solidaridad

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Schools Matter: Financially malfeasant charters run by shadowy religious cult escape LAUSD scrutiny

First published on Schools Matter on March 17, 2015

"The Walton family, founder of Wal-mart, the worldwide retail giant, has donated millions of dollars to schools considered to be associated with the Gülen community." — Charter School Scandals

The largest chain of privately managed charter schools in the United States is that of those affiliated with the cultish Gülenist Movement. Proving that no scandal is too large for the combined financial and political power of the revenue hungry charter school industry, the Los Angeles based Magnolia branches of the Gülen Network have essentially committed the crime, but will not do the time. The Los Angeles Times outlines the scale of Magnolia's crimes:

"An audit performed last year for the district’s Office of the Inspector General found that Magnolia was $1.66 million in the red, owed $2.8 million to the schools it oversees and met the federal definition of insolvency. The Palms academy also was insolvent, the audit found."

One cringes thinking of all the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) public school libraries that could have been reopened with those millions "missing" from the privately managed Magnolia Gülen Charters.

Last time millions of dollars went "missing" from a huge Los Angeles charter chain was during the massive Inner City Education Fund (ICEF) scandal. Their former "CEO" Mike Piscal is still at large somewhere in the country. Steve Poizner's partner in the crime of establishing the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA), Caprice Young, was brought in as the spin-spokesperson for that staggering squandering of taxpayer money. Once more Young is brought in to provide cover for mind-boggling charter school impropriety, this time at Magnolia. Turns out Caprice Young has been working for Gülen's charter network all along documents the connections between Young and her new employer.

The intrepid Scott M. Folsom gathered all the news on this issue, and added his salient thoughts on the matter. I do differ with Folsom on one point—this has everything to with "Fethullah Gülen involvement", and anyone aware of the cult's well documented undue influence over LAUSD board members like Monica Garcia, knows how much power these malfeasants have.

The allegations against Magnolia are of Misuse of Public Funds. Plain and simple.

No amount of “great schoolage” and kids on waiting lists forgive this. Ultimately this is a matter of law enforcement - and the LAUSD Board – as public trustees and empowered with enforcing the charter law and protecting the public purse – have blinked/waffled/whatever.

I hate to be “zero intolerant” – but there are no waivers or mulligans for malfeasance.

The Man Behind the Curtain has nothing to do with the case: This has nothing to do with with the Fethullah Gülen involvement with Magnolia; to bring that up is a bit of misdirection.

Parental Choice does not give the right to parents to choose to send their kids to a bad school -- whether the school is bad because it does a crummy job of teaching students or managing the public’s funds. I consider Caprice Young a friend – but she has been brought in to save the day and impose order amidst fiscal chaos while framing and spinning and charming the story of the chaos as something less than egregious.

The biblical metaphor of pouring oil upon the waters comes to mind – but ask the folks on the Gulf Coast – or in Alaska: Oily waters are not necessarily a desirable outcome!

The Board in its role as charter authorizer and overseer moved to suspend the three charters. It may have dodged a public vote earlier – but it had authorized the superintendent to act in its behalf. That’s what superintendents and Boards of Ed do.

Then the Board of Ed went into closed session and changed their mind and/or had their minds changed.

The process of granting, suspending and reviewing charters is supposed to occur in Mr. Justice Brandeis’ “Disinfecting Sunshine”. Instead it happened behind closed doors in the guise of settling a lawsuit.

K12NN Wire: Open letter to Andrew Thomas regarding the LAUSD District 5 runoff

First published on K12NN Wire on March 18, 2015

Dr. Andrew Thomas:

Congratulations on your respectable election finish, and on noting on your website that out-of-town billionaires are financing the campaign of charter industry profiteer Refugio “Ref” Rodriguez against an incumbent endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA). Your analysis ignores the fact that most UTLA teachers are also public school parents, live in our communities, and are our working class neighbors. Meanwhile profiteer Rodriguez’s reactionary billionaire backers, like Carrie Walton-Penner, Reed Hastings, Michael R. Bloomberg, and Eli Broad, have absolutely no connection or stake (other than financial) in our communities. Dr. Thomas, your hackneyed “parents as customers” rhetoric is shallow, groundless, and doesn’t assess the reasons why Rodriguez and his ilk are spending the obscene amounts of money they spend. You can stick with your vapid binary arguments that this is simply UTLA versus the charter industry, leaving everyone else out of the equation, or you could tell the truth and say this is the billionaires versus all the rest of us.

I have been an education activist in the 90026 area for roughly two decades. My burning question is, where have you been Dr. Thomas? I’ve never seen you at a Neighborhood Council Education Committee meeting, any anti-Prop 39 actions, the March 22 actions to save Public Education, the struggle to save CRES 14 from privatization, at a meeting of the Honorable Jackie Goldberg’s TEACh (Transparency, Equity, and Accountability for Charter Schools) coalition, or any other public school related struggle. While you may be involved at Marshall High School, you clearly have only become a “parent advocate” quite recently, and your agenda seems to be limited to those issues concerning white, upper middle class parents. If you are indeed interested in supporting public education, and increasing community and parent involvement, then I welcome you. If that is true, prove it by making a strong statement against the lucrative charter industry and their candidate Rodriguez. If you won’t endorse the incumbent, at the very least you should take a strong and principled stand against his neoliberal opponent, who faithfully serves the very billionaires you seemingly challenged when you asked on your website “Why are out-of-district billionaires... spending over a $1 million in this school board race?”

At the end of the day if you sincerely support public education, you should be asking why is it that a well-heeled charter industry executive can run for our public school board, but no member of the public can ever run for the board of his charter school empire? That question strikes at the heart of what it means to support public schools and democracy in general.

I challenge you to take a principled stand.

“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

More research further discrediting Corporate [Common] Core State Standards (CCSS)

http://ucresearch.tumblr.com/post/112788248272/whats-the-best-way-to-teach-math-to-struggling

Monday, March 16, 2015

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) March General Assembly

Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) General Assembly

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

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

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

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

Please join us to put all this into action.

Schools Matter: Eli Broad funded United Way Greater Los Angeles now also serving CCSA's political arm

First published on Schools Matter on March 14, 2015

"By what logic does United Way engage in an activity that is shunned by all the other charities?" — Professor Ralph E. Shaffer

United Way Greater Los Angeles' (UWGLA) role as a tax deductible lobbying and public relations firm for plutocrats like Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Carrie Walton Penner, and Casey Wasserman is expanding. They are now apparently functioning as adjunct to the deep pocketed California Charter School Association (CCSA). To wit, compare this email from the "non-partisan charity" UWGLA to that of the CCSA trade association's 501c4 wing, CCSA Advocates:

Notice any similarities?

In a discussion with several other social justice activists, we were trying to decide why UWGLA's well paid political consultants didn't have the good sense to at least change the precise order of the candidates that they and their fellow special interest group, the CCSA, feature on their propaganda pieces. UWGLA could argue, unconvincingly, that they put the names in the same order as candidates received votes in the primary election. However, it's far more likely that they used CCSA's billionaire backed candidates' existing information and then tacked on the other candidate information on as a grudging afterthought.

The first clue that UWGLA has absolutely no respect for the candidates outside of the CCSA privatization pushers like Galatzan and Rodriguez? They misspelled the Honorable Bennett Kayser's name as "BENNET KAYSER" in every occurrence of both the image and text of the communication they sent out. This is the seated school board member, and UWGLA has a mind-blowing multi-million dollar budget, but they get everything else correct except the school board member's name? Moreover, notice how all of the head shots are proportional, but they use the old political trick of making one candidate look abnormal by using a disproportional photo crop. A nasty little Fox News style play probably drawn up by CCSA's arch-reactionary political director Carlos Marquez.

We frequently look to UWGLA's plutocrat funding sources and the neoliberal pay-to-advocate paradigm that UWGLA and other members of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) operate under. Nothing is more telling of UWGLA's complete allegiance to the neoliberal corporate education reform agenda than this 2013 photo of privatizer Monica Garcia, the disgraced John Deasy, millionaire Casey Wasserman, billionaire Eli Broad, and UWGLA's Elise Buik. What we typically don't look at is the staff members UWGLA employs to promulgate their donors' agenda.

UWGLA's current Education Program Officer is Elmer G. Roldan. Prior to his UWGLA stint, Roldan worked for the Camino Nuevo Corporate Charter Chain—known for its unelected board of bankers, finance capitalists, and hedge fund managers. Before cashing in on the charter industry, Roldan worked for former Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board member Monica Garcia, who has ties to the shadowy Gülenist cult. He also worked for the anti-public education NPIC Community Coalition. It's a safe bet that Roldan's whole two years of community college prepared him to deal with the broad range of topics on education policy and pedagogy.

Until recently (namely when they were exposed for their role in UWGLA's massive public deception campaign) Roldan worked alongside Ryan Smith and Jason Mandell. Before joining UWGLA, Smith worked for the notorious Green Dot Corporate Charter Chain and the so-called Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (PLAS) with Marshall Tuck (whose wife, Mae Tuck, also works at UWGLA). After the UWGLA astroturf incident, Smith went to work for the reactionary EdTrust. Mandell worked with fellow poverty pimp Yolie Flores at the The Gates Foundation funded Communities for Teaching Excellence. Mandell now works for the California Charter Schools Association, although that was sort of his function when his paychecks read UWGLA as well.

The candidate forums run by UWGLA mentioned in the mailer were addressed in Statement on Gates and Broad Foundation funded United Way Greater Los Angeles running LAUSD forums. Candidates opposing the CCSA funded ones had myriad complaints about the heavy handed manner in which the UWGLA treated them durring the forums. LAUSD District 3 candidate Carl J. Petersen submitted the following account. His complaints have been corroborated by other District 3 candidates, who wished to remain anonymous.

The first thing that hit me upon entering the venue was Ms. Galatzan had set up a table in the courtyard with her election paraphernalia, including yard signs. This clearly broke the rules which stated that only one piece of literature could be distributed and this would be at a table that the United Way would set up for all of the participants. Elizabeth Badger and I both immediately complained to the person in charge (I believe that his name was Elmer), who confirmed that Ms. Galatzan had broken the rules and promised that it would be taken care of. When the signs remained up I filed another complaint and was again assured that the signs would be taken down. Once on stage, the moderator announced a rule that each candidate was allowed one sign in the courtyard. The fact that this was a rule change was not conveyed to the audience.

The next inconsistency with the rules occurred during the debate itself. After a round that did not go well for Ms. Galatzan (I believe the subject was iPads), the moderator decided to break format and allowed Ms. Galatzan to go out of turn to defend herself. The moderator felt that this was fair because we had all attacked the incumbent.

To me, the strangest part of the night happened when I went to collect my unused literature. I had provided 200 flyers to be distributed at the appointed table, but the actual turnout was much less. I think the estimated attendance was 100 people. My flyers must have been in great demand because none were left and the volunteers said that they had not seen them. I wish I knew when in the evening they had been removed.

I think that it is telling that the United Way was the only candidate forum that Ms. Galatzan attended during the entire campaign. She skipped the second debate, a meet and greet at the Northridge West Neighborhood Council and a final Q&A at the Encino Neighborhood Council. I would like to know what assurances the United Way provided her that made her feel their event was a safe one for her.

Eli Broad and Carrie Walton Penner will stop at nothing to turn the entire public education system over to the private sector, where corruption and greed rule supreme. UWGLA's ability to remain a tax exempt organization is testament to how much power and influence the Broad/Gates/Walton Triumvirate have.

Some of United Way of Greater Los Angeles and United Way Worldwide's other "education" related activities:

* Emperor Broad is quoted in the New York Times

K12NN Wire: How do Karin Klein and Los Angeles Times define "high-performing"?

First published on K12NN Wire on March 14, 2015

Sent to the Los Angeles Times on March 14, 2015

Re: Teachers at Alliance charter group push to form union http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-alliance-charter-story.html

The author here calls the Alliance's corporate chain a "high-performing charter group". I'm curious if that inaccurate designation came directly from either Alliance's or the California Charter Schools Association's marketing departments?

Despite claiming that their schools produce top college prospects, Alliance College "Ready" Schools boast 6 of the 80 lowest SAT performers in Los Angeles County, and 5 of the 75 lowest in LAUSD. (Source: "California Schools Guide." Lowest Average SAT Scores in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles Times, 01 Jan. 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.). Those numbers have not significantly changed in two years.

Moreover, Alliance routinely produces "graduates" with astronomical remediation rates. Take their Gertz-Ressler campus' figures for 2008-2012. The California State University (CSU) makes remediation data available (Source: www.asd.calstate.edu) for all schools sending them students.

* 2008 Alliance's CSU proficiency 7% in math and 13% in English.
* 2009 Alliance's CSU proficiency 29% in math and 29% in English.
* 2010 Alliance's CSU proficiency 29% in math and 17% in English.
* 2011 Alliance's CSU proficiency 50% in math and 33% in English.
* 2012 Alliance's CSU proficiency 57% in math and 50% in English.

Alliance has made their "CEO" Judy Burton insanely wealthy though. In 2013, aside from the $139K+ she was making from CalSTRS and CalPERS, she was skimming another $315K+ in taxpayer money through her corporate charter pyramid scheme. (Source: California Pensions Database and Alliance 2010 Form 990 Part VII§A).

Robert D. Skeels
*********@ucla.edu

Friday, March 06, 2015

More Than a Score The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing

More Than a Score
The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing

with editor Jesse Hagopian

Friday, March. 6 at 4:30pm:
United Teachers Losa Angeles (UTLA) in L.A.

Saturday, March 7 from 8am-3pm:
ARE 2015 Conference, San Diego

Across the country, students are walking out, parents are opting their children out, and teachers are refusing to administer detrimental exams.

More Than a Score:
The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing

More Than a Score is a collection of essays, poems, speeches, and interviews--accounts of personal courage and trenchant insights--from frontline fighters who are defying the corporate education reformers, often at great personal and professional risk, an fueling a national movement to reclaim and transform public education.

"Those who support public education and a respected teaching profession can find hope in the stories of resistance in this book."

—Diane Ravitch

"The eagerly engaged voices assembled here present an action plan to combat the increase in high-stakes standardized testing currently plaguing K–12 education…the focus is on doing rather than shouting, and each essay in this anthology is a blueprint for civic action….The contributors build on Hagopian’s optimism for the blooming of an “educational spring” and make this book exceptional."

—Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"For anyone who wonders what’s powering the virulent opposition to standardized testing, Common Core standards and so-called education reform, Jesse Hagopian’s new book, More Than a Score, will be an illuminating read."

—Seattle Times

"More Than a Score is an exciting book, filled with anger, passion and creative strategizing over ways to defeat standardized testing. It’s also a call to arms and a well-argued plea for educational equity and a thoughtful defense of public education, the teaching profession and student-centered learning."

—Truthout

JESSE HAGOPIAN teaches history and is the Black Student Union adviser at Garfield High School, the site of the historic boycott of the MAP test in 2013. He is an associate editor of Rethinking Schools, a founding member of Social Equality Educators, and winner of the 2013 “Secondary School Teacher of Year” award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences.

Hagopian is a contributing author to Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation and 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed US History, and writes regularly for Truthout, Common Dreams, Socialist Worker, Black Agenda Report, and the Seattle Times Op-Ed page.

Monday, March 02, 2015

Ravitch reader offers best response to CCSA and Ref Rodriguez's attacks on Bennett Kayser's disability

“SWD [Students with Disabilities] are disproportionately under-enrolled at charter schools” — Office of the Independent Monitor

"LG" is a frequent commenter on the distinguished Dr. Diane Ravitch's site. Here LG offers the best response I've read to date on California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) and Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez's vile campaign against Students with Disabilities (SWD) and their champion on the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board, the Honorable Bennett Kayser:

“When criticizing a person who happens to have a debilitating medical issue, I would think opponents would have more class than to blur the lines by presenting ANYTHING that could be construed as discriminatory and hateful. Defending this is akin to saying, “Well, I didn’t mean to insult your condition–I was merely trying to insult you in order to preserve your dignity. YOU were the one who misconstrued my meaning.” Sorry, you watch your Ps and Qs when you are refuting actions–you don’t imply physical impairment in the process. That’s personal…but by all means, defend this heinous act as “creative and clever.”

B. S.

On a stick.”

The Association of Raza Educators Annual Conference 2015

The Association of Raza Educators has their annual conference next Saturday on March 7. It will take place in San Diego. Below is the graphic. The keynote speakers will be Dr. Melina Abdullah of the Ethnic Studies Now Coalition and Black Lives Matter L.A., and also Jesse Hagopian a Seattle public school teacher. I will also be speaking at the event, and I hope you can join us! Click here for more information.

Billionaires behind California Charter Schools Association’s (CCSA) near record spending to defeat LAUSD's advocate for Students with Disabilities

Contact: Dan Nyaradi
Cell: 541-480-4948
3/1/15

KAYSER IS UNDER-DOG IN ELECTION AS CCSA IS ON TRACK FOR ANOTHER ALL-TIME SPENDING RECORD IN A SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION

Los Angeles –The California Charter Schools Association’s (CCSA) political arm, the CCSA Advocates, has dumped three quarters of a million dollars into defeating Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board member Bennett Kayser and for promoting Dr. Ref Rodriguez, a member of CCSA’s own Board of Directors. While the issues facing the District are many and varied, this single-issue advocacy group has compressed debate to a simplistic pro- or anti-charter discussion.

With just three days left before Election Day, the trade organization and its candidate are $277,543.68 ahead in campaign expenditures. As of 2/25/15, a total of $412,615.34 has been spent in favor of Rodriguez with another $373,762.82 spent maliciously attacking Kayser.

With over a quarter million dollar advantage, CCSAA has flooded the airwaves, radio waves, social media, mailboxes and phones. Over the next four days, this gap is expected to increase even more given the large pot of money stashed in Sacramento by the b/millionaires.

Howard Blume recently reported in the Los Angeles Times (2/26/15) that prior to the December filing deadline, one billionaire gave the political action committee (PAC) $1.5 million, an out-of-state Republican gave $450,000, and an out-of-state Republican Walmart heir kicked in $250,000 to the group’s large political pot.

By running its money through a Sacramento PAC, CCSAA has bypassed local reporting rules that require a much higher level of transparency. Once past the December deadline, the next time CCSA Advocates report is August 2015, at which point voters will learn who gave what in their local school board race. If necessary, there will be a general election in May, once again, voters will be without key information about the rich out-of-town Republicans paying to promote charter school growth in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of Bennett Kayser donors represent the 99% who rely on public education. It will be their volunteering and their small donations that conquer Goliath.

Rodriguez Total: $786,378.16
Kayser Total: $508,834.48

(Sources: http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-charters-election-20150226-story.html#page=1 and http://ethics.lacity.org/disclosure/campaign/totals/public_election.cfm?election_id=50)

###

Paid for by Re-Elect Bennett Kayser for School Board 2015 – 419 North Larchmont Blvd., #37, Los Angeles, CA 90004 – ID #1361502 – Additional information is available at Ethics.lacity.org – Bennett2015.com – (323) 283-5574

Sunday, March 01, 2015

Robert D. Skeels' Endorsements: March 2015 Primary Election

"To glorify democracy and to silence the people is a farce; to discourse on humanism and to negate people is a lie." — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Los Angeles Unified School District

Seat 1 The Honorable Dr. George McKenna: Dr. George McKenna: Experienced, courageous, and principled. Not cowed by billionaires with fringe ideologies and their profiteer puppets at the CCSA.
Seat 3 Scott Schmerelson: Endorsed by AALA, CSEA, and more.; Soft endorsement: Ankur Patel. I initially gave Patel a sole endorsement because he had wonderful critiques of neoliberalism and charters on his website, but they all disappeared. People started telling me he equivocated on school privatization via charters at forums.; Soft endorsement: Carl J. Petersen. I admire Petersen's energy and tenaciousness, but his knowledge on pedagogy and policy is of concern. When I met him, I asked if he had read Ravitch, Dewey, or Freire. He said no, and I said at least read Ravitch. Being a board member takes more just being a parent—Tamar Galatzan's glaring incompetence proves just that.
Seat 5 The Honorable Bennett Kayser: Bennett Kayser: The board member who insists that the charter industry be obligated to educate every child instead of ones that don't cut into their revenues! Also, a strong supporter of Ethnic Studies, Adult Education, Early Education, and more.
Seat 7 no endorsement: Soft endorsement: Dr. Richard Vladovic. I've taken umbrage with some of Vladovic's decisions in the past, but I think his witnessing some of the things that Deasy and the CCSA have done may have made him more aware of his complicity in the neoliberal project.

Community College Board of Trustees

Seat 1 Francesca Vega
Seat 3 Sydney Kamlager
Seat 5 Scott Svonkin
Seat 7 Mike Fong

City Council

District 10 Grace Yoo

City of Los Angeles Measures 1 and 2

Measure 1 NO!
Measure 2 NO!

We may as well call these measures what they are: a cost saving movida so that Eli Broad, Philip Anschutz, and Rupert Murdoch won't have to spend as much money on future school board elections. Vote no on these reactionary, anti-democratic measures.

VISIT SAVE OUR CITY ELECTIONS FOR MORE INFORMATION

@rdsathene Robert Skeels says NO to Charter Amendments 1&2! @rdsathene pic.twitter.com/Vujue6ekEI
— SaveOurCityElections (@SaveLAElections) February 20, 2015

I'm endorsing and encouraging #CD10 to vote for @GraceYooCD10, who supports #LAUSD returning #AdultEdu to Koreatown. pic.twitter.com/VSbsJ6WIZH
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) March 2, 2015

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Deplorable California Charter Schools Association still using Dr. George McKenna's name and likeness some 27 days after he demanded they stop!

“I reject the statements, accusations and positions promoted by this group as it relates to Board Member Kayser, whom I strongly support for re-election.”—Honorable Dr. George McKenna

The above screen shot was captured on February 28, 2015.

Following California Charter Schools Association's (CCSA) initial round of vile attacks on the Honorable Bennett Kayser, the principled Dr. George McKenna demanded that CCSA's endorsement of him be withdrawn and that his name and likeness not be used in any subsequent campaign material. McKenna had never requested the revenue hungry trade industry's endorsement in the first place. McKenna demanded the CCSA stop trying to associate him with their sordid and scurrilous campaigning at least as early as February 1, 2015, meaning an entire month has elapsed. Yet the CCSA is still capitalizing on using McKenna's name, not just without his authorization, but in reckless and wanton defiance of his express wishes.

“I reject the statements, accusations and positions promoted by this group as it relates to Board Member Kayser, whom I strongly support for re-election.”—Honorable Dr. George McKenna

I spoke to a high-level McKenna official earlier this week who said they've made numerous attempts to get CCSA to stop its unauthorized use of McKenna's name and likeness, but all their requests have been ignored. I was told that they have even tried to reach out to the baleful Political Director for the CCSA Advocates SuperPAC, Carlos Marquez, but CCSA knows they're only accountable to the ideologically charged billionaires funding them.

It's not too hard to imagine an organization that was founded by bigoted nativist Steve Poizner would tokenize board members of color for their execrable political aims, but this goes beyond the bounds of even the dirtiest of campaigning. CCSA's insatiable greed, coupled with their entire lack of ethics, is revolting. Anyone who remembers the vile and vicious lies they told about McKenna last year understands. Los Angeles school board member Steve Zimmer wrote the following:

Then, last summer CCSA came after Dr. George McKenna with a vengeance. With lies, filth and distortion they tried to mar the career of one of the most beloved educators ever to teach and lead schools in South Los Angeles. The effort failed and McKenna won handily. We thought we had seen the worst.

Maybe if the CCSA would spend less time mocking the Honorable Bennett Kayser's disabilities and more time helping Students with Disabilities, they'd have a shred of credibility. Of course that would mean putting pupils before profits, the antithesis of CCSA's raison d'être.

Charter industry profiteer Ref Rodriguez is a card carrying member of the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA).

Dr. George McKenna—principled. Unlike @CCSAAdvocates @drRefRodriguez & @JohnShallman http://t.co/chZOFHNBRA #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/CuwmbcCVYT
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) March 1, 2015

SKrashen: Proposed reductions in testing: the boondoggle remains

SKrashen: Proposed reductions in testing: the boondoggle remains: LETTER Published in Substance http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=5465&section=Article February 26,2015 In my e-mail t...

Friday, February 27, 2015

Campus Sexual Assault: Know the Facts, Change the Debate

The Honorable Bennett Kayser's leadership on the Ethnic Studies requirement for LAUSD

First published on Disqus on February 26, 2015

The Honorable Bennett Kayser both helped draft, and he sponsored the Historic LAUSD Ethnic Studies requirement. By far the most progressive education reform in our district in recent memory, it serves as a valuable counter to the greed based "reforms" of the charter industry. Here is an excerpt from a refereed journal article I wrote that will be published this April in Regeneración:

"The Ethnic Studies struggles are significant for several reasons. The first of which is that little or no assistance came from NPIC, proving that effective, community based organizing does not require foundation money, or “professionalized, businesslike” (Incite! 95) organizers. Moreover, Ethnic Studies are the antithesis of the neoliberal ideals, particularly the subtle white supremacism underlying CCSS, which was crafted from E. D. Hirsch, Jr.’s “core knowledge” concepts. Lastly Ethnic Studies opens the door for exposure to Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Studies, and other scholarship that will provide students with the tools to directly confront neoliberalism, the socio-economic structures that coined it, and the rulers of our class society that have imposed it." (Skeels, 2015).

I heard that other guy, the one backed by the right-wing billionaires, strongly criticized ethnic studies. I suppose it's easy to self-colonize, and play respectability politics when your oppressors pay you enough.

There is only one LAUSD District 5 candidate whose track record on Ethnic Studies sets the gold standard: the Honorable Bennett Kayser!

K12NN Wire: Fact checking LA Weekly on Kayser, Aspire, Rodriguez’s PUC, and Barr

First published on K12NN Wire on February 25, 2015

"It is not legally or morally acceptable that these so-called “schools of choice” that are concentrated in urban communities and supported with public funds, should be permitted to operate as segregated learning environments where students are more isolated by race, socioeconomic class, disability, and language than the public school district from which they were drawn." — COPAA (Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities p. 42)

That trashy porn and masseuse ad pennysaver known as the LA Weekly (more like Weakly) has long been a bastion of Ayn Rand Libertarianism. Their propensity to serve as a public relations arm for the Steve Poizner founded, deep pocketed California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) and its proxies is nothing new. However, today's vicious attack piece on the Honorable Bennett Kayser would be considered the lowest in bottom feeding even by a Pacific hagfish.

The piece is notable for being entirely devoid of facts. That didn't stop Dan "students must pledge love to capitalism" Chang of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex fundraising foundation (GPS:LA) from giving it love on Twitter though. What can we expect from a guy with a MBA and a license to malpractice reform from billionaire Eli Broad? So while I really wish LA Weakly would interview people besides wealthy CCSA executives and Steve Barr, I know Jill Stewart doesn't let factually complete articles run in her bird cage liner.

Let's take a look at a few of the more egregious errors in the piece.

Aspire: where civil rights are eschewed in the name of "high performance"

On opposition to renewing the charter for the Aspire corporate charter chain, LA Weakly reproduced profiteer Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez's words, "morally reprehensible". Truth about Apsire:

"But a look at area special education programs provides insight into the types of students served by Aspire. ¶ El Dorado's special ed program does not serve a single visual or hearing impaired student nor students with multiple disabilities, orthopedic or brain injuries, according to state reports. L.A. Unified's program serves many of these disabilities, requiring highly-specialized, costly care." (KPCC, April 16, 2014)

Unlike Rodriguez and his ilk, I make no money from education. So I'd be more inclined to state that Aspire's openly discriminating against Students with Disabilities (SWD), while their "CEO," James R. Willcox, stuffed a staggering $293,687.00 in his pocket a year (2012 Form 990, Part VII§A) was "morally reprehensible". That Kayser opposes this most vile form of ableism, is a mark of courage that profiteers like Rodriguez will never understand. To use the phrase "high performing charter" when discussing a school that enrolls no low incidence disability SWD is beyond the pale. Rodriguez, who is either immoral or amoral, depending on how generous one is, has zero credibility when talking about what is "morally reprehensible".

PUC: where "high achieving" means 50% failure

On PUC academic scores being, according to the Weakly, "well above the state average". In 2013 students from Rodriguez’s PUC Early College Academy for Leaders and Scholars (ECALS) took the California State University (CSU) entrance exams. Half (50%) of those taking the test FAILED to test proficient in either mathematics or English. The fifty percent that failed had to take remedial high school classes. How does that compare to the state average?

2013 CSU English
50%	PUC ECALS Not Proficient in English
32%	All California High Schools (i.e. the state average)

2013 CSU mathematics
50%	PUC ECALS Not Proficient in mathematics
29%	All California High Schools (i.e. the state average)

Please tell us again about how Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez's schools are "serving… minority and working-class kids." I'll admit this one thing, they've served his income quite well.

Steve Barr never heard of corporate support for charters?

Regarding Steve Barr's bizarre assertion that he started Green Dot Corporate Charters with his own money only, and his equally strange statement that they've never taken a dime from ideologically charged foundations. Perhaps next time LA Weakly interviews him they might want to ask if he really denies receiving start up funds from right-wing plutocrats Reed Hastings (Netflix) and Don Fisher (Gap). Moreover, they can remind him that Green Dot gets millions from foundations like the Walton Family Foundation every year (e.g. $0.5-Million in 2010). This is easily fact-checked, and there's no need for Barr to pretend he's never heard that Walmart is a corporation. For the record Steve Barr was getting paid by Green Dot some $198,855.00 in 2008 (2008 Form 990, Part VII§A).

Since I'm in law school, I'll do Barr a favor regarding his reckless accusations of libel towards the Honorable Bennett Kayser. Truth is always an affirmative defense to libel causes of action. Claiming the charter chain that made you rich has never taken a penny from the Walton Family Foundation, well, that's something else altogether.

The Network for Public Education Endorses Bennett Kayser for LAUSD District 5

Dear Robert D.,

NPE Board President, Diane Ravitch says, “Bennett Kayser has been a strong advocate for public education, for class size reduction, and for careful oversight of the LAUSD budget. As an experienced teacher, he understands the schools' needs.”

Network for Public Education endorses Bennet Kayser's re-election for LAUSD School Board District 5 and asks you to support him in any way you can -- voting for him, volunteering in the next five days or donating to his campaign.

Bennett Kayser is a champion for our students:

He says, "My top priority is to continue to grow the district and lower-class size so that teachers and students are provided with every opportunity to achieve."

Kayser understands the importance of early childhood education. He directed $34 million dollars to education of our earliest learners for the next four years.
Kayser supported the growth of the District’s Supper program expanding this service to an additional 80,000 students—many of whom would go home hungry without it.

Bennet Kayser says, "We should not close schools because that is a clear sign to our students, teachers, communities that we have abandoned them. We must focus on improving schools, not closing them." He will vote to protect STUDENT PRIVACY and fight school closures.

HIs opponent is running a smear campaign against him. Corporate money and pro-privatization money is flowing into his opponent's race because of his support of charter schools. Bennett needs a quick infusion of cash to help get him elected and protect PUBLIC EDUCATION.

Donate what ever you can -- big, small, all of it will help.

According to Martha Infante, teacher at Los Angeles Academy Middle School, “It is those who have been closest to the classroom who have the confidence of teachers, students, and parents. Only they seem to understand the negative impact of class sizes in the 40’s and 50’s on students learning. Only former teachers like Kayser realize the damage the misspending of iPad funds has had on public confidence."

Public education activist, Robert Skeels says, “Bennett Kayser has been a staunch advocate for Students with Disabilities (SWD), as well as an important ally for programs serving the community, including Adult Education. His first term will be best remembered for his drafting and sponsoring the historic Ethnic Studies resolution, which makes research proven, culturally relevant curricula a requirement for graduation.”

Kayser has been both a public school teacher and an administrator. The first health teacher on the LAUSD Board, Kayser taught 7th Grade Science and Health at King and Irving Middle Schools and was Director of Information Technology for the Pasadena Unified School District. Later he worked with at-risk youth as the Technology Coordinator for LAUSD’s Independent Studies Program through the City of Angels School.

When NPE decided to endorse candidates we promised we would support candidates who support public education. We don't have the money to compete with the billionaires. But as Diane says, there is power in our numbers! We hope our support will persuade parents, students and teachers to get out and vote. This election will be a low turnout and your vote will really make a difference.

PLEASE vote for Kayser Bennet on March 3rd.

For more information or to volunteer check out Kayser Bennett's website.
or donate online here.

WE ARE MANY. THERE IS POWER IN OUR NUMBERS. TOGETHER WE WILL SAVE OUR SCHOOLS.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Shutting out the public's voice. Why does the LA Times only publish the charter industry's side?

Sent to the Los Angeles Times on February 26, 2015

Mr. Blume:

Your seemingly heavily biased piece today cites several who have made millions from the charter industry (e.g. Borden, Chang, and Austin), and even quotes right-wing millionaires like Hastings. No doubt giving them the only voices in the piece, and casting the simplistic accusation that this is an issue of teacher union versus charter industry "heroes" is the easiest way to win Karin Klein's go-ahead.

Would have been nice if you considered citing a single public school supporter in the community. Karen Wolfe, David Tokofsky, Dr. Cynthia Liu, Ellen Lubic, Sonja Luchini, Scott Folsom, and a host of others that believe in public schools, rather than privately managed charters, should be able to speak for the large part of the community that doesn't stand for either union interests or charter sector greed.

As the runner up in the 2013 election, and a widely cited essayist on education, I'm always available for thoughts on these things as well. However, I understand that my speaking truth to power makes me somewhat of a threat to the deep pocketed interests in the charter industry. That said, I think we should be asking the question: "why is it that Rodriguez can run for the LAUSD PUBLIC school board, but NO member of the PUBLIC can run for his PUC charter empire board?"

Robert D. Skeels
*********@ucla.edu

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

HOW INDEPENDENT IS CCSA’S “INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE FOR RODRIGUEZ AND DID HIS STUDENTS FOOT THE BILL?

Contact: Dan Nyaradi
Cell: 541-480-4948
2/23/15

HOW INDEPENDENT IS CCSA’S “INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE FOR RODRIGUEZ AND DID HIS STUDENTS FOOT THE BILL?

Los Angeles – According to its website, membership in the California Charter School Association (CCSA) is five dollars ($5.00) per child per year. The Partnership to Uplift Communities (PUC) is a charter chain opened in 1999 by Dr. Ref Rodriguez.

In 2014 alone, PUC schools contributed over $21,000.00 to CCSA, with more anticipated in 2015 as two new PUC schools were opened. Assuming each PUC school joined CCSA in a timely manner, and that dues have been consistent and paid, PUC charter schools have given about $140,000.00 to CCSA over the years.

Are tax dollars meant for student learning flowing to the charter lobby group from PUC classrooms? Or, is the $20,000.00 per year paid to CCSA considered a tax-deductible contribution from Rodriguez similar to a business association or a 501c3?

Furthermore, Rodriguez currently sits on CCSA’s Board of Trustees according to PUC’s website (2/25/15).

So, again, one must ask, how independent is CCSA’s “Independent Expenditure” on Rodriguez?

PUC School	Year Opened	2014	Cumulative Dollars

PUC CALS	2000	$1530	$19,335
PUC CALS HS	2003	$1165	$12,400
PUC Early College	2004	$2200	$16,895
PUC ES Community	1999	$0	$600
PUC Community Middle PUC ECALS PUC Excel PUC Inspire PUC Lakeview PUC Lakeview HS PUC Milagro PUC Nueva Esperanza PUC Santa Rosa PUC Triumph PUC Triumph HS	1999 2011 2006 2014 2004 2010 2004 2009 2010 2007 2010	$1740 $2060 $1595 $0 $1765 $1560 $1440 $1730 $1065 $1730 $1460	$21,905 $4,805 $10,900 $600 $11,895 $4,545 $11,230 $6,475 $4,975 $9,970 $3,655
			Over $140,000.00

Sources: http://www.calcharters.org/services/membership/school.html, the California Department of Education http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ and PUC’s websitehttp://www.pucschools.org/about/founders.php)

###

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Join the Honorable Jackie Goldberg at a meet and support the Honorable Bennett Kayser for LAUSD

I have Contracts II class, but I'll be sure to make another contribution. The Honorable Jackie Goldberg is who got me into law school in the first place.

Special Guest-Hon. Jackie Goldberg meet and support Kayser February 25 Invite by Robert D. Skeels