I feel as though I am reporting election returns. First, the candidate is up, then he is down, winning, then losing, then the absentee ballots came in….and…..
The latest report from Los Angeles is that John Deasy has been offered a new contract that runs through mid-2016. This may be true. It also may be false. This is an unfolding drama worthy of Hollywood, but unworthy of the more than 600,000 children in the Los Angeles public schools.
There will be time enough to figure out all of this later, but for now the district is a shambles and a national joke. A bad joke.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane…I was there from about 9 AM to almost 3 PM. Sadly there was hardly anyone from the anti Deasy side…it was a major fix. And it seemed as though the BofE and LAUSD colluded with Parrent Rev and United Way to create this pay day for those acting out the political therter. the
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If Alex Caputo-Pearl and his slate win election for the teacher union this January, Deasy might as well pack it in. Deasy went after Alex for his advocacy for the students and a win for Alex would be just desserts for Deasy.
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Then where in the world was Alex and his posse? There were, at my count, five UTLA people in the entire room. Warren Fletcher, David Lyell, MJ Roberts, Greg Solkovitz, Arlene Inouye and another man whose name I do not know. But even of these UTLA officers, no one organized a presence to counter the hundred or so gra$$roots demonstrators drowning out any alternative viewpoint. I was told it’s because UTLA is busy organizing for a demonstration in November. WTF?
There is enough blame to go around, but the question I am getting from teachers across the state of California is “Where was your union?” It’s pathetic.
Does the union not have relationships with community organizations similar to those who showed up to cash in–I mean chime in? Does UTLA not have any relationships with parents? I have reached out to UTLA numerous times to build a bridge between the union and a community of parents. Nothing. As Anthony Cody said (thank you for posting that wonderful piece by him, Diane) “Our power comes from our capacity to act, and we can only act if we are well organized and united, and have strong ties to our allies.” Where were UTLA’s allies yesterday? What did the union do to get anyone to that rally? Diane Ravitch and Mark Naison in New York did more than UTLA did to inform people of the urgency yesterday and to get people to write letters to the board.
And why was SEIU Local 99 supporting United Way in disempowering our elected school board?! Most of its members are LAUSD parents. Could they not do ANY outreach to parents?
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Norm, as a fellow Teach for America Alumnus, do you think Alex Caputo Pearl will stand up to Steve Zimmer who continuously praises Deasy?
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say it isn’t so…how, why, what happened? reasonable board members, did you loose your brains or just your nerve? we were counting on you. BIG letdown.
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Some more info.
The Los Angeles Daily News, in a piece posted at 6:37 PM, PST, shows how lopsided the “public pressure” was:
Link: http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/10/john_deasy_rally_resignation.php
Another piece from the LATimes,posted at 6:56 PM, PST:
Link: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=9304944
Even given the pro-charterite/privatizer editorial board of the LATimes, a piece appeared yesterday that underscores how Superintendent John Deasy failed to meet most of HIS OWN metrics:
Link: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-lausd-deasy-20131029,0,2199450,full.story#axzz2jAQKTdpN
I include the following from the last link:
[start quote] Roosevelt High School teacher Lisa Alva, a former Deasy supporter, said, however, that the superintendent has talked consistently about data, applying it to the fates of teachers and principals. Since he failed to meet his targets, he should possibly be put on probation, she said, and questioned whether his pay should also be docked in keeping with executive practices tying pay to performance.
“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” Alva said. “If we’re going to be held to standards that include test data and all kinds of metrics, so should he.” [end quote]
The goose-and-gander question. Fair enough, Mr. Deasy?
Or is this another one of what the educates and edufrauds label “ad hominem attacks”?
😦
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Well, I guess the tail truly wags the dog at LAUSD.
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The board knew the room was stacked. When a boardroom is full of people that never come to board meetings, it’s obvious. The speeches were transparently crafted to support Deasy. We’ll soon know who ran the meeting – the board or Deasy and if Deasy was told he has to follow board policies or not.
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the singular question: why wasn’t the board room packed with anti-deasy people? it is time to give the deasyites a truthful proper name: these crypto- fascists will continue their blitzkrieg, rolling over all those who stand in their way until there is an organized resistance from other, honorable, stake holders. it has been demonstrated that to expect anything other than that is delusional. i realize i am being harsh, but I think about the students, parents and staff in the lausd and know that the education process is smoke and mirrors..
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Unbelievably disgusting, Ellen, but entirely predictable. This is how democracy works, from top to bottom, in the United States today. Staged events, not unlike the ones that Hitler and Stalin were so fond of.
Trolls: feel free to add your comments about Godwin’s law below.
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Thank you for your efforts.
Please keep us informed.
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Yes…this was an exemplar of American politics today… and yes, the tail is furiously wagging this dog. It was almost like a Tea Party meeting, with all the bussed in people to claim a show of force. The media went for it…so do not believe what you hear and read about this.
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feeling defeated and sick to my stomach.
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I know howvyou feel.
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Kim…I apologize for not coming back to you, but a nice officer helped me and brought a chair outside for me to sit on. My bones and joints are old. It put me right in the middle of the Parent Rev/United Way group, some have been there since 6 AM they said to save all those places at the front of the line…and since we all waited for hours, many of them, friendly folks, went out of their way to talk to me…and to tell me how they worked this plan for a show of force, all done over the weekend. They made all those signs to look hand done, and them collected them at the end…and they had tons of food, donuts, water and orange juice to keep their troops well nourished. Sad our side did not do that.
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I agree, Ellen, the anti-deform forces need more doughnuts! 🙂
(and yes, the spelling donut is perfectly OK. Language is a living thing.
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Heartbroken is how 32,000 LAUSD teachers and Health and Human Services Professional feel tonight. John Deasy has no respect for the work we do, and judging by tonight’s vote, neither does the school board. There are many competent, caring, collaborative educators, inside and outside, of LAUSD who would be much better as a steward of our children’s education and the taxpayers’ money.
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The Deasy supporters had yellow flowers behind their ears. Symbols of friendship. Hum. What next?
Black roses in the mail to his detractors, I suppose.
I love these meetings, don’t you? “There’s no bullet list like Stalin’s bullet list!”
I recently saw a cartoon that showed a spot on the moon with a sign that read “Free Speech Zone.”
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Fascists do love their theatricals!
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Robert, they sure do! This is called political theatrics.
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Where the hell was UTLA??? Why not get more anti-Deasy teachers involved today? UTLA has scheduled a Nov. 13 rally for increased salaries..isn’t today’s Bd. of Ed. meeting as–or more–important??
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Nailsagainsttheboard, I would say MORE important. It is just plain bad strategy to ask for a pay raise during a crisis like this. UTLA is very divided. A lot of UTLA members do not want to do anything right now because it will be perceived as a victory for the current officers (elections are after the first of the year). Makes me sick. A handful of us were there totally alone.
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As a teacher working under a principal being pressured to give bad stulls, this is disaster. I may try to leave the district this year.
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“to give bad stulls”
Don’t know what “stulls” are. More eduspeak? Or street language for _______________? (The way my mind works I’d be breaking Diane’s rules for civility were I to fill in that blank.)
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STULL is an acronym for California teacher evaluations.
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Steve Lopez’s column kind of says it all: “I’ve had issues with Deasy at times…But I’ve had even more issues with board members who can be rank amateurs, sellouts and cowards at times, and with teachers union hacks who will go to their graves resisting change on principle, even if it would benefit both teachers and students.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-steve-lopez-deasy-lausd-20131028,0,5000369.story#axzz2j7n8FBD5
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Mr. Buzzetti, please save your ire for Ryan Smith and Ben Austin. Why are you attacking people on our side? Given that this was staged so that ordinary working class people can’t attend, you’d think you’d be happy that more anti-Broad/Deasy forces were there.
How does attacking your allies advance the struggle? We have very serious forces lined up to destroy public education and you should be focused on attacking the billionaire funded nonprofit industrial complex.
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I heard he was chummy with Austen. My peeps were the quiet disapproving ones. They told me George loves the parent trigger. He is misguided. He thinks Zimmer is a hero in all this. Grrrrrr
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George..you have fantasy about me that is over the top. I am an elderly rather hadicapped woman and have not other goal that to improve public education which has been my life’s work. Your threatening me constantly is too weird.
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Ellen Lubic, I have deleted George Buzzetti’s comments. Sorry, I was literally asleep and did not see them until now. He went over the top. Two strikes and he is out.
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It was out of kindness that I was called in first so as to get a seat without being run over in the rush. YOu seem not to understand that there are people in the world who are not vulgar and are kind…and many who are truly dedicated.
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http://www.lamag.com/citythink/citythinkblog/2013/10/29/the-lausd-needs-an-operating-system-upgrade-not-ipads
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Really Ellen? I thought protests were not your style. I would have been happy to organize a huge counter rally, as that is what I do.
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Another “public school leader” who is completely dependent on and dominated by charter school operators and lobbyists.
Is there anyone on that board who speaks for public school kids, or are they not worthy of a single government-paid advocate?
Ten years and billions of dollars in “reform” and the only thing the public has gotten is a huge group of people employed in “reform” who are embedded in government all the way up to TFA sinecures in Congress.
What a colossal waste.
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Aside from reading the exchanges between George and Ellen in wide-eyed surprise (I think they both want to help, but have different styles. . . Perhaps if they worked on plans together preemptively they would accomplish more?? And if they seek leadership positions through this to maybe trust that their own personal actions alone will not make one look better than the other—like, quit squabbling and work together; suspend any personal drive or ambition here and work together). But when I read the stuff about LA, the song “One Tin Soldier” from “Billy Jack” 1971 film pops in my head. Here are the lyrics:
Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago
About a Kingdom on a mountain
And a valley folk down below
On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath a stone
And the valley people swore
They’d have it for their very own
Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
But there won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away
So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure
Tons of gold for which they’d kill
Came an answer from the Kingdom
With our brothers, we will share
All the riches of our mountain
All the secrets buried there
Now the valley swore with anger
Mount your horses, draw your swords
And they killed the mountain people
So they won their just rewards
Now stood beside the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it
Peace on Earth, was all it said
Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away
Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away
PS, Ellen and George please don’t rant at me if my suggestion makes you mad. Just think about it. Think about little children and pretend they are watching you and depending on you. Because they are.
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Careful about false equivalence – Ellen has been nothing but gracious to George. The ranting and gnashing of teeth is solely George, who, frankly, needs a time out.
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Dienne: agreed.
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Can I have some of what you been smoking?
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Ellen…maybe we all need to start describing these “meetings” via articles to make people aware of the shenanigans An entire article with various video footage at the zillions of these “democratic” style meetings would speak volumes about reality! The style of these open forums needs to be heard to be believed. It sounds like “ed reformers” have special training on how to “undemocratically” lead a meeting while looking “democrat” in the eyes of the public-at-large who learn about the event through a tainted media! I attended one of these style events last year in NYC in March where King spoke at Brooklyn Tech HS in what was labeled as an open forum for the community regarding school closings. Yet charter school attendees were bused in from all over the city even though the event was local based (6 buses idled outside before the meeting started and really and truly all those inside were wearing orange shirts with charter slogans on them to hammer their cause). The whole event was controlled/staged. On one side of the auditorium sat all the orange t-shirt clad folk who poured into the hall in large numbers with kids w/ them also wearing orange t-shirts. On the other side were the anti “ed reform” group. Bouncer like people walked back and forth on the “anti reform” side to keep the “peace” or shall we say to kick out any of us who might want to talk when we were not invited to do so (and trust me we were not invited to talk). THIS IS NOT what democracy looks like!
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George, who do you think you are!? How dare you ! How about we have some democracy here and vote for George to stop attacking Ellen andRatliff and anyone who disagrees with his bomabastic chest beating. One thing we know for sure is that this does nothing for our cause or trampled spirits. If you cannot be civil, beat it.
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Well YEAH, they only let their side be seen or heard. You do more for them than most anybody. You make it seem like the people opposing reform and Deasy are churlish crackpots.
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sir George…you are hurting not helping…respectfully, shut the f up.
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I know Lubic and many others do is well. She is an honest, intelkigent human in tbe good fight. George , you are canker sore! You do not work, you are not educated, you hate teachers, and you have no children. LAUSD is your Moby Dick. Your life is a grudge that became a great hunt for glory you will never have. You are mean spirited, arrogant and truly vile. Get out of here. Leave this lady alone . You are a bully and you are lucky I am not in LA because I would toss your foul mouthed Hyde into the LaBrea Tar Pits.
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You gotta be kidding! An elderly lady has to fend for herself on weak pins so you can get first crack at your E ticket ride? You disgust me. This LAUSD ordeal feels like a bad Nathaniel West novel. Rules of life? If that is what you think they are, you are more Deasy than decent.
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I did watch this parade of, to quote Lynda Barry, dazzle camouflage. From the “leak” last Thursday to the LA Times all the way to the decision of the board last night. It seems obvious to me that there is much more to this story than we know at this time. Judging from body language alone, the teachers on the board were defeated and deflated. The profiteers were grinning from ear to ear. They had something to leverage their game. Just what it was, well, we will have to keep watching this horror show to find out.
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Thank you dear colleagues for coming to my rescue. I truly appreciate it. This man screams obscenities at Board members and yesterday continually shouted out. I do not understand why the BoE allows this kind of out of control behavior in their meetng room.
Posted on their website they say to notify them for handicapped assistance, which is the law, and I did that. They helped me by both bringing a small chair out to the sidewalk entrance area for me (I had stood for about 45 minutes which is the limit my body can do), and then they called me in ahead of the wildly chanting Broad/Deasy paid protestors who were about to run over me to enter. The police actually did their job with kindness and alacrity.
When we started Joining Forces for Education last January, it was with the thought that not only were we able to speak out against Deasy, Broad and his ilk, and particularly Ben Austin and Parent Revolution, but also since they could not fire us, and retired educators no longer live in the culture of fear that young educators suffer, we could have your back so to speak.
That is why I was at the meeting. That is why I speak out here. I want no more of these distractions to impede our conversation…so let’s get on with the real work of doing what teachers do, work cooperatively for the benefit of our students.
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I am so disappointed with the school board’s actions yesterday.
Please bear in mind that it is the school board that made this decision.
Thank you to former LAUSD Substitute Teacher Patrena Shankling, who spoke eloquently about the Superintenent’s leadership style:
UTLA’s statement on the school board’s action: http://www.utla.net/deasystayson
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Teachers teach and that is what they were doing during the board meeting. Yes there was show boating in front of beau dry by parent revolution ANC the united way. It really didn’t matter the deal had been done before this. I was out in line attempting to get in while many empty seats stayed empty. They didn’t want much public input because the decision was made already. Utla knew and didn’t put any effort to. Oppose this
Private negotiations stink and should be sun shined. The board of deasy bent over and allowed us all to be screwed
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