Despicable: Mónica García accuses fellow candidates of "standing up for predators"

Update: Scott Folsom did a wonderful piece on this travesty entitled "NO SHAME: Until this moment, Mónica García, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?" Near the end of the post he lists "all [what] happened on Monica’s watch as School Board President." No wonder she's so busy trying to distract voters, the evidence against her is pretty damning.

This flyer, at the behest of the candidate, LAUSD Board President Mónica García, explicitly states "Her opponents stand up for predators..."

Categorically untrue, this deplorable accusation should be widely condemned by everyone. Some of García's opponents are parents whose children attended LAUSD schools, highlighting all the more how depraved is García to make such libelous and slanderous statements.

Despicable: Mónica García accuses fellow candidates of "standing up for predators" by Robert D. Skeels

Petition by iPetitions

Despicable: Mónica García accuses fellow candidates of "standing up for predators"

Common Core State Standards Primer

Disclaimer: The publishers of this document, Truth in American Education, have some very disconcerting right-wing membership and advisors. I mean really right wing, like Heritage, Koret, the Teabaggers, and other assorted birthers and Birchers. However, this Common Core State Standards Primer document appears on the Hoosiers Against Common Core site that Professor Ravitch mentions in her recent Two Determined Moms in Indiana Take On Common Core post. Like the old adage: "even a broken clock is right twice a day," this flyer provides factual information on the Corporate, er... I mean Common Core State Standards. While I have major ideological differences with their organization, I find their assessment of CCSS to be pretty much spot on.

Common Core State Standards Primer by Shane Vander Hart

Common Core State Standards Primer

MBC Korean News Features LAUSD Board Candidate Robert D. Skeels and Adult Ed Students

MBC Korean News segment on our press conference in front of the Korean American Education Foundation, one of the several sites that the incumbent callously shut down. We were honored to be interviewed by MBC News' Reporter Shirley Aeree Kim 김애리 and Director of Photography Simon Park

MBC Korean News Features LAUSD Board Candidate Robert D. Skeels and Adult Ed Students

Right-wing Republican 'New Majority California PAC' makes maximum donation to my School Board opponent Mónica García

Right-wing republican 'New Majority California PAC' makes maximum donation to my School Board opponent. #LAUSD ethics.lacity.org//PDF/Election/…

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) February 21, 2013

Form 497 with contribution to MONICA GARCIA FOR SCHOOL BOARD 2013 ID 1346436

From New Majority California's site:

New Majority California promotes a fiscally responsible philosophy in government... it seeks to inform its membership and contribute resources to Republican and other philosophically aligned candidates and issues that share its mission.

• Advocate state Budget Reform, including Pension Reform and a Spending Cap
• Recruit and elect fiscally responsible, business-friendly state legislators
• Create and implement an effective Latino/Ethnic inclusion program
• Protect the 1/3 Republican margin in the state legislature
• Elect a Republican to the White House
• Retain the GOP majority in the House of Representatives
• Regain the GOP majority in the U.S. Senate
• Monitor and oppose legislation and initiatives that will raise taxes
• Oppose and defend against the election of anti-business candidates

New Majority California PAC's generous maximum contribution to Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education President Mónica García puts her in the company of the other New Majority California endorsed politicians and legislation.

New Majority California Endorsements
Presidential Race
Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan

Statewide Propositions
YES on 31, 32, and 40
NO on 30, 33, 37, 38, and 39

Mónica García, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan all considered "philosophically aligned candidates" by New Majority California.

Right-wing Republican 'New Majority California PAC' makes maximum donation to my School Board opponent Mónica García

West Koreatown Precinct Walking — Robert D. Skeels for School Board

West Koreatown Precinct Walking-Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board by Robert D. Skeels

West Koreatown Precinct Walking — Robert D. Skeels for School Board

The 99% School Board Candidate versus the 1%'s Mayor

Supporter sent this perfect juxtaposition of the 1%'s Mayor with a 99% #LAUSD School Board Candidate! twitter.com/rdsathene/stat…

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) February 18, 2013

The 99% School Board Candidate versus the 1%'s Mayor

West Koreatown Precinct Walking — Robert D. Skeels for School Board

Montecito Heights Precinct Walking by Robert D. Skeels

West Koreatown Precinct Walking — Robert D. Skeels for School Board

Community Candidate speaks out against out-of-state billionaires buying elections

Community Candidate speaks out against out-of-state billionaires buying elections

Precinct Walking February 9

Remember Robert D. Skeels had Garfield High School's back five years ago when the incumbent and her then VP were trying furiously to give the school away to the privately managed Green Dot Corporation. See Garfield HS Parents, Students, and Community Confront LAUSD VP Flores-Aguilar for details.

East Los/GHS Area Precinct Walking-Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board by Robert D. Skeels

Precinct Walking February 9

Precinct Walking February 2

El Sereno Precinct Walking-Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board by Robert D. Skeels

Precinct Walking February 2

Precinct Walking January 26

Koreatown Precinct Walking Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board by Robert D. Skeels

Precinct Walking January 26

Last week was a busy week for the Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board campaign

Monday saw Robert D. Skeels at the Northeast Democratic Club (NEDC) where he and three other candidates, including the incumbent, were asked a series of questions in addition to making an opening statement. The questions were challenging and policy oriented, allowing each candidate's fundamental principles to show. The incumbent, who easily thought she'd win the endorsement, lost heartily with only 70 of the 110 necessary votes to win. We believe that this vote of open endorsement along with the one earlier this month at the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, demonstrates that Los Angeles Democrats have grown tired of the harmful right wing policies embodied by Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and anti-public education reform leaders like the incumbent School Board President. We think these open endorsements indicate people had been waiting for a progressive alternative to Los Angeles education politics long dominated by DFER and the like.

On Tuesday, Robert participated in the third of the candidate forums held by the grassroots organizations comprising the District 2 Neighborhood Coalition. Held at the Boyle Heights Senior Center, the forum was somewhat relaxed compared to the previous evenings' NEDC debate. Audience members were able to ask questions and the format allowed the candidates to flesh out their positions.

On Wednesday Robert D. Skeels learned that he had been endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of Santa Monica Mountains.

On Friday Robert received exciting news that he had earned another critical endorsement—The Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA), who represent administrators in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Only one District 2 candidate has been endorsed by the unions representing the vast majority of Certificated Personnel. Only Robert D. Skeels is endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA). The professionals know who to trust on matters of policy and pedagogy. He has also been endorsed by a broad range of academia, education experts, immigrant rights organizations, veterans, and community groups. A list of featured endorsement appear on his campaign website. That evening Robert attended a meeting of Adult Education Teachers to learn more about Governor Brown's proposed changes that include folding adult education into the already overburdened and underfunded community college system. While a position paper will be released sometime in the future, Robert expressed that he opposes the plan that would make adult adult education less accessible to the community and pulls parents off of their children's K-12 campuses.

Saturday morning was an exciting time with the campaign's third precinct walk held in Boyle Heights. The first two were in Lincoln Heights, then Historic Filipinotown respectively. Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Chris Hume, captured footage and interviews from the Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board campaign's Boyle Heights precinct walking. Filmed on 1st Street in Boyle Heights at the location of our gracious sponsor, Purgatory Pizza, just prior to the group going out to talk to voters.

Featured in the video are two widely respected educators whose support is greatly appreciated.

• Dr. John Fernandez — Teacher, Theodore Roosevelt High School (Ret.) and former Director of the Mexican-American Education Commission for the LAUSD.
• Martha Infante — 2009 CCSS Teacher of the Year, National Board Certified Teacher, Past-President Southern CA Social Science Association, proud public middle school teacher.

Our group of over twenty-four volunteers canvassed Boyle Heights. We learned that the incumbent's event just south of us had fewer participants. That evening the candidate attended an event held by the Trinational Coalition, CEJ, and PEAC to see educator and author Dr. Lois Weiner and Chicago Teachers Union Staff Director Jackson Potter speak at UTLA.

Sunday afternoon consisted of a group of adult education student volunteers phone banking at Robert and Yoon Jung's house, which has become campaign central for many activities. Another documentarian came to interview Robert during that time. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed pupusas from Pupuseria Menchita, who are staunch supporters and are displaying our campaign placard.

Over the same weekend the campaign received additional endorsements from Anne Zerrien-Lee, Vik Chaubey, Marcy Winograd, Ingrid Villeda, and Martha Sanchez.

This weekend is shaping up to be as exciting as last. We're having a press conference and precinct walk in Koreatown on Saturday. Hope to see you there.

Last week was a busy week for the Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board campaign

Video: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board, the Community Candidate

Award-winning documentary film-maker Chris Hume captured footage and interviews from the Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board campaign's third weekend of precinct walking. Filmed on 1st Street in Boyle Heights at Purgatory Pizza just prior to the group going out to talk to voters.

Featured in the video are two widely respected educators whose support is greatly appreciated.

Dr. John Fernandez — Teacher, Theodore Roosevelt High School (Ret.) and former Director of the Mexican-American Education Commission for the LAUSD.

Martha Infante — 2009 CCSS Teacher of the Year, National Board Certified Teacher, Past-President Southern CA Social Science Association, proud public middle school teacher.

Video: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board, the Community Candidate

Robert D. Skeels applauds Eric Garcetti's Efforts to Save The NVOC-Aviation Center

Now, our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. For we know that it isn't enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to buy a hamburger and cup of coffee? — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Adult Education means so much to so many people, especially our immigrant and underprivileged populations. One of the most important priorities of Adult Education is to prepare students for living wage jobs. Nowhere is this more true than in the few remaining vocational schools in Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Adult Education division.

Recently LAUSD Superintendent Deasy and President Mónica García have once again expressed their willingness to axe an Adult Education program preparing community members for excellent, well paying jobs. On their chopping block this time is the North Valley Occupational Center's (NVOC) Aviation Center. Much like last year when the Deasy and García duo were all too eager to cut all the programs vital to our economic recovery, City Council Member Eric Garcetti has stepped up where the Superintendent and Board President have failed their constituents.

Last year in his eloquent save Adult Education speech Garcetti spoke about saving "the core" to "grow the economy," and he drove home the point that we grow the economy through adult education. Such speeches, support, and City Council Resolutions set the backdrop for an amazing campaign waged by adult education students, teachers, and community members, who were able to save Adult Education from complete destruction.

Thankfully Garcetti has stood up once again and is on the leading edge of the solution rather than the problem. Instead of accepting Deasy and García's logic that The NVOC-Aviation Center isn't as important as A-G Requirements or implementing more mind numbing standardized tests, Garcetti has been taking bold and innovative action to have the City significantly lower the rent to NVOC. He and the Council are working to get the Federal Aviation Administration to accept the deal. In other words, Councilman Garcetti is putting "students first" in practice.

As a School Board Member I will work hand in hand with leaders who want to serve the community instead of the interests of corporate plutocrats, privateers, and the testing-industrial-complex. I admire Garcetti's willingness to take a principled stand that doesn't just benefit Adult Education students, but benefits our communities at large by creating living —and better— wage jobs. It's sad that the current LAUSD leadership has neither the foresight, nor the concern for the community to care about saving such critical programs.

I commend Eric Garcetti and all the City Council Members who have stood up for LAUSD Adult Education. Real leadership doesn't reconstitute, close down, or privatize. Real leadership seeks local solutions that serve real people.

Eric Garcetti is a candidate for the Mayor of Los Angeles.

Robert D. Skeels is a candidate for the LAUSD Board of Education.

Robert D. Skeels applauds Eric Garcetti's Efforts to Save The NVOC-Aviation Center

Precinct Walking January 19

Boyle Heights Precinct Walking Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board by Robert D. Skeels

Precinct Walking January 19

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) endorse Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) endorse Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board by Robert D. Skeels

About AALA

The Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) represents administrators in the Los Angeles Unified School District. With a 31 year history of representing certificated administrators, AALA now includes classified administrators, as well.

AALA is organized into five departments: Adult, Elementary, Secondary, Supervisory and Classified. An Executive Board and Representative Assembly set the policy and direction of the Association.

Endorsements for Robert D. Skeels

Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education candidate Robert D. Skeels has been endorsed by both of LAUSD's major unions of certified personel in AALA and UTLA. He has also been endorsed by a broad range of academia, education experts, immigrant rights organizations, veterans, and community groups. A list of featured endorsement appear on his campaign website.

Only one District 2 candidate has been endorsed by the unions representing the vast majority of Certificated Personnel. Only Robert D. Skeels is endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA). The professionals know who to trust on matters of policy and pedagogy.

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) endorse Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board

Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board January 5 Precinct Walking Kickoff

Students, Teachers, Parents, and Community volunteers canvassed Lincoln Heights getting the word out about School Board candidate Robert D. Skeels. We were walking neighborhoods, talking to voters, and distributing literature.

Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board January 5 Precinct Walking Kickoff

Echo Park Patch: Robert D. Skeels' responses to the Arts for LA Spring LAUSD Candidate Survey

First published on Echo Park Patch on January 2, 2013.

---

"Thinking is not the intellectual reproduction of what already exists anyway." — Theodor Adorno

One of the more intriguing aspects of being a candidate for a high profile office like Member of Board of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, is the number of questionnaires various organizations ask you to complete. Some of these are for endorsement considerations, others are just to publicize your stances on various issues. Today Arts for LA sent me a five question survey. When answering the questions, I realized it would be worth publishing the Q&A since, in my eyes, it addresses many of the fundamentally flawed issues with national standards and punitive testing regimes they engender.

Arts for LA: What meaningful experiences with the arts (visual arts, dance, drama, and/or music) did you have growing up?

Robert D. Skeels: Even though I grew up in relative poverty (food-stamps, welfare, etc), our New York schools required playing an instrument, participation in drama, and taking classes in visual arts. I was exposed to French horn, trombone, and guitar, and still play the latter to this day. One of the most memorable field trips I recall from childhood is when our class went Radio City Music Hall to see Madama Butterfly. We even had electives like music theory which relate to mathematics. Classes in fine art gave me enough skills that when I later became a graphic artist, my illustration abilities kept me in constant demand. All of those experiences were interconnected with literature, an appreciation for arts, and an understanding that there is much more to being human than test scores and salaries.

Arts for LA: What role do you think the arts can play in supporting key priorities of the district, such as closing the achievement gap, reducing the dropout rate, and preparing more students for college eligibility and the twenty-first century workforce?

Robert D. Skeels: The critical thinking skills and ability to cognate interconnectedness between disparate disciplines fostered by the arts are far more important than rote memorization for standardized tests. For the record, critical thinking skills are essential regardless of what century we are in. This is why the children of the wealthy are exposed so heavily to the arts, whereas working class children aren't. Finding things that interest and captivate students is the key to reducing the dropout rate, encouraging students to find passions that lead them to college, etc. If we were educating the whole child in addition to providing wrap around services, then the achievement gap would ameliorate.

Arts for LA: A standards-based arts curriculum is one of the five core subjects in No Child Left Behind and critical for developing job skills vital in the creative economy and the twenty-first century workforce. Yet, most often, only "what is tested is taught" in our schools. How do you envision bringing balance back for a comprehensive education and ensuring all students have access to a quality, standards-based arts education curriculum?

Robert D. Skeels: The obsession with standards and punitive testing brought on by NCLB and its descendants RTTT and CCSS, have perverted and warped curriculum. Bringing balance back means resisting standardized tests and curriculum, and insisting that our students are provided rounded, culturally relevant curricula. While we still need to push for more arts and a rounded curriculum within the current regime of standards, ultimately we need to fight for curriculum decisions being made on a local level that address the needs of students. A nationally standardized arts curriculum further marginalizes children of color and those from different cultures. We need arts that are part of ethnic studies courses in order to respect cultural heritages.

Arts for LA: If elected, how will you engage classroom teachers, arts teachers, parents, and community arts organizations to implement your district's strategic arts plan? If you are not familiar with the plan, how can the district make the plan more visible?

Robert D. Skeels: Again, the de-emphasis in the arts in our schools is a direct result of national policies that have created an abject high-stakes environment where test preparation takes precedent over teaching and learning. I would work with all the stake-holders (who are natural allies) mentioned in the question above to create widespread awareness and outreach as to the critical importance of a rounded curriculum that sees the arts, including literature, as the primary, not secondary goal of education. Such a campaign would necessitate revising the existing LAUSD arts plan, which still sees test-prep as being paramount.

Arts for LA: Over 50% of School Districts in Los Angeles County have adopted Arts Education policies and plans to restore all arts disciplines into the core curriculum of K-12 classrooms. If elected, what would you do to develop and adopt a policy and implementation plan to increase access to the arts in the district?

Robert D. Skeels: Efforts to restore arts via policies and plans are laudable. However, so long as our public schools are threatened with catastrophic consequences like closure, reconstitution, or being handed over to a privately managed charter corporations, there is little hope that they will actually be able to execute such policies and plans. National education policy has created conditions where deviation from what is required on standardized tests is impossible, despite platitudes from the Secretary of Education on the importance of the arts. Board Members on the second largest school district have a moral obligation to challenge the reasons why the arts, electives, vocational training, and anything outside the narrow confines of NCLB/RTTT/CCSS aren't considered important. In practice, really expanding our arts curricula in LAUSD would be a visible sign of resistance to the testing-industrial-complex controlling U.S. education policy.

---

LAUSD School Board Candidate, public education activist, researcher, and writer Robert D. Skeels has lived, worked, and organized in District 2 for over 18 years. He and his wife, Yoon Jung Lee, make their home in Historic Filipinotown. Robert is a U.S. Navy Veteran. He attended Glendale Community College and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Robert taught Catechism at St. Teresa of Avila Church for 12 years. For the past 15 years he has volunteered ten hours a week teaching life and literacy skills at the Mary Lind Foundation. Robert is a committed member of a number of grassroots education and immigrant rights organizations including Coalition for Educational Justice, Public Education and Social Justice Advocacy, The Trinational Coalition To Defend Public Education, The Southern California Immigration Coalition, and Veterans for Peace. Robert’s articles and essays have appeared in publications including: Schools Matter, CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, Daily Censored, Echo Park Patch, and The Los Angeles Daily News.

Robert's grassroots school board campaign has been endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles and some of the most celebrated experts on education in the nation, including Professor Diane Ravitch.

Echo Park Patch: Robert D. Skeels' responses to the Arts for LA Spring LAUSD Candidate Survey

Schools Matter: Continuing skirmishes with CCSS cheerleaders on Diane Ravitch's blog

First published on Schools Matter on December 26, 2012.

---

"There is no evidence that standards and tests improve school achievement. The money budgeted for standards and tests to enforce the standards should be used to protect children from the effects of poverty." — Professor Stephen Krashen

The following is my edited commentary in response to comments by a CCSS supporter on the Professor Ravitch post: A Teacher of Latin Writes In Defense of Fiction.

Kaye Thompson Peters, I've grown weary of the trite "apple and oranges" device that you employ everywhere in your stalwart defense of Corporate Core. You even used it in a gushing apology for Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on Hoover's fringe-right EdNext. While you might not be uncomfortable that Pearson Education, Inc. has been promoting your writings on CCSS, it does cause some of us consternation. When discussing CCSS in relation to NCLB and RTTT, we're not conflating apples and oranges, we're discussing a bushel of rotten apples foisted on us by a bunch of billionaires suffering from the Shoe Button Complex.

To be sure, the revenue minded corporate overlords who coined Corporate Core have never considered high-stakes standardized testing a separate issue from their imposition of CCSS. They are one in the same and they serve the same set of goals in the neoliberal project of privatizing public schools. The Gates Foundation and the Duncan led Department of Education (my apologies for that redundancy) have been quite effective in convincing surrogates (some even in the AFT and NEA, sadly) to crow that they aren't inextricably linked. Such propaganda is so transparent that astute people see right through it. Ms. Peters, CCSS isn't a solution to, but instead it is a deliberate doubling down of, the vile policies of NCLB and RTTT.

Privatizer Dr. Catherine Thome's explanation for the impetus of Corporate Core tells us all we need to know about who stands to gain from CCSS:

"All students must be prepared to compete with not only their American peers in the next state, but with students around the world."

David Coleman's contempt for literature in English classes (at least for working class children) reflects both his corporate pedigree and that of his plutocrat handlers. It is no "red herring" to point out this glaring fault of CCSS, but I do agree with Mr. Heller that there are other fundamental flaws to this nationally imposed corporate curriculum. We need far more "Grapes of Wrath" and far less "FedViews" in this society. Sandra Stotsky does an excellent job taking on Coleman's corporate aims in her piece reproduced on the Parents Across America site.

Ultimately we must resist CCSS. Susan Ohanian, Professor Stephen Krashen, and the Schools Matter camp are leading the way on this. My recent short on Schools Matter has some great resource links for fighting CCSS.

Schools Matter: Continuing skirmishes with CCSS cheerleaders on Diane Ravitch's blog

Precinct Walking Kickoff Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board

Join with Student, Teacher, Family, and Community volunteers in getting the word out about School Board candidate Robert D. Skeels. We’ll be walking neighborhoods, talking to voters, and distributing literature. Campaign T-Shirt, light refreshments, and volunteer training provided.

Saturday, January 5, 2013 @ 12:30PM
Cafe in the Heights
3510 N Broadway Lincoln Heights, CA 90031
( across from Lincoln High School | map: http://g.co/maps/3xh7a )

Únase a los Estudiantes, Maestros, Padres de familia y Comunidad en hacer correr la voz acerca de Robert D. Skeels, el candidato corriendo para la junta escolar LAUSD. Vamos a caminar por los vecindarios para hablar con los votantes y la distribuir volantes. A los voluntarios se proporcionará una camiseta de la campaña, refrescos, y formación (training).

교육위원 후보, 로버트 디 스킬즈(Robert D. Skeels) 의 선거운동을 위해 학생, 선생님, 가족 그리고 지역사회인들의 참여를 부탁드립니다. 우리는 함께 이웃을 방문하여 투표인들과 함께 이야기하며, 정보를 제공하는 선거캠페인을 할 것입니다. 티셔츠, 간단한 음식, 그리고 자원 봉사 교육등이 무료로 제공됩니다. 많은 관심과 참여를 바랍니다. 감사합니다.

Precinct Walking Kickoff Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board

Precinct Walking Kickoff Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board

Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board Placard design

Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board Placards

Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board Placard design

January Candidate Forum

January LAUSD District 2 Candidate Forum

January Candidate Forum

Featured Endorsements Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board 2013

Want to endorse Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board? Simply fill out this form.

United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) • Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) • Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC) • Unión del Barrio • Association of Raza Educators (ARE) Los Angeles • Southern California Americans for Democratic Action (SCADA) • Progressive Democrats of Santa Monica Mountains • Professor Diane Ravitch • Professor Paul L. Thomas • Professor James Horn • Professor Stephen Krashen • Dr. Rosemary L. Lee • Dr. John Thompson • Dr. John Fernandez • Susan Ohanian • Cheryl Ortega • Teresa Sitz • Elliott Adams • Ron Kovic • Kathleen Hernandez • Ken Montenegro • James Lafferty • Ron Gochez • William Aparicio • Carolyn Jacobson • John Lincoln III • Kermit Gratts and Family • Anne Zerrien-Lee • Marcy Winograd • Ingrid Villeda • Martha Sanchez • Vik Chaubey • Matthew Kogan • Gillian Russom • Julie Carson • Janette Daniel-Whitney

---

• Professor Diane Ravitch endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I am happy to endorse the candidacy of Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD school board.

He attended UCLA, is a veteran of the US Navy, and a staunch supporter of public education. He passionately defends the right of every child to a high-quality education.

His knowledge, experience and perspective would add a greatly needed new voice to the deliberations of the school board. He would stand up for children, parents and teachers.

The future of public education hangs in the balance, as the forces of privatization circle round it. I strongly urge voters to support Robert Skeels at this critical time.

Diane Ravitch — is Research Professor of Education at New York University and a historian of education. She is the author of ten books and has edited an additional fourteen. Her latest is The Death and Life of the Great American School System. She blogs prolifically for numerous sites, including her own. Her full Curriculum Vitae.

---

• Educator & Activist Cheryl Ortega endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

Having known Robert since the PSC battles and having watched him arrive at schools at 7:00 am to help teachers reach out to parents, having worked with him in organizing parent rallys, and having enjoyed watching him take on Monica, I will 100% vouch for his integrity as well as his qualifications for school board member. He is in for the long fight and is a true and articulate advocate for public education. That Diane Ravitch has endorsed him is a strong message to all of us. Congratulations Robert.

Additional Video Endorsement by Cheryl Ortega.

Cheryl Ortega — Director of Bilingual Education in LAUSD

---

• Author & Educator Susan Ohanian endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

Robert D. Skeels has an important slogan for his candidacy for the LAUSD school board: "As an individual committed to social justice, I will stand up." I know first-hand of the difficulties faced by LAUSD teachers and I know what parents want for their kids. The solutions start with social justice and someone willing and able to stand up and speak l truth to power. Robert D. Skeels' strong activism in the community served by the schools in most need of a voice make him uniquely qualified for this position.

Susan Ohanian — Currently a freelance writer, Susan Ohanian’s writing draws on her own long career as a teacher grades K-14 and on current corporate-politico assaults on public education.

---

• Professor Paul L. Thomas endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

As a life-long educator, nearly thirty years, and education scholar, I strongly endorse the candidacy of Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD school board.

His life experiences and unwavering knowledge about and support of public education make him an ideal voice to reinforce the democratic purposes of universal public education.

In an era during which political and corporate support for democracy, equity, and social justice is eroding, the election of Skeels sends a powerful message that a voice for the public and the commons matters. I urge voters to recognize the importance of voting for Skeels and creating a school board that honors the interests of the people.

Paul Thomas, EdD — is Associate Professor of Education at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

---

• Professor James Horn endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

Robert D. Skeels has been writing at SM since June 11, 2011, and his astute, acerbic, and sometime acidic commentaries have effectively lifted many rocks where profiteer snakes hide, melted away many corporate leeches from their public hosts, and shamed many professional self-servers for their unwavering commitments to themselves. In doing so, he has shone his own true colors as a relentless advocate for public schools, democracy, and social justice.

And so I was excited to hear that Robert is now campaigning for a seat on the LAUSD Board of Education, which will hold its primary election a little over a hundred days from now.

I hope everyone in L.A. (and elsewhere) who believes that public schools are for the public rather than corporations will support Robert's candidacy, for I cannot think of anyone with more commitment, drive, and passion for humane public schools for all children and for the future of our democracy.

And besides, Schools Matter needs a blogger who is a school board member.

Dr. Jim Horn — Associate Professor, Ed. D. Program in Educational Leadership, Cambridge College and Editor of Schools Matter.

---

• Professor Stephen Krashen endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I STRONGLY SUPPORT THE CANDIDACY OF ROBERT SKEELS FOR SCHOOLBOARD. Imagine! A schoolboard member who actually understands how students learn!

Dr. Stephen Krashen — is professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, who moved from the linguistics department to the faculty of the School of Education in 1994. He is a linguist, educational researcher, and activist.

---

• Educator Dr. John Thompson endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I strongly support Robert Skeels because of what he has taught me. Mr. Skeels has a profound understanding of both the big picture and the nuances of education policy. He is clear-eyed about what must be done, and he is equally clear in explaining his vision. The LAUSD needs his analysis of problems and solutions.

John Thompson — was an award-winning historian, lobbyist, and guerrilla-gardener who became an award-winning inner city teacher after crack and gangs hit his neighborhood.

---

• Parent/Activist Teresa Sitz endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

Robert D. Skeels is committed to providing comprehensive health education for our children, taught by qualified and credentialed health teachers. In Los Angeles, where the rates of sexually transmitted infections are some of the highest in the nation, where obesity is rampant and poverty exacts a toll on the mental and physical health of our students and their families, denying comprehensive health education, as Mayor Villaraigosa and LAUSD have done, is irresponsible and abusive. Robert D. Skeels has his priorities straight. I am proud to endorse him for school board.

Teresa Sitz — Community Representative DMHS, Member, Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (for identification purpose only)

---

• Former School Board President Elliott Adams endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

Speaking as a past school board present, I know well the complicated balancing act between money and education that is central to running a school district. Robert Skeels understands this and will work hard to provide a quality education for the children of the district even with the limited funds of today.

Good school districts must reflect the needs of the community. Robert has deep roots in the community and understands that a school board needs to be transparent and available to community members in order for it to reflect local needs. He has a record of working to protect local schools from big corporations who are trying to take them over through privatization.

In order to accomplish these ideals it takes determination and refusal to buckle under pressure, both of which are skills Robert has.

Elliott Adams — was President School Board in New York, President of Rotary, Mayor of his village, active member of Chamber of Commerce, national president of Veterans For Peace and a veteran of Vietnam and Korea.

---

• Dr. John Fernandez endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I strongly endorse the candidacy of Robert D. Skeels for the L.A. City School Board, District 2.

Robert D. Skeels clearly is an impressive candidate. Robert has a thorough understanding of the problems and needs facing public education today, especially those in the LAUSD. As a social justice advocate, Robert D. Skeels will fight for a critical pedagogy that is culturally relevant and meets the curricular, cultural, and linguistic needs of bicultural students. I am confident that Robert D. Skeels will be a tremendous addition to the L.A. City School Board and will be at the forefront in creating the conditions that will foster teacher, student, and parental success, which are urgently needed in the LAUSD.

Dr. John Fernandez — Teacher, Theodore Roosevelt High School (Ret.) and former Director of the Mexican-American Education Commission for the LAUSD.

---

• Ken Montenegro endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I'm very proud to endorse Robert D. Skeels' candidacy to the LAUSD school board. What makes me proud about Robert's candidacy is that few folks are unabashedly committed to defending public education from the forces of privatization. Moreover, Robert has a clear understanding that the teaching profession needs an advocate and not additional enemies on the school board.

As someone who attended LAUSD from K-12 and as the parent of a middle school child, I know that Robert's vision of an effective and compassionate public school system is possible and desired by the varied communities of Los Angeles.

Ken Montenegro — is a graduate of Peoples College of Law; technologist; former vice-chair of trustees of 1st Unitarian Church of Los Angeles; member of the advisory committee of the Coalition to Stop LAPD Spying; and a member of the executive committee of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (organizational affiliation for identification purposes only).

---

• Dr. Rosemary L. Lee endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I am honored to endorse Robert as a candidate who has the true interest of students parents and teachers at heart. He will work towards making their vision of a quality public education available to all students in our schools.

Dr. Rosemary L. Lee — LAUSD (Ret.), Trinational Coalition To Defend Public Education USA

---

• Ron Kovic endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I strongly and enthusiastically endorse Mr. Robert D. Skeels for the district 2 school board trustee seat in LAUSD! He is a man of great courage and commitment and will serve our community well. With much respect!

Ron Kovic — Vietnam Veteran, author, "BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY."

---

• Association of Raza Educators LA endorse Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

The Association of Raza Educators-Los Angeles proudly endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Board District 2

In a climate in which public education is under attack and public leaders are severely under-serving the very communities they represent, the need for leadership that is and has been conscious, forthright and active towards empowering our communities through education is long overdue. Education is essential to the preservation of civil and human rights. It provides the foundation for all political and economic progress and it must be a basic right of all people. Making this right a reality is the fundamental objective of The Association of Raza Educators (ARE).

It is in this context and with this spirit that the Association of Raza Educators-L.A. enthusiastically endorses Robert D. Skeels for the LAUSD School Board (District 2). Social justice activist and education writer Robert D. Skeels understands the need for not only a change in the LAUSD leadership, but also, a change in the very direction that education has taken as a result of private, corporate and political interests.

As a grassroots teacher organization working alongside students, parents, and communities, ARE understands that in order to move ahead, we need people with social justice convictions on all levels and in all strategic positions in order to truly effect positive change in our communities in fundamental ways.

To have such a School Board candidate who is an advocate for the cultural, linguistic and critical thinking needs of our students, it is an honor and a privilege for ARE-L.A. to endorse Robert D. Skeels for the LAUSD School Board.

Ya basta with the profiteering of our youth's educational rights!

Ya basta with self-serving "leaders" who have forgotten about our disenfranchised youth!

Unidos Venceremos!

The Association of Raza Educators (ARE) was established to uphold the rights and liberties of the Raza community.

---

• Educator Marcy Winograd endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I proudly endorse Robert D. Skeels for school board. We need his visionary leadership to fight privatization of our schools and champion public education.

Marcy Winograd — is the author of Lola Zola and the Lemonade Crush, a novel for tween girls.(www.lolazola.com) A public high school English teacher, Marcy helped organize OccupyLAUSD to protest education budget cuts.

---

• Educator Ingrid Villeda endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

So happy and glad to be able to organize, and work hard for such a great candidate.

Ingrid Villeda — is a teacher at Stanford Avenue Elementary and the South Area Chair for LAUSD

---

• Activist Martha Sanchez endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

Martha Sanchez — is a former adult ESL student, adult school graduate, and activist who led an environmental justice campaign resulting in the closing of a toxic chemicals plant. Ms. Sanchez continues to fight for her community and is an activist in the SaveAdultEd campaign while attending college at California State University.

---

• Educator Matthew Kogan endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I support Robert D Skeels because he is a man of character who always puts the interests of the community first. I have no doubt that he will continue to fight the influence of billionaires who currently dominate education on our country. When adult education was threatened with elimination, Robert was there from beginning to end fighting with us for a program valued by the community.

Matthew Kogan — is a teacher at Evans Adult School and the Adult Education Chair for LAUSD

---

• Educator Gillian Russom endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

Robert is absolutely dedicated to fighting for fully-funded, quality education that nurtures all the talents of our students. He will stand up to the privatizers, the budget cutters, and the testing mania and will always stand with students, parents, and educators.

Gillian Russom — is a teacher at Roosevelt High School and the East Area Chair for LAUSD

---

• Educator Julie Carson endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

I support Robert because he fights to keep the "public" in public education. I am proud to support his candidacy for school board and will fight hard for his election. Go Robert!

Julie Carson — is an Adult Education teacher for LAUSD

---

• Janette Daniel-Whitney endorses Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD

So glad to know you are out there working for liberating, empowering education. I was living in Mexico when Paulo Freire gave talks in Cuernavaca. He is one of my heroes. Now you are also one of my heroes. Heard your interview this am on KPFK. Learning about Seattle teachers and parents saying no to the educational insanity of standardized tests, core curriculum, etc. was the best news I have had as an educator in ages. Yes!

Featured Endorsements Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD School Board 2013

Debunking Common Core Curriculum's so-called Four C's

First published on Schools Matter on December 26, 2012.

---

"When you go to doctors, they don’t take all your blood, they only take a sample." — Professor Stephen Krashen

Professor Diane Ravitch had a brief comment entitled The True Goals of Education? this morning where a reader suggested a sort of whole child approach based on virtues as opposed to tedious test preparation. That in itself wouldn't merit much attention, but oddly one of the readers posted a comment suggesting that those self-same virtues were the stated intent of Common Core State Standards. The following was my response to that assertion:

For the plutocrat sponsors* of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to suggest that it has any goals beyond imbuing corporate servitude, compliance, petty jingoism, and acceptance of austerity is nothing short of pernicious propaganda.

Certainly David Coleman and Co. coined their "four C's" well after the fact, and clearly this was in response to to cogent criticisms by actual educators including Susan Ohanian, Professor Stephen Krashen, and others.

• Common Core State [sic] Standards
• Stephen Krashen brings Common Core debate to pages of the Sunday New York Times in time for the testing debate at the AFT convention
• BOONDOGGLE!
• High Tech Testing on the Way: a 21st Century Boondoggle?

Everything in Corporate Core Curriculum is designed to discourage critical thinking skills, and this is why CCSS won't be required outside of public schools (eg. charters, parochial, and private schools). There definitely won't be any canned corporate curricula sponsored by the Gates Foundation inflicted on the children of privilege at schools like Sidwell Friends.

Like its fellow malignant projects "No Child Left Behind" and "Race to the Top," CCSS has goals directly aligned to neoliberalism:

• Cause the appearance that the public school school system is broken, and that market solutions (charters/vouchers) would fare better.
• Control the curriculum and combat any chance that "dangerous" curricula that might cause people to resist neoliberalism or question corporate dominance is taught.
• Further sort students by race and class, and further subject them to endless mind numbing test preparation. Ultimately discouraging any critical thinking skills in any class outside those running society.
• Serve as the perfect excuse for union busting and the total deprofessionalization of teaching. Ultimately leading to low cost, but highly profitable delivery of necessary information (informational texts anyone?) to those not deemed as needing critical thinking. Real teaching will continue to exist in the hallowed halls of elite private schools for scion of the ruling class.
• Obscene profits for charlatans like Pearson, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Gideon Stein, and everyone else associated with the diverse markets connected to school privatization, real estate, and the standardized-testing-industrial-complex.

We must resist Corporate Core by every means posible. Paris 1968 is a good model for us to follow. If we don't, we may as well begin writing our eulogies for public education today.

_____
* I'm not saying Mr. Mindlin is working for one of them. He did, after all, say the so-called "four C's" were "allegedly" at the heart of CCSS.

Debunking Common Core Curriculum's so-called Four C's

Robert D. Skeels Speech on TENTEN Rooftop December 16, 2012

Robert D. Skeels Speech on TENTEN Rooftop December 16, 2012

Photos from the campaign trail: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard

Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard 2013

Photos from the campaign trail: Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD Schoolboard

City Clerk Certifies Official List Of Candidates

2013 Primary Nominating Election

LOS ANGELES (December 14, 2012) — Los Angeles City Clerk June Lagmay released today the official list of 77 candidates who have qualified to appear on the ballot for the March 5, 2013 City of Los Angeles Primary Nominating Election. A random alphabet drawing conducted publicly in the City Council Chamber on December 10, 2012 determined the order in which candidates are listed in each race.

The City Clerk has certified the following candidates to appear on the March 5, 2013 ballot in this order:

LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT NO. 2
MÓNICA GARCĺA, Member of the Board of Education
ANNAMARIE MONTAÑEZ, Teacher/Doctoral Candidate
ROBERT D. SKEELS, Educator/Education Researcher
ABELARDO DIAZ, High School Teacher
ISABEL VASQUEZ, Teacher/Community Advocate

MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT NO. 4
STEVE ZIMMER, School Boardmember/Teacher
KATE ANDERSON, Parent/Child Advocate

MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT NO. 6
MARIA CANO, Education Advocate/Organizer
IRIS ZUÑIGA, Nonprofit Executive/Parent
MONICA RATLIFF, Fifth Grade Teacher
ANTONIO SANCHEZ, Educator/Community Organizer

CITY OF LOS ANGELES

MEMBER OF THE CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT NO. 9
TERRY HARA, Deputy Police Chief
CURREN D PRICE, JR, State Senator/Professor
RON GOCHEZ, Teacher
ANA CUBAS, Councilmember’s Chief Deputy
MANUEL “MANNY” ALDANA, School Council Boardmember
DAVID ROBERTS, Community Development Advocate
MIKE DAVIS, California State Assemblyman

City Clerk Certifies Official List Of Candidates

Ten Ten Wilshire event this Sunday — Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD 2013

Please join #LAUSD board candidate Robert D. Skeels this Sunday for a 1010 Wilshire Blvd Rooftop Fundraising Reception. j.mp/VAthxV

— Diane Ravitch (@DianeRavitch) December 13, 2012

Join us for an evening of conversation on educational policy on the spectacular 1010 Wilshire rooftop. Meet the board candidate who has been endorsed by many nationally renowned education experts including: Dr. Diane Ravitch, Susan Ohanian, and Dr. Stephen Krashen.

Sign up on facebook or www.robertdskeelsforschoolboard.org

Rooftop Fundraiser for Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD 2013

Ten Ten Wilshire event this Sunday — Robert D. Skeels for LAUSD 2013

Open letter to David Welch, Eli Broad, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and their Students Matter Astroturf

First published on Schools Matter on December 22, 2012.

---

"And not merely pride of intellect, but dulness of intellect. And most of all, the deceitfulness; yes, the deceitfulness of intellect" — Leo Tolstoy

To David Welch, Eli Broad, Theodore J. Boutrous, Theane Evangelis Kapur, Theodore B. Olson, Enrique A. Monagas, and Joshua S. Lipshutz:

Your Students Matter website explicitly states "When it comes to education quality, numerous studies show that teachers have the greatest impact on student achievement."

Can you please produce even one peer reviewed study from a legitimate source that backs up that assertion?

As a person closely associated with top academicians in the field of education research and policy, I am not aware of any study that makes such a brazen and strident claim.

Indeed, even Eric A. Hanushek, an economist who shares your unfortunate politics and world view, has found that teachers account for no more than 13% of student achievement. A far cry from the declaration on your website, which, in the absence of any factual basis, is mendacious at best.

Since you're billionaires, businessmen, and attorneys it's safe to assume your knowledge on issues of pedagogy and education policy is negligible. With that in mind, I'll do you a favor and clarify your grossly erroneous statement, albeit even the correction is lacking nuance and context. What some initial studies have shown is that teachers are the largest of in-school factors impacting student achievement. I refer you to the aforementioned Hanushek findings to put that into some context.

I understand that neither your law firm, nor the astroturf public relations 501(c)(3) you created to disseminate misinformation, are interested in facts. That said, I felt a moral obligation to let you know that many community members are not fooled by your propaganda.

I taught bilingual catechism, primarily at St. Teresa of Avila Church, for a dozen or so years. One of the things we had to teach young children about was the definition of a lie. This idea was simple enough for 7-9 year olds to comprehend: "when you say something that you know is untrue, it's a lie." Sadly that concept is seemingly too complex for high powered litigators like yourselves to grasp.

Advocating public education and social justice

Robert D. Skeels

Candidate for District 2, Los Angeles Unified School District

Open letter to David Welch, Eli Broad, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and their Students Matter Astroturf