LA School Report has learned that the initiative, called “Stop Child Molesters, Sexual Abusers, and Drug Dealers from Working in California Schools Act,” was submitted to state officials by a Sacramento law firm that specializes in campaign and election law — Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP.

The proposed initiative contends that state laws “do not enable school districts to expeditiously and permanently protect innocent students and staff from school employees who perpetrate acts of child molestation, sexual abuse, drug dealing, and other egregious misconduct.”

The measure was filed on Tuesday through a letter to the state Attorney General’s office and it comes just weeks after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed AB 375, a bill intended to streamline the teacher dismissal process. AB 375, in part, grew out of an earlier bill from Senator Alex Padilla of Los Angeles, which was introduced in the wake of the Miramonte Elementary school sexual abuse scandal but died in the legislature last year.

Unlike AB 375, which was largely a procedural change that covered all infractions, the proposed measure more closely echoes Padilla’s bill, targeting only those accused of “egregious misconduct” relating to sex, drugs and child abuse. The ballot initiative would also differ in several procedural ways, including the removal of a statute of limitation on evidence gathered against an accused employee and the removal of limits on the number of witnesses.

The proposed measure is in the earliest stages. The Attorney General’s office has until Dec. 23 to title and summarize the initiative. After that, proponents have 150 days to circulate a petition throughout the state and collect 504,760 signatures.

In effect, the ballot measure represents an end-around the legislature, which has been caught between public outcry to remove predators and drug dealers from schools more quickly and the powerful teacher unions that have lobbied for a more comprehensive due process protocols. Upon vetoing AB 375, Brown said it was a step in the right direction but inevitably too problematic and “an imperfect solution.” He urged the legislature to try again.

In papers filed with the measure proposal, the law firm cited 10 cases of misconduct in school districts around state to demonstrate the need for such a focused law. The first referred to the Miramonte case, in which it said “a third grade school employee abusing dozens of students ages 6 to 10, including spoon-feeding semen and semen-laced cookies to blindfolded children, over a period of at least five school years.”

The proposed measure argues that school employees engaged in misconduct have “exploited loopholes” in current law “to delay and conceal dismissal proceedings.”

Public approval of the initiative, it concludes, would result in a “constitutional guarantee of students and staff to be safe and secure.”

Fred Glass, a spokesman for the California Federation of Teachers, said he could not comment on the proposed initiative until he learned more about it. Messages left for comment with the California Teachers Association were not returned.

Previous Posts: Gov. Brown’s Veto of AB 375 Leaves Teacher Dismissal Bill Uncertain; Brown Facing Pressure to Veto ‘Flawed’ Teacher Dismissal Bill; Lawmaker Supports Former Opponent’s Teacher Dismissal Bill.

Assembly member Joan Buchanan, left, and State Senator Alex Padilla, right

Governor Jerry Brown’s veto of AB 375, a bill that would have amended California’s teacher dismissal process, doesn’t mean the effort is dead.

“The governor still wants to do something,” LA Unified’s chief lobbyist, Edgar Zazueta, told LA School Report. “I do see there will be one, if not several, efforts to do this next year. Hopefully we’re able to find somewhere in the middle, where more stakeholders can embrace final product.”

Zazueta added that Brown “always wants to make sure that all the stakeholders are on board. With 375, it was unbalanced. None of the folks who do dismissals were part of process.”

Gloria Romero, who just left California Democrats for Education Reform to start her own organization, the Foundation for Parent Empowerment, also sees a pathway forward, even if it remains uncertain who’s leading the effort.

“The stars are aligned,” she said. “There will be a very bright public spotlight on this. The legislature will have to act. The question is, who carries it this time?”

Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, the East Bay Democrat who sponsored the measure, has not decided whether she will go forward with a reconfigured approach or defer to someone else on the issue. One possibility is State Senator Alex Padilla, who authored a bill, SB 10, that would have made it easier to fire teachers accused of harming a student.

That bill died in committee after an intense lobbying blitz from the California Teachers Association.

This year, Padilla declined to take the lead on the new version of the bill – perhaps because he’s running for California Secretary of State and doesn’t want to antagonize the teachers unions. Buchanan’s bill was supported by teacher unions but widely attacked reform groups and newspaper editorial boards statewide.

“I still strongly believe that the discipline appeal process is broken,” Buchanan said in an email. “It takes too long and costs too much money. However, I agree that the path forward is uncertain.”

The question then, is there a compromise to made?

Romero also said that if the legislature doesn’t act, there could be a move by outside groups to write a ballot initiative. “There’ve been discussions, believe me, about which way to go forward,” she said.

A ballot initiative could pressure the legislature into acting. But the real pressure might come from Vergara v. California, the lawsuit filed by Students Matter aimed at tearing up many of the laws that govern the teacher dismissal process. That trial is set to being on January 27 – and could have an enormous impact on how teachers in California are fired.

Students Matter spokesperson Danielle Kelton said that Brown’s veto “definitely highlights the failure of the legislature to address the problem.”

*This update includes a comment from Buchanan. An early version of the post mistakenly identified the Vergara plaintiffs as Students First.

Previous posts: John Deasy on AB 375 Veto: ‘Wise Decision’; BREAKING NEWS: Brown Vetoes Weak Teacher Dismissal Bill; Brown Facing Pressure to Veto ‘Flawed’ Teacher Dismissal Bill; Unions Ask Court to Dismiss ‘Bad Teacher’ Suit

Previous Posts: Brown Facing Pressure to Veto ‘Flawed’ Teacher Dismissal Bill,  Mixed Reactions to New Teacher Dismissal Bill, Deasy Requests Changes to Teacher Dismissal Bill

Gov. Jerry Brown

Under mounting pressure, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a controversial bill originally meant to make it easier to dismiss teachers for abusive or inappropriate behavior. In a veto memo, Brown said he “share[s] the authors’ desire to streamline the teacher discipline process, but this bill is an imperfect solution.”

Gov. Jerry Brown

Governor Jerry Brown is facing rising opposition to a bill designed to make it easier to fire teachers accused of abusing students. Critics say it doesn’t, and that could make it harder for him to justify signing it into law. The deadline for consideration is Sunday.

Over the last few weeks, school district superintendents, education groups and newspaper editorial boards across the state have expressed their concerns, pointing out what they perceive as numerous shortcomings in the measure, AB 375, authored by Joan Buchanan, a Bay Area Democrat.

Richard Carranza, Superintendent of San Francisco Unified, wrote in SF Gate, “This bill is a classic case of good intentions to protect student safety gone awry” and pleaded with the governor to veto the bill.

In a commentary for the Modesto Bee, Cindy Marks, President of the California School Boards Association, called AB 375 “deeply flawed,” saying, “I’m unaware of any school board or superintendent who has taken a position in support of the bill. It appears no one who has investigated and removed a teacher believes AB 375 is good for schools.”

Other opponents, including Students First, EdVoice and the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee concluded that the final version of AB 375 got so watered down by the time it reached the governor’s desk that the process for getting rid of teachers who may be a threat to student safety may actually be more onerous.

Their advice to Gov. Brown: A complete do-over; veto AB 375 until lawmakers can draft a better, more effective version.

Opponents of the bill say its most egregious problems are it would place a seven-month limit on the time a district has to bring a case against a teacher, a process that usually takes more than twice that long. It also prohibits the use of evidence more than four years old. It makes it more difficult to add or change charges if new information is uncovered during investigations, and it limits to five the number of witness who can testify against an accused to teacher.

In the 2012 Miramonte sex abuse scandal, in which teacher Mark Berndt was accused of lewd acts against 23 children at the Los Angeles elementary school, that would have been devastating, said state Senator Bob Huff, a Republican representing parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties who voted against AB 375.

“This bill would have shut out the voices of Mark Berdnt’s victims,” he said in a speech on the senate floor. “Anyone who molests children should have no right to exclude the voices of their victims.  How can we stand here in good conscience and say that is good for students?”

Instead, he said, a bill should limit witnesses only in cases dealing with teachers being dismissed for insufficient performance.

Buchanan, whose bill is backed by the California Teachers Association as well as UTLA, told EdSource “that the opponents are spreading misinformation and waging a campaign ‘not based on facts but emotion.’”

Assembly member Das Williams, who represents Santa Barbara, agrees.

“The truth is that AB 375 is faster. It is better than the current system and it will cost less money,” he told LA School Report.

Williams said he hopes Gov. Brown approves the bill.

“I understand why people would want the bill to be even stronger but I don’t understand how vetoing the bill and having nothing is better,” Williams said. “I think that the system we have right now is obviously flawed, and we do need to take some action and this is the action that we have before us.”

There’s nothing to stop the legislature from making it better in the future, he added.

Previous Posts: Brown Urged to Veto Weakened Teacher Dismissal Bill*; Teacher Dismissal Bill: No Added Concern for Predators; LA Unified Blames ‘Cumbersome’ Law for Dismissal Delay

Lawyers for the plaintiffs responded by calling the request a “sham,” arguing that the measure, AB 375, would do nothing to address dismissal and tenure laws that protect problem teachers and deny students a quality education — a guarantee of the state Constitution. The unions named in the case, Vergara v. California, are the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers.

“AB 375 has no impact on the legal claims” in the case, said Marcellus Antonio McRae, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “Even worse, AB 375 does nothing to protect California’s children in the classroom.”

The bill before Brown would establish new protocols for dismissing teachers. But the plaintiffs contend that it would do nothing to change state laws that they contend give little weight to teacher quality in decisions regarding employment.

Critics of AB 375 also say passage would make it more difficult for school districts to remove teachers who sexually or physically abuse students.

The lawsuit is aimed at amending one law that grants tenure after just two years of teaching, three laws governing the rules of dismissal and one that invokes a last-in-first-out protocol for staff reductions.

Barring a decision by the court to throw the case out, a trial is scheduled to start in late January.

Previous Posts: First Hearing for Massive Lawsuit, Landmark Suit Inches Forward,
Union Intervention Could Delay Tenure Lawsuit

Mark Berndt, teacher accused of abusing children

Opposition to a teacher dismissal bill that was weakened through compromises in the California legislature is gathering steam as it awaits the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown.

Today Gloria Romero, former state senator and head of California Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), is urging Brown to veto the bill. In an article published in the Orange County Register she argues that the bill, AB 375, “makes it harder for districts to protect children.” (read article here).

Last week, The California School Board Association issued an ‘action alert’ urging members to write Brown to veto the bill, saying it’s a “good bill for bad teachers”.

Meanwhile on the grassroots side, a parent activist in San Diego posted a petition asking Brown to “protect schoolchildren from predators,” joining grassroots group Edvoice which last week called the bill  “unsafe for children.”

Larry Sand, president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network, cites even more opposition to the bill in a commentary here.

*Adds reference to Larry Sand commentary.

Previous Posts: Teacher Dismissal Bill: No Added Concern for Predators, LA Unified Blames ‘Cumbersome’ Law for Dismissal Delay

David Holmquist via The Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Unified School District today blamed state laws for why it took the district so long to dismiss an El Sereno Elementary School teacher who is facing a lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing students as long ago as 2007.

David Holmquist, the district’s chief lawyer, said in a press release today Armando Gonzalez was removed from the classroom in March 2010, when officials learned of the allegations, and he was placed on unpaid status in January 2012. He resigned – without a settlement from the district – last week.

“It is unfortunate that the state has created such a cumbersome and costly dismissal process,” Holmquist said. “As a school district, we took the leadership to work with state legislators to give us the final authority to fire teachers accused of misconduct. Unfortunately, the bill that was passed this session does not provide adequate protection for our students.”

The reference is to AB 375, which is awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature. The bill replaced several other measures that had sought to streamline the process of removing teachers accused of misconduct against children.

The district said that it began dismissal proceedings against Gonzalez last year. “Unfortunately,” Holmquist said, “we are required by law to go through a set of potentially lengthy proceedings to make the dismissal final.”

Previous Posts: Teacher Dismissal Bill: No Added Concern for Predators; Deasy Wants Stronger Teacher Dismissal Bill

Assembly member Joan Buchanan

The teacher dismissal bill awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown‘s signature includes no specific language for streamlining the process of removing teachers for sexual and physical abuse, which had been the focus of earlier bills. The final version simply creates protocols to govern any dismissal case.

Brown has until Oct. 13 to sign it.

Assembly Bill 375, which passed both houses of the legislature last week, grew out of other bills, more narrowly written, that focused on teachers who posed threats to children. Those efforts, opposed by teachers unions, evolved into a wider bill that creates overall procedures with deadlines when none were in place before, prompting some lawmakers were characterizing as too long, too expensive and too cumbersome.

Sponsored by Joan Buchanan, a northern California Democrat and new chair of the Assembly’s education committee, the final version has the strong support of the unions, in part, for maintaining a three-member panel that decides a case — two teachers and an administrative law judge — and for loosening the eligibility requirements for teachers to serve on the panel.

But critics of the bill before Brown argue that it betrays the purpose of the original legislation, denying districts an explicit pathway to removing teachers accused of immoral and illegal behavior.

“For me, I see no benefit in the bill,” John Deasy, the LA Unified superintendent, told LA School Report, referring AB 375. “It neither strengthened nor weakened the current law. In other words it does not help. I look for legislation that makes it easier for districts to dismiss teaches who harm students quickly and cost effectively.”

Bill Lucia, CEO of Ed Voice, a grassroots nonprofit group, is urging Brown to veto the new law, calling it “unsafe for children” and saying it would increase “the likelihood that perpetrators will negotiate a buyout and a hall pass to inflict child abuse again in another California public school.”

Buchanan’s bill evolved from SB 1530, which was introduced last year and never made it out of an Assembly committee, thanks to a two Democrats voting against it and four abstaining — as well as heavy lobbying by the California Teachers Association.

The bill would have given school boards the authority to suspend without pay a teacher or administrator who is notified of dismissal for conduct involving sex abuse, drugs or violence toward children. It would also have given school boards, not a panel — the final authority over dismissals.

One Assembly member who abstained from the voting was Betsy Butler, who was narrowly defeated last year by Richard Bloom, the former mayor of Santa Monica.

Running as an underdog, Bloom had blasted Butler’s abstention, telling LA School Report last year: “I’ve never done that in 13 years of being a public official. I think it’s our responsibility as elected officials to register our opinions and have discourse on them. That’s what public discourse is about.”

But this time, Assemblyman Bloom abstained from AB 375, which had been held up in committee, only to resurface and reach the Assembly floor last week in the final legislative session, a time lawmakers usually scramble to approve bills before the deadline.

“AB 375 was significantly amended and passed out of one committee, then moved on to another committee where, a day before the Assembly and Senate votes, it received a favorable vote,” said Bloom. “While advocates for the measure were certainly prepared, there was virtually no time for school boards, community activists, or anyone other than insiders to evaluate and comment on the reformulated bill.”

Bloom said he scrambled to do his own research and found mixed assessments, with some calling the measure a “modest step forward,” while others told him that “limits on depositions, time constraints on investigations and other factors, would make it harder, not easier, to discipline those accused of heinous acts like child molestation.”

In the end, Bloom simply didn’t feel comfortable voting one way or the other.

“Given that neither I nor my staff had the time to independently evaluate these conflicting views I decided that I could not support the bill, but was not comfortable, at that point, in voting “No'” he said. “My abstention had the same effect as a “no” vote.

“I remain concerned that the legislature has unwittingly passed a bill that would make it more difficult to discipline a teacher like Mark Berndt.  I think that result, if accurate, is unconscionable.“

Berndt is a former third grade teacher who is awaiting trial on charges that he molested more than 20 students over five years.

 0-0

The bill awaiting Brown’s signature has unambiguously good news for a certain category of teachers in California public schools: It codifies compliance with a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision that being a member of the Communist party cannot be grounds for dismissal.

Previous posts: Richard Bloom Criticizes Betsy Butler For SB 1530 Vote; Assemblymember Bloom Opposes Teacher Dismissal Bill; Teacher Dismissal Bill Blocked Over Seven-Month Time Limit

Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-San Ramon)

After nine months of hearings and amendments, legislation aimed to quicken and streamline teacher dismissal procedures failed to pass in the Senate Education Committee by one vote.

The Chair of the Senate Education Committee Carol Liu (D-Glendale) — the only LA-area lawmaker on the committee — decided not to vote for or against the bill because of district administrators and attorneys’ concerns. Many other lawmakers followed suit.

Liu did grant the bill reconsideration, however, but it now will not be reconsidered until at least January.

Unless the process is changed at the state-level, bill sponsor State Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-San Ramon) says LAUSD and other districts will continue to wade through onerous dismissal procedures that can last 18 months or longer.

However,  Edgar Zazueta, the director of government relations for LAUSD, said that while Buchanan’s bill would be a great improvement to the current law there are some serious flaws that could damage the district if the bill passed as is.

The Buchanan legislation has been supported by the teachers union, among others.

Assembly Bill 357 was expected to pass with strong support from teachers’ unions and student advocacy groups.  It would have made it easier for districts to suspend and fire teachers for serious offenses, an especially pertinent issue given the continuous slew of child molestation and teacher misconduct cases that continue to crop up throughout LA Unified.

First reported by EdSource Today, the failure of the Buchanan legislation was a repeat of the failure of similar legislation in 2012.

Last year, Buchanan voted against the legislation, SB 1530, which was championed by Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima).  This year, she developed her own legislation and was joined by Padilla, but was met with similar push back by the state Senate.

What is really holding the bill back, from perspective of LAUSD, is the proposed seven-month time frame for dismissing teachers accused of misdeeds in the classroom.

“This bill says that if the seven months pass without a resolution, a district gets another 30 days,” Zazueta explained. “But ultimately that time period may lapse, and the bill states that the district would have to refile the case. That’s a big concern for us.”

“It doesn’t make sense for us to have to start from scratch, put people back on the stand and do the whole thing over,” he added.

District lawyers warned that Office of Administrative Hearings, where the dismissal cases are heard, has a difficult time putting these on the calendar from the get go, according to Zazueta. To district administrators, a seven month dismissal resolution seems like a long shot.

“What our lawyers told us is that the Office of Administrative Hearings (where the dismissal cases are heard) has a difficult time putting these on the calendar from the get go,” said Zazueta. “Just because we say it will happen in seven months, will it actually happen?”

Buchanan disagrees with this assessment, saying that most dismissal hearings actually take days or a week once they are scheduled at the Office of Administrative Hearings because their deadlines are written into statues, and that forces the OAH to make sure cases are concluded.

“It works,” said Buchanan. “So to say you cannot get it done in seven months’ time, I don’t believe is correct, since these cases are not part of judicial branch.”

United Teachers of Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher said the union will continue to support the bill despite the recent setbacks. The administrators’ union also said they support the bill, though they also have concerns about the hard-set time deadline, among other details.

“Yes the process should be faster, but I think [the bill’s sponsors] tried to make it faster than would be possible,” said AALA President Judith Perez.

Perez said that she was concerned at the speed teachers could be dismissed if the bill passed and explained that putting such a specific length of time could backfire for school districts.

Buchanan acknowledges that’s what prevented the bill from passing.

“The bill stalling really hinged on one law firm who testified and said the process cannot be completed in seven months so cases will get dismissed and end up costing districts more money,” said Buchanan.

Depending on the severity of the charges in a teacher dismissal case, the process can drag on for a year or more, costing districts money they don’t have.

Buchanan says the biggest problem facing schools is actually not the sexual abuse and misconduct cases like Miramonte, but the dismissals for unprofessional conduct and unsatisfactory performance which are less cut-and-dry, harder to prove, “drag on for extended periods of time” and often costs districts hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On this issue, Buchanan and LAUSD agree.

“Sometimes cases last over a year,” said Zazueta. “Some cases have even dragged on for multiple years.”

These delayed dismissal cases can cost LAUSD anywhere from $150,000 – $300,000 for one case, he said. If the district loses a case once it finally gets to trial, Zazueta says the district has to pay the two panelists it finds to sit in for the hearing about $7,000-$9,500.

Under Supt. Deasy’s administration, Zazueta says the district has tried to “be more aggressive to see which employees should be in the classroom,” which can result in more teacher dismissal cases.

With months until the January consideration, Buchanan says she will do whatever it takes to get the bill ready to pass.

“I need to sit down individually with every member of the Senate Committee on Education to make sure they truly understand what the bill really does,” she said. “If we need to amend it we will.”

Previous posts: Mixed Reactions to New Teacher Dismissal Bill; Deasy Wants Stronger Teacher Dismissal Bill; State Teachers Union Rejects Criticism of Teacher Dismissal Bill; Deasy Requests Changes to Teacher Dismissal Bill

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has added his voice to a group of education leaders who are reluctant to support the current union-supported teacher dismissal bill being considered in Sacramento unless it’s amended to address key issues.

In an April 19 letter sent to the bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo), Villaraigosa praises Buchanan for her “willingness to tackle this difficult and sensitive issue.” But he says he’s withholding support for the bill, known as AB 375, unless she addresses “areas of concern” he has — many of which echo those that have been expressed by LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, education advocacy group EdVoice, and former State Senator Gloria Romero.

Both the Mayor and LAUSD want Buchanan to amend the rules to make it easier to find teachers to serve on the three-person Commission on Professional Competence that has the final say on whether teachers are fired. (Read about LAUSD’s position on the teacher dismissal bill here.)

Villaraigosa also agrees with EdVoice CEO Bill Lucia on the bill’s revised timelines; current law requires dismissal hearings to begin within 60 days, but AB 375 would actually extend that time to six months. They both think the longer timeline delays the process unnecessarily.

Last but not least, the Mayor takes issue with the bill’s rules on pretrial evidence, writing, “the process for allowing the use of relevant information must be less onerous.” Education advocate Gloria Romero, who is head of California Democrats for Education Reform, also warned that the bill could “severely limit pretrial evidence discovery.”

Read the full Villaraigosa letter here.

What remains unknown is how Buchanan and the bill’s current supporters, including the California Teachers Association, will respond to these concerns.

Previous posts: Deasy Requests Changes to Teacher Dismissal Bill; Mixed Reactions to New Teacher Dismissal Bill; Assemblymember Bloom Opposes Teacher Dismissal Bill

“That’s how CTA infamously killed a [2012] law to fire sex-pervert teachers, SB 1530,” LA Weekly writer Matthew Mullins wrote. “A badly watered-down version, AB 375, is alive — because CTA backs it,”

What the LA Weekly didn’t note was that the “badly watered-down” bill moving through the state legislature was amended last week or that LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy has proposed several further changes to make sure that districts have a stronger role in the dismissal process and that teachers who review dismissal cases can be removed if necessary.

In an April 19 letter sent to the bill’s sponsor, Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo), Deasy takes note of the School Board’s recent vote in support of her bill’s intent — and then suggests seveal amendments to strengthen it.

Deasy’s key suggestions include giving districts more discretion on dismissing teachers and loosening eligibility requirements for the people who review dismissal cases on the Commission on Professional Competence. (Read the full letter here.)

In particular, LAUSD wants a bigger role for school districts who employ teachers accused of sexual misconduct. A previous teacher dismissal bill, SB 10, would have given school boards the final decision on dismissals.

In particular, Zazueta says Deasy wants to be sure the teacher dismissal legislation make it easier to find the teachers who serve on the professional competence review panel.

Current law (and the new bill) have limited, very specific requirements about what kind of teachers can review misconduct cases. “Time and time again the biggest hurdle and delay is finding these people. We feel they could improve that and make it easier,” Zazueta said.

LAUSD isn’t the only one looking to modify the Buchanan proposal.  Other education advocates remain skeptical of the bill even if they still haven’t concluded whether they support it or not — in part because it’s already being amended in Sacramento.

“At face value, some amendments to the bill seem like they’re working on our concerns,” EdVoice CEO Bill Lucia told LA School Report, referring to a series of amendments that were adopted last week.  “But we still have concerns, so I can’t say at all whether we’re leaning toward support.”

Previous posts: Assemblymember Bloom Opposes Teacher Dismissal Bill; Mixed Reactions to New Teacher Dismissal Bill; Teacher Misconduct Proposal Wins Unexpected Support

Greuel Vows School Reform as Garcetti Seeks End to ‘Division’
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel laid out her plans to improve public schools on Thursday, pushing for tougher evaluations of teachers and principals, while opponent Eric Garcetti secured endorsements from a handful of African American leaders. LA Times
See also: LA Daily News, LA School Report, LA Times Now, LA Weekly

Education Leaders Divulge What They Want From LA’s Next Mayor
There’s been a lot of talk about what the next mayor of Los Angeles should do for public education. KPCC talked to three leaders in the education field about what they expect from the city’s next leader. KPCC

Imagine That: Happy Ending to a ‘Parent Trigger’ Petition
The “parent trigger” movement underwent a maturation process in its latest campaign, a petition to restructure 24th Street Elementary in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Unlike in previous campaigns, there were no lawsuits against the district, no claims by parents that they had been duped into signing the petition. LA Times Op-Ed

Defiance No Reason to Suspend Students, Board President Says
Administrators in the Los Angeles Unified School District would no longer be allowed to suspend students for mouthing off or other acts of “willful defiance” under a groundbreaking school board resolution set to be proposed next week. LA Times
See also: LA School Report

Bill Makes It (a Tiny Bit) Easier to Fire Abusive Teachers
A bill that would have made it easier to fire teachers accused of molesting students or committing other serious crimes died in committee last summer – a victim of the most powerful force in state politics today: teachers unions. There’s a new version of the bill in the Legislature this year. Pasadena Star News Op-Ed

LAUSD Reform Agenda Gets High Marks From Civic Groups
A new coalition of civil rights groups, led by the United Way, released a poll today showing strong support for reforms taking place in Los Angeles Unified and calling for an even more aggressive approach to improving student achievement and increasing local control of neighborhood schools. LA Daily News

LAUSD Summer Enrichment Programs Reduced Again
The Los Angeles Unified School District announced today that funding limits are forcing it to reduce its summer enrichment programming, which includes academic, fitness and other enrichments like art, music and drama activities. KPCC
See also: LA Times

With Police in Schools, More Children in Court
As school districts across the country consider placing more police officers in schools, youth advocates and judges are raising alarm about what they have seen in the schools where officers are already stationed: a surge in criminal charges against children for misbehavior that many believe is better handled in the principal’s office. NY Times

APU to Hold First-Ever Spanish Language Spelling Bee for L.A. County High School Students
Native Spanish speakers and Spanish class students from throughout Los Angeles County will compete in the first-ever Spanish language spelling bee on at 2 p.m. Saturday at Azusa Civic Auditorium. LA Daily News

Assemblymember Joan Buchanan

AB 375, a new bill meant to streamline teacher dismissals, could be headed for quick passage after clearing the State Assembly’s Education Committee with a 7 – 0 vote Thursday.

The bill’s chance at passing is undoubtedly aided by the announcement last week that the state’s largest teachers union, the California Teachers Association, was joining forces with Assemblymember Joan Buchanan and Senator Alex Padilla to support AB 375.

But the alliance of Padilla and Buchanan and the quick pace of action in the statehouse have left some observers confused and concerned. Is AB 375 a watered-down teacher dismissal bill? Or have the unions, legislators, and education advocates finally come to a working compromise that will help streamline the teacher dismissal process?

Edgar Zazueta, the director of government relations for LAUSD, praised AB 375 as a “step in the right direction.”

But he also expressed reservations.

“I think we’d argue that there’s more consideration to be done here. We thank [Buchanan] for moving in the right direction, but we think we could push envelope a little further,” Zazueta said.

LAUSD, StudentsFirst, EdVoice, and Democrats for Education Reform have expressed a mix of praise and concern.

To be sure, the CTA, Padilla, and Buchanan are unlikely allies.

The union vehemently opposed both of Padilla’s teacher dismissal bills (SB 10 and last year’s SB 1530), and when SB 1530 was up for vote in the Assembly last year, Buchanan helped kill the bill when she voted against it. Yet Padilla has shelved SB 10 and teamed up with Buchanan to help pass AB 375.

According to CTA spokesperson Frank Wells, the union supports AB 375 because the bill “does the things we wanted.” He cited how Buchanan’s bill leaves the final dismissal decision in the hands of a Commission on Professional Competence made up of two fellow teachers and an administrative law judge.

In SB 10, Padilla planned to limit the commission to having only an advisory role, instead giving the local school board the final decision on whether to fire a teacher. Padilla also wanted to exclude the teachers from the commission, reducing it to a lone judge. It was this plan to limit the commission to an advisory role that “was a major sticking point” for the CTA with SB 10, Wells said.

Reform-minded Gloria Romero, head of Democrats for Education Reform in California, is skeptical the bill will accomplish much. (Read her critical review of the CTA’s involvement with AB 375 in an O.C. Register column here.)

EdVoice and StudentsFirst praised Buchanan for lifting the statute of limitations on evidence that can be used against a teacher during the dismissal process. (Current law prohibits the use of evidence from more than four years ago.)

However, both groups said they are still reviewing the bill and deciding just what they think.

In a letter sent to Buchanan, EdVoice expressed specific concerns that AB 375 won’t effectively improve the dismissal process for teachers who have sexually or physically abused their students.

EdVoice CEO Bill Lucia told LA School Report that he has several issues with the bill. “There’s no question whatsoever that SB 10 was more streamlined than AB 375 in terms of dealing with people who are child predators on the payroll at taxpayers’ expense,” Lucia said.

Lucia’s main concern clashes directly with the CTA’s praise for AB 375: The bill maintains the current law that gives the Commission on Professional Competence the final dismissal decision for teachers accused of “immoral conduct” such as sexual and physical abuse.

“To maintain the same process for someone who can’t teach and for someone who is a child molester is unacceptable,” Lucia said. “That kind of behavior is criminal, not a matter of professional competence.”

Lucia also takes issue with AB 375’s revised timelines, which have been extended longer in some cases than the timelines SB 10 proposed. While SB 10 would have required hearings to begin 60 days after a teacher asked for it, AB 375 allows the hearing to start within six months; and while SB 10 required that the Commission reviewing the case to choose its three members within seven days, AB 375 extended the time to 45 days.

The CTA’s Frank Wells defended the new timelines: “Padilla’s bill may have had a shorter timeline, but it was less fair. We want to streamline process, but we also want to give people adequate time to prepare their cases.”

Both EdVoice and StudentsFirst say they’re in the process of carefully inspecting AB 375 and meeting with stakeholders, including parents, teachers, and community members, to decide whether or not AB 375 has enough force to merit their support. They expect to decide by the end of the month.

To read the full text of AB 375, go here; for SB 10, go here.

Previous posts: Lawmaker Supports Former Opponent’s Teacher Dismissal Bill; Report: Teacher Dismissals Costly, Lengthy; Commentary: Implications of a Bloom Win

Teacher Dismissal Bill Off and Running With Committee Approval
A bill intended to make it quicker and less costly to dismiss teachers received a 7-0 approval from the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday, and its author – the chair of the committee, Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo – received much praise from her colleagues for taking on a contentious issue. EdSource
See also: Sac Bee

Calif. Districts’ Waiver Bid Now in Review Phase
The U.S. Department of Education and a band of outside peer reviewers are now weighing the details of a precedent-setting waiver application from nine districts in California that want flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act even though their state’s bid for a waiver was unsuccessful. EdWeek

L.A. Unified Filling Security Jobs Created After Newtown Shooting
Los Angeles Unified has hired more than 750 security aides in response to the 26 deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. About 250 openings remain. LA Times

California’s Prop 30 Gains Could Be Eaten Up by Crisis in Teacher Pension System
A recent report from the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found a $70 billion shortfall in state teachers’ retirement plans — and that deficit has the potential to suck up a significant amount of Prop 30 revenue. HuffPo

Atlanta Cheating Scandal Reverberates
The criminal indictments last week of retired Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly L. Hall and 34 other educators for their alleged roles in a far-reaching cheating scandal could have widespread fallout and potentially undermine efforts in other school districts to improve the academic achievement of poor and minority students, according to education leaders. EdWeek

Winners of Head Start Grant Re-Competition Announced
Every one of the four California Head Start operators required to compete for their federal grant in a new process aimed at improving program quality was told Tuesday that their grant had been renewed. But some of those grants will be smaller next year, as the money will now be divided between additional grantees. EdSource

Educators and Safety Experts Reject NRA-Funded Plan
Leading educational and school safety groups rejected key recommendations of a National Rifle Association-funded school safety report released Tuesday. MSNBC

5 Disruptive Education Trends That Address American Inequality
Fixing how we teach our children is of paramount importance. What if the solution also started to fix America’s broader socioeconomic problems? New ways of thinking about edtech just might start that process. Co.Exist

Calif. Bill Would Require Panic Alarms in Schools
Lawmakers gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a bill that would require panic alarms to be installed throughout school campuses in California, but only if the federal government pays for it. AP

School-to-Prison Pipeline Presents Growing Concern for Administrators
Federal mediators and public school administrators in Meridian, Miss., have reached a landmark agreement to launch a rewards-based disciplinary plan, aimed at keeping in the classroom more black students who routinely received harsher disciplinary action when accused of relatively minor infractions. LA Daily News

An Urban School District That Works — Without Miracles or Teach For America
Union City makes an unlikely poster child for education reform. It’s a poor community with an unemployment rate 60 percent higher than the national average. Three-quarters of the students live in homes where only Spanish is spoken. A quarter are thought to be undocumented, living in fear of deportation. WaPo Opinion

Wendy Greuel Re-Starts Campaign With Aggressive Tone
On schools, Greuel said: “I will aggressively and creatively fight to ensure that every dollar is spent in the classroom. I will make sure that our neighborhood teachers, parents and principals are in charge – not downtown bureaucrats.” KPCC (See also LADN)

LAUSD Adds 400 Security Aides at Elementary Schools
Los Angeles Unified has hired more than 440 safety aides to provide security at local elementary schools, part of its plan to bolster campus safety in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, officials said Tuesday. LA Daily News
See also: CBS LA

NRA Report Sees Guns as Path to Safety in Schools
A National Rifle Association task force released a 225-page report on Tuesday that called for armed police officers, security guards or staff members in every American school, and urged states to loosen gun restrictions to allow trained teachers and administrators to carry weapons. NY Times
See also: LA Times, KPCC

Southland School District Latest to Buy iPads for Every Student
Coachella Valley Unified got the green light Tuesday from the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to spend bond money to put an iPad in every student’s hand and a Macbook in every teacher’s lap. KPCC

Aspire and State Board Give Up Fight Over Controversial Charters
After a six-year legal battle, Aspire Public Schools and the State Board of Education have agreed to give up the permit that enabled Aspire to open a half-dozen charter schools without local district approval. EdSource

Let’s Stop Cheating Our Kids With High-Stakes Testing
The institutionalized cheating and corruption that led to indictments last week of a former Atlanta superintendent and 34 others are stunning, but no aberration. It’s more like the tip of an iceberg, with chilling implications for our children, their teachers, and our public schools. Take Part Op-Ed

Wrestling Down Stereotypes
The wrestlers on the Panorama High girls’ team have broken into a male-dominated sport that doesn’t fully welcome them. They’re breaking up old notions of femininity — in their school, and in their families. LA Times

Do Charter Schools Serve Special-Needs Students?
Policymakers rightly want to know whether charter schools serve their fair share of students with disabilities. The fairest answer may surprise some people, however. In some cases, charter schools serve the same number of special-needs students as their regular public school peers; in others, as many have charged, charters serve fewer of these students. EdWeek Commentary

Listen: Ability Grouping and Tracking Make a Return to U.S. Schools
What are the benefits of ability grouping and tracking? What are the potential drawbacks? How do programs that rely on ability grouping work in LAUSD? KPCC

Workshop to Help Undocumented Students Stay in U.S. to Be Held at Cleveland High
A free workshop will be held Thursday for undocumented students interested in applying for deferred action so they can remain legally in the United States. LA Daily News

Advocates Launch State Push for Obama’s Early Education Plan
A campaign to support President Barack Obama’s universal preschool initiative was launched in Sacramento on Tuesday by early childhood education advocates, a coalition of superintendents from around the state and Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. EdSource

The Secret to Fixing School Discipline? Change the Behavior of Adults
A sea change is coursing slowly but resolutely through this nation’s K-12 education system. More than 23,000 schools out of 132,000 nationwide have or are discarding a highly punitive approach to school discipline in favor of supportive, compassionate, and solution-oriented methods. New American Media

Poll Finds the Less You Make, the More You Like Brown’s School Finance Reform
An even 50 percent of respondents told pollsters they favored – while 39 percent opposed – the idea of having “some money diverted from middle and upper class children to low income children and English language learners.” EdSource

Lockyer Widens Request for Legal Opinion on School Bond Campaigns
California Treasurer Bill Lockyer on Monday expanded his request for a legal opinion to determine if some local education officials and the financial underwriters they hire are violating state law by campaigning for school bond measures. LA Times

Long Beach Middle Schools to Start Day an Hour Later
The Long Beach school board voted Monday to push start times at the district’s five middle schools from 8 to 9 a.m. — a cost-cutting move officials believe will also boost student success. LA Times

Bill Clinton Endorses Wendy Greuel for Los Angeles Mayor
Former President Bill Clinton weighed in on the Los Angeles mayoral race Monday with an endorsement for City Controller Wendy Greuel. HuffPo

Orville Wright Middle School in Westchester Reinvents Itself in Bid to Improve Enrollment
Trying to reverse a plunge in enrollment and the effects of a high-profile principal kerfuffle, Orville Wright Middle School in Westchester – currently an aerospace magnet where students learn how to use flight simulators – is trying to recast itself as a magnet school with an expanded focus. Daily Breeze

St. Genevieve High’s ‘Cabaret’ Draws Ire of Conservative Catholics
St. Genevieve High in Panorama City, which won accolades as a National School of Character, now finds itself under fire, targeted by a cadre of conservative Catholics hoping to halt the production of its spring musical, “Cabaret.” LA Daily News

Partnership Blends Science and English Proficiency
Pupils at El Verano Elementary School are learning about science as they also improve their English-language skills. Their instruction is part of a federally funded collaborative project between the 4,600-student Sonoma district and the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco. EdWeek