Rory Pullens

Despite recent media reports that the arts are doing poorly at LA Unified schools, the director of the district’s arts programs, Rory Pullens, said quite to the contrary, things are better than they have been in a long time; it’s just that nobody knows it.

“We are really encouraged and really excited about what’s been happening in arts in LAUSD,” said Pullens who just ended his first year as executive director of the district’s Arts Education Program.

“As of today, I can tell you that there is a full-time certified arts teacher in every school in the district,” Pullens said. “We are overjoyed that we have 45 new arts teachers this year, which is the first time in over 10 years that there are new arts teachers on the roles.”

And, most importantly, he said, the district budget for the arts has increased nearly 40 percent. When he started, the district allotted $18.5 million to the arts. When he took over the program, the board added $2.5 million more. As his second year begins, the arts has $26.5 million. Of course, it’s still a far cry from the $78.6 million earmarked for the arts before severe budget cuts.

Pullens said he was thrilled that the Los Angeles Times examined the arts program on the front page earlier this week but wasn’t thrilled that the paper graded the schools, insisting that many of the grades were unfair and inaccurate.

“They didn’t take in all the of the data that we provided,” Pullens said.

He said he got a dozens of calls and emails from principals at schools that take great pride in their arts programs but still got a C in the newspaper.

Among those he heard from was Jeanne Gamba, the principal at Walter Reed Middle School in Studio City, which got a C despite that fact the school’s band, jazz ensemble and chorus have all won multiple state and regional awards. And, students apply from all over the district to get into the school because of those programs.

“I was very concerned that this could hurt our enrollment,” said Gamba, who was a first-year principal last year when the surveys about the arts program were filled out at each school. “There were many things that were left out when the survey was filled out.”

For example, the survey says that Reed has only two-to-four art teachers. They have seven. The survey shows that Reed has no media courses. Well, the school has a full Technology Academy. And, the survey didn’t reflect the parent involvement at the school, which was the biggest insult of them all.

“We have very active parent involvement,” Gamba said. “When I wrote Rory he was very supportive and responsive and got me to a tech coordinator to correct some of this.”

Pullens said the survey will be sent out again this year, and some of the questions will be stated more clearly. The data wasn’t meant to rate school’s art programs, but to assess what schools had already and what was most needed.

“It was a sore spot that when I got here there were 20 middle schools that had no arts programs whatsoever,” Pullens said. “We corrected that.” This year, they have arts and music at those schools.

“I don’t want to discount the reality that there aren’t challenges to address,” Pullens said. Some of the elementary schools, for example, have to share an art teacher that may only come to their school one day a week.

But, this is the first time that the district is going to higher education institutions to advertise that LAUSD is hiring in the arts. “We had a hard time finding enough certificated arts teachers this year,” Pullens said. “And we anticipate the need will grow in the following years.”

Pullens admitted that some of the principals may have downplayed the information in their surveys. “Some principals may have anxiety that if they put it down then it may go away,” Pullens said. “But the reality is that with this information we can figure out what schools need, and it won’t be a random hodge-podge about where we put our resources.”

One way he said he would help off-set costs is to bring in Hollywood-related businesses to help. The Sunset Bronson Studios and Sunset Gower Studios, the musician’s union and other local studios are pitching in, he said.

Just yesterday, he said, the Nickelodeon Studios brought in a few truckloads of supplies, including sets, costumes and sound equipment for the school district. “They are bringing resources and equipment that we will distribute to schools,” Pullens said. “Other studios are signing up for mentorship programs and coming to schools to talk about what is not only going on in front of the camera and on stage, but the industry behind the stage, like key grips and craft services and other career opportunities that pay really well.”

It took LAUSD a few tries to get Pullens to join the district, and at one point billionaire Eli Broad offered to supplement his salary for the Ramon C. Cortines School of the Visual and Performing Arts. Pullens said that the students will go to the Broad Museum, and that he will work with any foundation or charitable institution to help with the arts programs.

Pullens was hired by superintendent John Deasey and said he would like to see a new superintendent who “wants the district to excel holistically in technology, science, the arts, all equally well, and not one impacting the other,” he said. “A district like Los Angeles needs a superintendent who appreciates the arts.”

Pullens said that extensive research shows that strong arts programs keeps students in schools and “keeps them from extraneous activities that could get them in trouble.” He said the students exposed to arts classes are more likely to graduate and to do better in their other classes.

“Young people in the arts are less likely to get them involved in negative influences, and we have see how it transforms young people’s lives,” Pullens said. “We are going to spread that throughout the district.”

The Mini-Urban Challenge is a national event that challenges high school students to work in teams to design, build and program a robotic vehicle built from LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kits that can accurately navigate autonomously through a model city utilizing avoidance collision and path-finding algorithms, LA Unified said on its Facebook page. The competition is intended to expose students to the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The event is sponsored by the Doolittle Institute, the Air Force Research Laboratory and John Deere.

Deasy’s salary turns heads at AALA

The Los Angeles Daily News recently reported that former LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy made nearly $440,000 in 2014 in salary. The number certainly turned a few heads and earned rebukes from UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl and board member Bennett Kayser.

In its weekly newsletter, the Associated Administrator’s of Los Angeles joined in and tossed out a few barbs of its own.

Board member Nury Martinez, with Supt. Deasy
Photo: USC Annenberg

The announcement hasn’t made the four-year board member any less busy.  Like District 3 Board Member Tamar Galatzan (with whom she is often allied), Martinez is also a mother who has opted to be a part-time school board member and work another job. Last week, Martinez authored a resolution to beef up arts education in the district (see Nonprofit Funds Big Arts Education Push).

In a recent interview in her office on the 24th floor of LAUSD headquarters, Martinez described how she won UTLA’s endorsement (and presumes she still has its support), why the initiative known as Public School Choice is an important vehicle for teacher empowerment, and why she hopes a woman will run to replace her.

Nury Martinez: My Parents are from Zacatecas [in Mexico]. They were childhood boyfriend and girlfriend. They got married in 1971, lived in North Hollywood for four years and then bought their first home in Pacoima, and that’s where we were raised. My parents did not speak a word of English. They still don’t.

I was a third grader that could not read or write. I struggled tremendously with the language. So it was a very lonely, very sort of sad time in my life.  But my mom never gave up on the fact that we were going to go to college.

LASR:  What did you do before joining the school board, and what experiences did you have with the board before running for board member?

NM: I ran ten years ago for my first job, San Fernando City Council. I served as mayor for three years and I decided to run for the school board when I was six months pregnant.  It was sort of unplanned.

I had dealt with the school district on A through G [an effort to raise the graduation requirements for high school students] in 2005. I went through a battle with the district on appointing local superintendents. So my experience with the district wasn’t all that great.

LASR:  How did you decide to run?

NM: Six months into my pregnancy, I had heard that Julie Korenstein wasn’t going to seek another term.  I’ve campaigned countless times, but when you’re ready to have a child any day, things get more colorful.

LASR:  In that election, you had support of the teachers union. How did that come to pass?

NM: I just interviewed. My relationship with UTLA goes back to 1989, when my English teacher, Mrs. Roth, told me that the teachers were going to go on strike. I was a 10th grader at San Fernando High School. And I said, “Oh my god, what does that mean?” She said, “We’re fighting with the district on benefits and a fair contract.” So I got involved with the teachers union and led a lot of the student efforts on behalf of the teachers that year.

LASR:  And how has your relationship with UTLA changed since coming on the board?

NM: I think I had a pretty good relationship with [former UTLA head] AJ Duffy. He and I didn’t always agree, but he was always very wiling to call me and we would meet. There’s not too much of a relationship with the current president. I don’t know Mr. Warren Fletcher personally. I’ve just seen him at meetings.

LASR:  If you were running for school board again, you wouldn’t expect them to support you, would you?

NM: Sure I would.

LASR:  You would? 

NM: Absolutely. I’ve done nothing but support teachers in my district. Public School Choice, which was the most controversial piece of policy that we have voted on since I’ve been on the board, has created a lot of contention between the school board and UTLA, but I have to say that it’s the one thing that has created so much activism among my teachers. It has created an ability for them to step up, write their own plans, come out of their own shells, and say, you know what, I am a leader, I’m an instructional leader, and I’m going to change the makeup of my school and I’m going to lead.

I would hope that I would get their endorsement. But you know… you never know.

LASR: When I go to school board meetings, I can’t help but notice the voting cliques, and there’s a lot of tension. Is that uncomfortable? 

NM: The problem with folks who don’t understand how politics works, is people- if you don’t understand politics, it’s gonna be very difficult for you to do this job. Because it does involve politics, it does involve to some degree compromising and negotiating with the powers that be. That’s all part of the job. Being uncomfortable and being frustrated is part of the job.

LASR:  Your colleague Mr. Zimmer has a proposal about charter schools.*  I was curious what you made of it.

NM: This is something I’ve shared with Mr. Zimmer: I don’t know what his intent is. I don’t know who’s behind it. I can’t really put my finger on why he’s doing this. I would suspect it’s because he’s trying to run for re-election and he wants to secure some key endorsements in this race.

LASR: UTLA.

NM: Which is fine. Just be honest about it. Putting a moratorium on charters isn’t going to solve our problems. To strip people from their choices without having a dialogue with them is insulting.

LASR:  But the school board can approve or not approve charters every five years, and they can do it for political reasons, can’t they?

NM: I don’t think we’ve always made the right call. I think we need to do a better job of determining what actually will shut down a school. I think the cheating scandal last year was evident that we were serious about making sure that these schools did not operate anymore. But then a couple of months later, the embezzlement happened. My goodness. We don’t always get it right. But we need to that certain that we get it right 90% if not 99.9% of the time.

LASR: [Associated Administrators of Los Angeles rep and former school board member] David Tokofsky thinks that the school board isn’t doing enough to campaign for Propositions 30 and 38. What can the school board do?

NM: The school board needs money. Mr. Tokofsky would probably know this because he’s run for office himself. And so my question to him is, what are our partners doing like AALA to sort of help the district and be a partner with the district to raise the necessary funds to be able to get the word out? The mailers, the commercials, the phone calls, the walkers, the messaging around the importance of passing these initiatives. So what are all of our partners that have a stake in making sure that LAUSD is here next year, what are we doing as a collective group to raise the necessary money to mount a serious campaign?

LASR:  You are running for city council, right?

NM: There’s not a vacancy yet, so I have to be very careful about how this comes across. As soon as there becomes a vacancy, when Mr. Tony Cardenas steps down – or whatever it’s called [Cardenas is running for Congress in November and is expected to win] – then there will be an opportunity to declare.

LASR:  Is there a candidate in mind that you would like to succeed you on the school board?

NM: If Iris [Zuniga, mentioned as a possible District 6 board candidate] is ready to put her name in the race, more power to her. I absolutely believe there needs to be more women in these positions. I [also] believe there needs to be more parents on these boards. We just add a different flavor to the conversation. Women add a different dynamic to any conversation. We just have different perspectives on the way we view things. We try to get to a solution.

Edited and condensed for clarity.

 *Subsequent to this interview, Zimmer announced a revised version of the charter oversight proposal. (See Zimmer Unveils Softer Charter Plan)

Previous Q+As: Superintendent John Deasy, board member Steve Zimmer and board member Tamar Galatzan.

Also see stories from the Daily News, Ed Source, City News Service, SI&A Cabinet Report

The Times also reports that two L.A. schools this year were stripped of an API score because of mistakes or misconduct by a teacher.

Overusing Test for Special Ed Students Inflates API Scores
A deeper look at the results shows not only inflation contributing to the gains but also a substantial policy shift toward lower expectations for special education students in California. Ed Source

California’s New School Budget Math
Add 30 and 38, and what do you get? In California, the answer is zero. The ballot propositions are on the verge of cancelling out each other to produce a big, fat zero. Prop Zero

Obama, Romney Have Similar Basic Views on Education
Both candidates want test scores to be part of teacher evaluations, support extra pay for effective instructors and back the growth of charter schools. One difference is Romney’s support for vouchers. LA Times

Charter School Not Entitled to Choose its Location
The Los Angeles Unified School District did not violate the charter schools initiative by offering to locate a charter school in adjoining classrooms at Belmont High School, contrary to the wishes of the charter school’s directors, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled.  Metropolitan News-Enterprise

LAUSD Axes Successful Art to Grow On Program Right After Unanimous Board Vote to Bring Fine Art Back
The program pays artists to train hundreds of parents to take art into elementary classrooms project by project. It was so successful that today it touts having  served 8,000 kindergarten through 8th grade students a year, has 150 volunteers and 17 private and public schools that participate throughout the Harbor area. City Watch

Former LAUSD School Board Member John Greenwood Dies
Former Los Angeles school board member and Coro Foundation President John Greenwood of San Pedro died unexpectedly early Thursday morning. Daily Breeze

It was a slightly less crowded, slightly less emotionally charged LAUSD school board meeting Tuesday — at least compared to the last few, thanks largely to board member Steve Zimmer’s postponed resolutions rejecting the use of student achievement in teacher evaluations and scaling back charter school growth.

That didn’t stop the meeting from lasting more than six hours, though. Here are some of the highlights, which included an arts resolution, some charter renewals, a handful of more magnets, ratification of the deal between the Board and the administrators’ union — and an appearance from actor Cheech Marin.

Kayser’s Postpones Proposal to Charge Charter Schools for Over-Allocation Of Space

Every year, charter schools can apply for classroom space from the district. How much space they get depends on a complicated formula, and just what kind of space up for grabs is currently the subject of a lawsuit (see previous posts here). Kayser’s proposal would have penalized schools who apply for space based on a higher enrollment number than actually materializes.

LAUSD general counsel David Holmquist estimated that this year, 10 charter schools were over-allocated space, and under Kayser’s motion would have been penalized $828,000.

Corri Ravare of the CCSA argued against the proposal, saying it would unfairly penalize who schools whose drop in attendance is sometimes due to the space given to them being outside their attendance area.

“This can be resolved without a financial penalty,” she said.

Judging from the comments of the other school board members, the measure looked like it was heading for a 4-2 defeat (Dr. Richard Vladovic had to leave the meeting early). But Steve Zimmer suggested that Bennett Kayser take a page out Zimmer’s book and postpone the proposal. Kayser reluctantly accepted.

Cheech Marin Shows Up For Arts-Core Vote

Cheech Marin

A number of public speakers were on hand to talk about Nury Martinez’s motion to make arts education part of the core curriculum, including Cheech Marin, one half of the marijuana-loving duo, Cheech and Chong.

“Art makes a student whole, makes them aware of their divine nature,” said Marin. “Art is what a culture leaves behind. I can’t imagine a museum dedicated to the great business deals.”

The resolution, which will prohibit further cuts to arts education, passed unanimously.

For more, see Tami Abdollah’s KPCC blog post, LA Unified makes arts education a ‘core subject.’

Board Approves Deal With Administrators Union Regarding Evaluations

President of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Judith Perez spoke in favor of the deal, which will set up evaluations for principals based on a number of criteria, including Academic Growth Over Time. She took most of her time, however, to reiterate AALA’s critique of the principals’ workload, which was recently voiced in their newsletter (as we recently posted).

For more, see Howard Blume’s LA Times blog post: Principals approve new evaluations but object to workload.

UTLA President Warren Fletcher was sitting behind me, and I couldn’t help but turn around and ask him how his negotiations with the district were going.

“Hopefully,” he answered, with a bit of a shrug. “We’re meeting in good faith. We’re doing our best.”

Five New Magnets Approved

Three schools – Thomas Starr King, Washington Irving, and Sun Valley Middle Schools – will be converted to full-time magnets, while two new magnet centers were approved within Verdugo Hills High School and Venice High School. Tamar Galatzan objected to both measures, which she said the district can’t afford.

Board Approves 5-Year Memorandum of Understanding with Partnership for LA Schools

Students from the Partnership schools, wearing shirts that read “I AM THE FUTURE,” at the meeting in support of the MOU.

Even though the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] does nothing more than set up a review process for each individual school, board member Marguerite LaMotte expressed skepticism about the Partnership LA schools, which were set up by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

“I wonder how many of us would put our kids in some of these schools,” she said. “Some of this stuff is political. I don’t want my kids to be political pawns.”

The board approved the MOU, 5-2, with LaMotte and Kayser voting against.

TV News covered the speech as well, including CBS, ABC, and KTLA Channel 5:

Campaign Launched To Promote Arts Education In L.A. Unified
The campaign, called “Arts Matter,” consists of messages on “hundreds of billboards, bus shelters, wall postings, mall media and bulletins,” according to organizers. Those signed up to tweet encouraging messages include singer Justin Bieber and entertainer/producer Ryan Seacrest. LA Times

Rift Widens Between Backers Of Ed Initiatives 30 And 38
All pretense of goodwill is gone between backers of the two competing education tax measures on November’s ballot. Ed Source

State Board of Ed’s Kirst Calls On Munger To Ditch Ads Attacking Governor’s Tax Plan
Mike Kirst, the governor’s appointed president of the California State Board of Education warned that proponents of Proposition 38 “are leading us down a dangerous path and imperiling the education we all care about.” SI&A Cabinet Report

Layoffs Claim L.A. Band Teacher Who Turned Novices Into Champions
Ray Vizcarra resurrected Fairfax High’s band, teaching students to play instruments from scratch. They soon won all-city competitions. But L.A. Unified had to cut jobs, and he lacked seniority. LA Times

Portrait In Numbers Of LAUSD’s Decline In Arts Education
In the last three years, Los Angeles Unified has had to cut nearly $1.5 billion from its annual operating budget, which is now roughly $6 billion. “Arts education is one of the most impacted components of LAUSD instruction as a result,” according to the district. KPCC

Teacher evaluation resolution pulled from LAUSD agenda
School board member Steve Zimmer has pulled his controversial resolution on teacher evaluations from Tuesday’s board agenda because of concerns it could interfere with sensitive negotiations between the district and its teachers’ union. Daily News

Schools Urged To Use Up Technology Vouchers
About $66 million, including $10 million for LAUSD, remains from a state antitrust settlement with Microsoft, and officials want districts to use the vouchers before they expire during 2013. LA Times

LAUSD Moves Up Deadline For Magnet Schools
Applications for Los Angeles Unified’s 172 magnet programs are due on Nov. 16 because of the academic year’s early start. LA Times

Porter Ranch Community School To Get Short-Term Street Parking Under City Compromise
Plans are being finalized to allow short-term street parking near the new Porter Ranch Community School, and new signs should be going up by mid-October along Mason Avenue, officials said. Daily News 

How Gloria Romero Became the Face of Proposition 32
With Election Day still one month away, the battle to pass Prop. 32 has seen its share of political shockers, including the sudden injection of $4 million of Koch brother money to the Yes on 32 campaign, along with millions more from Charles Munger Jr. But nothing has been more surprising than the decision of Romero, a former California State Senate Democratic majority leader, to serve as the measure’s frontwoman. Frying Pan News (blog)

You can read the Zimmer press release announcing the withdrawal here.

In addition, Board member Bennett Kayser will introduce a motion that deals with space “over-allocated” to charter schools via Proposition 39 (I’ve written about how charters get space via Prop 39 here). The proposal would have the district “collect reimbursement amounts owed by each charter school that is over-allocated space during part or all of any school year.”

Kayser will also announce a resolution called “Buy and Use LAUSD First,” which would set up “an online directory of services and products available within the Los Angeles Unified School District, make their use and purchase easily obtainable, and strongly encourage every school and office to use and/or buy District products and services whenever possible.”

You can see the full agenda for the Tuesday meeting here.

Fact Check: On Education, Gains Difficult To Demonstrate
Education reporter Howard Blume fact checks last night’s debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. LA Times 

California Schools On The Brink
If the state’s voters don’t approve a package of emergency tax increases at the ballot box in November, the system – already pushed to the brink by decades of budgets cuts, swelling class sizes, skyrocketing inner-city dropout rates, shrinking libraries and disappearing arts and music programs – will start to shut down altogether. Salon

A Missed Opportunity To Reform Teacher Evaluations
AB 5 was not perfect, but for the community groups and advocates who supported it, its demise represents the loss of a much-needed reform of the state’s teacher evaluation system. In figuring out a way forward, it’s worth examining the loudest arguments opposing AB 5 and whether and how to address them. Ed Source

2011-12 Education Bills Come Due
A review of all the bills that came through the state legislature this year. Ed Source 

Inglewood High Grad Takes Over City’s Troubled School District
Kent Taylor, who graduated from Inglewood High in 1982 and was recently an education official in Kern County, steps in to lead the state-controlled district. LA Times 

Community Colleges’ Crisis Slows Students’ Progress To A Crawl
Thousands of degree seekers are able to enroll in only one class at a time. Hopes of graduating or transferring wither as years pass. LA Times