(Credit: Getty Images)

See previous interviews by The 74: Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, U.S. Senator and Education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, University of Michigan economist Susan Dynarski, Harvard Education School Dean Jim Ryan. Full 74 Interview archive here.

As superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, John Deasy laid out an ambitious vision for improving schools. Today, his supporters say he succeeded in significantly improving student outcomes across the city, while his critics point to poor relationships with many of the district’s stakeholders and his botched plan to integrate iPads into Los Angeles classrooms. Deasy resigned under pressure in late 2014.

Now Deasy is back in the news, planning to launch a new program that he says will fix juvenile prisons in a way that both reduces recidivism and improves the life prospects of incarcerated youth.

I spoke with Deasy in depth last month about his vision for the program, how it might be implemented and whether it amounts to a form of privatized prisons.

The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

The 74: Can you start by telling me about your new initiative — what you’re working on, what you’re hoping to accomplish?

John Deasy: In October, I am launching a new organization called New Day, New Year. This organization is going to design, build and launch a set of alternative juvenile prisons in the country: in Los Angeles County and Alameda County in California, and then hopefully in Oklahoma and in New York City. In short, what I want to do for the next 10 years is to be part of the rethinking of juvenile justice in this country — and specifically youth corrections.

Our youth will leave our experience drug- and substance-free; on track for graduation or enrolled in community college, depending on their age; resilient; and also employed.

The theory is, we want to reduce recidivism by 50 percent as compared to the local county recidivism rate. That’s the short answer.

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What immediately jumps to mind is that this is a sort of charter school for juvenile prisons. Do you see it along those lines?

We don’t at the moment have successful alternatives where you have dramatically lower recidivism for youth, and we want to create that opportunity. I don’t know if it’s charter-like, because I don’t think there’s such a rule or a vehicle.

What would the governance structure be, then? Is this under the traditional governance of publicly governed prisons? I’m asking because there are a lot of concerns about privately run prisons.

I have enormous concerns around privately run prisons, and abhorrent concerns around for-profit prisons. The governance structure is as it currently is, and we’re aiming to provide the current governance structure an alternative setting. Judges could sentence or re-sentence youth — obviously it’s a willing proposition — to New Day, New Year, and in turn we will abide by the guidelines of the state that we work in and produce dramatically different results. But it’s certainly not for-profit, and it’s not private.

So that would mean you would have to work within the existing structure and convince policymakers that they should invest in or work with you to create this new program, right?

You get to the heart of it almost instantly. Correct.

Have you started those conversations with folks? And what has the reaction been?

The reaction has been amazingly positive. We’re at the beginning of this — this is not January 2018 yet. I’m sure there’s a lot of stress and lots of hurdles to go through, but quite frankly it’s nothing compared to what the youth are going through, so I think we can get through it.

What specifically do you think you will do differently, and what makes you think you can be successful where others may have failed — or where the current system is failing?

I’ll give you a couple of answers as to what we believe we can do differently that would contribute to better outcomes:

One is scale and size. So these are not proposed to be large “industrial-sized” housing units; they’re small. The correctional campuses would be no more than 50 youth.

Two, the entire design is built into part of the theory of correction, which is to build healthy experiences for community engagement. Community being family community, your neighborhood, community of school, community of residential experience.

Another piece is employment — very important if you’re going to both break a cycle of poverty and break a cycle of resources that are illegitimate. Legitimate employment is an enormous component of this.

Another piece is a different take on exit. Our program is a program that would think about exit as, you just don’t leave and go on probation. You experience a period of transitional community housing that we also facilitate, so that the most vulnerable portions of the next six to eight months of a young person’s life after they exit is that you’re still in a deep connection with therapy — family counseling, individual counseling, monitoring like you would normally have during probation, but a guiding hand in the reintroduction and reconnection with public education. That tends not to go well at all. We want to be part of making sure it goes very well.

How do you see incarcerated youth participating in this program? Do you see this as something they affirmatively choose, as something a judge assigns … that just some are in this program and some are in the traditional program?

The ideal to me would be a combination of the first two. Yes, a judge offers this as a form of sentencing with the concurrence of the youth, so a young person opposed to this is probably not a young person that this program is designed to support. I don’t believe or expect that to be a problem, however. I expect just the opposite.

How do you plan to fund this?

When the organization is up and running, the state funds that come to incarcerated youth would come to this program. Facility-wise, it’s going to be privately fundraised. Facilities have to all meet the acceptable codes, and that involves fundraising, as well as supplemental services — the things we would do that are outside, probably along the lines of recreation and post-care support, we would have to fundraise for.

How far along are you in that process?

We’re in the process of fundraising right now.

What proportion of the necessary funds have you raised so far?

The thing I would say that has been very encouraging is the direct outreach, in saying “I want to support this program,” that’s come by existing organizations, by individuals — that’s been really wonderful.

Are you worried about stepping on the toes of people who have been working in this area much longer than you have?

Oh, not at all. I expect to learn from them, and I expect to be a partner. Sadly, there’s enough work to go around.

One of the criticisms of your tenure at LAUSD was that you had a lot of big ideas, but there were sometimes challenges in the nitty-gritty of implementing them. Do you think that criticism has any truth, and will it affect how you go about this new project?

I think people are free to — and do — criticize all the time. That’s the democracy that we live in. The thing that’s really good about that is you continue to grow as an adult and learn how you can always do things better. The growth from all of my 32 years of employment come to bear on this issue.

What specifically do you think you learned from your time at LAUSD that you would want to apply in this context?

Don’t take on small challenges; take on very big challenges. Youth are desperately counting on us. That would be one thing.

Second of all is an absolute belief in every single youth; there are no throwaway kids. I bring that belief absolutely to this.

On the management side, I would say staying big-scale is very important, so not solving every problem at once, and trying to be at peace that it won’t all be solved at once. On the other hand, I would also point to the fact that there were pretty staggering results while we there in the administration of LAUSD. Test scores were never higher; every single marker was never higher; suspensions were never lower. Pretty dramatic gains and closure of gaps occurred. Folks wanted to criticize — you can take that, if you can get those results.

There is a lot of interesting overlap in the debate about criminal justice and the debate about education policy. In criminal justicethere are concerns about privatization of prisons, and you hear that about privatization of schools. 

I agree. I’d want to draw a pretty bright line. Public charters are not private schools, and it’s not privatized.

Some people make the claim that they are.

I think that’s a self-serving claim. It’s just not a factual claim. I get the self-serving part of that. I want to be very, very clear: This has nothing to do with private prison or, God forbid, for-profit.

Another interesting parallel is that sometimes we hear that education reform is not addressing the root cause of poverty or low educational achievement. I think someone might say that about this initiative: that there’s a lot of discussion about reforming the criminal justice system and reducing incarceration. What you’re doing is trying to improve the context of incarceration and get better outcomes. But some might say that the root issue is that we’re overincarcerating our youth.

I believe we are. Absolutely. That’s why I spent so much time as a superintendent dramatically reducing suspensions, stopping ticketing, fundamentally not contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline. So it’s both sides of that.

When young people make very bad decisions and there are consequences for that, that should not mean they are ghost incarcerated for the rest of their lives, which is what happens with a lot of policies.

In the process of creating this program and scaling it, are you going to talk to incarcerated youth and ask them what they want changed and what their vision is for a juvenile justice system?

Absolutely, and I have done that fairly consistently over my life.

What have you heard from them?

A lot of things, but I can give you themes.

One is that “I don’t want people to be afraid of me the rest of my life. I don’t want to be isolated. I am a good person who made a mistake. Do I get a chance to start over again?” It’s fairly haunting, when you have things like a record and you have that pretty terrible experience.

Another thing you hear is, “I am actually smart, even though I may have done a stupid thing. I know how to do other things.” You also hear something else, which is, “I never really got a good education, didn’t know opportunities were in front of me, and had a set of life experiences that led me to a place of making some desperately bad decisions when I didn’t know there were alternatives.”

Mostly, people want to be cared for — and cared about.

This article was published in partnership with The74Million.org. 

By John Deasy 

“First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is absent of tension to a positive peace which is in the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action’ … Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

An open letter to Mr. Ta-Nehisi Coates:

Mr. Coates, I have read with great interest your many provocative and painful articles and books over these past few years. I feel I must speak louder and broader about my reaction, my realizations, and my responsibilities; in writing to you, I am acutely aware of the imprecision of my language, so I ask forgiveness for my prose, and seek acceptance of my purpose.

I cannot come to any other conclusion about our country’s current state of affairs than that I believe we are now engaged in an uncivil war. The evidence is everywhere: our streets, our schools, our courts, our financial system, our borders, our neighborhoods — and, of course, our politics. I watch people being killed, being re-enslaved in poverty, being removed from the middle class; I watch as walls are erected to prevent upward mobility; I watch seemingly incomprehensible reactions to murder, market manipulation, and monstrously hateful rhetoric; I watch a criminal justice system that seems detached from justice, the willful and deliberate incarceration of our youth, and the deliberate means of school punishment perverted in ways to sort out young black men, and other youth of color.

I watch adults model rhetoric and incivility at a level of such hate and invective that it shames the soul.

This uncivil war is being fought in boardrooms, classrooms, jails and housing patterns; on street corners and throughout our political process. It has many causalities, and I by no means make light of death or destruction (for I am sick and tired of burying children), but I fear the greatest casualty is yet to come: that of a destruction of belief. Belief in our system of governance, education, finance — and most of all our structures built around belief in one another.

Layered in the paralyzing prose you have penned is the chilling statement that you have come to expect nothing from us.

Mr. Coates, you so eloquently place the conditions and plight of the black family in front of us, starkly, without apology. But then I put down your book, and see nothing being done to remedy these wrongs. Again, I read, like so many others, the chilling implications of our collective inaction. (One need only review the New York Times article by David Leonhardt on The 1.5 Million Missing Black Men to fully understand your points of pain.)

As a career educator and public leader, I know much the same could be written about our Latino brothers and sisters, our yet-to-be-documented youth, our families who have recently descended into poverty. Your words also aptly apply to our rehabilitated felons who are seemingly no longer considered full citizens, and also our workers who earn minimum wage for work no politician will do, even as those same leaders push back against efforts to raise the minimum wage.

However, the excruciating impacts of America’s twin original sins — slavery and segregation — leave you no choice but to focus on our black brothers and sisters and their families. Wage justice, criminal justice, social justice, community justice, health justice and environmental justice seem to have been removed from “Equal Justice Under the Law.”

A school system that doesn’t believe in black kids

I take particular note of your comments about the education system. For the last 32 years, I have witnessed firsthand the insidious results of systems that seem set up to sort and remove black youth at every level of education — particularly disciplinary policies crafted in the (disguised) desire to keep all students safe that instead deliberately criminalize young black kids rather than educate them. I have witnessed policies and practices that deny these youth even the basic access to highly rigorous courses, highly effective teachers, or opportunities for advanced coursework.

The confluence of state policies, local policies, and collectively-bargained language frequently conspire to send the message that the school system simply does not believe in young black men — in fact, the current system often works deliberately to provide a suboptimal, poorly organized, less funded and explicitly expressed mantra of disbelief in our youth of color (and those who live in circumstances of poverty).

I have fought to overturn despicable laws and policies that hold back these children, to assure access to the best courses and teachers and to foster conditions that convey my unconditional belief that these students must have the same opportunities that the youth of privilege enjoy. However, the targeting of vast sums of money and the exercise of political influence in maintaining a strangled chokehold on elected officials by an educational monopoly that seeks to deny choices to low-income parents is remarkable for both its breadth and scope. The only losers in this political system are our most impacted youth.

Our seeming inability to take action(s) to right these injustices and causes of dissent, anger, and violence are present but not irrevocable. So many of our American brothers and sisters are missing: dead, incarcerated, impoverished, unhealthy, denied opportunity…I could go on. We are witnessing the murder, poisoning, sequestering, removal, deportation, mis-education and denial of opportunity to our families on a near-daily basis. Yet, our escalating anger never quite converts into action.

There is so much I do not understand because of my own life experiences; they are not your life experiences. And there is so much I am unsure of. However, what I am sure of is that I am nothing without the other.

I can’t be fully me without you.

Martin Luther King told us: “We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny … an inescapable network of mutuality … I can never be what I ought to be unless you are allowed to be what you ought to be.” This covenant of mutuality is forged in the ability to see equal and unmitigated value in each other. The very fact that I see signs when I ride the subway that ‘Black Lives Matter’ signals that this covenant is broken (if it ever formed to begin with). It is impossible to stand at the door of any kindergarten classroom on the first day of school and not feel a sense of responsibility for the other, yet in nearly every corner of society’s structures, this sense of responsibility is often corrupted and coerced by the overwhelming superstructure of white privilege and the dominating force of inequity. I have come to believe that the human soul does not lie to the human conscience. Therefore, the opportunity to wrap ourselves in the single garment of destiny can be renewed daily … if we allow it.

The implications of this are so enormous that I fear the very fabric of the republic is being torn, and all I see is others engaged in the act of watching. (The personal condemnation of the previous sentence does not escape me.) I have begun to wonder if America’s drug of choice is spectacle. We watch rather than do, and then attempt to absolve this act by ratcheting up the very venue of spectacle.

The drowning of our collective conscience in the drug of spectacle is creating paralysis; after repeatedly watching and then failing to act, we begin to forget.

Desmond Tutu so ferociously warned us of the peril of this form of national amnesia. We are addicted to spectacle rather than specifically being responsible for changing this condition. This pernicious form of amnesia is treatable and I, for one, accept a responsibility to act.

Is there a role for white leadership today?

There is but one way forward for our white allies, white accomplices, and our white leaders. The driving impetus to write this letter came from a deep reflection on my role today. The role of a white man of unearned privilege, in a complex multiracial society of staggering inequity, having spent my adult life leading the education of our children. What am I to do? Is there a role for white leadership today? I believe the answer is a resounding yes, but not in the way it has been previously exercised.

I must help alter the persistent structures of white hegemonic power at all levels of my society. The continued ability to lead is absolutely required, but maybe from the side, the back ranks, not necessarily always from the front of the stage. As I shift from watching to doing, it must be with my brothers and sisters — not to my brothers and sisters. I must voice my promise not to stand between you and the world; must stop pondering and start promising. And then I must start acting, must be held to public accountability for my actions in service of these promises.

The structures of these promises require the deliberate and legitimate development of your voice, your access, your opportunity to the “justices” I mentioned above. The justices of: wage, civility, social, community, housing, health, environment, dignity, and true criminal justice regardless of age. I promise to use my unearned privilege no longer to assure these justices for the other.

A few simple but powerful examples of how we can take action — and reverse our national amnesia:

VOTE! I promise to urge others to become truly knowledgeable and vote responsibly, especially in school board elections. It is mind-boggling to watch the outcome of thousands of school board elections in this country. (The same goes for mayors, city council and other local elections). A shockingly small fraction of the electorate is put into power annually, and it is these individuals who have the direct authority to decide school opportunities for youth, the discipline codes and practices for youth, and the so-called ‘restorative justice’ practices that are often a thin disguise for keeping the hard liners and union leaders happy while pandering to the advocates for the voiceless youth who suffer under appalling inequities.

No single person should abdicate their right to vote when the outcome is so consequential. I will urge others to “truly know about candidates; and act on candidates.” If we continue to hail public education as the sole opportunity for upward mobility, then I will urge every elected official to promise that they will enroll their own children in their local public school. If they refuse, I will urge them to explain why — and if they then profess “high-quality choice,” I will insist that they support high-quality choices for all parents.

Yet another course of action for my “white moderate brothers and sisters”: SPEAK OUT when witnessing micro aggressions. We must, and I vow to, speak when seeing. Let’s use the national security tagline to target endemic racism: “If you see something, say something!” Speaking publicly will help us start to cure the ubiquitous disease of watching without acting. And this seemingly small action is actually crucial in mending the fabric of mutuality.

Of course, this is not easy, but it is necessary if “we” are to act rather than watch.

I am a big believer in the power of “small acts inside the big acts.” Not everyone can hold a march on Washington, but everyone can call out and demand an end to an institutionally racist practice or act. Now that would be a chorus worthy of a single new line in: ‘This land is my land, this land is your land…”

The case for reparations

Mr. Coates, you have made the “case for reparations” and I agree with your argument.

I now promise to help think about how these reparations can be made, using the country’s structures for distributing wealth. We have yet to explore or commit to opportunities like universal access to preschool, higher education or high-quality education for all (including the imprisoned). We must stop trying to dismantle universal access to health care or affordable prescription medication, to housing, to seats in government and boards. Our tax codes, housing, community, and educational investments must be rethought, to square up with this promise. I promise to not be a community member who merely watches.

I reject spectacle and embrace responsibility — the responsibility to use my voice and unearned privilege to speak and act in the cases where I witness these injustices. If my child has access to the highest quality education, so too must your child. If I can have reasonably priced prescriptions, so too must you. If there is a wage offered for a job I would not take, then you must not either. I commit to use my leadership to make good on these promises.

Much more specifically, my last promise is to use the next phase of my career to champion juvenile redemption, and to help promote alternatives to juvenile incarceration. Since my graduation from college, I have witnessed every conceivable policy and practice for dealing with youth discipline. What remains crystal clear in my opinion and experience is that nearly all forms are devoid of the essential experience of redemption.

I will use my strength and privilege to establish alternatives to mass juvenile incarceration that are designed instead to be fully redemptive; to eliminate recidivism. There are, of course, consequences to breaking the law, and yet, there are few, if any, ‘programs’ that fundamentally lead to non-recidivism. This will be one of my obligations for having the ‘proverbial’ knapsack of white privilege in our society. I will seek the support of my non-white colleagues in making good on this promise to join the chasm that exists in this space “between the world and me.”

It is my hope that this push to create avenues for incarcerated youth can also support the drive for reconciliation. I believe reparations are necessary but not sufficient. I want to promise one further thing: To be part of Truth and Reconciliation. I believe that reparations without truth and reconciliation are a continuation of our national amnesia. Truth and reconciliation without reparations is momentary pain without commitment to change. Neither alone helps address our mutuality of destiny.

I do believe that an honest and deliberate approach to truth and reconciliation is part of the treatment necessary to combat our symptoms of amnesia and break us free from the cycle of spectacle. The very act of a banker sitting across from a homeowner sold a toxic product, of the police sitting across from a victim’s family, of school leaders sitting across from a dropout, of community leaders sitting across from an incarcerated 14-year-old, all engaged in honest conversations about the outcomes of their actions rather than protection or litigation, can begin a new chapter. Of course, this is all impossible without a national conversation about responsibility and tangible actions that can disrupt our current pattern of mutual disinterest.

Reparations, paired with truth and reconciliation, can lead us forward down that path so emotionally paved in Tutu’s understanding that: “There is no future without forgiveness.”

John E. Deasy, Ph.D., was previously the superintendent of schools in Los Angeles, Prince George’s County, Santa Monica-Malibu, and Coventry, Rhode Island. An Aspen Fellow, Deasy is currently working on rethinking youth incarceration and criminal justice efforts for young offenders.

This article was published in partnership with The74Million.org.

Bell High School’s library before and after. (From LAUSD)

For the first time since some school libraries were shuttered during budget cuts in 2008, all of the LA Unified school libraries will be back up and running when school starts again on August 16.

But according to the latest district estimates, the majority of students across Los Angeles will still be forced to rely on under-stocked library collections filled with outdated materials.

District numbers show that the average age of a book in a LAUSD library is now more than 20 years old, and that the books-per-student ratio is a shocking 35 percent below the state average. Even more dire: Most district schools have only a minimal budget to spend on bridging this gap—if they have any additional library funds at all.

“The libraries are still woefully inadequate, and some librarians are loath to take some off the shelves because they will remain empty,” said Franny Parrish, the political action chairwoman for the California School Employees Association, the union that represents library aides. “We have actually come across books with titles like ‘One Day We Will Put a Man on the Moon’ and that’s absurd. You can’t give obsolete information out, it’s a disservice to the students.”

Some school libraries were closed well before the 2008 cuts — stretching back 10 or even 15 years — and some principals decided to completely close the school libraries rather than depend on parent volunteers to run them, since they may mix up books and cause more confusion. Also, some libraries are staffed through funding by PTAs, and books are replenished by book fairs or school fundraisers, meaning that school libraries in more affluent areas now bear little resemblance to those in poorer neighborhood.

Manchester Elementary School’s library before and after. (LAUSD)

“It’s wrong to be pimping out our children by having them sell candy to raise money for books or to pay for a library aide,” Parrish said. “It’s offensive. A library should be a necessity for every school.”

Concerned about the decline of school libraries, school board member Monica Ratliff initiated a Modern Library Task Force that issued a report in June 2014 that suggested three years of strategies for the district try to reach the California school library standard of 28 books per student. At the time, LA Unified had only 17.6 books per student.

Today, district numbers show, that number has only increased 1.1 percent to 17.8 books per student.

Monica Ratliff reading a book to children at a classroom.

“It is good news that we have the renewed staffing because libraries were literally shuttered, and that was not appropriate,” Ratliff told the LA School Report. “The bad news is the book collection is out of date and too thin.”

Ratliff said the district must figure out how to update the books and find donors willing to help. All the books now at the district are worth an estimated $205 million.

“I’m sure there are book lovers out there who would want to help purchase books for our kids,” said Ratliff, whose staff looked into an update of the libraries a few weeks ago. “I interacted with some Library Aides and I appreciate that they do try to buy books of interest to students and that are Common Core-related. We just need more resources.”

The second-largest school district in the country has not had a major influx of books for its libraries since some state funding between 1999 and 2002, according to district officials. In 2011, as part of a civil rights settlement with the federal government, LA Unified had to pay for Library Aides at 80 schools with significant African-American student populations. Library Aides are usually hired for elementary schools and Teacher Librarians hired at middle and high schools can also teach classes.

“We cannot depend on parents to buy books for the libraries, it will just create more disparities in different parts of the district,” Ratliff said. “And we still need to improve staffing.”

The Teacher Librarian-to-student ratio at LA Unified is one Teacher Librarian for every 5,784 students, which is far below the national average of one for every 1,026 students. (The recommended ratio by Modern School Library Standards is one for every 785 students).

Under Superintendent John Deasy, librarians and aides were considered unnecessary and cut during the recession, but his successor Ramon Cortines vowed to reopen all of the libraries starting with high schools. Now, Superintendent Michelle King has renewed efforts to get libraries opened at all the schools again by rehiring staff, but it’s a far cry from the more than 800 Library Aides once working at the district.

Elementary schools with smaller libraries (10,000 books or fewer) usually hire Library Aides, and this year, the district has 356 of them, with 184 paired to support two school sites. Of those, 133 are assigned six hours a day at a single site and 39 are assigned three-hours at a single site, according to district spokesperson Monica Carazo. Only three Library Aide positions are vacant and are expected to be filled before the beginning of school, Carazo said.

Of 85 middle school libraries, 38 have full-time positions funded while four have part-time positions. Other positions are paid with discretionary money from the school funding, sometimes with help from PTA groups.

Of the 84 high school libraries, including span schools from 4th to 12th grades, 74 have full time Teacher Librarians who also teach classes, and 10 schools have part-time positions.

The district built 130 new schools in the past 15 years and so those book collections are newer, and the district is emphasizing their use of a “weeding” process to cull older books.

Walter Reed Middle School’s library at open house.

But after books are weeded, there’s no money to buy replacements.

The budget for new books last year for Tiffiny Federico at Walter Reed Middle School in Studio City was $1,800 — about $1 per student. That’s how much they raised at the Scholastic Book Fair, selling books to students and parents, with a percentage going back to the school to buy books for a classic library with high ceilings built as part of the FDR Work Progress program in 1938.

“My goal this summer was to research some grants and figure out how to do the Donors Choose and make inroads into the community with the parents to make the library survive this year,” Federico said. “I got rid of a lot of books, many of them hadn’t been checked out for decades, and I have no budget for more books.”

After 22 years of teaching English at Reed, Federico took over the Librarian Teacher position last year and began looking through the 22,000 catalogued items they have, including VHS tapes and DVDs. She weeded out about 10 percent of damaged and outdated books.

In her first year of training, Federico heard about other school libraries that were re-opening after 15 years and getting their inventory online. She teaches students at every grade level how to conduct research and use the LA Unified’s 18 data systems, how to find sources, and how to avoid plagiarism.

“Students feel comfortable coming here,” Federico said about her library. “During nutrition [class] we will have 50 or 60 kids coming in, playing with Pokemon cards or their role-playing games, or kids who didn’t do their homework, or some wandering around looking at books. There is always a line for the 12 computers.”

The library is one of the hubs of the school, and home to those training for the Spelling Bee, the Knitting Club and the Doctor Who Club that Federico runs. It is open at least 35 hours a week, before and after school and during lunch.

“If the students can’t find something, I send them to the North Hollywood Library where they have a big Manga (Japanese comic book) collection, and I tell the kids to ask them for a book because they have better funding to purchase it,” Federico said.

Only two years ago, nearly 65 percent of the LA Unified school libraries in elementary and middle school were completely shut down, so Federico said she sees some hope that things are changing. “Michelle King knows the importance of having a vibrant working library, and I get a good vibe that they see the importance of how a library can be the heart of your school,” Federico said. “In the past, Deasy thought libraries were a waste of money.”

To keep students coming back, Federico is planning a section of the library called a Maker Station that includes art supplies and science kits for students to work and create things.

The book theft detection device at Walter Reed that doesn’t work.

Another issue for Reed, and a big secret, is that the book detection bars at the doors of the library haven’t worked for at least two years. The scanners are supposed to sound off if an unchecked book passes through it.

“We keep them up because it still serves as a deterrent and the kids think it still works, but it will cost about $13,000 to replace it, and that’s unlikely to happen,” Federico said.

Lost or stolen books are yet another problem. Books cost about $25 each to replace, not including the cost of processing and filing them.

“Millions of books are missing because the libraries have been closed for so long,” said Parrish, who works at Dixie Canyon Community Charter School in Sherman Oaks. “If I were to tell you that at one school there was $75,000 worth of computers missing, people would flip out, but if it’s $75,000 worth of books missing from the library no one really addresses that.”

Meanwhile, the district’s Integrated Library Text Support Services promotes its library services and even has a photo gallery of libraries before and after as they are renewed and re-opened.

Ratliff said the replenishing of books has to be a priority for the school board. She said, “When introduced early, children love reading, they love books, and they love the library. I do think that we can find people who will want to donate to this cause.”

Latest numbers of those reassigned as “housed” employees from LA Unified.

A year after LA Unified pledged to expedite employees “housed” in teacher jails, district numbers show that there are more now than there were at this time a year ago.

According to numbers requested by LA School Report and released Wednesday, 181 LA Unified staff members are being paid to essentially do nothing while awaiting internal investigations about alleged misconduct, while the district has to hire substitutes to do their jobs.

Questions came up when school board members questioned the $15 million that was set aside in the superintendent’s budget that they approved Tuesday evening.

“So these are individuals we’re paying salaries to, and also paying for subs? They are not in the classroom?” asked board member Ref Rodriguez, turning to page 40 of the budget proposed for the next school year and pointing to the line item “Personnel with Pending Cases.” He said that $15 million “is too much, and we have to figure out how to keep moving that forward so that the taxpayers aren’t paying for someone to sit in a room, and if they are innocent they should go back to the classrooms and the money should go back to our kids.”

According to the district, as of June 22 there are 144 teachers and 37 classified employees (such as teacher’s assistants, playground supervisors, bus drivers and janitors) in what the district calls a “housed” situation, but more commonly known as the much-maligned “teacher jails.” The employees are not allowed to do any work, call anyone or be on a computer. They must report for their full day of work and then can go home. Some employees are allowed to serve their time at home as they wait for their names to be cleared. Forty-five of the cases are more than a year old.

Most of the cases (40 percent) involve sexual abuse or harassment allegations, 29 percent involve accusations of violence, and 13 percent involve “below standard performance.” The appropriate cases are referred to Los Angeles police if it’s determined a crime has been committed, and district officials said they try to expedite the cases as quickly as possible.

Last year, the numbers totaled 174 employees — 151 teachers and 23 classified employees — with 37 percent involving sexual harassment or abuse allegations and 32 percent cited for violent behavior.

The district has 26,800 teachers and 30,500 certified employees.

A 15-member Student Safety Investigation Team investigates the cases and either clears the employees or refers them for dismissal. The average length of an investigation is 75 days.

“We are constantly trying to streamline the process and complete the cases as soon as possible,” said Barbara Jones from the LA Unified communications office. “Most of these are new cases that have come up.”

Ref Rodriguez, Monica Ratliff and Richard Vladovic at the board meeting Tuesday night.

When the issue came up three and a half hours into the discussion of the budget at Tuesday’s regular board meeting, even school board President Steve Zimmer seemed shocked.

“Wait, I want to make sure of this, $15 million is the amount expected that will be centrally housed?” Zimmer asked.

Board member Monica Ratliff pointed out that the number is $5 million less than the $20 million budgeted for this past year.

LA Unified attorney David Holmquist said he thought the last number he heard was 162 cases left in that situation, which Rodriguez said “at least showed that the numbers were going down and being settled.”

But that’s not the case, according to the district’s latest accounting.

Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly explained that the $15 million is the anticipated costs “for our housed employees who are not designated to a school and we are paying for substitutes while there is pending personnel action.”

UTLA, the teachers union, has regular seminars for teachers in this situation and sought to combat the practice. The union has assigned a staff member to assist them.

Noted Los Angeles defense attorney Mark Geragos has an ongoing class-action case against the district on behalf of teacher Rafe Esquith, who was in a teacher jail and then dismissed. The case involves hundreds of teachers who found themselves in teacher jail.

The teacher jail numbers ballooned under former Superintendent John Deasy, when any teacher accused of misconduct was immediately taken out of the classroom. The practice began after the Miramonte Elementary School sexual abuse lawsuit involving former teacher Mark Berndt, which cost the district nearly $140 million. Both succeeding superintendents, Ramon Cortines and Michelle King, vowed to expedite teacher jail cases. Meanwhile, the numbers continue to grow.

Rachel Greene

Leaders from major parent groups brought school board members their recommendations for improving parent involvement in LA Unified.

Topping their list is a centralized Parent Advocate office and website for their concerns, they told board members of the Early Childhood Education and Parent Engagement Committee on Tuesday. Other  recommendations include involving parents in every principal search committee and providing resources and training.

One simple thing for the district to do is apologize to parents. “Apologizing for mistakes is actually evidence-based and reduces litigation,” said Kathy Kantner, a member of the Community Advisory Committee who spoke Tuesday.

School board member Ref Rodriguez, the committee’s chairman, said, “I’m very excited about this report, this is something we’ve been building up to.”

The biggest problem for parents is trying to figure out how to address grievances because there are so many avenues when dealing with the district’s downtown Beaudry headquarters. The various parent groups formed a study group that spanned all of the Local Districts and came up with suggestions, including:

• Establish an Office of the Parent Advocate with a website and telephone helpline that the parents suggest could be funded by the mayor’s office or LA County Office of Education.

• Hire and train administrators to be service leaders who have positive attitudes toward parental involvement in schools.

• Continue working to engage “everyday parents” but acknowledge and appreciate parent leaders, and perhaps designate them as Parent Ambassadors with different-colored volunteer badges.

• Share power in major decision making, budgets and other committees.

• Provide resources and training to parents when they are on campus at new family orientations, open houses and other events.

• Improve the handling of the use of Disruptive Persons Letters which the district gives to parents who create problems on campus and have their access to the school limited.

“We all know there are people who are struggling with mental issues and substance abuse, but too often these DPLs are given because of a power struggle with parents,” said  Kantner.

There were 486 DPLs handed out to parents in the last three years. Some parents get issued such a letter without being able to tell their side of the story, Kantner said.

“Our biggest ask is for the Office of Parent Advocate,” Kantner said. “We are in a position of growth and improvement with the district, by the very fact that we are having this discussion.”

She pointed out, “If I’m a parent and have a problem, it’s really hard to figure out where to go.”

Rachel Greene, of the Parent Advisory Committee, also presented the report.

Juan Jose Mangandi from the District English Learner Advisory Committee said through a translator, “It is time for parents to be critical and see what we lack for our children in education. We must change the attitude of coldness of education by people who see it as a business and not as a mission.”

Some parents mentioned former Superintendent John Deasy as creating some of the problems with parental engagement. “For Deasy engagement was not his strength,” said  Araceli Simeon of Parent Organizing Network. “We saw how he engaged parents, board members … and that had an effect. The leader sets the tone for the rest of the structure.”

Board member Scott Schmerelson said that when he was a principal he felt most problems could be solved at his level, and he resented when parents went over his head. “Most issues can be solved right at the site,” he said.

Kantner said she had once been told to stop calling people at the Beaudry headquarters. “When an issue wasn’t resolved it seems like our concerns were shunted aside,” Kantner said.

Juan Molinez, another parent who spoke during the public comment period, said he is concerned about parental involvement in the district because “especially the low-income families have a lot of outrage.” He said the meetings are not enough. “The voices of other parents are not being heard. Parental involvement is free, and we can help so much more.”

“It is important that the district has done so much to engage with parents, but we have a long way to go,” Rodriguez said. “Only through working together can we get there.”

Rodriguez asked for another report at his next meeting to determine whether to go before the full board for specific actions.

Former superintendent Ramon Cortines with 20th Street families over the summer. (Photo by Omar Calvillo.)

LA Unified has rejected a parent petition to take over a failing elementary school in South Central Los Angeles, reversing district policy and essentially asserting that no California school qualifies under the state “parent trigger” law.

Parents of 20th Street Elementary School were informed of the district’s rejection in a letter late Saturday, the last day the district had to notify the parents. They had hoped to be able to take over the school and possibly create a charter through the state’s Parent Empowerment Act, or parent trigger, which has been used twice to help under-performing LA Unified schools.

“We are so disappointed, all the parents are really upset,” said Guadalupe Aragon, one of the parents who started the petition drive. “We just want our children to have the same opportunities to get to college that other children in the district have, and this was our only way to do it. We are very angry.”

After two years of trying to get changes at the school, and dropping the threatened trigger by the parents at least once, the 20th Street Parents Union filed again last month to take over the school with 57 percent of the families (the parents of 342 students) signing a petition.

“This is shameful,” said former California state senator Gloria Romero, who authored the law, after reading the district’s letter. “They have a brand new superintendent and she is harking to the past, in a sense. Where is the leadership? It’s supposed to be a new game with LA being unified. This does not bode well for the spirit of the law.”

The law was passed in 2010 and used at two LA Unified schools in 2013. That year, statewide tests were suspended in anticipation of computerized tests based on the Common Core State Standards. The following year former Superintendent John Deasy argued that the district was exempt, for one year, from the parent trigger by a federal waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law that allowed LA Unified and seven other California school districts to create their own metrics for academic performance in the temporary absence of statewide standards.

One of the first things interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines did when he took over was to reverse Deasy’s edict and lift the ban on parent triggers. King worked under both Deasy and Cortines.

King and her staff met with parents only five days before the letter was sent out rejecting their petition. The meeting last Monday, held at district headquarters, was called by King and also attended by representatives of Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which was brought in by the district to see if it might be a solution for the parents.

Joan Sullivan, CEO for Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, said she was invited to attend the meeting at the district to offer some sort of solution for 20th Street. Partnership was offering a hybrid of a charter and traditional school as an option, which they have done in 17 schools over the past eight years in the South Central LA area.

“Parents are asking for a choice, and we could offer a good option,” said Sullivan said. “We take on whole schools and support them with the current student body and most of the staff and use the parent involvement and voice.”

At last week’s meeting, the district “never told us that our school may not be eligible or that there was any problem with our petition,” Aragon said.

In a statement Monday to LA School Report, King said, “Some parents were dissatisfied with our efforts and filed petitions under the Parent Empowerment Act to change the governance structure of 20th Street Elementary School. Because the law doesn’t apply to this situation, we returned the petitions. However, we remain committed to working with parents to address all concerns in a timely manner.”

The letter to the parents, written by LAUSD General Counsel David Holmquist, gave four reasons why the parents’ petition was denied, including some of the same reasoning that Deasy used.

20th Street Parents Union meeting.

First, the letter said the school doesn’t have an Academic Performance Index under 800 as the law requires. That’s not true, according to Gabe Rose of Parent Revolution, a group that helps parents organize and take over a failing campus. He said the API score of the school is based on the past three years of scores, and 20th Street has a score of 765. There is no API score for this school year because the state suspension of testing.

Second, the letter notes that a school must fail to show Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), but the district letter states that 20th Street has in fact improved, based on state data released in December. However, the AYP no longer measures test scores, because of the suspension in testing, but simply measures the attendance of students during the test. LA Unified released data showing that 20th Street has 96.29 percent attendance compared to 95 percent for the district.

The Anaheim School District used a similar argument regarding AYP to to fight a parent trigger at Palm Lane Elementary School, but it was rejected by a judge last summer. The district has appealed the ruling.

Third, the district said that a federal waiver granted to the California Office to Reform Education, or CORE, exempted the district and “relieved LAUSD from the requirements of taking improvement actions,” according to the letter by Holmquist. But the U.S. Department of Education, which granted the waiver and was asked to clarify its conditions, stated at the time that neither the federal government nor any other entity can override a state law.

In its fourth reason for rejecting the 20th Street petition, LA Unified said the parents didn’t state whether they wanted to have a solution within the district or create an independent charter school. But according to the state trigger law, parents’ petitions are not required to state their preferences. Aragon and other parents said they always had the intention of entertaining charter management organizations to help their school.

One of those is Magnolia Public Schools, led by CEO Caprice Young, a former LA Unified school board member. She said, “We absolutely want to support the families of 20th Street Elementary School, and we know we have a phenomenal program that can help them. We like working with proactive families, and this shows that LAUSD does not want parents to be involved, otherwise they would support this.”

Young said she remembered when Cortines reversed Deasy’s initial stance against the triggers, and said, “LAUSD has a moral obligation to uphold this.”

Romero said the district shouldn’t waste taxpayer money fighting parents on this issue, especially since she created the law to avoid just that. The law firm of Kirkland & Ellis has offered to handle the legal issues for parent triggers at no cost throughout the state.

Mark Holscher, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, said his firm is helping the parents in communities that couldn’t afford legal representation on their own. He said he cannot discuss any plans yet that the 20th Street parents may have about pursing a case against LA Unified but did say the situation is very similar to the one they represented in Anaheim.

“The LA Unified School District sent our clients an email on Saturday and said they were inspired by the courageous conversations of the parent leaders, but those are empty words,” Holscher said. “What they’ve done is refuse to even consider the parent trigger law. Parents tried to work with the district on the last petition. LAUSD didn’t honor what they said they would do. They can’t ignore the Parent Empowerment Act.”

In response, King said, “LA Unified is committed to partnering with all parents of 20th Street Elementary School to provide our students with high quality learning opportunities and to help them succeed. We are continuing to strengthen instructional supports and enhance social-emotional and parent-engagement programs that are essential to the school community. We look forward to working with the school community to build a unified vision that addresses the needs of all students.”

Romero said the district must do more. “Ultimately, the parents and schools will prevail,” Romero said. “LAUSD needs to read the law. It would be in the best interest of reform for LA Unified to accept the parent petition and not fight the parents. The sacrifice is that they are losing more time for kids. It’s shameful.”

This article has been corrected to note the year that John Deasy requested the one-year exemption, which was in 2013, and that the Anaheim School District had used the AYP argument in its rejection of the Palm Lane trigger, not the CORE waiver argument. 

It’s a slower, more methodical strategy than the approach taken by former Superintendent John Deasy, which led to the botched $1.3 billion iPad program, an FBI investigation, his resignation and an abrupt end to the program.

The 2015-2016 Strategic Execution Plan proposed by Shahryar Khazei, the district’s chief information officer, will “provide our schools with the infrastructure and equipment they need to teach all the students the skills they will need for success in the 21st century workforce,” he said.

Among the goals and expected accomplishments by the end of this school year are:

• Replacing deteriorated cables, switchers and routers and increasing bandwidth at 461 schools.
• Modernizing 95 percent of the existing school networks at 357 schools,
• Adding 37 technology aides to give direct support to schools.
• Providing greater network security at 92 percent of the schools, or 686 of 749.

The program doesn’t come without extra costs, paid for by local bond measures and a federal program. The budget increased by $14 million for the Instructional Technology Initiative, and the MiSiS budget increased by $100 million.

The goal is to ensure that at least 99 percent of the district schools have internet access and full support for tablets, printers, computers, smartphones, access points and more. The plan includes building a shared video solution for schools to store, view and load videos and use video conferencing. And, it will channel information through a secure and monitored server.

The IT division is piloting programs at a dozen schools that connect the public address system, telephones, audio visual equipment, intercommunication and notification services to the tech devices, using a single “pipe” that lowers costs to the district. It’s similar to how phone, television and internet access all comes through the same wiring at homes today.

The pilot program is at 11 elementary schools — 109th Street, 118th Street, Avalon Gardens, Dorris Place, Garvanza, Kim, Raymond Avenue, Ritter, San Gabriel, Strathern, Wilshire Park — and the Marlton School,.

The IT team is asking all schools for a written technology integration plan. It is also conducting a survey to determine the extent that existing infrastructure can be reutilized to reduce future projects’ costs. To date 59 percent of the school surveys are complete.

By April, the Instructional Technology Initiative Task Force plans to give recommendations for more district-wide technology programs for next year. The 40-person task force, comprised of principals, teachers, students, parents and tech staff as well as outside business representatives, was formed by former Superintendent Ramon Cortines and is meeting every Thursday to discuss ways to more easily mix technology and teaching.

Those meetings are open to the public.

The finish line is in view. In all likelihood, by this time next week, LA Unified will have its next superintendent.

Just who that will be remains uncertain to the world beyond the seven board members and a few district officials. The process has been moving along at a relatively brisk pace, considering the enormity of the job, and to the board’s credit, there have been no leaks.

But it’s not that difficult to speculate on the kind off superintendent this board wants to lead the district: In short, the person selected will have qualifications, background and political savvy as close to Ramon Cortines and as far from John Deasy as possible.

More than anything, this board does not want a superintendent with a strong, independent vision or aggressive agenda: Cortines won the board’s love by anticipating where the majority of support lies on a given issue, then acting on it. He also offered wise counsel, reflecting his decades of work in administration.

But as in any other high-profile election —  and that is what this is, with board members who view public education through vastly different prisms — the winning candidate will not satisfy every constituent group on every important issue.

More than likely, the new superintendent will come from a mid-sized to large school district that has been run effectively and without the drama usually present here as it plays out in opposing philosophical views about charter schools and the ever-present challenge to satisfy the district’s largest labor partners.

Given the size of LA Unified as measured by its budget, student population, facilities and needs, there is likely not a Super-superintendent in the wings. The choice will be a mortal, with more strengths than weaknesses, but weaknesses nonetheless; more of a collaborator than a decider, more a steady doubles hitter than a home run threat who strikes out as often as clears the bases.

If that is, indeed, the ideal candidate, and more than one candidate remains under consideration, the final choice in a city as diverse as Los Angeles could be determined by demographics: Since 1937, LA Unified boards have tended to choose white men, with an occasional black (David Brewer) and Latino (Ruben Zacarias, Cortines). What they have never chosen is a woman.

The guess here is that any of the remaining candidates would be acceptable to the board, and the person selected will be the one judged to have the highest ratio of assets to liabilities, gender notwithstanding. And the only element of skin that will matter is not the color but the thickness, for the criticism sure to follow.

His last full workday was last Friday, and it included an emergency meeting with the Southern California Gas Company to get the latest update on a gas leak in Porter Ranch and how it affects the safety of two nearby schools. The safety of the students remains a primary concern for the 83-year-old superintendent, who is bidding farewell to the district for the third time.

As a personal joke, Cortines created a “For Rent” sign and taped it to the outside of his office on the 24th floor of the Beaudry St. headquarters.

It’s been one year and one month since he took over after John Deasy resigned in a wave of controversy. Cortines bookended Deasy’s tenure, serving from 2009 to 2011 before retiring the first time. He also served in 2000 as superintendent before Roy Romer was named to the position.

Everyone knew Cortines had planned to leave by the end of this calendar year, and he pushed the school board to find a successor, a process now in the final stages. A week before school started this year, he gave his State-of-the-District speech at Garfield High School, also knowing it would be the last time he would address a large gathering of teachers and principals.

He used that time to talk directly to the school board—and to tease them–saying, “I’ve been blessed to share many unforgettable memories with them. Well some of them. I’m reminded of my many meetings with Mr. [Richard] Vladovic in his field office–the Starbucks in San Pedro.”

He recalled “Ms. [Mónica] Ratliff asking just one more question after we have tirelessly attempted to answer 20 before. Mr. [Steve] Zimmer meticulously answering every question in detail. Dr. [George] McKenna conveying his point with poetry and passion. And the cheerleader Ms. [Mónica] García, going ‘Hello people!’”

Cortines mentioned the two newly-elected board members Ref Rodriguez and Scott Schmerelson, and said, “Our diversity is what makes us strong, but our unity is what makes us unstoppable.”

Impromptu celebrations and good-byes have been going on all month. In late November just before the Thanksgiving break, he thanked the Instructional Technology Initiative Task Force and said he hopes to see it continue his vision of bringing technology to every student. Students surprised him with an hour-long singing tribute from various schools, including the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts. The school board took a break from a meeting to attend a reception for him.

Last week, Cortines visited the MiSiS computer team and thanked the members for their support and work. They, in turn, gave him a large wine goblet.

Cortines said to the team, “I am so pleased with the progress that’s been made in so many areas. It will never be perfect. Education is not perfect. It is constantly evolving. We have taken a lot of steps together this year, but there are a lot more rungs to go.”

He has given a few speeches in recent weeks calling for unity in the district and the board’s commitment to remember the students, one of the reasons Zimmer has referred to him as “America’s superintendent.”

When Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez spent a day with him last week before conducting a public interview, the writer noted, “This is a man who is beloved. To go through the building with this guy, they are star struck with smiles on their faces. They all want their time with Mr. Cortines.”

Cortines has been self-effacing in response to the appreciation and accolades but hasn’t missed a chance to poke fun at himself. When the lights in the school board meeting room recently flickered off, he quipped, “I did it; it’s an act of god.”

Then before last week’s board meeting he ended, he took the opportunity to leave the room quietly, without further attention.

He gave a final interview to Barbara Jones, a member of the district communications staff who used to cover him as a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News. He modestly shrugged off his accomplishments and told her, “I should have been put out to pasture long ago. There should have been people much younger than I am who were able to take the situation that we were in and say, ‘OK, we can fix it.’”

He said he wants to do a lot of reading when he retires and has a stack of books waiting in the library of his Pasadena home.

He sent a memo out on Friday noting that he will no longer be in his office due to his retirement, and asked all memos to go to Deputy Chief Superintendent Michelle King.

He ended with, “I also want to take this opportunity to say that serving the students and the LAUSD community has been one of the most challenging, enthralling, and most rewarding endeavors of my career. I take with me the wonderful memories of our schools, students and staff that I will reflect upon and smile about often.”

Former LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy

On Dec. 1 it will be a year since FBI agents showed up at LA Unified’s headquarters with a federal grand jury subpoena and carted off 20 boxes of documents related to the district’s controversial iPad program.

Since that day little if any new information has been publicly revealed about the investigation’s status, and that is primarily due to the secrecy laws that surround federal grand juries. Unless the jury issues an indictment or an investigative report, the evidence and testimony is by law to remain forever sealed, and leaks of federal grand jury evidence are extremely rare.

With almost a year passed since the subpoena, it is possible the grand jury found no evidence of wrong doing and has dissolved, but James A. Cohen, an associate law professor at Fordham University, said it’s unusual — though not impossible — for a grand jury investigation to take more than a year.

“It’s coming up on a year in December. It’s a long period, no question. It’s not that unusual, but it is still on the unusual side,” he said.

Cohen helps run Fordham’s Federal Litigation Clinic, which represents defendants charged with federal crimes; he has also written about and researched the grand jury system. Cohen pointed out that an LA Unified school board agenda item from August, as was reported by LA School Report, indicates that the district’s lawyers might have foreseen trouble coming from the investigation or a related lawsuit.

The brief item, which simply said the board was going to discuss the case in a closed session, was listed on the agenda due to a state law that reads “on the advice of its legal counsel, based on existing facts and circumstances, there is a significant exposure to litigation against the local agency.”

Cohen said this is an important indicator.

“I think what it means, what it has to mean, is somebody, a civil lawyer representing (LA Unified), has gone through the documents that were sent to the FBI and concluded that there is liability out there,” Cohen said.

The grand jury subpoena in particular sought information related to the bidding process for the massive $1.3 billion Common Core Technology Project. The controversial program, which aimed to give every student and teacher in LA Unified a computer tablet, was one of the major initiatives undertaken by former Superintendent John Deasy, who resigned 13 months ago.

Deasy paused the purchase of new iPads under the contract in August of 2014 after emails surfaced showing that he and a deputy, Jamie Aquino, had a close relationship with Apple and Pearson, a company that provided educational software for the iPads. Deasy’s successor, Ramon Cortines, cancelled the contract the day after the FBI seized the documents and later abandoned the goal of giving every student and teacher a tablet.

The emails showed that both Deasy and Aquino were in close contact with Pearson and Apple before the contract was awarded. Aquino was a former employee of a Pearson subsidiary, and to some it looked as if the bid was rigged in favor of Apple and Pearson. In media interviews, both Deasy and Aquinio denied any wrong doing. Aquino had already left the district when the emails were revealed, and Deasy resigned just a few months later.

While the targets of the FBI investigation are unknown, Cohen said anyone indicted on charges related to bid rigging would be facing the potential of serious jail time.

“Mail fraud and wire fraud are favorites of federal prosecutors. You’ve got all sorts of bribery statutes. Those would be the kind (from bid rigging). There’s also conspiracy and aiding and abetting,” he said.

While there is supreme secrecy surrounding federal grand juries, an exception is that anyone called to testify before a grand jury is free to speak publicly about their own testimony.

“The secrecy for grand juries is very strict. There is an attorney general in the state of Pennsylvania who is under indictment for leaking grand jury materials. It’s just a statement for how serious the courts take it,” Cohen said. “Witnesses are discouraged from (speaking publicly). So a prosecutor will have a meeting with them, making it clear that we strongly discourage you from saying anything about your testimony, and only if asked.”

Both Deasy and Aquinio did not respond to a request to comment on this story or to discuss any testimony they may have given to the grand jury, although it is unknown if they were subpoenaed to do so.

If the grand jury were not to issue any indictments, Cohen said there are only two possible outcomes. One is the jury will dissolve and any evidence it gathered would be forever sealed, barring a leak. The other option is for the jury to issue an investigative report, which essentially means it found no criminal liability on the part of any individuals but did find problems with how an organization is operating.

“The grand jury may in fact come up with nothing and they may not find anybody to indict, but the jury might say we find the following flaws in the bidding process,” Cohen said, adding that investigative reports are rare.

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Those are some of the findings in the draft Leadership Profile compiled by the search firm hired to seek candidates for the next LA Unified superintendent.

In preparation for a public presentation tomorrow to the LAUSD school board, the search firm of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates posted an array of responses collected from the surveys and from the 100-plus community meetings and interviews the firm held. The data dump includes breakdowns of the kinds of people they’ve heard from as well as all the comments posted on the surveys and all of the issues brought up at community meetings and by the board members.

From the seven school board members themselves, the suggestions included finding a fast learner, a listener, someone who cares about children and education, and someone who is media savvy.

A total of 9,461 people filled out the survey either online or on paper, and the same number of teachers filled out the survey as did parents (about 28 percent each). The number of students filling out the online survey was higher than the number of administrators (10 percent compared with about 8 percent).

A total of 1,605 people participated in interviews and focus groups, and the number of “community members” attending was higher than the combined totals of teachers, staff and students.

In a fascinating comparison with more than 70 other school districts and 35,000 responses nationwide, the search firm found that some of the characteristics wanted in an LAUSD superintendent were far different from the national trend. LA Unified stakeholders picked their top characteristic as: “Foster a positive professional climate of mutual trust and respect among faculty, staff, and administrators” while that was ranked 7th in the national ranking. The top national characteristic — “Have a clear vision of what is required to provide exemplary educational services and implement effective change” — ranked only 9th among LAUSD responses.

The second highest ranked characteristic locally was more in line with the national trend. “Hold a deep understanding of the teaching/learning process and of the importance of educational technology” was ranked #2 in Los Angeles and third in the nation.

And, the third highest LA characteristic of “Guide the operation and maintenance of school facilities to ensure secure, safe, and clean school environments that support learning” was ranked only 17th nationwide.

Charter schools were brought up in every interview and focus group meeting, according to the search firm. The report says, “Stakeholders who are charter school employees, or have children in charters, describe them as great learning opportunities. Others described them as the bane of the district and believe all students should attend ‘public schools.’”

As far as charters go, the search firm recommends that the new superintendent “find a way to build bridges, and ensure quality across all the schools that serve LAUSD students. While this issue was often described as an ‘either or’ proposition, new approaches will be essential to attain a workable solution for all constituents. Some participants suggested that the district market its schools the way charter schools do by creating more LAUSD school options and choices. It was also suggested that charter schools be held to the same academic standards, assessment requirements and service options as LAUSD schools.”

In the comments section of the survey, 166 administrators, parents, teachers and staff wrote negative comments about Eli Broad and the proposal to add more charter schools to LAUSD. More than 500 comments involved charter schools, many expressing concern over how they could undermine traditional public schools.

Some attribute declining enrollment to the expansion of charter schools, the report says. Attracting students back into the district is perceived as a critical issue for the new superintendent, according to the search firm.

Staff members described recent leadership and fiscal challenges as “very difficult for everyone associated with the district,” but said that recent agreements concerning salary freezes, furlough days and layoffs have helped. The surveyors heard a lot of criticism of former superintendent John Deasy in all levels of the interviews and almost an equal amount of praise for Ramon Cortines, who took over for Deasy when he left last year.

Parents and students were very complimentary of LAUSD’s administrators, teachers and support staff member. But, staff members shared numerous concerns and examples of “feeling undervalued and unsupported.” The report says, “Consistent themes in discussions with staff members in all employment categories concerned damage done to staff morale under previous administrations.”

Some people complained about the inadequate MiSiS system and the iPad debacle, and cited technology as not a particularly big concern. The report says they received “numerous examples of inadequate, poorly maintained, and aging facilities.”

Forum and interview participants liked the new six Local District structure that Cortines formed, and “expressed an appreciation for a change in direction in trying to address issues often associated with a diverse student body by establishing a strong social justice approach.” This includes leadership for restorative justice, anti-bullying efforts, rights of LGBT students and others and commitment to equity.

Battles over large policy issues have caused stress that impact staff morale, and the report points out one participant who said, “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

Overall, the categories of “community engagement” and “instructional leadership” ranked as more important than “vision values” and “management.”

The challenges and concerns that people have for the next superintendent include: bringing families back to the district, declining enrollment, employee well-being, facility needs and financial challenges. A fair number of comments suggested a preference for an LA Unified “insider” to get the superintendent job

Ultimately, the characteristics must include the ability to manage the complex daily operations of LAUSD, have a decentralized leadership approach, communicate successfully to a larger community, and create a culture that welcomes parents into the educational process and engagement at school sites.

Is it too much to ask? The search firm stated rather plainly that it “cannot promise to find a candidate who possesses all of the characteristics desired by respondents. However, HYA and the board intend to meet the challenge of finding an individual who possesses most of the skills and character traits required to address the concerns expressed by the constituent groups.”

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According to Caputo-Pearl, the union has not updated its dues structure since its inception 45 years ago, which now “literally threatens the future of UTLA.”

In the video, Caputo-Pearl points out that UTLA’s monthly fees are lower than other large teacher unions in the country and lower than most other teacher unions in the state.

The video also includes a humorous reference to former LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy, who resigned a year ago. Deasy and Caputo-Pearl locked horns frequently, but now Deasy is working at the Broad Center, and its affiliated Broad Foundation is currently developing a plan to expand charter schools in the district to include half of all students.

Caputo-Pearl claims in the video that UTLA has confirmed that Deasy is, in fact, the architect of the plan, which was outlined in a 48-page draft report. Caputo-Pearl calls this the “reanimation” of Deasy. Reanimation? Is that a reference to the 80s cult classic film, “Re-Animator“?

The film is about a doctor who discovers how to bring corpses back from the dead. Using the film as a metaphor, it certainly shows the ironic position Caputo-Pearl finds himself in. He helped chase Deasy out of the district, which he hailed as a “victory” for UTLA. But now Deasy is arguably in a much more powerful position as he allegedly orchestrates a plan that would wipe out half of the jobs of UTLA members.

As the trailer for the film says, “Once you wake up the dead, you’ve got a real mess on your hands.”

Check out the full UTLA video below.

A Call for a Californian 

LA Unified is currently in a hot search for a new superintendent and is already receiving applications and putting together a list of potential candidates. As the district contemplates what kind of superintendent it wants, the union that represents its principals, the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA), has an interesting request: make sure he or she is from California.

The opening of AALA’s latest newsletter reads: “The time has come for the District’s next superintendent to be from California! The previous superintendents from Florida, Colorado, Virginia, and Prince George’s County [MD] have produced a mixed-bag of results for the District at best! Besides, the proof is in the pudding with Superintendent Cortines. This is his third tour of duty with the Los Angeles Unified School District and, by all accounts and Google searches, he is a Californian!”

Just simply finding any qualified candidate, let alone one with as specific a credential as where they grew up, has proven to be a challenge for LAUSD in the past. As one district staffer told LA School Report a year ago when Deasy stepped down, “The truth is there aren’t a lot of superintendents out there who have run any government agency of this size. That leaves LAUSD with a very short list of candidates with actual experience.”

Then there is Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, who said back then: “I don’t know a single person on earth who would want that terrible job. It won’t be a change agent. It will be a status quo candidate who will make life pleasant for himself by enjoying all the wrapping of the superintendency and being smart enough not to try and change a thing.”

Certainly there must be at least one Californian out there fitting that criteria.

Girls Build LA Initiative

About 7,000 high school girls from around Los Angeles County were invited this week to the West Coast premiere of a new documentary called “He Named Me Malala” at L.A. Live. The film is about the girl who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The event was part of the LA Fund’s launch of the Girls Build LA Initiative, a program designed to” encourage girls to pursue their education and challenge them to be problem solvers in their schools and communities.”

The Girls Build LA Initiative will also award grants to 50 teams of eight to 10 girls around the county for designing projects that address problems affect their education and communities.

Aside from the movie, the girls at the screening were also treated to a message from First Lady Michelle Obama. See it below:

It is just a single line in the agenda for tomorrow’s closed board meeting, but it may speak volumes.

Described as “anticipated litigation,” the board will be discussing possible ramifications of the FBI probe, arising out of state law that reads, “A point has been reached where, in the opinion of the legislative body of the local agency on the advice of its legal counsel, based on existing facts and circumstances, there is a significant exposure to litigation against the local agency.”

The document seizure happened as the result of a federal grand jury subpoena looking into potential bid rigging in the district’s $1.3 billion Common Core Technology Program, which sought to get a computer tablet in the hands of every student and teacher in the district.

Due to the secrecy laws surrounding federal grand juries, little has been known about the nature of the investigation since the seizure. But the board’s closed meeting agenda is the first indication that a grand jury might have identified legal problems with how the district conducted the bid process and, as a result, that the district might face legal action. No indictments have been brought in the case, and federal law requires that details of the grand jury investigations remain sealed unless one is brought.

LA Unified’s Director of Communications Shannon Haber said under the advisement of district General Counsel David Holmquist, she cannot comment on the closed session. Laura Eimiller, spokesperson for the FBI’s Los Angeles Division, did not return a call seeking comment.

The ambitious Common Core Technology Project was the brainchild of former Superintendent John Deasy, but it came under severe scrutiny when the public release of emails last August revealed that Deasy and a key underling, Jaime Aquino, had a high level of communication with the two companies that ultimately won the bid, Apple and Pearson.

That led to questions about whether Apple and Pearson had an inside track to win the contracts. Deasy and Aquino have always maintained that the bidding process was conducted fairly, with preference given to no one.

After the emails were revealed, Deasy cancelled the contract with Apple and Pearson and said he was going to reopen the bidding process to keep the program alive. With the program’s pilot and early rollout experiencing severe technical and logistical problems, public scrutiny of the program increased, and Deasy resigned in October.

Less than two months after Ramon Cortines was hired as Deasy’s replacement, the FBI seized at least 20 boxes of files and district officials confirmed they were the result of a federal grand jury probe. Cortines cancelled the Common Core Technology Project shortly after and publicly declared that the district could not afford any 1-to-1 tablet program.

Other board meeting notes

The board is technically holding two separate closed sessions tomorrow, with one dedicated to finding a new superintendent and the other for discussions over the FBI case and other legal issues, as well as some personnel and student discipline issues. The search for a new superintendent will also be part of the open meeting, scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

For the board’s regular public meeting, there are no major resolutions scheduled to come up for a vote. Board member Mónica García is bringing several resolutions forward for the district to recognize Latino Heritage Month, Student Attendance Month, National Coming Out Day and College Awareness Month.

There will also be several public hearings regarding charter school petitions.

Alex Caputo-Pearl, the president of the United Teachers Los Angeles union, told the LA School Report that he has made it known to the school board the kind of superintendent teachers want in a successor to Ramon Cortines.

“So far we have been advocating these three issues,” he said. “We want the process to be transparent and open and understandable. It can’t be a move from the corner office to the front office like John Deasy was last time around and without a process. That didn’t work out well.”

The search process is now underway, with the board set to pick an executive search firm on Sunday. There’s a deadline to the extent that Cortines says he want to step down by December. At the outside, the board wants a successor in place before the start of the 2016-2017 school year.

Once the finalists are chosen, Caputo-Pearl is advocating public meetings where educators, parents and the community can ask the candidates questions and voice concerns. “We need to see how they get to engage with folks,” he said.

“The second thing that we feel strongly about is that it should be someone who has an education background, who has a history of collaboration with different stakeholders, obviously with educators but also with parents, community organizations and more,” Caputo-Pearl said.

“And the third thing we have advocated strongly about is that it not be someone out of the Eli Broad Academy,” he added, pointing out that Deasy was from that academy. “We strongly believe that the philosophy that’s used in the Broad Academy is essentially to teach people autocratic methods of leading, and that was a lot of the problem with the iPads and MiSiS. It was full stream ahead no matter what other people said even though it’s not ready, even though there are legal problems with how a bid is being done. We can’t afford that kind of autocratic hot house behavior anymore.”

Although he has had conflicts with Cortines, the UTLA chief said, “He is somebody who comes out of education who understand schools and is someone that we can talk to and try to solve problems with. But we have certainly struggled with Cortines.”

Caputo-Pearl said he plans to maintain communications with the school board as the search process continues. As for his relationship with newly-elected board president Steve Zimmer, Caputo-Pearl said he has worked with him for more than two decades on such challenges as social justice issues and immigrant rights.

“I’ve known him for a long time, and we have a good solid, communicative relationship,” he said.

UTLA President Alex Caputo Pearl

* UPDATED

UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl said the teachers union is planning an aggressive campaign to oppose Eli Broad and other wealthy foundation leaders who have announced plans for a major expansion of charter schools in LA Unified.

In a wide-ranging interview that focused on the state of charters in the district, Caputo-Pearl was highly critical of the effort, asserting that charters are undermining the ability of traditional district schools to maintain a quality education for all students.

“We’re going to make every effort that we can to organize against the expansion of what are essentially unregulated non-union schools that don’t play by the rules as everybody else,” Caputo-Pearl told LA School Report. “So we’re going to take that on in the public, take that on in the media, engage the school board on it. We’re going to try to engage Eli Broad. We’re going to try to engage John Deasy because we understand he’s the architect of it. It will be a major effort. It is a major concern.”

The charter expansion plans involve three major foundations that have been active for years in education reform across the country: the Broad Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and the W.M. Keck Foundation. They said they intend to create enough charter schools in eight years to serve as many as half of LA Unified students.

The California Charter School Association has consistently denied that there are separate rules for charters, pointing to the fact that charters have to demonstrate academic achievement and financial stability to remain operating. Many charters do employ non-union teachers, but UTLA in recent years has succeeded in unionizing a number of them.

Caputo-Pearl’s targeting of Deasy evolves from Deasy’s association with Broad before and after he served as LA Unified’s superintendent. Before he was hired in 2011, Deasy attended the Broad Academy, which prepares senior executives for roles in urban education. He resigned as superintendent last year after problems with the iPad program, leading to a federal investigation of the bid process. Currently, he is a consultant for The Broad Center, a separate non-proft organization that helps train future education leaders.

Deasy was replaced as superintendent by Ramon Cortines, who says he intends to step down in December.

“It turns out (Deasy) is involved here with Eli Broad and and this effort, but what really offends us about Eli Broad is that he has been two-faced on issues of public education,” Caputo-Pearl said. “He publicly supported Proposition 30, which was arguably the most important thing in public education in decades in terms of restoring the system. Yet privately was funneling his cash in efforts to defeat it.”

Proposition 30 was a state measure approved by voters in 2012 that raised taxes to support public education.

The Board Foundation did not immediately respond to a message, seeking comment.

Caputo-Pearl and other teacher union leaders, local and national, have fought against the rise of charter schools, asserting that they undermine public education by draining financial support from public education systems and creating an educational caste system that favors some demographic groups over others.

For Caputo-Pearl and UTLA, Deasy personified the challenge for his open support for alternatives to traditional schools.

“We are concerned about these flavor-of-the-day interventions in the school system by billionaires who think that they know things, but really don’t,” Caputo-Pearl said. “The last major intervention that Eli Broad did at LAUSD was making John Deasy superintendent. That didn’t work out too well. We’re under an FBI investigation because of John Deasy. We finally, finally have begun to make improvements to the MiSiS system that spent tens of millions of dollars and had kids out of class for weeks. We of course had the iPad fiasco. We had the beat down of moral of (Deasy’s) autocratic style across the district. Our members are telling us we don’t need another intervention from Eli Broad in LAUSD.”

So strong is UTLA’s animus toward Deasy that Caputo-Pearl said he has urged the school board in its search for Cortines’s replacement to find someone “not out of the Broad Academy.”

“John Deasy was out of the Broad Academy. A lot of the people that he brought in were out of the Broad Academy,” Caputo-Pearl said. “Broad has 120 different people across California that have come out of the Academy who are in high management positions, clearly that’s part of the game that’s being played here.”

While the foundations are formulating their charter expansion plans and UTLA is devising its counter-measures, Caputo-Pearl said he would try to establish a productive working relationship with charter school advocates, such as newly-elected board member Ref Rodriguez, a former charter school executive. He and Rodriguez have met several times.

“One of main issues I raised with him is was that we feel a big part of our strategic plan is around public school accountability and sustainability,” Caputo-Pearl said. “I told him that we want to engage him this issue that all publicly-funded schools need to have common standards we need to adhere to, in terms of equity and access to all students, opportunities for parents to be genuinely involved, adherence to conflict of interest standards, financial transparency, basic common sense apple pie stuff.”

* Corrects John Deasy’s current role with the Broad Center

]]> https://www.laschoolreport.com/cortines-promises-misis-is-fixed-and-ready-to-go-as-new-school-year-opens/ Fri, 07 Aug 2015 18:37:30 +0000 http://laschoolreport.com/?p=35959 Looking to calm any last-minute fears that the start of the new school year will mirror last year’s troublesome beginning, LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines is promising that the MiSiS computer system has been fixed and will operate smoothy when schools open later this month.

“MiSiS is the heart of this district,” he said in a statement from the district. “After months of tireless repairs, our heart has some new stents, replaced valves, a pacemaker, and reduced cholesterol, and it is pumping much stronger.”

It was a mighty sick patient a year ago, with malfunctions causing computer breakdowns, scheduling nightmares and other distuptions. Jefferson High School was hit the hardest, with the MiSiS problems leading to a walkout after hundreds of students were left without proper class schedules.

MiSiS was given an original price tag of $29 million, but it has ballooned to $133 million. The additional investment of funds and personnel has paid off, Cortines said.

“Despite the challenges we’ve faced, I’ve never seen so much excitement and enthusiasm for the start of the school year,” he said. “Everyone has come together to help pick up the broken pieces of our schools and put them back together again. I’m very grateful that the LAUSD community was there to take action.”

The district said technical teams have spent the past year rebuilding MiSiS — My Integrated Student Information System — to ensure that class schedules and attendance programs will be operating properly when classes begin on Aug. 18. The district said its experts will be available to resolve any last-minute issues.

MiSiS wasn’t the only cloud hanging over LA Unified as last school year began. Former Superintendent John Deasy was under intense criticism for the rollout, functionality and bidding process of his ambitious iPads project. Deasy resigned in October, and the iPad program was cancelled by Cortines not long after he took over.

But the district now has over 230,000 tablets and laptops on hand that were purchased over the last two years. Principals who want to use the laptops must submit a plan for how they will be implemented, the release said.

The district pointed to other improvements over last year, including the reorganizing of LA Unified into smaller local districts, new investments in arts education, and the plan to provide all of the district’s students with lessons in computer science.

The district also began last year with 200 teacher vacancies but said every classroom this year will have a permanent educator, and all of the administrative positions will be filled before the opening bell.

“We overcame a lot of challenges over the last year and we will continue to overcome them, thanks to the inexhaustible determination of our entire LAUSD family,” Cortines said.

The LA Unified board takes its first step in choosing a new superintendent, with a largely closed door meeting scheduled for tomorrow night.

It’s a baby step, with the seven-member board most likely deciding on the parameters and requirements for a head-hunting firm that will bring them the top names for the position.

While it’s a lofty job and a challenge for any search firm, given the complexities of LA Unified in terms of size, annual budget and classroom demands, there are a handful of companies that specialize in educators and school administrators, such as Korn Ferry Executive Recruitment and Talent Management based in Los Angeles, which was hired for two past superintendent searches.

This time the board is seeking a successor for Ramon Cortines (again), who stepped in after John Deasy left last year. Cortines, who was hired without a search firm, has said he wants to leave by the end of the year but might agree to stay until an ideal replacement is found.

The administrative position paid Deasy nearly $440,000 a year salary. That’s more than the governor makes, and about $100,000 more than the district is paying Cortines. This second-largest school district in the nation has about 644,000 students.

The agenda for the meeting indicates that the members will discuss a “request for proposals” from search firms and consultants that could help seek a short list for a replacement of the superintendent.

It would be the first technical step for the superintendent search. The board plans to have a more in depth conversation in future meetings.

Board members have made no secret of their desire to find a Cortines clone. They have lauded him for bringing a steady hand to the district in the aftermath of Deasy’s departure, the continuing problems with MISIS, continuing budget deficits and the ever-present war over charter schools.

But it’s far from clear whom the members might regard as the best candidate — someone leading another big city district? A well-credentialed leader of a mid-size city? Someone currently employed by LA Unified in a senior management position? Someone with strong ties to unions? A total outsider, in the manner of Roy Romer, who was a former governor of Colorado before he was hired in 2000?

One thing the LA Unified has never done is hire a female to lead the district. All previous superintendents, dating back to 1937, have been male. Nor has the board ever hired an Asian.

Among the items on the open agenda, preceding the closed session, are:

• Reauthorization of Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
• Appointment of a board representative to the National School Boards Association
• Approving board meetings for Aug. 30 and Sept. 15

UTLA rally at Grand Park

The end of another school year this week brings to a close one of LA Unified’s most crazy, controversial and dysfunctional academic years. It’s a real testament to students, teachers and other school personnel that they persevered through so much disruption and tumult.

So, a tip of the hat to the nation’s second-largest school district as it navigated through a Hit Parade of memorable moments. Here are 10 of them, in no particular order of consequence:

The MISIS Meltdown

Even before the first day of school, the MISIS debut was a debacle. Summer school teachers who tested out the district-developed software, which was supposed to streamline and centralize all student data including scheduling, grades, attendance records, and disciplinary files, did their best to sound the alarm about the program’s myriad problems.

But under the direction of Matt Hill, Chief Strategy Officer, and Ron Chandler, Chief Information Officer — both of them now working elsewhere — the district plowed ahead with the district-wide roll out assuring anyone who asked, “We got it!”

While the original budget allocated for MISIS was $29 million, spending is likely to top $133 million next week when the board is expected to approve after another $79.6 million in bond funds. Meanwhile, the district’s IT team is working alongside Microsoft employees on continued repairs that will last through 2015-16.

Superintendent John Deasy Resigns

Superintendent John Deasy was at ideological odds with three, then four members of the school board throughout most of his tenure. But it was the one-two punch of the MISIS failure that left thousands of students across the district class-less for several weeks combined with the continued scrutiny over the terrible iPad deal the district struck with Apple and Pearson that ultimately lead to his departure in October 2014.

His aggressive policies — such as the iPads-for-all program, reconstitution of consistently low-performing schools and his anti-tenure stance — kept him at odds with board members, teachers and the public at large.

Deasy is now working as a consultant for The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems as a “superintendent-in-residence.” The center is a leadership academy for school administrators, which is funded by Eli Broad, a longtime Deasy supporter and powerful financier of California education reform efforts.

Cortines Redux, Redux

You know that scene toward the end of J.R. Tolkien’s “Return of the King” when it seems as if all is lost and the Witch-King of Angmar is about to defeat the good guys but then Aragorn, out of nowhere, shows up with the Army of the Dead to save the day? That’s basically what it was like for the board when Ramon Cortines was plucked out of retirement to lead the district for a third time following Deasy’s departure.

Since taking over, the members have embraced a new found unity with Cortines, even turning their backs on initiatives they wholly supported under Deasy, including the billion dollar iPad initiative which they had unanimously approved.

Cortines’ contract was renewed for another year last month. And, according to board member Steve Zimmer, the octogenarian will be “really involved” in the selection of his successor in the coming year.

iPads for All! iPads for Some. iPads for None?

Deasy was the first to halt the district’s iPad buying spree following the disclosure of emails suggesting he and other district officials had tailored the bid process to favor Apple and the software maker, Pearson, during the bid process. At the time, he said the district would reopen bidding to take advantage of a changing marketplace and student needs. But he quit before that happened.

Once Cortines came on board he lifted the moratorium to ensure there would be enough devices for students to take the Smarter Balanced tests. Then came the FBI investigation during which agents seized 20 boxes of documents related to the deal.

Cortines finally cancelled the district’s contract with the two companies in April, saying LA Unified will not pay for any future deliveries of iPads that have Pearson educational software on them. The district will also be looking to recoup the cost of any devices that did not work properly.

A day later, Pearson stock plummeted.

Shuffling the Deck at Beaudry

Since taking over, Cortines has shaken things up in nearly every department either reassigning top level executives or accepting a slew of resignations from former Deasy appointees.

Here’s a short list of people who find themselves in new surroundings:

Ron Chandler — umm — resigned amid public outrage over MISIS and the iPad deal. Matt Hill, recently hired as superintendent of Burbank Unified School District, will be leaving at the end of the year. Tommy Chang, LAUSD’s superintendent of the Intensive Support and Innovation Educational Service Center, got a new job as superintendent of Boston  Public Schools. He has taken Donna Muncey, an aide to Deasy in three different school districts, as well as former communications director, Lydia Ramos.

Two of the most notable promotions were given to Diane Pappas and Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana. Pappas started off the year as as an attorney at the General Counsel’s office. Now, she’s leading the MISIS recovery effort. Melendez is taking over the newly formed office of the Chief Executive Officer, Educational Services.

Mo’ computerized testing; Mo’ problems

Year two of the Smarter Balanced computerized testing didn’t go very well. For starters, teachers and students who were promised they’d get months to practice taking the exam on iPads or laptops didn’t get their devices until weeks before the test, in part because of the backlash against the iPads for all program as well as general disorganization by the district.

And, in the only district-wide “dress rehearsal,” most schools reported experiencing technical snafus. Just how bad things did or did not go during the actual test will remain a mystery for another month.

“We won’t have results to share publicly until July or so,” Gayle Pollard-Terry, a district spokesperson, told LA School Report.

The one bright spot is that this year’s test results won’t be used to for any high-stakes purposes.

Let’s Make a Contract Deal

After more than eight years without one, the district finally negotiated a new contract with UTLA, averting a threatened teachers strike under new president Alex Caputo-Pearl, who began saber-rattling even before he won office in early 2014. Other labor partners got new deals, as well.

Teachers will get a 10.4 percent salary increase over the next two years. In all, the agreement with UTLA will cost a total of $633 million over three years, plus an additional $31.6 million for several labor groups with “me too” clauses, also over three years, according to LA Unified officials.

The district signed off on deals with Service Employees International Union Local 99 (SEIU), Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) and Teamsters Local 572, agreeing to salary increases of roughly 2 percent over the next two years and 2.5 percent in 2016. The proposed contract with the California School Employee Association (CSEA), made up of library aides, gardeners and payroll clerks, includes a retroactive 2 percent payment for 2013-14.

Turnover on the board

Four school board seats were up for grabs this year causing rampant speculation about the impact of this configuration over that configuration. But after nearly $5 million in spending by pro-charter and pro-union groups, it appears that the balance on the board, which at the moment is a majority of union-leaning, will remain as is.

Despite a win by Ref Rodriguez over Bennett Kayser, five of the seven board members were elected with the help of the teachers union. Tamar Galatzan lost her bid for a third term to first-time candidate, Scott Schmerelson. Richard Vladovic handily defeated Lydia Gutierrez.

And George McKenna, who won a special election last year to fill out the term of the late Marguerite LaMotte, won, running unopposed.

Not that too many people cared. Fewer than 10 percent of registered voters showed up to cast a ballot.

Budget Bonanza

Despite doom and gloom projections that the district would be facing a $130 million deficit this year, the state tax revenues turned good news onto better news. Latest figures estimate LA Unified will receive an additional $710 million.

Still, Cortines has been reluctant to allocate the extra cash toward specific programs, insisting the added money is one-time funding.

In April, the district issued 609 lay-off notices to a combination of teachers, counselors and social workers explaining that “reductions in force” are necessary to balance the 2015-16 budget. The district also announced plans to cut pre-kindergarten and adult education programs. But that was before Governor Jerry Brown’s revised budget.

The board will finalize the 2015-16 budget in the coming weeks.

Ill-Conceived Ethnic Studies

When the LA Unified school board passed a resolution that would begin the process of making ethic studies a graduation requirement, it did so without knowing how much it would cost. A new committee report released last month estimates that it will cost almost $72.7 million over four years, an amount that far exceeds the initial district estimate of $3.4 million that was tossed around at the November meeting when the resolution was voted on.

While many district schools already offer ethnic studies courses as electives, LA Unified became only the second district in the state after El Rancho Unified to have an ethnic studies course required for graduation.

One of the committee’s key recommendations is a significant delay in implementing the new graduation requirements. The board’s November resolution called on ethic studies coursework to be required for graduation for the class of 2019, but the committee wants it to be delayed until the class of 2022, meaning incoming 9th graders in 2018 would be the first to have the new requirement.

Under the new plan, which begins next year, both sides agreed to an interim three-tier final evaluation system, with three ratings: “exceeds standards,” “meets standards” and “below standards.”

The new system replaces a two-tier final evaluation system that rated teachers as “meeting standards” or “below standards.”

The district and the union also agreed to form a joint task force to re-write the Teacher Growth and Development Cycle, a series of protocols that form the basis of the final evaluation rankings, by 2016-17.

Those procedures came under fire during Superintendent John Deasy‘s tenure when UTLA argued that Deasy was trying to lay the groundwork for merit-based pay when he added a new ranking of “highly effective” to other evaluation metrics. The union took the issue to the state labor board, PERB, and a judge ruled in its favor.

That decision ultimately forced the district to eliminate the added ranking and revert to the previous system. But it still left teachers and their supervisors — school principals — frustrated and confused. Principals especially complained that the system had become too burdensome with a backlog of paperwork, leaving little time to conduct multiple class observations and to provide meaningful feedback.

Which is why, Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of UTLA, told reporters this week that the changes to the evaluation system are among many of the “immediate and concrete improvements” in the new agreement.

In theory, the purpose of teacher evaluations is two-fold: to identify struggling teachers in need of additional professional development and mentoring and to discover gifted teachers who can serve as mentors to share best practices.

In LA Unified’s case, the new evaluation agreement eases any threat of losing $171 million in federal funding through a waiver to the old No Child Left Behind program. The government insisted on a three-tiered evaluation system to qualify for the money.

In recent years, amid the school reform debate, evaluations have also become a tool in the equation used to fire “ineffective teachers.” A poor rating coupled with low student scores on standardized tests is often the foundation for defining a bad teacher. Around the country it’s often at the core of contentious contract negotiations and legal battles between teachers unions and school district officials, politicians and lobbyists. It was also a recurring theme in last year’s landmark education trial, Vergara v. California.

In that case, plaintiffs successfully argued that teacher layoffs should be based on teacher effectiveness judged by performance evaluations, not on “last-in, first-out” hiring policies that give teachers with seniority preference over newer teachers, regardless of their performance ratings as has been the case in LA Unified due to the existing bargaining contract with UTLA. Vergara is now under appeal.

Last-in, first-out was a policy Deasy hoped to overturn. But his unilateral directive to make student data account for up to 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation met furious backlash from teachers and was quickly rescinded.

“That’s the opposite of the way you want to build a better teacher work-force,” LA Unified board member Steve Zimmer told LA School Report. “Unless the agenda is to create a punitive system turning people against each other in the name of competition.”

Zimmer says he anticipates the new task force will collaborate with the current administration. “We’re not looking to rehash or re-wage old battles,” Zimmer said. But he conceded, “I see no scenario in which we wouldn’t use student outcome data in some way in teacher evaluations.”

“But I expect it’s going to be a system that’s about people, not algorithms,” he added.