Superintendents say teachers are the group most likely to object to policies that would reduce student suspensions, according to a new national survey on school discipline released Monday by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, and the nonprofit advocacy group the Children’s Defense Fund.

At the same time, conflict between teachers or staff and students is the leading reason for out-of-school suspensions, with 40 percent of superintendents surveyed stating that insubordination, defiance, failure to obey and disrespect of teachers and staff are the most common causes of suspension. Another 30 percent of superintendents said fighting is the most common cause.

Read full story here

Board Member Galatzan doesn’t believe that ending the “willful defiance” category will have a large impact

Though it seems like ages ago, it was actually just last week that the School Board voted, 5-2, to revise LAUSD’s discipline policy.

The move, among other things, means that LAUSD schools will no longer be able to suspend kids for a catch-all category of misbehavior called “willful defiance.”

While the move was lauded by student advocates and others who believe that schools were overusing suspensions, the two dissenting votes at the Board meeting — from Marguerite Lamotte and Tamar Galatzan — arose out of concerns about classroom and school discipline and whether the move will make things any better.

Galatzan cast her vote without comment or explanation, but she recently explained her reasoning to LA School Report.

“I think that limiting the options for schools to deal with students who don’t listen, disrupt the class, don’t what to be there — it’s sending the wrong message, and it’s not fair to students who are there to learn,” said Galatzan.

“I also don’t think it’s gonna matter much. If a school wants to suspend the student, they’ll just do it for something else. But it sends the wrong message to parents and teachers.”

Galatzan also brought up the example of Garfield High School, which practically stopped suspending students altogether, and has frequently been cited as a model for where the district as a whole should be going.

“It’s very progressive, and I think that’s wonderful,” she said. “But not all the schools have the resources that Garfield has in order to deal with students who are exhibiting this kind of behavior. Until you’re going to give the schools the same kind of staffing levels to handle this, that’s just very unfair.”

Guess who else was against ending suspensions for willful defiance across the board? Governor Jerry Brown, who vetoed a bill in Sacramento that would have ended the practice all across the state.

“I cannot support limiting the authority of local school leaders, especially at a time when budget cuts have greatly increased class sizes and reduced the number of school personnel,” said Governor Brown.  “The principle of subsidiarity calls for greater, not less, deference to our elected school boards which are directly accountable to the citizenry.”

Previous posts: Deasy & Allies Prevail at May Board Meeting, Brown Soft-Sells School Formula in LA; Deasy Praises Brown Budget Proposal

School Boards Join Movement Against Out-of-School Suspensions
The National School Boards Association has labeled the use of out-of-school suspensions a “crisis” in a new report. EdWeek

Baldwin Park School District Wins #1 Spot in Closing the Achievement Gap
Recently we reported on two schools in the Baldwin Park school district that have unique programs: a high school that helps teenage parents stay in school, and an elementary school where teaching a dual language immersion program is yielding top results. KPCC

Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti Engage in Acrimonious Debate
Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti blasted one another with a torrent of allegations Wednesday night in the most acrimonious debate of the Los Angeles mayor’s race. LA Times

Frustrated Parents Fought to Reclaim Their Kids’ Destiny—And It Worked
The parents of children attending the 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles made history this week. And, in doing so, the use of ‘Parent Trigger’ legislation to ensure parents have a seat at the education decision-making table for their children has gone mainstream. TakePart Op-Ed

Voters Favor Extra Funds for Poor Students but Not English Learners
A majority of Californians support Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to provide additional funding to districts with more low-income and English learner students, according to a newly released poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. EdSource

Students Rally to Support Adult Education Programs
A group of adult education students held a rally Wednesday to demand greater funding for adult education programs. LA Times

New RTTT Competition Announced, Targets Early Learning
The majority of the Obama administration’s remaining 2013 Race to the Top funds – some $370 million – will be available for states looking to develop successful early learning programs for children, according to an announcement Tuesday. SI&A Cabinet Report

Education Advocate Michelle Rhee Fends Off Accusations
Michelle Rhee, head of a group that advocates using student test scores to evaluate teachers, fends off accusations that she failed to pursue evidence of cheating when she ran the D.C. school system. LA Times

Study: Charters Get Less Funding Than Traditional Public Schools
Public charter schools received significantly less funding than traditional public schools in five cities, including the District, between 2007 and 2011, according to a new study released Wednesday. WaPo

CA Legislature Kills Bill to Shield Identities of Armed Teachers
A bill pushed by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly to train and shield armed “school marshals” failed to make it out of the Assembly Education Committee today after a 5-1 vote. Sac Bee

L.A. Unified Board Ratifies ‘Parent-Trigger’ Partnership
The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday ratified a partnership between the school district and a charter school to take control of struggling 24th Street Elementary under a controversial parent-empowerment law. LA Times
See also: Color Lines, LA School Report

School Board Renews Contract for Ivy Academia Charter
The petition by Ivy Academia Entreprenurial Charter School was renewed with little discussion, less than two weeks after a jury convicted its founders of grand theft, embezzlement and other charges. LA Times
See also: LA School Report

L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa Challenges on Schools
Unions and other elements of the education establishment strongly backed Antonio Villaraigosa’s steps up the political ladder – until he became an advocate of charter schools, parental empowerment, modifying teacher seniority and tenure and other reforms that the establishment despises. Sac Bee Opinion

State’s Budget Fakery Takes a Toll on Charter Schools
Because state funding is often deferred for months, charter schools must take out bridge loans to pay the bills. The interest costs come at the expense of pupils. LA Times
See also: EdWeek

More Than Half of Suspensions Are for “Willful Defiance” of School Authorities
More than half of all suspensions and a quarter of expulsions in California schools are for “willful defiance” of school authorities, according to a new database that State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is scheduled to release this Friday. EdSource

A More Confident System
Educators 4 Excellence recently interviewed members for their input on this “Vote of No Confidence” process, the approach to engaging teachers in critical conversations about leadership, and how it could be improved. We heard three overarching themes. Huff Po Op-Ed

Upcoming EdSource Symposium to Tackle State Education Reform
As California embarks on a slate of reforms that could drastically change the face of public education, an upcoming symposium sponsored by EdSource will help the public and policymakers make sense of the complex issues facing educators. EdSource

Senate GOP Leader Revives Parent Trigger, Open Enrollment for Second Act
Two lasting educational imprints from the Schwarzenegger years – the Open Enrollment Act and Parent Trigger – are set for remakes this session under legislation offered by Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff. SI&A Cabinet Report

School Board Transparency a Challenge in Digital Age
School board members are struggling to interpret laws that govern where and how they do business now that as many conversations take place digitally as they do face to face. EdWeek

Children’s Books With Minority Characters Are Hard to Find
Veteran educator Louise Derman Sparks has written volumes on what she calls “anti-bias education” for children.   Sparks firmly believes that children can start absorbing an anti-bias message just from what we read to them because children’s books are one of the first ways we introduce infants to the world. KPCC

The LAUSD Board, via LA Times

The agenda for today’s School Board meeting is packed with hot-topic resolutions, including a plan to streamline LAUSD’s teacher misconduct investigation process, a call to work with state legislators to pass a new teacher dismissal bill, and a plan to reduce student suspensions and discipline for “willful defiance” in LA schools.

These topics have received scads of media coverage and statehouse activity in recent months. LAUSD Board members have obviously been paying attention, and the media is getting behind their resolutions.

Board Member Tamar Galatzan penned an op-ed published Monday in the Huffington Post that explains the rationale behind her resolution to streamline investigations of teachers who have been accused of misconduct in the classroom.

And the LA Times published an editorial piece Tuesday morning urging the School Board to approve Board President Monica Garcia’s resolution that would update schools’ discipline policies across the district and cease the suspension of students for “willful defiance.”

Read on for more details on the resolutions up for vote at today’s School Board meeting.

As Galatzan writes in her op-ed, a key part of her plan is for teacher investigations to be run by a “team of professionally-trained investigators who are beholden only to the truth.”

LA School Report detailed last Tuesday how the resolution is an attempt to reduce the number of LAUSD teachers who wait with full pay in “teacher jails” while the district goes through a lengthy — and costly — investigation process.

Board Member Bennett Kayser, who frequently sides with the teachers union, has signed on as a cosponsor of the resolution, along with Board President Monica Garcia. It’s rare when these three Board members agree with each other, so enjoy it while you can.

Kayser and Galatzan have joined forces on another resolution voicing approval for AB 375, the new teacher dismissal bill that is working its way through the State Assembly thanks to unexpected backing from the California Teachers Association and Senator Alex Padilla.

As we reported, some education advocacy groups have expressed concerns that AB 375 won’t be effective enough when dealing with teachers accused of sexually or physically abusing their students.

But a recent LA Times editorial says it’s a good proposal, and Galatzan and Kayser want Superintendent John Deasy to work with the bill’s author, Joan Buchanan, to make it happen.

Moving from teacher-related issues to student discipline, Board President Monica Garcia has a resolution to update discipline codes in schools across LAUSD to mirror state-level efforts to reduce student suspensions and limit gaps in disciplinary proceedings among different groups of students.

Under Garcia’s resolution, schools must pursue all alternatives to suspension before suspending students; students cannot be suspended for acts of “willful defiance”; and schools must begin implementing discipline policies centered in “restorative justice” techniques that use counseling and peer mediation to resolve discipline issues. (Read more of our coverage on school discipline policies here.)

Kayser will be a busy Board member this meeting: His postponed resolution that would create new rules for magnet schools and their approval process is back up for a vote. (Read about the magnet resolution here.) Kayser’s attempt to bar School Board members who received financial support from charters from voting on charter-related motions will be back up for discussion as well.

Also up for vote on the agenda are several charter renewals and proposals for new charter and pilot schools.

Click here to see the full Board meeting agenda, and remember to follow us at @laschoolreport for live coverage of the meeting.

Previous posts: Teacher Misconduct Proposal Wins Unexpected Support; “Rubber Room” Teachers Rarely Return; Suspension Rates Vary Widely Among Schools; Kayser’s New Magnet Proposal

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

The positive takeaway is that even three years ago (which is when the data used in this interactive was sampled), LAUSD’s rate of suspensions and expulsions was lower than in many other school districts in the nation.

While San Fernando High, the Los Angeles school with the highest suspension rate, had suspended 24 percent of its students, other schools in states like Georgia and Alabama were suspending 80 to 100 percent of their students.

But that doesn’t mean school discipline in LAUSD is in a good place — as LA School Report mentioned Tuesday, a host of recent studies on discipline policies in LA schools show, minority students are targeted for suspension and expulsion in far higher numbers than their white peers, and that high schools in Los Angeles vary widely in what percentage of students they suspend.

Previous posts:  Linking Suspensions and Health Risks; Suspension Rates Vary Widely Among Schools

The new report, which looked at middle and high schools across the country, finds significant discipline gaps between white, black, and Hispanic students. In Los Angeles, suspension rates vary school-to-school: The study found 54 high schools with large suspension numbers, but the district also had 81 high schools with low suspension rates.

The discipline gap is nationwide: “The report found that one in three black middle school males were suspended once or more during the school year,” the Huffington Post reported. “The numbers were worse for racial minorities with disabilities: 36 percent of black students with disabilities in secondary school were suspended at least once.”

According to KPCC’s coverage of the suspension report, “Researchers found that while suspension rates for Asian and white students remained largely unchanged between 1973 and 2010, suspension rates for African-American and Latino students doubled.”

According an Education Week interview with one of the researchers involved in the report, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago are districts that have many schools with high suspension rates.

LA School Report has already noted that a 2012 study from the California Endowment that examined LAUSD and two other California districts found that high suspension rates are correlated with low academic achievement, higher crime rates, higher school dropout rates, and ultimately higher health risks.

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

Senator Proposes Pushing Back Teacher Layoff Deadlines
Huff said that moving the March 15th deadline for preliminary notices and May 15 deadline for final notices would save school districts millions. SacBee

Steve Barr’s Quest to Save a New Orleans High School (and Create Pilots in Los Angeles)
Barr is working in a behind-the-scenes manner in Los Angeles (not his usual modus operandi) to get approval for “pilot schools” that he supports in the district. EdWeek

What Makes a Good L.A. Mayor
Being a good politician is essential for winning a mayoral election. But the qualities that make a good politician are not necessarily those that make a good mayor. LA Times Editorial

Black Students’ Learning Gaps Start Early, Report Says
African-American public school students in Los Angeles County demonstrate significant learning gaps by second grade; those gaps widen with age and lead to the highest school dropout rate among all races, according to a report released Monday. LA Times

A Push Toward More Computer Science Education
The first step in solving a problem is to recognize it needs to be solved. Today only 2% of students study computer programming. If we triple that to 6%, we’d close the gap between students and jobs, driving $500 billion in economic value to our country. This is a giant opportunity, impacting every industry (70% of these jobs are outside the tech sector). USA Today Column

High School Graduation Rate up Sharply, but Red Flags Abound
For the first time in decades, the United States is making steady gains in the number of high school students earning diplomas, putting it on pace to reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020, according to a new analysis released Monday.  But the good news comes with a big asterisk. Reuters

Rebranding Public Schools as New Charter Schools
Charter schools are a silver bullet for urban education. But not for any of the reasons you might think. EdWeek Commentary

Pediatricians Oppose School Suspension, Expulsion
A group representing pediatricians says disciplining students with out-of-school suspension or expulsion is counterproductive to school goals and should only be used on case by case basis. LA Daily News

Glendale Schools Increasing Security
After several recent incidents, the school board moves to equip all schools with security cameras and panic buttons, among other measures. LA Times

A California Endowment ad calling for changes in school discipline policies

The largest health foundation in the state, the California Endowment, is putting big money behind an issue not usually associated with health: student suspension and expulsion policies.

Earlier this week, the Endowment ran a full-page advertisement in four major California newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, praising legislators for recently passing six statewide laws to reform strict “zero tolerance” discipline policies.

Suspensions at Garfield High School in East LA went down from 510 to just one, according to the Endowment’s ad (pictured).

The link between health and student suspension rates may not be obvious at first, but a May 2012 study funded by the Endowment found that high suspension rates are correlated with low academic achievement, higher crime rates, higher school dropout rates, and ultimately higher health risks. The study focused on three school districts in California, including LAUSD.

Although there is more work to be done, LAUSD is on its way to reforming its suspension and expulsion policies. According to the study, when the district changed its discipline policies in 2007, suspension rates dramatically improved, with suspensions dropping by 43 percent since 2004.

Data from the 2009 – 2010 school year revealed African-Americans students in Los Angeles are singled out for suspension far more often than their white, Asian, and Latino peers. Although African-American students make up less than 10 percent of school enrollment, they accounted for 26 percent of suspensions in the district. Under Supt. John Deasy, LAUSD now monitors school suspensions by race and economic status, which Deasy says has lowered suspension rates.

Brown signs bill spelling out evaluations (for principals) Ed Source: Without the acrimony and fanfare that doomed a teacher evaluation bill last month, the Legislature with near unanimity passed and Gov. Brown has now signed a milestone principal and teacher evaluation bill.

Backers say bills signed by Brown will reduce school suspensions LA Times: Advocates aiming to reform school discipline policies hailed the governor for signing four bills they say will help reduce the number of California students suspended each year.

Letter from CA to Inglewood Unified school board: you’re relieved of authority KPCC: It’s official. California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction sent a letter Thursday to Ingelwood’s elected school board members telling them the state’s taking over the school district.

San Pedro’s Science Center to remain open until June as LAUSD searches for new group to run the place Daily Breeze: San Pedro’s Science Center received a reprieve on Friday. Threatened only a week ago with closure by Oct. 1, the center now will remain open until June as Los Angeles school officials seek bids from a nonprofit or private entity to operate the facility, school officials announced.

California’s community colleges staggering during hard times LA Times: Demand is up but funding is down for California’s community colleges. Many students are shut out of needed classes, making it harder to get their degrees or transfer.

Nonprofits Unite to Keep Music in LAUSD ATVN: Adopt the Arts and Little Kids Rock—two nonprofit organizations– announced a partnership on Thursday, Sept. 20th at Rosewood Elementary School to revitalize and develop music programs in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Harvard-Westlake building reflects standout student’s interests LA Times: The Kutler center is named for Brendan Kutler, who died in 2009 at 17. It will house a new interdisciplinary studies department that reflects Kutler’s many passions.

Georgia team meets with LA officials to reform school discipline KPCC: Los Angeles school, law enforcement and county officials are meeting Thursday with a team from an Atlanta suburb that pioneered methods to reduce on-campus arrests. They hope to create a similar, more holistic system to deal with misbehaving students.

Tamar Galatzan: Outsiders’ protest lacks health knowledge of LAUSD schools Daily News: An editorial by the school board member denounces a June protest against a Planned Parenthood health clinic at Roosevelt High.

African American School Girl Sent Home Over Skin-Tone Tights? LAUSD Defends Itself LA Weekly: A district official tells the Weekly that tights are, in fact, banned under district policy. A letter was subsequently sent to the girl’s mother explaining that dress code, which includes the rule that “no tights shall be worn alone.”

Inglewood Unified cuts employee pay 15 percent to avoid bankruptcy KPCC: The district’s solvency hangs in the balance. Inglewood Unified may run out of money to meet its expenses as soon as March.

UC to pay settlement in Davis pepper spray case LA Times: The University of California will pay damages to the UC Davis students and alumni who were pepper sprayed by campus police during an otherwise peaceful protest 10 months ago, officials said Thursday.

Computers to play larger role in statewide assessments SI&A Cabinet Report: The state is moving closer to unveiling its plan for transitioning to a new student assessment system that will require potentially expensive improvements to school technology infrastructure.

Charter campuses focus of L.A. school-board protests LA Times: About 400 charter school advocates descended on Los Angeles school district headquarters Tuesday to protest a proposed moratorium on new charters. Later, a smaller but equally passionate contingent of parents and teachers from Berendo Middle School arrived to oppose construction of a building to house a charter school on that campus. See also my story on the board meeting yesterday (Zimmer Postpones His Teacher Evaluation Proposal), as well as a piece in The Atlantic (Chicago Teachers Strike Puts Charter Schools in the Spotlight).

LA mayor backs weighing student performance in evaluating teacher quality CNN: The Los Angeles Unified School District has been reviewing a system of teacher and administrator evaluations that, for the first time, includes student test scores, said spokeswoman Ellen Morgan.

Report: Over half of CA student suspensions issued are minor offense KPCC: More than half of the student school suspensions issued last school year in California were for relatively minor non-violent, non-drug related incidents, according to a reportreleased today from the nonprofit “Fighting Crime: Invest in Kids California.”

Community college board prioritizes registering new, continuing students KPCC: The California Community Colleges’ Board of Governors has voted to adopt a major system-wide change to student enrollment. The new policy, approved by the governing board at a meeting in San Diego this week, gives enrollment priority to transfer students and students working toward a degree or certificate.

New community college chancellor may be named by end of month Ed Source: The California Community College Board of Governors appointed Executive Vice Chancellor Erik Skinner as acting chancellor while the search continues for a successor to Jack Scott, who is retiring at the end of this week.