LAUSD is making another strong push for input from families and employees to see what the school schedule should be for the next three years.

And, the district is providing lots of back-up materials to help inform choices, including a comparison of student test scores in traditional school years versus early school calendars, electricity consumption costs for the summer and comparisons to calendars at nearby school districts and colleges.

At issue is whether school should start after Labor Day (a more traditional calendar) or earlier in August, whether elementary and high schools should have different schedules and whether the semesters should be broken up by the winter break. Parents are also asked if they care how long the winter break should be, two weeks or three.

The school board is planning to adopt a final calendar in January, based on recommendations from the superintendent and feedback from the community.

Online surveys are now available through Dec. 6 for parents and guardians as well as for school employees to help hammer out the calendar through 2019. The surveys are also available in Spanish.

“We are always looking for better ways to foster communication between the district and parents, or schools and parents, which is one of our top goals,” said Daryl Strickland, an district spokesman.  “We will look at the results from this effort and others to determine what parents find useful for creating dialogue.”

In September, the district conducted surveys by phone to more than 600,000 families, and 58,000 people answered five questions. But, there was a glitch when district officials discovered that some people couldn’t complete the survey.

Now, the district acknowledges that due to the time elapsed “respondents might opt for different answers, the survey will be offered to everyone again.” The content of the survey is the same as it was in September, and results of both polls will be shared with the L.A. Unified community, according to the district’s website devoted to the calendar query.

A final round of phone calls will be made Dec. 1 to families who specifically asked to fill out the survey by phone. The district notes that no phone calls will be made over the Thanksgiving break.

Traditionally, the school year started after Labor Day as it does in most parts of the country, ending in late June of the following year. Since early 2000, high school principals have asked the district to consider an “early start” calendar, and 17 high schools and one elementary school successfully piloted the early start model for two years.

The early start schedule allows all high school students to finish the final exams in the first semester before the winter break. Students also have more time to prepare for school and college placement exams. By finishing the school year in early June, students have more time for summer jobs and college program choices.

The comparisons of test scores, starting after Labor Day versus starting in August, show that an uninterrupted semester over the winter break seemed to help scores as well as results on Advanced Placement tests.

Alex Johnson, District 1 candidate

An internal poll conducted by Alex Johnson’s campaign suggests that he is gaining on George McKenna as they compete for the vacant LA Unified school board seat.

The Johnson campaign says that polling conducted in April and June shows that Johnson’s name recognition has grown to 52 percent, from 14 percent percent.

It also said Johnson’s favorable rating climbed to 42 percent from 12 percent while McKenna’s grew to 49 percent from 29 percent. Each candidate’s unfavorable rating also rose — to 10 percent from 2 percent for Johnson and to 8 percent from 7 percent for McKenna.

The two were the leading vote-getters among seven candidates for the vacant District 1 board seat in the June 3 primary. They’re now facing off in an Aug. 12 runoff.

The Johnson poll, included in a campaign staff memo, was sent, unsolicited, to LA School Report, for the apparently obvious reasons that it shows encouraging results for Johnson, a political neophyte who has been working as an education aide to LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.

The memo said that the campaign has fulfilled the first of two goals, holding McKenna, a former school administrator and the subject of a television movie, under 50 percent in the primary, thus denying him an outright victory. “We knew from the outset that McKenna’s higher initial name ID would virtually guarantee him a first place finish in a multi-candidate race,” it said.

The campaign’s second goal, the memo said, is to turn Johnson’s opportunity into victory by convincing voters he represents “a  new direction for L.A. schools.” The memo said voters are responding favorably to his positions on a series of issues but it offed no polling results showing how they compare with voter sentiments on McKenna’s positions on the same issues.

With the runoff election still six weeks away, it’s hard to assess the true impact of the polling data. McKenna far outdistanced Johnson in the primary, 44.6 percent to 24.7 percent, and as a rule, internal campaign polls usually project good news for the campaign conducting the poll.

Nonetheless, the memo concludes that a third of the voters remain undecided and Johnson “can and will win the runoff.”

LA School report sent a message to the McKenna campaign, sharing some of the numbers in the Johnson memo. The message asked for any similar poll conducted by the McKenna campaign and for reaction to Johnson’s poll.

Jewett Walker, McKenna’s campaign manager, provided an ambiguous, one-word response — “Absurd!.” It was unclear if he were referring to the requests or to the conclusions of the Johnson poll.

He did not respond to another message seeking clarification.

Previous Posts: Labor groups split on support for McKenna and Johnson in runoff, SEIU endorses Alex Johnson for LAUSD school board in runoff, LAUSD candidates McKenna, Johnson set for election runoff

Press conference after Vergara decision

A new poll shows that two-thirds of California voters agree that the state should get rid of “Last in, First Out,” a teacher tenure policy that requires the newest K-12 teachers be laid off first, regardless of merit. Just 17 percent said layoffs by reverse seniority should continue.

The poll was conducted by the USC Rossier School of Education and Stanford-based Policy Analysis for California Educations.

It also found that with or without knowledge of the landmark Vergara court case, which struck down California’s tenure and layoff policies for public school teachers, six in 10 respondents said teachers should not receive tenure because it makes firing bad teachers difficult. When asked if tenure for public school teachers provides them with job protections and the freedom to teach potentially controversial topics without fear of reprisals, only 25 percent said yes.

In response to the Goldilocks-type question: What is the right amount of time to grant tenure, which currently can be awarded after as few as 18 months in the classroom, a plurality of voters, 38 percent, said two years is too soon to award tenure, and 35 percent said public school teachers shouldn’t receive tenure at all.

Seventeen percent of voters said two years was the “right amount of time” to earn tenure, and 4 percent said two years was too long.

“The majority of California voters polled have expressed views that are consistent with Judge (Rolf) Treu’s recent decision in Vergara,” said Julie Marsh, associate professor at the USC Rossier School. “These views may give pause to those appealing the decision.”

The poll showed that 42 percent of voters had heard or read about the Vergara decision, with 58 percent saying they had not heard or read much or any at all about the decision.

The poll also surveyed public sentiment on other education issues:

• Teachers unions in the state: 49 percent of voters said they have a “somewhat or very negative” impact on the quality of K-12 education, with 31 percent saying unions have a “somewhat or very positive” impact.
• Common Core: 44 percent of voters had a negative impression of the new standards, as compared with 38 percent who said they hold a positive impression. Among Democrats, 46 percent had a positive impression of Common Core, compared with 34 percent who had a negative impression. Among Republicans, 56 percent of voters had a negative impression, and 30 percent had a positive impression.
• Race for State Superintendent of Instruction: More than a quarter, 27 percent, said they would vote for incumbent Tom Torlakson, 16 percent chose charter school executive Marshall Tuck, and 57 percent said they couldn’t say.
• Overall state of public education system in California: 38 percent gave the state’s schools a grade of “C,” and 43 percent of voters graded them a “D” or “F,” while 26 percent of voters gave their local public schools a “D” or “F” rating.