues voted accordingly.

I would like extend to you my sincere wish that you sit down with the social justice crowd and listen to the case against school privatization. I'd be willing to make the case to you if you were willing to listen. I'm clear that you're not the enemy, the people you work for are. At the end of the day Steve Barr's involvement with education has netted him millions of dollars, while my involvement with public education has earned me the thanks of my community.

Best of luck in your future endeavors

Robert D. Skeels

2014 UTLA Election Information Center
Candidate	Votes	Vote%
Bill Gaffney	323	4.55

Los Angeles Unified School District 2, 2013
Candidate	Votes	Vote%
Robert D. Skeels	5,244	15.2

Conversation With Bill Gaffney by Robert D. Skeels

Open note to Bill Gaffney of Steve Barr and Bill Gates' Teacher Action Network

Vote to transform UTLA into an effective defense of public education and humane pedagogy

Vote to transform UTLA into an effective defense of public education and humane pedagogy

Lisa Karahalios calls for iPad CCTP oversight committee to continue

March 5, 2014. Speaking at the CCTP Tech (iPad) Committee, Lisa Karahalios expresses disappointment in Dr. Vladovic's decision to shut down the ad hoc committee. "Given that this is probably the largest public works rollout of technology in schools in history, I think this committee should go forward, and it shouldn't just be an ad hoc committee, I think it should be an official committee of the board."

Lisa Karahalios calls for iPad CCTP oversight committee to continue

SB 1174: The next struggle for language rights in California is here!

SB 1174 would be just a first step, but an important step nonetheless. UTLA will hopefully be on the leading edge of championing this, and Cheryl Ortega's thoughtful piece (an early release of her column for United Teacher) below represents the most progressive of positions.

The two major factions that will oppose SB 1174 are as follows: the rabid, reactionary racists that are always in Ron Unz's orbit, and the corporate edreformers who are pushing the profitable Common Core State Standards (CCSS). It's no surprise the bigots will oppose it, despite the myriad benefits that all students receive from multilingual education programs. We also need to remember that multilingualism, and multilingual programs (eg Dual Language Immersion) are contrary to the goals and practices of CCSS. This latter issue will see big money from the billionaire funded nonprofit industrial complex (NPIC) rally against it. Don't be shocked to see corporate edreform stalwarts like Ryan Smith and Yolie Flores of United Way Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA), and the smaller NPIC funded through UWGLA, oppose SB 1174 for not fitting in with the Broad and Gates Foundation agendas.

SB 1174 will be a struggle, but an important one. We can have broader campaigns about indigenous language rights and the like after the passage of SB 1174. Let's roll up our sleeves and get this done!

Robert D. Skeels

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Bill to Repeal Ban on Bilingual Education

By May of this year SB 1174 (Lara) will be brought to the Education Committee of the State Assembly of California. Senator Lara’s bill proposes to overturn Proposition 227 which in 1998 began the cutting away of bilingual programs for California’s English Learners. If the bill passes the committee by a simple majority, it will continue to the Assembly and eventually the State Senate. Passing through these two bodies with, again, a simple majority, it will be put on the California ballot in May of 2016.

Prop 227 made placement in an English immersion program compulsory for all English Learners unless parents specifically requested a waiver from the law. A re-reading of prop 227 reminds me of the threats made to teachers and administrators that any mention of bilingual education could result in lawsuits even against individuals. Frozen with fear, most teachers refrained from advising parents of their rights. It is interesting to note that in the 16 years since the passage of the proposition, not a single lawsuit has ever been filed, but the threat was always lurking in the shadows. Also interesting is the fact that legal action also theoretically applied to individuals, schools and districts who withheld information about bilingual programs from parents. In hundreds of thousands of cases in LAUSD, the information was, and still is, routinely withheld and actually falsified to parents. No lawsuits have ever been filed in LAUSD on these grounds.

If 1174 becomes law, what will follow? That remains to be seen. At this point it only repeals 227. It does not offer direction as to what kind of programs English Learners could take advantage of. In 1998, LAUSD had not yet implemented Dual Language Education. A vastly superior model to the traditional transitional bilingual programs, this model should be available to all students. The research cannot be denied. Students in dual language programs outscore and outperform their counterparts in all-English programs. See Collier and Thomas The Astounding Effects of Dual Language Education for All.

Perhaps enough time has elapsed, 16 years, for Californians, and particularly teachers, to have realized that Prop 227 didn’t help anyone.

Please join the Bilingual Education Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 26 at 4:30 in room 828. Teachers in all programs are warmly welcomed.

Cheryl Ortega

Director of Bilingual Education

cortega@utla.net

SB 1174: The next struggle for language rights in California is here!

Bill Gates and Steve Barr are trying to take over UTLA, again

Bill Gates and Steve Barr are trying to take over UTLA, again by Robert D. Skeels

Bill Gates and Steve Barr are trying to take over UTLA, again

Billionaires and corporations will stop at nothing to bust unions and privatize education. For decades Steve Barr has made his living doing their bidding. Their latest attempt is supporting a candidate for UTLA President whose policy advocacy matches their own. Knowing how unpopular Barr and his backers are, Bill Gaffney's narrative has been one of revisionist history and obfuscation of facts. We aim to let people know the truth.

FALSE: Steve Barr had nothing to do with the widely despised Parent Trigger law.

FACT: Steve Barr was on Parent Revolution's Board of Directors before, during, and after the trigger law was passed. In the Los Angeles Times he boasted about he would use it to convert public schools into charters.¹

FALSE: Steve Barr has a successful track record of turning schools around

FACT: Steve Barr has never turned a school around with either Green Dot or Future Is Now. Their latest attempt to turnaround New Orleans’ John McDonogh High School was an abject failure, leading charter friendly officials to shut Barr down.² Their experiment at Locke³ in Los Angeles has been just as grievous.

FALSE: Steve Barr supports unions and Green Dot has unionized teachers.

FACT: Green Dot's Asociación de Maestros Unidos (AMU) is a company union. In over a decade of existence AMU has never had single case of successfully defending a teacher against termination. Article 4.1 of AMU's contract⁴ with Green Dot Corporation's unelected Board of Directors sums up AMU's impotence neatly.

It is understood and agreed that the Board retains all of its powers and authority to direct, manage and control to the full extent of the law. While input from the staff will be considered and decisions will be derived in a collaborative model; final decisions will rest with the Board.

FALSE: Green Dot founded Los Angeles Parents Union, not Parent Revolution.

FACT: Parent Revolution and LAPU are officially registered DBAs of Los Angeles Parents Union⁵. Los Angeles Parents Union was founded by Green Dot's⁶ Steve Barr and Ryan Smith to increase charter market share. Green Dot's CEO, Marco Petruzzi, remains a current board member of Parent Revolution.

FALSE: The Gates Foundation funds Future Is Now/Teacher Action Network to empower teachers.

FACT: The Gates Foundation provides FIN/TAN with huge grants⁷ to strip teachers of their hard won rights and replace them with ineffectual “thin contracts,” that leave both students and faculty vulnerable.

FALSE: Charter schools are public schools.
FACT: Federal and State Courts, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the National Labor Relations Board have all determined¹ that with the narrow exceptions of charters run by “public universities and municipalities”, that charter schools are “private entities”. On the other hand, Forbes says charters are great for corporate profits.⁹

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1 http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/11/local/me-greendot11

2 http://dianeravitch.net/2014/01/22/oprah-charter-school-star-in-new-orleans-is-closing-down/

3 http://www.examiner.com/article/green-dot-s-locke-charter-reality-bites-and-the-press-starts-to-get-it

4 http://www.amuanimo.org/important-documents/AMU%20Contract%20PDF%202013-%202016.pdf

5 http://www.scribd.com/doc/65809661/Los-Angeles-Parents-Union-DBA-LAPU-or-Parent-Revolution-2008-Form-990

6 http://www.scribd.com/doc/25496653/Green-Dot-Public-sic-Schools-Los-Angeles-Parents-Union

7 http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2011/07/the_scaled_down_contract_boon_1.html

8 http://bitly.com/bundles/rdsathene/f

9 http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/09/10/charter-school-gravy-train-runs-express-to-fat-city/

Bill Gates and Steve Barr are trying to take over UTLA, again

So Steve Barr's proxy Bill Gaffney now claiming Barr had no role in Parent Trigger and Parent Revolution?

So @SteveBarrLA's proxy Bill Gaffney now claiming Barr had no role in #parenttrigger @parentrev? #LAUSD http://t.co/4D0jePDNDt

— PESJA Los Angeles (@PESJA_LA) February 26, 2014

He is either completely misinformed about his new masters, or lying. Don't just take my word for it, the Los Angeles Times has also documented what Barr did.

So Steve Barr's proxy Bill Gaffney now claiming Barr had no role in Parent Trigger and Parent Revolution?

Elect Lisa Karahalios AFT Vice President UTLA

Elect Lisa Karahalios AFT Vice President UTLA by Robert D. Skeels

Elect Lisa Karahalios AFT Vice President UTLA

Bill Gates and Steve Barr's corporate candidate for UTLA plays fast and loose with the truth

Saw a corporate candidate for UTLA president publish the following lie today: "Mr. Barr has started schools that are teacher-driven and wall-to-wall unionized in partnership…"

Most of us don't consider Yellow Unions actual unions. Furthermore, nonprofit corporations with unelected boards are anything but "teacher-driven." We know the truth about poverty pimp Steve Barr and the corporate empires he has forged. The "union shop" lies need to end here and now!

Here are two essays on Green Dot's special yellow brand of company unions:

Dana Goldstein "Hearts" Yellow Unions and Company Crafted Contracts

Right-wing Reactionary “Guggenheim on Unions, Green Dot”

Here is a compendium of information about the so-called "teacher-driven" corporate schools mentioned above.

Charter Schools are NOT Public Schools!

The corporate candidate's impassioned email also lauded Barr's former schools. Schools that despite getting millions more in funding, and having the ability to pick and choose their student population have results like these:

Fall 2010 Locke Senior High Admissions into the California State University system: system: 88% were NOT proficient in mathematics and an astonishing 98% were NOT proficient in English.

For more on this see:

Perfidious Petruzzi calls for accurate evaluations of Green Dot Charter Corporation?

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Update: More mistruths and mendacity from the corporate candidate today. All of which are refuted here.

I didn't fall for anything. Say what you will. I'm sorry, but your "privatization" claims about unionized charter schools don't hold up. Please go speak to teachers within unionized charter schools before forming an opinion. We can agree to disagree in this area. 

Unions, yellow or otherwise, do not determine whether a school has been or is privatized. What determines privatization is its governance model. If a school is not run by a government entity (eg. LAUSD, UCLA, etc.) then by definition it is a private institution. Especially in the case of schools governed by nonprofit corporations, like Green Dot and FIN. This has been repeatedly stated by Federal and State Courts, the Census Bureau, and the National Labor Relations Board. There's no need to agree to disagree, Gaffney's claims have been disproven in court multiple times.

Again, please do your due diligence before making claims about stakeholders in education and myself. Just so you know, Mr. Barr is not the founder/ instigator of the Parent Trigger law and all its negative consequences on public education. 

Patently false! Steve Barr was on the Board of Directors of Parent Revolution (née Los Angeles Parents Union (LAPU)) before, during, and after the Parent Trigger was formulated with help from ALEC, Schwarzenegger's staff, and others. He was completely immersed in the process.

Parent Revolution (and its founders) took Green Dot's Parent's Union concept of sustained parent engagement and social and political capital empowerment in partnership with the CTA and changed its original purpose to pass the Parent Trigger law through Gloria Romero. 

Again, abject lies. Ben Austin was hired by Green Dot to run LAPU. Both Marco Petruzzi and Steve Barr were on the board of LAPU when the name change occurred, there was no hijacking involved. Green Dot's Petruzzi is still on their board. LAPU was created to deceive parents into supporting the privatization of more schools via the corporate charter model. Unfortunately for dissemblers like Mr. Gaffney, I have a copy of the infamous Annenberg Document that proves who founded LAPU. Also, they still have both names on their 990 forms, and if you type http://parentsunion.org into a web client, guess what site comes up?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25496653/Green-Dot-Public-sic-Schools-Los-Angeles-Parents-Union

"Social and political capital empowerment"? Please Mr. Gaffney, at least right-wing billionaire Eli Broad admits on his foundation's 990 forms what he provides funds to LAPU/Parent Revolution for: "To support efforts to help Charter Management Organizations apply for new LAUSD schools under LAUSD's School Choice Resolution"

See http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2011/09/eli-broad-pays-parent-revolution-to.html for more on this.

Although I do genuinely support organizing and empowering parents, I do not support Parent Revolution's strategies and also the way the Parent Trigger law is written that allows them to continue.

Steve Barr played a role in that. The only thing Barr has ever empowered are the bank accounts of his billionaire backers. As are you Mr. Gaffney by being associated with a group that is funded by the Gates Foundation, The Moriah Fund, and The New Schools Venture Fund.

Respectfully, Bill

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So @SteveBarrLA's proxy Bill Gaffney now claiming Barr had no role in #parenttrigger @parentrev? #LAUSD http://t.co/4D0jePDNDt

— PESJA Los Angeles (@PESJA_LA) February 26, 2014

He is either completely misinformed about his new masters, or lying. Don't just take my word for it, the Los Angeles Times has also documented what Barr did.

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Bill Gates and Steve Barr are trying to take over UTLA, again by Robert D. Skeels

Bill Gates and Steve Barr's corporate candidate for UTLA plays fast and loose with the truth

Vote for a Friend of Bilingual Education—Anne Zerrien-Lee UTLA North Area Director, NEA

Vote for a Friend of Bilingual Education—Anne Zerrien-Lee for #UTLA North Area Director, NEA. https://t.co/n2qHNzunZf pic.twitter.com/4C7z1MY4Jc

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) February 25, 2014

The UTLA Board of Directors needs more members like Anne Zerrien-Lee. PLEASE VOTE FOR HER IN THE NORTH AREA. She recently won this award from the UTLA Bilingual Education Committee:

Friend of Bilingual Education

bestowed upon

Anne Zerrien-Lee

For her leadership, dedication, support and continuous advocacy towards ensuring educational success in two languages for our bilingual students in order that a fair and sovereign society be realized with full inherent linguistic and cultural rights presented on this day, February 14, 2014 at Los Angeles, California.

What kind of community activist is Anne? Here's one of myriad anecdotes. When the grocery workers were on strike, she organized UTLA solidarity pickets at her neighborhood markets on her own! They were very popular, showed solidarity, and proved that we can self-organize without waiting for "leaders" to tell us what to do.

Vote for a Friend of Bilingual Education—Anne Zerrien-Lee UTLA North Area Director, NEA

Some very important considerations for UTLA voters

South Area UTLA
When vile poverty pimp Ben Austin and his fellow privatizers of Parent Revolution (pRev) issued a challenge to UTLA to meet with them after the crimes pRev committed at Weigand ES, only one teacher/UTLA officer showed up to stand alongside all the displaced Weigand teachers. That person was Ingrid Carol Villeda. I know, I was there. She faced pRev fearlessly and spoke truth to their corporate power. That's the kind of courage and activism we need defending our communities from reactionary privatization groups like pRev! Please vote for her and her entire slate for South Area UTLA BOD.

VOTE: VILLEDA, Miranda, Bravo, Brooks!

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Central Area UTLA
Two of the Los Angeles social-justice educators and activists that I admire most because of their long record of principled struggle: Kelly Flores and José Lara are running on a slate with their colleagues Zulma Tobar and Ngwoke for the UTLA Central Area. José and Kelly are undisputed champions of students. Their work for immigrant rights, ethnic studies, adult education, SRLDP, early education, indigenous rights, bilingual education, anti-privatization, and so many more social justice venues is peerless. It was their leadership that spawned OccupyLAUSD, which forced Deasy and the district to answer for their wrongheaded budget priorities and threats to cut programs that our communities depend on. Please vote for Lara as Central Area Chair, and the rest of the slate for BOD.

VOTE: LARA, Flores, Tobar, Ngwoke!

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North Area UTLA
The wildly popular Repairs Not IPads campaign has single-handedly exposed the corporate spending priorities John Deasy, the nonprofit industrial complex (NPIC), and edreform plutocracy to a wider public. Our schools are without libraries, are unsafe, unsanitary from BIC, and unready for earthquakes, but Deasy would rather spend our bond money to pad Pearson plc, and Apple, Inc.'s bottom lines. The Repairs Not iPads page, which now has over 4,100 likes, is in the newspapers, on the television, and in the public consciousness. The page was started by UTLA teachers who, tired of internal finger pointing, took decisive, principled action. Imagine how much good it would do if the innovative teachers behind Repairs Not iPads were running for leadership positions in the union? Guess what? One of them is—Matthew Kogan is running for North Area Chair. Vote for him and his experienced slate to see more of this effective activism.

VOTE: KOGAN, Zerrien-Lee, Pott!

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Billionaire Boys Club once again tries to infiltrate UTLA!
I haven't endorsed anyone for UTLA president, but I can tell you who I now adamantly oppose! Right-wing poverty pimp Steve Barr has thrown the weight of his billionaire funded FIN/TAN School Privatization organization behind candidate Bill Gaffney. Given the irreparable damage Barr and his ilk have done nationwide—most recently in New Orleans—it's astonishing that any self respecting educator wouldn't reject overtures by these privatization pushers. Shame on Bill Gaffney for betraying our students, our communities, and his fellow union members.

SAY NO TO THE GATES FOUNDATION'S CANDIDATE, SAY NO TO GAFFNEY!

Some very important considerations for UTLA voters

My UTLA Endorsements for 2014

I typically stay out of UTLA internal politics. Unlike the nonprofit industrial complex (NPIC), and our own government, unions are intensely democratic institutions where the members really demonstrate self governance. However, with the forces of neoliberalism on the verge of privatizing the remains of public education, I realize that public sector unions are the last bastion against the plutocracy crushing the remains of the public commons under their well-heeled jackboots. In the past year I've watched sectarian groups rise up in UTLA. The divisiveness and disruptiveness of their tactics have undermined UTLA's ability to serve as a buffer between the ravages of finance capital and our community. In the light of this, I decided to compile a list of people that have proven themselves as activists and champions of public education. They are people who have worked hand in hand with the community to stave off neoliberal policies, fight privatization, advocate for underrepresented students like ELLs and Special Needs, and more. I may revise this list slightly, but for the most part, it is complete. I've kept the names in the same order they appear on UTLA's roster.

UTLA President

There are many people running for this position, too bad José Lara, Sean Abajian, and Lisa Karahalios' names aren't among them.

UTLA NEA Vice President

M. J. (Mary Jan) Roberts: a tireless advocate of children. She really should be the LAUSD Superintendent, then we'd see some real changes.

UTLA AFT Vice President

Lisa Karahalios: smart, savvy, and indefatigable. There's rarely an event she is not a participant in. The depth and breadth of her policy insight exceeds even mine. Honestly she should have run for UTLA President. Moreover, she was a Classics major!

UTLA Elementary VP (multiple endorsement)

Juan Ramirez: champion of ELLs and luminary in Spanish speaking community. Co-founded La Educación radio and newspaper.

Robin Potash: articulate and savvy organizer. Her work on Prop 39 issues, on exposing CCSS faults, and with Jackie Goldberg on Transparency, Equity, and Accountability for Charters (TEACh) is crucial.

Fernando Bravo Ledezma

UTLA Secondary VP (dual endorsement)

Colleen Schwab

Francisco R. Martinez Avid immigrant rights supporter, and all around activist. We had great conversations during OccupyLAUSD

UTLA Treasurer

Tim Delia

UTLA Secretary (dual endorsement)

Tomás Flores: an excellent supporter of bilingual programs, and active member of Raza Ed.

David Lyell: was instrumental in the struggle to save LAUSD Adult Education, and contributed to my school board run.

UTLA Board of Directors - North Area

Matthew Kogan: (FOR AREA CHAIR) his organizing capabilities have proven time and again that we can energize the community for real change.

Anne Zerrien-Lee: there is no better activist, writer, or advocate for children than Anne. She is one of those very special people that one feels privileged to know.

Jeff Pott

UTLA Board of Directors - South Area

Ingrid C. Villeda: (FOR AREA CHAIR) has led the fight on many key social justice issues and isn't afraid to take on billionaire backed right-wing organizations like the vile Parent Revolution.

Maria Miranda

Ayde Bravo

Ayesha Brooks

UTLA Board of Directors - East Area

Ingrid Gunnell

Mila Lopez

Gloria Martinez

Gillian Russom (FOR AREA CHAIR)

Amelia Velasquez (FOR AREA CHAIR)

Adrian Tamayo

UTLA Board of Directors - West Area

Daniel Moran: perhaps the most unsung hero in our communities, Dan has worked tirelessly on behalf of students and does tremendous research for those of us that write about education issues.

Noah Lippe-Klein

UTLA Board of Directors - Central

Kelly Flores: incredible educator and activist, really should be on the list of presidential candidates. We need Kelly's voice advocating for those who need representation in our district.

Zulma Tobar

Paul Uchenna Ngwoke

Jose Lara: (FOR AREA CHAIR) hands down the best organizer in UTLA, maybe even in Los Angeles! Board Member of the El Rancho Unified School District. José should be running for UTLA president, but we'll have to settle for him as area chair.

UTLA Board of Directors - Valley East

Linda Everhart

Bobby Vinas

Victoria Casas

Alex Orozco: (FOR AREA CHAIR)

UTLA Board of Directors - Harbor

Ginger Rose Fox: (FOR AREA CHAIR) when you think arts advocacy, think Ginger Rose Fox.

Donald A. Willis

Jennie Duggan

Philip A. Gross

UTLA Board of Directors - Adult Ed

Ernest Kettenring

UTLA Board of Directors - Bilingual Ed

Cheryl Ortega: we're fortunate to keep our most experienced, dedicated individual at the helm of UTLA Bilingual Education.

UTLA Board of Directors - Early Childhood Education

Juanita C. Garcia: another person whose contributions to our community and students goes without the praise it deserves.

UTLA Board of Directors - Substitutes

Fredrick “Rick” Bertz: we don't always agree, but Rick works hard and is passionate about education. He will do the substitutes proud.

My UTLA Endorsements for 2014