By Benjamin Feinberg

Teachers unions often argue that the “last in, first out” policy is the only fair way to lay off teachers. Reformers say that LIFO protects bad teachers while indiscriminately getting rid of young and creative new teachers.

The way we lay off teachers will become more important as Los Angeles Unified School District enters yet another budget crisis.

Let’s ignore the policy argument for a moment and instead focus on LIFO’s effect. Ironically, this policy supported by teachers unions ends up benefiting charter schools.

To get a good understanding of LIFO’s impact, we should look back to 2009, when LAUSD laid off 1,806 teachers.

THE YEAR I WAS LAID OFF

This happens to be a very personal subject for me because I was laid off that year.

I started my teaching career in 2008. Three weeks after the first day of school, Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the economy went into a tailspin. At first, this didn’t really hit the teaching sector hard, but by February it became clear that layoffs were coming. And then, on May 15, 2009, 5,618 LAUSD teachers received layoff notices.

Many of those layoffs were rescinded, and those whose notices were not rescinded were told that we could sub for ourselves and stay at our schools. But from a more personal perspective, getting a layoff notice makes you panic.

That is exactly what I did. I. Freaked. Out.

As a relatively risk-averse person, I chose to apply for a new teaching job.

And who was hiring?

Charter schools. Oodles and oodles of charter schools.

I was hired at Aspire Public Schools, one of the fastest-growing charter networks in Los Angeles. My girlfriend was hired at Partnership to Uplift Communities (PUC Schools). My friends got jobs at Green Dot, Synergy, Para Los Niños, Inner City Education Foundation Public Schools (ICEF), the list goes on.

In fact, of my Teach For America (TFA) cohort who received layoff notices that year, only 21 percent were rescinded, 18 percent decided to sub for themselves, and 57 percent headed to charter schools. LIFO took a bunch of young, excited teachers who already had a year of experience under their belts and pushed them into charter schools.

FROM DISTRICT TO CHARTER

But it gets better. Charter schools are rapidly expanding in Los Angeles, meaning that good teachers can quickly rise through the ranks of charter schools and become administrators.

Out of that group of 22 TFA corps members who were laid off, five are now charter school administrators, one is a charter school recruiter, and one worked for the California Charter Schools Association. One person who decided to sub for themselves is now running for a spot on the LAUSD School Board on a pro-charter ticket (although he would say that he isn’t just pro-charter, he is pro-good-schools).

What do these teachers have to say about their shift from the district to charter schools after getting laid off?

Michelle Wilson, who was laid off from Gardena High School, found a job at Synergy Charter Academy. “I saw that I was serving students from the same demographics,” she said. “I also worked with more colleagues who were passionate and willing to make changes in and out of the classroom to impact students.” She is now an administrator at Green Dot.

Casie Little was laid off from Bret Harte Middle School and has worked at three charter schools since. She left LAUSD feeling defeated but says that when she joined a charter school, her enthusiasm for teaching was rekindled.

“I discovered a passion for curriculum planning, instruction and assessment that I never knew I had.” She is now an administrator at Wilder’s Preparatory Academy Charter School.

Casie has strong opinions about what successful schools look like based on her experience.

“When I hear or see other admin that don’t uphold the values I was shown at PUC and at the two schools I was at Green Dot, I know that it’s not best for kids and that data backs that up.”

A FUTURE THAT ISN’T LAUSD

These are young educators that could have been part of the LAUSD family. Instead, they were booted out without evaluation. They were let go of simply because they were new.

From my perspective, unions shoot themselves in the foot by supporting LIFO. The policy supplies charter schools with a stream of fresh young blood, who could have been a boon for traditional public schools.

These teachers are becoming leaders who will lead the way toward a new educational landscape. And, unfortunately, that future isn’t in LAUSD.

Benjamin Feinberg is an eighth-grade math teacher at LA Unified’s Luther Burbank Middle School. Follow his blog at schooldatanerd.com.

This article was published in partnership with Education Post.

President John F. Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” This message has apparently been lost on some people in our teachers unions who used their recent national conventions in Los Angeles and Denver to argue against desperately needed changes in our public schools.

At a time when only one in 10 low-income children is earning a four-year college degree and two out of three jobs of the future will require one, change is needed. At a time when more than half of young people attending community college need to retake high-school classes because the education they received was not rigorous enough, change is needed. At a time when American 15-year-olds trail their counterparts in 30 countries in math, 23 in science and 20 in reading, change is needed.

For some time now, teachers, elected officials, community, business and nonprofit organizations have advanced bold changes in education. America is raising standards, investing in teachers, rewriting curriculum, bringing technology into the classroom and exploring new learning models like public charter schools that are getting results in higher graduation and college-enrollment rates.

Read full story here

Cartoon by David Granlund

By Ron Taw

I came to education out of the business world. Before entering the classroom, I was making my way up the corporate ladder at a Fortune 500 company. But then, over 15 years ago, I realized that I wanted a job where “success and advancement” would mean changing more lives, not just earning more money.

That’s why I came into teaching, and why I stay. So as someone who deeply loves his job and his students, I am disappointed in the reactionary response of many of my colleagues to the ruling in Vergara v. California, in which California’s teacher tenure laws were ruled unconstitutional.

Rather than an attack on teachers, Vergara has given us an opportunity to completely rethink the systems of teacher tenure, support, evaluations and lay-offs. When I received tenure, it was the result of an arbitrary and opaque process, divorced from my work in the classroom helping students. At the moment, tenure remains the only official milestone for most teachers’ careers. So rather than an empty stamp, we want tenure to be meaningful, impactful, and part of a career-long system of professional development.

This ruling presents a rare opportunity for actual classroom educators to own our profession and lead the nation in creating an innovative, student-focused and teacher-driven system for how we hire, evaluate and retain educators.

The impending wave of retirements and decline in new teacher credentials being issued means we have to do something new to ensure that we are not facing understaffed classrooms in the coming years. Changing tenure is not the silver bullet, but it can be a key part of the solution.

We need tenure to reflect the complex and growth-oriented nature of teaching itself. Teachers base their evaluations of their students on multiple factors. In the same way, we must reimagine tenure as something equally multi-faceted and dynamic. A system like this would require ongoing professional development and teacher training, so students can have access to educators who are on the cutting edge of the profession.

Securing and maintaining tenure in higher education requires ongoing research and scholarship. Similarly, tenure in K-12 should reflect ongoing growth in pedagogical and content knowledge, and impact on students.

Updated tenure and lay-off practices should not exclude seniority as a factor. After all, we must recognize the work, commitment and experience of our best and seasoned teachers. But it must also be based upon student data, community and parent engagement, leadership roles, and pro-student accountability measures. This, coupled with the ongoing professional development, is how we can make tenure a truly meaningful professional milestone for teachers.

If our most talented and dedicated teachers are the architects redesigning tenure, it can be a signifier of educators most committed to serving their students.

As an active member of my teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), and the child of a father who was a member of a union, I believe we absolutely do need our union to protect us from unfair labor practices, bias or discrimination. But I do not pay dues to protect ineffective teachers or to pass by incredible opportunities to elevate our profession.

We need the union to lead, making sure that new programs help students, comply with the law and maintain adequate protections for good teachers. When Superintendent John Deasy goes to the legislature and asks lawmakers to come up with a new plan, UTLA leadership should be there, representing the interests of its best teachers, who care deeply about the rights of their students. If our teachers union does not seize this opportunity, there are plenty of other special interest groups that will. With a new board set to take over UTLA this year, I hope our union begins to focus on the future, instead of fighting for the past.

Fixing tenure practices to conform to the Vergara ruling will elevate the teaching profession, changing its reputation and attracting the best and brightest. New structures would reaffirm what all teachers know – teaching is complex, difficult, and reserved only for those willing to work hard.

We cannot allow this opportunity to pass us by. I sincerely hope that when the dust settles, we will have a new model for the teaching profession that makes tenure the meaningful milestone it can and must be.

Ron Taw is a teacher and Instructional coach for mathematics at Los Angeles Academy Middle School in south Los Angeles. He has been teaching for 13 years and has served as department chair and data lead.

“My guess is that there are probably some elements in there that we would embrace, but I think the process itself is flawed,” said CFT President Joshua Pechthalt. “Somehow, the women and men who are actually in the classrooms doing the day-to-day teaching were left out of the process of improving our schools. It’s just not going to work.”

The waiver request was put together by superintendents from eight school districts, including Los Angeles Unified, who received guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and other third parties. Elected school boards were not asked to sign off.

Pechthalt added: “It’s a top-down, one-size-fits-all reform.”

The CTA expressed similar objections to the waiver agreement, blaming Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

“By approving this waiver, Secretary Duncan once again demonstrates how his rhetoric that educators be actively involved in education change is just that – rhetoric,” CTA President Dean Vogel said in a statement. “Not one of the local teachers’ associations in the eight school districts was included in the discussion or signed the waiver application.”

UTLA President Warren Fletcher declined to comment.

Teachers unions had objected to the No Child Left Behind Law, which was signed by George W. Bush in 2001, and had supported California’s request for a waiver. After that waiver request was rejected, the eight districts went back to the Education Department with a waiver request of their own.

It became the first “No Child” waiver granted to districts, rather than a state.

The waiver includes provisions to measure student progress by a number of different metrics and to evaluate teachers based, in part, on student progress. One provision problematic for teachers: if a teacher is evaluated as “unsatisfactory” and fails to “improve substantially” after one year, that teacher may be fired.

“The craft of teaching is not something that you learn or change quickly,” said Pechthalt. “Rather than set one year as make-or-break, it seems to me that if an educator is showing commitment to improve, let’s continue to see progress rather than seeing if you’ve met a certain bar.”

Although the unions denounced the deal, they are not seeking to block or overturn it any way.

Previous posts: The ‘California 8′ Waiver: What it Means for Local Schools; No Child Left Behind Waiver for CA Districts Includes ‘Unique’ Oversight Panel;  ‘No Child’ Waiver OKd for LA Unified, 7 Other CA School Districts

An online voting system in Virginia

Less than 23 percent of the 40,000 members of United Teachers of Los Angeles cast ballots in the final round of voting for union president in 2011, the union’s last leadership election. Even fewer, 15 percent, voted in the preliminary round.

A new, online voting system could change all that, says a group of teachers who are taking their case to the membership.

“We’re proposing that all the city-wide elections would be online,” said Marisa Crabtree, a UTLA Chapter Chair and member of the House of Representatives for the East Area. She is spearheading the initiative, which will be presented to union members at the annual UTLA Leadership Conference this weekend at the Westin Los Angeles Airport. “We want to encourage people to vote more and that comes from a more flexible, user-friendly system,” she said.

UTLA’s current voting system is paper-based and differs for various elections. If members vote on a contract change, a chapter chair hosts an in-person election at every school site. Leadership elections rely on snail mail ballots, which have to be turned in by a certain date for counting.

But what if a teacher is absent or out of town? What if a member loses a ballot or forgets to mail it in on time? Ultimately, like most elections, mailing in a ballot can seem too arduous for an important election, especially with newer digital options available.

And since so few UTLA members last voted for a union president, the current voting system needs an upgrade, said Crabtree, who is an English and choral teacher at Abraham Lincoln Senior High School in east Los Angeles.

“Most of the races in the last election were won by 80 to 100 votes,” she said. “They become close races because there were only 8,000 ballots cast.”

The union did not respond to a request for comment.

Crabtree contends that teachers favor an easier, more streamlined voting system.

“I have friends and fellow teachers who are active UTLA members but missed the mail-in deadline or forgot to send it in all together,” she said.

Her fellow teachers are also extremely busy, she added, and having a system that would allow them to vote late at night or during a lunch break would generate more voter participation, especially from semi-involved members.

That’s what spurred Megan Markevich, a middle school teacher at Luther Burbank Middle School in Highland Park and a member of the UTLA House of Reps, to join Crabtree in pushing for a new system.

Markevich says members like her don’t have much of a say in union issues.

“We want more teacher voices on issues,” said Markevich, who is also proposing that the union use the electronic system to survey members on issues.

“Members could vote in the convenience and privacy of their own home without a Chapter Chair looking over their shoulder or influencing them on who to vote for, which happens,” she said.

While details are still in the works, Crabtree and Markevich say they have spoken to a few online voting companies willing to create an easy log-in system, such as the voting systems created for teacher unions in Hawaii and the Volusia County Teachers Association in Florida.

Crabtree said she anticipates pushback on the proposal from union leaders during the leadership conference. “If you change the system leaders can feel threatened,” she said.

Markevich agreed, explaining that an electronic voting system could take away Chapter Chairs’ duties since they are responsible for hosting elections. She also cited unfamiliarity with the system and fears of hacking as other reasons why some might object to a new voting system.

“They will say it didn’t work in places like San Diego, but the fact is that a lot of unions are using it and it has been successful in Hawaii and Florida,” said Markevich.

The conference is for union Chapter Chairs and UTLA leaders, which is why Crabtree and Markevich are expecting a host of questions and comments following their presentation.

“A lot of leaders are not fans of it,” said Crabtree. “Like many other democratic bodies, the union is a little resistant to change and it can be a power struggle.”

But a new electronic voting system could free up people from hosting elections, creating mailers and counting ballots — time that could otherwise be spent “helping kids,” according to Crabtree.

“Overall, people are disappointed with the lack of organizing at UTLA,” Markevich said. “It’s like pulling teeth to get people on election committees. No one wants or has the time to volunteer and this system could free up all that energy and use it to let people know about important issues.”

While other district unions already use electronic voting systems, “L.A. unified could be the largest school union to be the frontrunner on online voting,” said Crabtree.

Crabtree, Markevich and other supporters of the on-line system say they need at least 600 signatures before they turn in the initiative, giving the union two months to vote on it. They said they have 450 and expect to rally enough members to sign on to support the new voting system by the end of August.

“I have personally collected 200 signatures and only one person was hesitant,” said Markevich. “The rest were very excited about it and said, ‘I can’t believe we aren’t already doing this.'”

“Hopefully,” said Crabtree, “that will be our last paper vote.”

Duncan Says It’s Still Possible for State to Get NCLB Waiver
California remains interested in receiving a waiver from sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Wednesday it remains possible for the state to get one. EdSource

L.A. Mayor’s Race: Wendy Greuel Uses Web Chat to Target Women
The chat participants, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, L.A. Unified President Monica Garcia, longtime civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) and operatives from the Feminist Majority and the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project, urged Los Angeles viewers to join their canvassing efforts on Greuel’s behalf. LA Times

Poll: Should Breakfast Be Banned From the Classroom?
Should under-nourished students be allowed to eat in the classroom? The issue became a hot topic this week after Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy passed on making a decision, putting the future of a pilot breakfast program into the hands of the school board. KPCC
See also: LA School Report

California Teachers Sue Unions to Stop Dues
Ten California teachers — several of them from Orange County — are suing in federal court to stop mandatory union dues. The lawsuit seeks to expand last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision involving union activity in a California special election. KPCC
See also: HuffPo

Within Schools, Novice Teachers Paired With Struggling Students
More than a decade of research on teacher characteristics shows that, on almost every quality measure you can think of, schools with large populations of low-income, minority, and low-achieving students get shortchanged. They have fewer experienced teachers, fewer teachers teaching within their field, and teachers who show greater variations in effectiveness, including more of the worst performers. EdWeek

Duncan Admits Flaws in Current Standardized Testing
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan acknowledged serious flaws in the standardized tests that currently drive American schools, telling an audience of education researchers on Tuesday that the tests are an inadequate gauge of student and teacher performance. EdSource

StudentsFirst Under Scrutiny From the Left
Michelle Rhee frequently says her StudentsFirst lobbying group is a bipartisan organization that backs Democrats and Republicans who support her vision for education: charter schools, vouchers and performance pay for teachers. Sac Bee

Common Core Moves a Step Closer in CA, GOP Attacks Standards in Other States
Plans to commit California schools to a new student testing system aligned to the new common core curriculum standards by 2014-15 won passage Wednesday out of a key legislative committee. SI&A Cabinet Report

CA Bill Would Curtail Police Role on Public School Campuses
A bill to limit the role of campus police in disciplining students passed its first committee  hearing in Sacramento Wednesday. The bill’s L.A. sponsor aims to reduce the number of tickets that campus police issue to students. KPCC

Turning Teens Into Police Officers
Roberta Weintraub, a 77-year-old political activist and former president of the L.A. Unified School District Board of Education, has always had a soft spot for the men and women in blue. Jewish Journal LA

LAUSD Supt. John Deasy Faces Performance Evaluation by Teachers Union
Barely two weeks after delivering a stinging no-confidence vote on the leadership of Superintendent John Deasy, the teachers union announced it will do a first-ever “performance evaluation” of the Los Angeles Unified chief. Daily News
See also: LA School Report

Voters Can’t Let LAUSD Seat Be Bought: Elect Monica Ratliff
For a glimpse of what’s wrong with politics in Los Angeles, look no further than the campaign to fill an open seat in the LAUSD’s northeast San Fernando Valley district. LA Daily News Editorial

Lawsuit Targets Union Fees Collected from Nonmember Teachers
A conservative organization has joined with a group of California teachers in an effort to overturn laws that allow teacher unions to collect fees from those who don’t want to be members. Los Angeles Times
See also: Bloomberg, AP

StudentsFirst Rallies Troops for California Teacher Evaluation Bill
StudentsFirst, the Sacramento-based education advocacy group headed by school reform crusader (and wife of Sacramento major Kevin Johnson) Michelle Rhee, has launched a major blitz in advance of a hearing today on Senate Bill 441, a union-opposed teacher evaluation bill that was granted reconsideration after registering a 4-4 committee vote last week, with Democrats and Republicans on both sides. The Tribune

Bill Would Overhaul Student Testing in California
A key hearing is set today for consideration of what may prove to be landmark legislation that would replace the state’s existing statewide student performance testing program with one that is designed to be taken online and is also aligned with the new common core curriculum standards. SI&A Cabinet Report

UCLA Preschool and the California Science Center Museum Help Turn Kids Into ‘Pre-Scientists’
University Village and the other two UCLA preschools are among a few in Southern California to offer science-based learning. The vocabulary and experimentation may give kids a head start in later grades. KPCC

L.A. Ninth-Grader Whips up Winning Breakfast Recipe
Her nephew likes fruit. Her brother likes eggs. And so Guadalupe Gonzales, a ninth-grader at Panorama High School in Los Angeles, put the two ingredients together in a dish that was named the top winner Tuesday in L.A. Unified’s first annual breakfast recipe contest. LA Times

Civil Rights Groups Oppose No Child Left Behind Waiver for LAUSD
A coalition of civil rights groups is opposing efforts by Los Angeles Unified and eight other school districts to get a waiver from a federal law requiring that all students be proficient in English and math by 2014. Daily News

L.A. County Rejects School Districts’ Bid to Avoid Voting Rights Suits
Los Angeles County officials rejected a bid Tuesday from several Santa Clarita Valley school districts and a water district hoping to consolidate elections and avoid the kind of voting rights lawsuits that other local governments have been hit with. LA Times

Superintendent John Deasy

Apparently not content with its recent poll on LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s performance, UTLA is now embarking on a “Superintendent Performance Review” that calls on teachers to review Deasy’s work.

The union’s announcement of the new Deasy survey appears somewhat more neutral than it was for the last survey, which indicated what the union thought about the superintendent through mocking cartoons. (See the first survey announcement here.)

The union characterizes the new survey as reversing the evaluation tables with a “Stull Deasy” theme. (In LAUSD, to “Stull” someone is to evaluate them, per the Stull Act, which requires teacher evaluations.) The survey asks UTLA members if they think Deasy is “fair,” “effective,” “the best,” or “the worst.” There’s been a spike in negative evaluations of teachers since Deasy has arrived, and no doubt some teachers will be more than happy to return the favor.

LA School Report has contacted UTLA for more details, including why the union is doubling up on its review of the superintendent. The evaluation is scheduled to be distributed by Friday, May 3, and is due back by May 10.

Previous posts: Union “Surveys” Teachers for Deasy Criticism; Teachers Vote Against Deasy, For More Teachers; Teachers Vote on Deasy Tomorrow, Too

The Messy Complications of Breakfast in the Classroom
The Los Angeles Unified School District is in a period of tremendous upheaval that, it’s hoped, will result in better education for its students. With so much changing and so much at stake, of course there are more than a few daggers drawn. But when the teachers union and district administration can’t even get together over feeding hungry kids, something sick is going on. LA Times Opinion

Pre-K Funding is Delivered Another Blow
California state funding per child fell by more than than $400 compared with the previous year, and only 41% of 4-year-olds were served by public pre-K programs and Head Start in the 2011-12 school year, the institute reported. LAT

Washington and Sacramento Must End Cold War on Education
It is too late for California to get more than the sliver of Race to the Top funds it has already received. But the administration’s rejection of California’s NCLB waiver request is too important an issue to accept without further urgent efforts on both sides to reach a resolution. EdSource (opinion)

Walton Foundation Gives $8 Million to StudentsFirst
A foundation associated with the Wal-Mart family fortune has expanded its support for the education advocacy group run by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee. LA Times

Granada Hills Honored for Record Three-Peat As Academic Decathlon Champs
To raucous cheers and the skirl of the school’s bagpipers, the nine-member Academic Decathlon team from Granada Hills Charter High School was celebrated Monday for winning its third consecutive national championship – the first such achievement for a California campus. LA Daily News

New Science Standards Hard Sell at Cash-Strapped Sylmar High School
Ronald Hitchcock has been teaching science at Sylmar High School for more than a decade. He’s seen a lot of changes, but perhaps nothing has hit the school harder than the news last fall that it lost a $3.5 million QEIA grant.  “We’re pretty cash strapped right now,” he said. KPCC

Positive School Climate Boosts Test Scores, Study Says
It’s the million-dollar question or, given the size of the California education budget, the $50-billion-dollar question: What makes extraordinarily successful schools different from other schools? The answer: school climate, according to a new study from WestEd. EdSource

Attack on School Reformers Rings Hollow
This time, the powerful teachers’ unions went too far. At this month’s California Democratic Convention, a resolution attacking education reform movements was approved by delegates. It was sponsored by the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers and the California Faculty Association. O.C. Register Editorial

Bill Seeks to Limit School Police in Discipline Matters
As the national debate grows louder over deploying police in schools, the largest state in the union ­– California – is considering a bill that would require schools to set “clear guidelines” defining the role of school police and limit their involvement in disciplinary matters. CA Watch

School Discipline Survey Finds Challenges in Making Changes
Many school districts are changing their codes of conduct in a way that limits the use of out-of-school suspension and expulsion and defines the role of law enforcement in school. But the resources—human and financial—needed to make those changes don’t always match what districts can muster. EdWeek

New National Goals Set for Teaching Profession
A blueprint for improving the teaching profession nationally calls for more emphasis on quality preparation programs, higher standards for entry into the profession and better compensation for both classroom educators and school administrators. SI&A Cabinet Report

Decrease in Pink Slips Thanks to Prop 30
The sharp decrease in the number of pink slips from 20,000 last year to 3,000 this March can be directly attributed to the historic passage of the CTA-supported Proposition 30 in November. CTA Blog

Senate Counters Governor’s Funding Plan for Disadvantaged Students
Brown wants to make sure disadvantaged students get more of the funding pie, but the Senate disagrees with the formula the governor wants to use. KPCC
See also: LA Times, EdSource, SI&A Cabinet Report

Endorsement: Monica Ratliff in L.A. Unified District 6
She would, she said, terminate Supt. John Deasy’s contract and initiate a new search for a superintendent, in which he would be invited to reapply. That would be a mistake. LA Times Editorial

LAUSD Reassigns Valley Superintendent, 3 Other Administrators
Four senior Los Angeles Unified officials, including the San Fernando Valley’s local superintendent, have been removed from their positions pending an internal investigation into “a confidential personnel matter,” a district spokesman said Thursday. LA Daily News
See also: LA Times, CBS LA

Giving Every Kid in L.A. a Computer Tablet? Pros and Cons
My wife and I have tried, with mixed results, to keep our daughter from becoming too obsessed with digital electronics. And yet her school district, L.A. Unified, has a plan to give every child in every school a digital tablet. LA Times Column (Steve Lopez)

A Dangerous Game for UTLA
Superintendent John Deasy’s popularity and direct approach have been seen by United Teachers Los Angeles as immensely threatening. The union plays an outsized role in Los Angeles, in large part because we are one of the last large cities in which the superintendent reports to an elected school board, not the mayor. LA Times Op-Ed (Jamie Alter Lynton)

Alice Waters, School Officials Talk Teaching With Food
Fast food begets a fast-food culture that has seeped into pretty much everything going on in the world today, the chef Alice Waters told a crowd gathered at UCLA for a presentation about edible education. LA Times

Democrats Are Inviting Trouble Over Education Reform
One of the nation’s biggest teachers’ groups has just attacked Democrats for Education Reform. Is the party itself pushing people who want to improve schools into the Republican camp? Crosscut Op-Ed

Private Groups Balk at Running LAUSD Science Center in San Pedro
It’s back to square one for Los Angeles school officials trying to keep San Pedro’s science center open beyond next year. Daily Breeze

Locke High School Joins List of South LA Schools With On-Campus Health Centers
The Watts Healthcare Corporation opened its second school-based clinic in three weeks on Thursday morning at Locke High School in South Los Angeles. KPCC

Sal Castro Recalled As Inspiring Teacher
More than 1,000 people attend the funeral for the activist, who urged a 1968 student walkout demanding better education for Latinos. LA Times

“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

Saving the California Dream: ‘Parent Trigger’ Profiles
Parents at Weigand Elementary School in Watts are the most the recent group to organize and deliver a petition, and they say it’s been a tough fight so far. “The courage it takes to sign a petition when you know there’s going to be a battle is tremendous,” says Alfonso Flores, a former LAUSD “Teacher of the Year.” Fox LA

Attack Shows Education  Reform Gaining Ground
The passage by delegates at this month’s California Democratic Convention of a resolution condemning Democrats, including me, who support education reform illustrates an ongoing battle among Democrats across the nation. O.C. Register Opinion (Gloria Romero)

Burbank Teacher Suspended After Breaking State Standardized Testing Rules
At least one elementary school class has had their test scores invalidated, and the district’s ranking could be in jeopardy. NBC LA
See also: KPCC

Shepard Fairey Asks Students for Inspiration for Arts Education Campaign
Street artist Shepard Fairey, made famous by his “Hope” poster for President Barack Obama, is tapping LA students for inspiration. HuffPo

Charter School Teachers Join the Union
Teachers at Ivy Academia in Los Angeles are the latest to join a wave of union organizing victories at charter schools. Labor Notes Opinion

San Fernando Valley Rivals Face Off for U.S. Academic Decathlon Title
When Granada Hills Charter High defends its national Academic Decathlon title this week, its toughest competition won’t be from its traditional rivals in Texas and Arizona, but from a school just 14 miles away. LA Daily News

Ed. Companies Exert Public-Policy Influence
Some education observers are alarmed at what they see as increasingly aggressive moves by companies to make money from the K-12 system; others say the expanding role of for-profit ventures is just a natural evolution of the interplay between the private and public sectors in efforts to improve schools. EdWeek

Sal Khan: The Man Who Tutored His Cousin – and Started a Revolution
Sal Khan has a simple mission: a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Naturally, people think he’s crazy. Guardian

Teacher Dismissals: How Do We Protect Children and Safeguard Teachers’ Due Process?
Fire them. Dismiss them. Send them back. Let them languish in “teacher jails” while investigations drag on for months — or even years.  There’s got to be a better, quicker and fairer way to get rid of teachers who truly do not belong in the classroom and support those teachers who do. Huff Po Op-Ed by Tamar Galatzan

Deasy Should Be Thrilled With Union’s No Confidence Vote
It means he’s shaking up the moribund Los Angeles Unified School District and bucking the union that has battled every education reform proposed to protect the livelihood of its teachers – a livelihood that has put a stranglehold on education. LA Daily News Editorial

‘Willful Defiance’ in L.A. Schools
A proposal to prevent the suspending of students for a relatively minor infraction deserves the approval of the school board. LA Times Editorial

Sal Castro Dies at 79; L.A. Teacher Played Role in 1968 Protests
Sal Castro, a veteran Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who played a central role in the 1968 “blowouts,” when more than 1,000 students in predominantly Latino high schools walked out of their classrooms to protest inequalities in education, died in his sleep Monday after a long bout with cancer. LA Times
See also: KPCC

Teachers Dislike Breakfast in the Classroom Program, Survey Finds
An L.A. Unified program to serve breakfast in the classroom to make sure students don’t start school hungry has increased pests, created messes and cut down on instructional time, according to a teacher survey released Monday. LA Times

Teach for America: California Schools Need Their Talent
The English Learner Authorization embedded within the intern credential is a very hot issue for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing due to the concerns over incomplete education and preparation of intern teachers who serve students who are English Learners. Silicon Valley Mercury News Op-Ed

District’s Voting Rights Called Into Question
Latinos make up 42 percent of ABC Unified School District, located in Southeastern Los Angeles County. They are the largest ethnic demographic in the 30-school district, but the last time a Latino was elected to the seven member board was in 1997. EdWeek

Family Fee for Half-Day State Preschool Likely to Be Rescinded
A much-disputed daily fee for families with children in state-funded preschool programs will likely be removed from next year’s state budget. EdSource

Eric Garcetti Avoids Schoolyard Tussle With Wendy Greuel
On the heels of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa calling on the two mayoral candidates to step up and communicate their education platforms during his State of the City address Tuesday night, Wendy Greuel stepped up with a challenge to Eric Garcetti. KPCC
See also: LA School Report, Annenberg News, LA Times

LAUSD Superintendent Fires Lemon Teachers
The speed with which Deasy moves and speaks is well documented. He brings an uncomfortable impatience to the LAUSD supe’s job as he moves to increase the types of schools available to students (known as School Choice), raise achievement on test scores and graduation rates, and require accountability from L.A.’s more than 20,000 tenured-for-life teachers. LA Weekly

Education Coalition Wants to Stay Course in L.A. Unified
A coalition of groups, including the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, has launched an effort to put education at the center of the mayoral race and civic attention. LA Times
See also: LA School Report

Operation Back in School Sweeps up Truant Kids
Operation Back in School, a multi-agency task force in the Harbor area Wednesday to sweep up truant kids who should be in school. No citations were issued in a friendlier approach to the problem that offered counseling for kids and parents. Daily Breeze

Parents Choose Unique School Takeover Model in ‘Trigger’ Vote
In the latest test of California’s controversial “parent trigger” law, South Los Angeles parents have voted to transform their struggling neighborhood school into a charter school hybrid beginning this fall, organizers announced Wednesday. Hechinger Report
See also: LA Times, LA School Report

Garcetti and Greuel Trade Barbs on Union Support on Eve of Debate
Greuel has argued that her record as controller proves her judgment will not be swayed by campaign contributors. Appearing with school board member Garcia at a high school in Garcetti’s district, the controller contended that it is her former council colleague who is in the thrall of a union — United Teachers Los Angeles — which is supporting his bid for mayor. LA Times

Gates’ Warning on Test Scores
In a recent op-ed article, he cautions against overusing students’ standardized test scores in evaluating how well teachers are doing their jobs. LA Times Editorial

Here’s Why Students in Los Angeles Aren’t Going to College
The stakes just got higher for high-schoolers in Los Angeles—but will they be prepared? TakePart

Qualified Math Teachers Elusive for Struggling Students, Studies Find
In many schools in the United States, students struggling the most in mathematics at the start of high school have the worst odds of getting a qualified teacher in the subject, new research finds. EdWeek

When a Teacher Is 2 Feet Tall
This year, robots will be teaching everything from math to vocabulary to nutrition inside classrooms in California and New York, a move the researchers call a first in American education. WSJ

Alemany Enjoys Unified State at Championship Assembly
When Alemany celebrated the school’s first state championship last year, the boys basketball program had the spotlight all to itself. LA Daily News

Bullies Shoot 8th Grade Student With BB Gun in Class, Victim Says
LA school district police plan to investigate a shooting incident at a Carson middle school where a BB gun injured a 13-year-old student. NBC LA

Obama Budget Would Allocate $75 Billion Over Next Decade to Preschool
In an ambitious and highly anticipated budget plan, President Barack Obama called Wednesday for allocating $75 billion over the next 10 years to expand public preschool by raising the federal tax on tobacco products. EdSource

New Analysis Bolsters Case Against Suspension, Researchers Say
The results of a new analysis of out-of-school-suspension data that show staggering rates of the punishment’s use at some schools are even more reason to rethink that common method of disciplining students, researchers said Monday. EdWeek
See also: KPCC, EdSource, Yahoo

LA Unified Off Track to Meet Deadline for College Prep Courses
Los Angeles Unified School District has some work ahead of it to meet its deadline for all students to pass college-preparatory classes in order to graduate. EdSource
See also: LA Daily News

California Federation of Teachers Lobbies Lawmakers
It’s lobby day for the California Federation of Teachers, which means members of the state’s second-biggest teachers union (after the California Teachers Association) are in Sacramento to petition lawmakers. Sac Bee

Shepard Fairey Taps LAUSD Students for Ideas
Fairey is the third high-profile L.A. artist who has signed on to participate in the “Arts Matter” public awareness campaign by the L.A. Fund for Public Education, which plasters artwork on city buses and billboards to help get their message out. LA Times

Targeting Classroom Predators: The Encore
Last June saw one of the rawest displays ever of the power wielded by the half-million-plus members of the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers. SD Union Tribune

LAO Seeks Conditions on Brown’s Surplus Property-Charter Proposal
The governor’s plan to provide charter schools with more access to surplus property appears to have support within the Legislature – but lawmakers also seem interested in conditioning the proposal. SI&A Cabinet Report

Reform Falls Short
Lest there was any doubt, it is now clear that the pension bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed last September was not reform, it was merely a tweak. San Jose Mercury Editorial

Long Beach Has Jumpstart on Transitional Kindergarten
When California school districts were required by state law to start a new early kindergarten class for some 4-year-olds for the first time this year, Long Beach Unified had an easier task than most: to simply expand the existing “preppy kindergarten” program it started five years ago. EdSource

CTA Goes Hollywood on Teacher Dismissal Bills
An adage in politics is that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.  Not so for the California Teachers Association, California’s most powerful political special interest. Their mantra seems to be more like, “If you can’t beat ’em, just overtake ’em.” OC Register Column
See also: SD Union-Tribune Editorial

What’s Really Scandalous About the School Testing Scandal
Even if we eliminate all the cheating, what remains is a broken system built on the dangerous misconception that testing is a proxy for actual teaching and learning. Time

What Will New Evaluation Systems Cost?
The cost of new teacher-evaluation systems is likely to vary based on how states and districts choose to establish student-growth measures for all teachers, according to an analysis from a researcher at the Value-Added Research Center. EdWeek

More Teachers Group Students by Ability
After being condemned as discriminatory in the 1990s, grouping students by academic ability seems to be back in vogue with a new generation of teachers, according to an analysis of federal teacher data. EdWeek

Migrant Program Offers  Lessons for Reaching Latino Preschoolers
Long before President Obama triggered a new national interest in universal preschool earlier this year, a Central Valley-based Head Start program for children of migrant workers has been breaking down barriers that have kept Latino families out of early learning programs. EdSource

Brown’s K-12 Online Agenda Faces Legislative Scrutiny
Gov. Jerry Brown drew national attention earlier this year with his embrace of online learning programs and technology-based instruction. But his plan to rewrite the rules surrounding independent study and allow school districts to collect state attendance funding for asynchronous online instruction may be facing challenges in the Legislature. SI&A Cabinet Report

How to Build a Progressive Education Movement
If proponents of progressive education want to become a credible alternative to the education-testing movement, we need to do the hard work of building a robust movement and persuading mainstream America that there is another path forward. EdWeek Commentary

Public School Reformer Michelle Rhee Sends Child to Private School: Should We Care?
America’s best-known and most controversial education reformer, Michelle Rhee, 43, doesn’t want the public to know where her two daughters go to school. Are they attending public or private? Should we even care? SF Chronicle

Do Cops With Guns Mean Safer Schools?
Leslie Mendoza, now 17, says she felt like she was entering a prison every time she entered her magnet public high school in Los Angeles. Police would even search students’ backpacks and pockets when they came to school late. Daily Beast

L.A.’s Mayoral Rivals Walk Fine Line in Dealing With Labor
Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel are Democrats with long histories of supporting organized labor. But the competition for labor support has upended conventional thinking about the candidates. LA Times

L.A. Unified Officials Let Abuse Allegations Slide, Lawyers Say
Two high-level district employees heard but failed to act on accusations of sexual misconduct by an elementary school teacher, according to attorneys representing alleged victims. LA Times
See also: KPCC, KTLA

LA Unified School Board Blocks Current President From Another Term
The term limit may be the first sign that fewer members on the board of education may support the reform agenda. KPCC

Gage Middle School Students Fight Back with Kale and Yoga
After an article posted by L.A. Weekly and headlined “Huntington Park Has the Fattest Kids in California; Manhattan Beach has the Skinniest,” many parents and students spoke out in the comments section. Gage Middle School has decided to try and cut the fat. LA Weekly

Teacher Pension Problems Catch Lawmakers’ Attention
For years, problems with California’s pension fund for teachers and school employees have been growing. Now a new report says the fund needs an additional $4.5 billion every year to stay above water. LA Times

Oakland to Close 3 Charter Schools
Three of the state’s highest-performing schools must shut down at the end of this school year after administrators failed to acknowledge and address illegal activity and serious lapses in financial and administrative oversight, the Oakland school board decided Wednesday night. SF Chronicle

Resident Enrollment to Carpenter Closes at Midnight Tonight
At midnight Friday night, it’s the deadline for families to apply to the charter-affiliated school that is reaching its capacity enrollment. Studio City Patch

Which Path for the Common Core?
As educators across the country implement the Common Core State Standards, we see two paths emerging … and diverging. EdWeek Commentary

Superintendent John Deasy

The teachers union’s on-again, off-again plan to survey its members on what they think about LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s job performance is back on again.

However, this time around the union has a much stronger idea of what kinds of negative views its members should express.

The union first mentioned in January that it planned to survey members about Deasy. At the time, the survey was described in neutral terms: “UTLA members will have the opportunity to rate Superintendent Deasy’s performance.” Less than a month later, UTLA postponed the survey without any explanation.

This time around, the union isn’t being shy about the negative view it has of Deasy and how it hopes its members share a similar perspective: “Time and again, Superintendent Deasy makes decisions that short-change students for the benefit of his private agenda,” the union says on its website. In its newsletter, UTLA urges members to email if they have examples of how “Deasy’s decisions have hurt our schools.”

In April, union members will also vote on an initiative that would call for union leadership to more aggressively oppose Deasy. LA School Report has reached out to UTLA again to get more information. We’ll update you when we hear back.

Previous posts: Union Surveys Members About Deasy; UTLA Calls Off Survey on Deasy; April Vote Will Highlight Union Factions

Previous posts: You Say You Want a Revolution; Contrasting Reactions to Parent Trigger

Senate GOP Leader Wants to Reduce Pink Slips for Teachers
State Senate GOP leader Robert Huff of Diamond Bar says he has a way to reduce the annual practice of issuing preliminary pink slips to tens of thousands of California teachers who later are told they will not lose their jobs. LA Times

LAUSD Budget Forecast Is Getting Brighter
LA Unified’s Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee is convening Tuesday morning. The proposed agenda shows financial improvement at the district after five years of devastating cuts — due to a boost from Prop. 30 funds. KPCC

Power Shift on L.A. School Board
Election results for seats on the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District – the largest district in California and second-largest in the nation – will have far-reaching implications for the future of education reform in the Golden State. OC Register Column (Gloria Romero)

Divided Over L.A. Unified
One nasty election later, there is no sign that the divisiveness in the Los Angeles Unified School District will abate. If anything, it looks likely to increase, with activists in United Teachers Los Angeles announcing that teachers will vote on a passel of anti-reform positions. LA Times Editorial

Parent Group Receives Proposals to Remake Failing LAUSD Elementary
A group of Los Angeles parents who successfully invoked a state law to take over their failing school have received four proposals on how to remake the school, including one from the Los Angeles Unified School District. San Bernadino Sun

Academic Decathlon Students Get Ready for State Finals
While students on the region’s top Academic Decathlon teams are cramming, cramming, cramming for this weekend’s state championship, veterans of the brain-draining contest know that what the kids are learning extends far beyond the title match. LA Daily News

Savings From STAR Suspension Would Net About $15 Million
A plan to suspend some statewide testing in advance of transition to new assessments based on the common core standards would save the state about $15 million, according to an estimate released Monday by the California Department of Education. SI&A Cabinet Report

AFT’s Weingarten on Why She Got Arrested, ‘the Gall’ of Reformers
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was arrested last week in Philadelphia while protesting a hearing of the School Reform Commission that voted to close 23 public schools. WaPo

Schools Partnership Aimed at Helping Teachers
In another step toward implementing new education standards, California joined a multi-state partnership Monday with resources to help teachers. Monterey County Herald