Parent Revolution is an organization funded by the Walton Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Broad Foundation to promote the “parent trigger,” that is, to encourage parents to seize control of their public schools and impose changes, such as handing the school over to a private charter operator and/or firing the staff.
Ellen Lubic, a professor and community activist, wrote the following commentary on Austin’s post. She begins with introductory remarks, then follows with a point-by-point dialogue.
I welcome a response from Ben Austin.
Austin
Last week, something extraordinary happened
Grassroots organizations across Los Angeles organized and fought against powerful special interests and long odds. For one single moment the people of Los Angeles stood together for the simple proposition that we must elevate our kids above our politics. And the people won.
Lubic
The “special interests” Austin alludes to are the parents, teachers, and community, and the taxpayers of California…We, the People. As opposed to the special interests who paid for this day of scripted actors and a phony scenario, the tycoons law firms and PR firms representatives who beat the drums for this media device, using highly paid organizers from Parent Revolution and United Way.
This carefully orchestrated photo op event was put on by Ben Austin and his young Westside followers from Parent Revolution, the group he started in 2009 with major financing from the Waltons of WalMart fame, Eli Broad of the Broad Academy which trains CEOs like Deasy to run school districts according to a business model, and some others of the wealthiest people in the world, and also the ever questionable United Way. The two event leaders, Gabe and Ryan, both young men in suits and paid in the neighborhood of a reported $200,000 a year to help run these “non profits” rapidly drummed up this dramatic scenario over the weekend before the LAUSD Board of Education meeting on Oct. 29 when the Board would evaluate a new 3 year contract for Supt. John Deasy.
Deasy, who we are told leaked to the the LA Times that he had resigned the previous Wednesday, was helped with this created “public outcry for him to stay” by about 100 – 160 bussed-in inner city people. This group of mainly Latino community members, included a few older women who spoke as parents, but many were young ‘partying’ Latino youth who claimed that they were paid for the day of acting and who all clapped and cheered when Monica Garcia entered the Bd. room. Gabe and Ryan also arranged for Teach for America teachers to leave their classrooms, making taxpayers foot the bill for substitute teachers. There were many staff and young lawyers from the various law firms which work for Broad and the billionaires seeking to privatize public schools. These were the people handing out free food and drink to the bussed-in actors and even to a homeless man who participated in their chants.
Although Austin claims to have had a major group of collaborators in attendance, many of those he lists claim not to have been any part of this PR stunt, nor to have known about it.
When I drove up to the building in early morning I saw the most unusual sight of a row of buses, a large police presence, and many media vans parked in the red zone. There were about 100 or so people milling around the front entry although the line for the public was not very long. At the front of the line was Ben Austin looking every bit a ‘surfer dude’ in a grimy plaid jacket and unkempt hair. He was ‘high fiving’ with many of his group at the ‘coup’ he felt he had pulled off. He claims not to have gotten into the meeting yet he was in the front of the line, so if he chose not to enter the meeting room, it was not for lack of seating since at least 1/4 of the room was empty. Many his cute young Westside supporters in their green Parent Rev t-shirts were there. However, I did notice that most of the day’s actors did leave after the photo op, so they were not very serious about this vital Board meeting. They had had much fun, for pay we were told, outside the Room.
The media bought in to all of this. They interviewed only pro Deasy folks, and did not seem to seek out others who were there who were anti Deasy. This became the spin on the evening news…just as Austin plannedit.to be. The power of the billionaires PR and law firms is vast and showed clearly that day. I personally went up to a KNX reporter after the meeting and volunteered to be interviewed in response to this set up. She talked with me for at least 20 minutes, but the evening news reflected only what Austin and his collaborators had intended, and no mention was made of the anti Deasy people who were not allowed to speak.
In the Board room, I sat next to an older well dressed man who was taking notes even faster and more detailed than I. I noticed he had a credential hanging from a Stanford Law School lanyard and I asked him if he was Deasy’s lawyer. He seemed embarrassed and defensive and said he was not a lawyer, though he quickly took off and pocketed the lanyard. He was quite out of place seated in the midst of the yellow daisy brigade, those who had been handed daisies by the young lawyers leading the show (daisies for Deasy chants, and to be easily recognized by Vanessa, the monitor who handed them, alone, speaker’s forms). The young Latino men seated behind me told me that they loved the day and that Monica Garcia was wonderful and they came at her personal invitation.
I spoke with many of the participants, from the dozens of young SCRIPTED chanters, to the young women lawyers in blue jeans who handed out the their hand painted signs for the actors to carry in a protest circle for benefit of the media which filmed it all. Gabe and Ryan were also handing out printed sheets of paper with both chants and talking points for the actors to use. I was amazed at how rapidly these power brokers had pull off this detailed media event. Young inner city participants told me that they had been called over the weekend and were both mandated, and wooed, to attend.
Austin
How did that happen? While the LAUSD still has a long way to go, for the past three years it has been steadily improving in a number of key categories. Under Superintendent John Deasy’s leadership, LAUSD students have been learning more, scoring higher and graduating in greater numbers. They’ve also been suspended a lot less.But change is hard. Lots of politicians spend a lot of time talking about kids. But a genuine kids-first agenda — where we make every single decision as if it would literally impact our own children — still remains disturbingly radical when compared to the status quo.Two weeks ago, word leaked that Dr. Deasy might be leaving. Dr. Deasy often faces powerful opponents who challenge his independent, kids-first agenda. These interest groups have been working for years to push him out. This was their moment.
Lubic
The teachers of LAUSD voted an overwhelming 91% NO CONFIDENCE in Deasy some weeks prior to this farce meeting on Oct. 29. Voices from all over Los Angeles County and the entire state complained for many weeks at the terrible decisions of Deasy, the Broad anointed Supt., and his Broad grad pal, Asst. Supt. Aquino, not only about the firing of innocent teachers, the embedding of charter schools in public school venues, keeping so many in teacher jail, and not reporting egregious teacher offenders to the State as required by Education Code, but mainly about the huge $1 BILLION dollar expenditure of taxpayer money for iPads at over retail cost and with no keyboards and no plan for WiFi (which had been investigated by a prior Board as a serious and dangerous health issue for young children) and for having made no plan for who was responsible for loss/theft/breakage of these soon to be outdated iPads. Deasy had been the education face of these iPads when Apple advertised them for school use, and he was also a stockholder, so many people question what seemed a sweetheart deal.
As to word being leaked to the LA Times of the Deasy resignation, the ‘insider’ information at the Times is that Deasy and his crew were the leakers, so as to prepare for this charade of phony “public” support. Some weeks prior to this meeting, Monica Garcia, the big Deasy supporter on the Board, sent out a cyber letter by eblast from her office at Beaudry to support Deasy, but she signed it with the names of two others. These kinds of things have muddied the truth for a long time. A few weeks ago the other Deasy Board supporter, Tamar Galatzan, decided for the first time in LAUSD history, to call for censure of the Board’s current president for accusations made against him from 12 years ago, and already a settled issue, but she clearly set this up to deflect from the investigation of the committee headed by new Board member Monica Ratliff, into the financing and choice decisions surrounding the iPad fiasco. (Jaime Aquino in public testimony called all the real and vast public outcry, including articles by the LA Times, just “NOISE” and said it was a minor distraction.) This investigation is now turning up many financial and other decisions made by Deasy and his staff wtih NO transparency to the Board nor the public which foots all the bills and should be his ultimate employer.
With this vast amount of publicly voiced disapproval, Deasy should have been gone, and not given another 3 years of these ill advised decisions which could easily lead to to bankrupting LAUSD. In private sector he would have been removed long ago, but with the lawyers from the biggest and most powerful law firms in America, who represent Eli Broad (who got Deasy hired without a search forother candidates), Bloomberg, Murdoch, Waltons (all of whom who poured money into the LAUSD School Board elections), and their ilk, who are determined to make public education a huge free market investment opportunity, and with their well paid toadies like Deasy and the mendacious and manipulative Ben Austin, a majority of the Board renewed his contract. This is a travesty.
Austin
During a 72-hour window leading up to the board meeting, parents looked at each other and realized that nobody was coming to their rescue. Parents recognized that they must become the change. So they organized. One mom at my daughter’s neighborhood elementary school even organized parents during our annual “Halloween Haunt” festival.
Lubic
Austin lives on the Westside among the weathiest LA residents.
As to how this event was all put together, you can read the Ravitch posts of Oct. 28, 29, 30 to see the real facts with the actual tweets between the leaders of Parent Rev and United Way as to how to do this for the most media impact. A farce all the way…Moliere could not have done it better.
The day was all phony! It was a set up, all orchestrated by the lawyers and PR folks, from the phony orange robe the young lawyers and Gabe and Ryan handed to a young woman to pretend she was a recent high school grad, to the setting up the circle of Latinos who were told to keep their faces angry and aimed always at the media cameras as they chanted the scripted words while carrying the signs made by the leadership, to the lawyers handing out of the daisies for the hired ‘Public” to wear behind their ears, and then, the coup de gras of speaking to the Board.
I was first person to enter the Board Room and immediately requested a speaker’s form from the Board’s monitor, Vanessa, to give my testimony to the Board and the public. She stood near a phalanx of police who lined the wall of the room. I was told emphatically that no one would speak that day. However within mere moments, some of the bussed in folks with their daisies were handed numbered speakers forms. I again asked the monitor, Vanessa, for a form, and again she told me I was not allowed to speak, that only the bussed-in women could speak.
This was the most undemocratic, one-sided, set up I have ever witnessed at a public meeting in a building owned by the public. A few other people who were against rehiring Deasy asked for forms and they too were turned down. Only the pro Deasy ‘actors’ were given forms. They mainly testified in Spanish with an English translator generally reading from a script as to what they said. I spoke with some of these women outside as we waited so many hours for the meeting to begin, and they all spoke to me in English, but by using Spanish to give their testimony, and then with the translator, they each got 10 minutes to make their points, whereas the public comments are limited by the Board to only 3 minutes each. Only Mr. Walter Wattles, an older and most erudite member of the public who, I was told, was a former teacher, and who attends most meetings, was finally allowed to speak against the Deasy contract renewal. He had only 3 minutes to make his points, which spoke for all of us who recognize the many faults of this Superintendent.
Austin
Mayor Eric Garcetti, former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and civic leaders across the political spectrum one by one stood up and stood behind this organic grassroots movement.United Teachers of Los Angeles, the local teachers union, stood alone — politically isolated on this seminal issue. Not even other teachers unions would support UTLA’s extreme cause.
Lubic
At the end of the meeting, Warren Fletcher, president of UTLA came forward and demanded that a substitute teacher who had been screamed at, maligned and insulted, and fired on the spot, in a fit of uncontrolled rage by Deasy, and in front of her class, be allowed to speak about this incident. She did give her powerful testimony, and together with that of Wattles, and the No Confidence vote of thousands of teachers, and all the issues presented over many months by a multitude of teachers, it was clear that there are so many factors of his questionable behaviors, that Deasy should never have been rehired.
So what really happened behind those closed doors?
Austin
Following this outpouring of public support, Dr. Deasy emerged from last week’s school board meeting with an agreement to remain as superintendent through 2016.
Lubic
Austin’s claim of an “outpouring of public support” is the biggest lie of all…there was NO “outpouring of public support” but rather it was a pay day and party day for all the hired actors, the scammed inner city attendees, and all the support staff from the law and PR offices and non profits which were active in the charade. I researched some of these non profits, and their Boards are filled with lawyers from the same powerful firms who represent the tycoons behind it all. These purveyors of planned disruption, all paid by a hidden community of vast wealth and power, created a totally dishonest scenario. They manipulated uninformed inner city people of color once again.
This sham was put in place not by the public, but by the power players who forced their voices to be the only ones heard.
Austin
How did community power save the superintendent?Saving Dr. Deasy did not happen because of the traditional power players: Mayors, philanthropists, unions or any other traditional institutional interest group. It didn’t even happen because of Dr. Deasy. He was actively discouraging his supporters — making it very clear that he felt it was time for him to go. Parents kept going despite his admonitions because this wasn’t about any single person. It was about our kids.
Lubic
Clearly the manipulation by Deasy and his supporters used the non profits of Austin’s Parent Revloution, and United Way, to put this day together. Sadly, not only former Mayor Tony Villaraigosa who now works for the ponzi company Herbalife and who bragged about closing LAUSD public schools in favor of charter schools, and charter supporter and new Mayor Eric Garcetti whose wife worked for former Mayor Riordan to set up his Catholic School Charters, got in on this farce.
Austin ‘spins’ this to say the actual, voiceless real public, We the People with no access to the best law firms in the nation and no endless funding by the billioniares who even seek to manipulate our local elections, that we are the “power players”…. while Broad, Murdoch, the Waltons, Bloomberg, et al, are the downtrodden supporters of the communities living in poverty. It would be laughable if were not really the most disgusting deception.
The media repeatedly falls for this artifice and created spin. Are they just lazy, or do they collude for their own profit?
Austin speaks of doing this for “our kids” when his kids, and those of all the major players in this day of infamy, go to the best schools in Los Angeles, both public and private. None of them are inner city parents struggling to survive. Austin earns his big income (only a portion of which is approximately $250,000 from donations mainly from the Waltons to Parent Revolution) by using the inner city parents to his own end, and to further the goals of his benefactors, the Waltons, who support ‘parent trigger laws’ to break the unions, Teach for America to fire well trained teachers and use inexperienced and ill trained youngsters at minimum cost in their place, and ‘stand your ground gun laws’ for all Americans. The Waltons, now listed by Forbes as the richest family in the world, choose to starve their employees with low wages, and teach them how to apply for food stamps and free health care at the expense of the public, the taxpayers. These are Ben Austin’s bosses who pay him handsomely to manipulate society in their behalf.
Austin
If this movement did have a single leader, it was the team at United Way of Greater Los Angeles. They helped to organize this loose coalition of over 60 organizations, and they stood up and took and action when we had very little time or hope.But there were dozens of other leaders. Grassroots community organizations like Alliance for a Better Community, Community Coalition and Inner City Struggle helped to lead this movement partly because of Dr. Deasy’s commitment to poor communities and communities of color.Parent leaders like Amabilia Villeda, who serves as chapter coordinator for the 24th Street Elementary Parents Union, helped turn out dozens of parents to support Dr. Deasy. Amabilia and other parents worked collaboratively with Dr. Deasy to transform their failing school using California’s landmark parent trigger law. Today their children attend the first-ever school where the district is working collaboratively with a charter school to serve the same kids, while also providing free universal preschool for all neighborhood kids. Parent Union members spoke movingly about Dr. Deasy visiting them in the rain to extend his hand in partnership.
Lubic
There was one parent there speaking for 24th Street, and these better informed parents chose not to turn their school over to be charterized, and instead worked with the administration to promote some positive change. This was unlike Adelanto/Desert Trails and Wiegand where minimally informed parent groups were manipulated to vote for change and then got charterized.
The scripted parents who spoke to the Board were not true representatives of the plethora of LAs inner city communities and parents. Not one representative of the tens of thousands of unhappy parents who are outraged by the Deasy administration, and who want public schools enriched, but not charterized, was allowed to speak at this ‘fix’ of a meeting.
Why did the BoE allow this?
Austin
Parents waited in line for hours to get into the meeting, even though many didn’t get in, including me. They passed the time by passing out “Daisies for Deasy.” In one resounding collective voice, the chants from hundreds of parents and community leaders could be heard from blocks away: “Don’t be Crazy — Keep Doc Deasy!”
Lubic
This is pure baloney. Everyone waited for hours, not just the bussed in actors. There were only a few inner city parents, of those who were bussed in, who chose to stay and speak in favor of Deasy while the rest went home after the media left. They were given free food and drink as they waited outside. Music was played by the leaders for their enjoyment in this party atmosphere all set up by Gabe and Ryan at great monetary expense. One reporter estimated that it cost the leaders over $40, 000 to put on this media event party. Yes, the loud speakers that Gabe and Ryan had set up magnified the shouting from the printed chants they handed out, and that all their high paid professional worker bees led, loudly. It was a mind-bending sham and truly Goebbels-like behavior.
Austin
These are the unsung heroes whom our children may never thank, but who stepped up for them when it mattered.Under the leadership of Board President Dr. Richard Vladovic, the LAUSD school board listened to the will of the parents and the will of the people. Now is the time for all adults on all sides of this debate to start acting like grown-ups, including Dr. Deasy and his supporters.
Lubic
We the real People, we the taxppayers and parents, need to hear from the Board about this travesty and why they colluded with the billionaire opportunists to orchestrate such a blatant undemocratic situtation? We need to know why they would allow the ‘use’ of the bussed-in community of color to make their singular scripted pro-Deasy points while those of us who wanted to testify as to Deasy’s faults were not permitted to speak? We find this disrespectful to all. Also we need to hear from Steve Zimmer who has done an about face since his election.
And we need to know why the Board extended the contract of this shoddy Superintendent for another 3 years? The Board got many angry emails from endless real community members who were outraged at this manipulated dance, but to date the Board has refused to reply to their electors.
It is time for us all to find candidates who are not intimidated by the wealth of the power players who actually run/own LAUSD, and the big businesses which grease so many palms for unjust enrichment. We need honest brokers for education.
Austin
Moving forward, everyone must commit to live by one simple rule: if it’s not okay on the playground, it’s not okay in our politics either. This is not about adult interests or petty political games. It’s about our kids. Anyone who deviates from that simple rule, as one mom at the board meeting scolded, we’ll have to put in a time-out.
Lubic
“Time out” Austin says…yes, these robber barons would love us, the informed and activist public, to sit quietly while they play out their schemes to enrich themselves as they are diminishing the educations of our students in public school, and generations of students to come….all for an investment opportunity and profit. They want to shut down our voices while they continue to pick our pockets.
Ben Austin, whose resume reads like a story of a master of manipulation, from his Sacramento shenanigans, to his two full time jobs paid by taxpayer money while working for both Villaraigosa and the city of LA, and concurrently for Green Dot Charter School’s former director, Steve Barr. And now it seems payback time and Steve Barr, Austin’s not so Secret Sharer in the Deasy/Broad/Walton escapade, is still working at operating charter schools for major profit even though he left Green Dot under a cloud. This is all information that can be researched online.
Ben Austin is not a person to look to for truth telling, nor for pure motives.
Austin
Ben Austin is the executive director of Los Angeles-based Parent Revolution, a nonprofit organization that works to empower parents striving to improve their children’s education. Ben is the proud parent of two young daughters.
Lubic
Various of these groups Austin lists below say that they were not part of this charade. Those participating were mainly supporters Michelle Rhee and Eli Broad, who are both board members and/or directors of some of these “non profits.” Other reports show only about a dozen organzations that were active participants on Oct. 29.
Austin
Community groups and organizations that turned out at the rally, aided with organizing efforts, or voiced their support to save Superintendent John Deasy’s job include: Alliance for a Better Community, ACLU of So Cal, the Advancement Project, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Bend The Arc, Campaign for College Opportunity, CARECEN, CCSA, CFY LA, Children Now, CHIRLA, City Year, Community Coalition, Communities in Schools, Educators 4 Excellence, Ed Pioneers, EdVoice, Families In Schools, Goodwill of So Cal, Green Dot,, KIPP LA, LA Gay & Lesbian Center, LA Small Schools Center, LACER Afterschool Programs, LA Educational Partnership, LA Gay and Lesbian Center, LAMP Community Center, Lanai Road Education Committee, LA Urban League, LA Voice, Mind Research Institute, Music Center, New Teacher Center, Parent Partnership, Parent Revolution, Parent Institute for Quality Education, Partnership for LA Schools, SEIU 99, Students for Education Reform, StudentsFirst, Students Matter, Teach For America, Teach Plus, The California Endowment, Think Together, UCLA Center X, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, and the Youth Policy Institute.
THIS IS FROM TODAY’S GUARDIAN. EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO TIME, TAKE TIMEM TO READ THIS. WE CAN LEARN FROM THE GUARDIAN WHAT’S BEING DONE TO OUR COUNTRY BY THE KOCH BROTHERS AND OTHERS.
State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax
• State Policy Network co-ordinating plans across 34 US states
• Strategy to ‘release residents from government dependency’
• Revelations come amid growing scrutiny of tax-exempt charities
• Read key excerpts from the SPN proposals
• Portland Press Herald: group’s plan to eliminate taxes
• Texas Observer: the money behind the fight to wreck Medicaid
The State Policy Network has an annual warchest of $83m drawn from major donors like David Koch, above, and food giant Kraft. Photograph: Mark Lennihan/AP
Ed Pilkington in New York and Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Thursday 5 December 2013 13.21 EST
Conservative groups across the US are planning a co-ordinated assault against public sector rights and services in the key areas of education, healthcare, income tax, workers’ compensation and the environment, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.
The strategy for the state-level organisations, which describe themselves as “free-market thinktanks”, includes proposals from six different states for cuts in public sector pensions, campaigns to reduce the wages of government workers and eliminate income taxes, school voucher schemes to counter public education, opposition to Medicaid, and a campaign against regional efforts to combat greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
The policy goals are contained in a set of funding proposals obtained by the Guardian. The proposals were co-ordinated by the State Policy Network, an alliance of groups that act as incubators of conservative strategy at state level.
The documents contain 40 funding proposals from 34 states, providing a blueprint for the conservative agenda in 2014. In partnership with the Texas Observer and the Portland Press Herald in Maine, the Guardian is publishing SPN’s summary of all the proposals to give readers and news outlets full and fair access to state-by-state conservative plans that could have significant impact throughout the US, and to allow the public to reach its own conclusions about whether these activities comply with the spirit of non-profit tax-exempt charities.
Details of the co-ordinated approach come amid growing federal scrutiny of the political activities of tax-exempt charities. Last week the Obama administration announced a new clampdown on those groups that violate tax rules by engaging in direct political campaigning.
Most of the “thinktanks” involved in the proposals gathered by the State Policy Network are constituted as 501(c)(3) charities that are exempt from tax by the Internal Revenue Service. Though the groups are not involved in election campaigns, they are subject to strict restrictions on the amount of lobbying they are allowed to perform. Several of the grant bids contained in the Guardian documents propose the launch of “media campaigns” aimed at changing state laws and policies, or refer to “advancing model legislation” and “candidate briefings”, in ways that arguably cross the line into lobbying.
The documents also cast light on the nexus of funding arrangements behind radical rightwing campaigns. The State Policy Network (SPN) has members in each of the 50 states and an annual warchest of $83m drawn from major corporate donors that include the energy tycoons the Koch brothers, the tobacco company Philip Morris, food giant Kraft and the multinational drugs company GlaxoSmithKline.
SPN gathered the grant proposals from the 34 states on 29 July. Ranging in size from requests of $25,000 to $65,000, the plans were submitted for funding to the Searle Freedom Trust, a private foundation that in 2011 donated almost $15m to largely rightwing causes.
The trust, founded in 1998, draws on the family fortune of the late Dan Searle of the GD Searle & Company empire – now part of Pfizer – which created NutraSweet. The trust is a major donor to such mainstays of the American right and the Tea Parties as Americans for Prosperity, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), the Heartland Institute and the State Policy Network itself.
SPN’s link to Searle, the Guardian documents show, was Stephen Moore, an editorial writer with the Wall Street Journal. Moore, who advises Searle on its grant-giving activities, was asked by SPN to rank the proposals in two halves – a “top 20” and “bottom 20”. It is not known how many of the 40 proposals were approved for funding, nor which may have been successful.
Moore told the Guardian that he is an unpaid adviser to the Searle Foundation, having been a lifetime family friend to Dan Searle. He said the grant decisions were made by Searle’s sons and grandsons based upon the late businessman’s “commitment to the advancement of free enterprise and individual rights”.
The proposals in the grant bids contained in the Guardian documents go beyond a commitment to free enterprise, however. They include:
• “reforms” to public employee pensions raised by SPN thinktanks in Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania;
• tax elimination or reduction schemes in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, Nebraska and New York;
• an education voucher system to promote private and home schooling in Florida;
• campaigns against worker and union rights in Delaware and Nevada;
• opposition to Medicaid in Georgia, North Carolina and Utah.
SPN’s president, Tracie Sharp, told the Guardian that “as a pro-freedom network of thinktanks, we focus on issues like workplace freedom, education reform, and individual choice in healthcare: backbone issues of a free people and a free society.”
In its grant bid, the Maine Heritage Policy Center asked for $35,000 to support a “research and demonstration project” that would “release residents from extreme government dependency”. It would turn the state’s poorest area into what the Portland Press Herald describes in its report from Washington County as “a gigantic tax-free zone”.
Dubbed “FreeME”, the initiative would eliminate state income tax and sale taxes from residents and businesses until the economic conditions in the county rise to the statewide average. The hole in the county’s income from lost tax revenues – estimated at $35m a year by the think tank – would be filled through budget cuts.
Medicaid is the target of a grant proposal coming from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), an influential thinktank funded largely by rightwing foundations and corporations including the energy tycoons the Koch brothers, tobacco company Altria and the telecoms giant Verizon. The Texas Observer has investigated the contents of the document and points out that in its request for $40,000 from Searle, TPPF claims credit for blocking Medicaid expansion in the state.
“[S]topping Medicaid expansion is just the first step,” the proposal says, adding that the “missing piece to complete our message is an economic forecast” showing how block-granting Medicaid would “bring significant savings” to the state. That information would then be used to garner attention from the media.
The Observer describes TPPF as “one of the most influential state-level thinktanks in the nation”. One of its former executives was Ted Cruz, now US senator for Texas, who today is the keynote speaker at the national conference in Washington of SPN’s sister organisation, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec).
Several hundred miles to the north east in Massachusetts, the Beacon Hill Institute requested $38,825 from Searle to weaken or roll back a five-year effort by states in the region to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The institute said it would carry out research into the economic impact of the cap-and-trade system operating in nine states known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
BHI appeared to have already arrived at its conclusions in advance, admitting from the outset that the aim of the research was to arm opponents of cap-and-trade with data for their arguments, and to weaken or destroy the initiative. “Success will take the form of media recognition, dissemination to stakeholders, and legislative activity that will pare back or repeal RGGI,” the funding proposal says.
The Beacon Hill Institute, technically an affiliate rather than a full member of the SPN, operates out of the economics department of Suffolk University in Boston. David Tuerck, its executive director, denied the group had engaged in lobbying. “There is never any lobbying,” he told the Guardian. “Maybe I need to look up the definition again, but lobbying consists of buttonholing legislators and other policymakers to get a particular result on a particular issue, and we never do that.”
But Suffolk University, which hosts the Beacon Hill Institute as a research arm of its economics department, sharply criticised the research proposal to the Searle Foundation. In a statement to the Guardian, the university said the grant bid had not been submitted to the university, as required, and that the university would never have approved the proposal. “The stated research goals, as written, were inconsistent with Suffolk University’s mission.”
Watchdogs that monitor the work of SPN and other conservative networks in the US said that the centralised coordination of state-level campaigns showed a significant attempt to build local activism into a nationwide movement. Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, which issued a recent report on SPN, said that the local identity of the network’s members belied a larger purpose. “They appear to be advocating purely local interests but what they are promoting is part of a larger national template to radically remake our government in a way that undermines public institutions and the rights of workers,” she said.
The SPN said that its co-ordinating role was justified because local and state issues were increasingly impinging on national politics. “There’s no mystery here,” Sharp said. “The whole idea of a state policy network is that individual thinktanks can be in communication, share best practices and analysis, and combine their efforts when they see a benefit from doing so.”
Some of the grant bids to Searle focus specifically on prominent local politicians the thinktanks hope to influence. The grant bid that emanated from New Jersey, from the Common Sense Institute(CISNJ), another tax-exempt “research and education organization”, floats the idea of a campaign to support the efforts of the Republican governor Chris Christie in ending the ability of public employees to claim untaken sick days and vacation leave in their retirement packages.
“Governor Chris Christie has been waging a war to eliminate this practice; and CSINJ would like to provide ammunition,” the proposal says. The thinktank plans to produce a “research study” which it would call “Busting the Boat Checks” – an allusion to the phrase Christie uses to denote the watercraft retirees are claimed to buy on the back of sick and holiday leave payments.
The institute conceives a “media campaign” with its aim being the “full elimination of unused sick and vacation leave payouts”.
“We believe our study can be used to sway public sentiment further and be used as a brandisher for reform in Trenton,” it says.
CSINJ’s president, Jerry Cantrell, denied that the grant bid involved any element of lobbying, insisting instead that his group was providing a service that in the past might have been done by the decimated local media.
“CSINJ is an education organization focused on providing the public with facts and the truth. We don’t represent any interest besides the folks who are burdened by this practice – the taxpayers,” he said.
He said the proposal was focused on the “abusive practice of accumulating sick or vacation day payments over an entire career and using them as retirement bonus. We’ve seen too many instances of high level individuals working out the door with $500,000-$750,000 claiming to have never missed a day in 30 years of employment.”
The proposal from the Illinois Policy Institute for a campaign to deal with Chicago’s government worker pensions crisis by switching to 401(k)-style retirement plans similarly focuses on a politician – in this case Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The proposal says that “Mayor Emanuel has privately expressed the need for 401(k)-style changes to truly achieve reform.”
The institute plans to “leverage the leadership potential of Mayor Emanuel … as the spark for wider pension changes in Illinois.” It adds that “friendly legislators would be welcome to draft legislation modelled on our policy work and work in tandem with Mayor Emanuel to move it forward in the legislative process.”
John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, told the Guardian that Emanuel had been “an outspoken proponent of pension reform that includes moving to a 401(k)-style, defined contribution system.” He saw no problem with the lobbying that the think tank undertakes.
“We are not allowed to do any campaigning or electioneering, and we don’t. We are allowed to spend a significant percentage of our expenditures on lobbying and we are very proactive in lobbying for liberty-based policy, including the urgently needed pension reform. We report our activities accordingly.”
Thank you, Ellen Lubic, this is great reporting.
Somebody else just found her
courage as well… Lisa Alva Wood:
For the last couple years or so,
Lisa, a teacher activist, has been
one of the handful—and I can truly
count them on one hand—who
allied herself with corporate reform.
She’s been a member of Educators
for Excellene, Teach Plus, the
United Way, Teachers for New
Unionism, etc. … but has also
maintained her ties with UTLA.
She’s also written articles for
the corporate reform propaganda
org L.A. SCHOOL REPORT.
Well, that contradiction just
came to a head, and she’s
cutting all her ties with corporate
reform (except for her participation
in a holiday educator-recognition
event sponsored by United Way,
which will be the last thing
she will do with this group.)
Lisa goes into detail about
“Road to Damascus” conversion
experience, and how it
happened during the “corporate
reform” astroturfers’ conference
call that planned the
demonstrations to save Deasy
that are described by Ellen Lubic
above:
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
LISA ALVA WOOD:
“I QUIT. I had to.
“Hopefully, you’ve never picked up
the telephone and felt the hair
stand up on the back of your neck
as you realized who was on the
phone and what they were talking
about, felt your heart empty out
and felt dread and despair flooding
in.
“I have, twice.
“The first time, it was my ex-husband.
“The second time, it was the United
Way of Los Angeles. I phoned into
a conference call that wasn’t what I
expected, and it ended my
relationships with the Partnership for
Los Angeles Schools, Teachers for
a New Unionism and Educators for
Excellence, and put some others
in the doghouse.
” … ”
“All of this (the Ipad fiasco) is
chronicled in the press, but I mention
it to set the stage for a little feint that
John Deasy pulled on October 24,
2013, right after the iPad scandal and
right before he was going to be called
in for his own job evaluation.
“It was the last straw. Although I
had publicly stuck up for him after
a UTLA poll of 16,000 educators
rendered a 91% ‘no confidence’
vote, I lost all faith in him with the
iPad situation, and had to face
some very hard realities about
reform groups in LA.
“The call confirmed some of the
most discouraging talk I’d heard
or read, and some of my most d
isappointing experiences. After what
I heard, I couldn’t stay any longer.”
– – – – – – – – – – – –
The conference call Lisa described
was originally supposedto be a
discussion about Local
Control Funding, but instead
was about “Saving Dr. Deasy:
– – – – – – – – – –
LISA ALVA WOOD:
“When I called in, I heard a roll call
of 51 educational, community or
political groups whose sole
purpose on the call was to support
John Deasy in his fight to keep his
job.
“The news that Deasy was
threatening to quit had changed
the topic and galvanized the group.
These good people were planning
to skip school to show support at
the October 29 Board meeting.
They were bringing students and
teachers to testify in his favor.
“I was… flabbergasted. I didn’t
have the heart to even make the
roll call. By the time they got to
‘anyone else?’ I was too intimidated
and overwhelmed to say, ‘Here.’
I didn’t know what affiliation to claim.
“Long story short, these folks made
a huge showing outside the morning
Board meeting, while 35,000 union
members were busy serving the
needs of our youth.
“It was a much needed wake-up call.
“I began to realize the extent of the
ignorance and hubris that fuels many
ed-reform decisions, as well as the
extent of my own ignorance. The
addition of businessmen and
socialites to a board I sat on made
sense suddenly, as did their
posturing and pronouncements.
“If you’ve ever heard people mis-
speaking about things you know
intimately, or talking about you when
they thought you weren’t listening,
you know how pained I was and still
am. I couldn’t speak then and have
just found the words, now.
“Some of the groups in the pro-Deasy
rally – Students First, Green Dot,
KIPP LA – were to be expected,
although they have no business in
LAUSD’s superintendent evaluation.
“Others made me gag in wonder –
Goodwill of Southern California?
Inner-City Struggle? LA Education
Partnership? I thought we were
friends!
“They weren’t talking about me,
personally, but they clearly saw
themselves as supporting their
hero, a hero whose arch-enemy
is my union, UTLA. It was, and
is, very difficult to understand
why they need to draw a
protective circle in the sand
around John Deasy. (Speculation
is rampant, but facts are hard to
come by).
“The bottom line for me personally
is that there are too many good
people distracted by too many
superfluous groups. The best
place for an educator to protect
and promote public education is
the teachers’ union. Over time,
for better or for worse, the union
is the educators’ bastion and it
is set up via a democratic
process in which any member
can participate. If UTLA needs
to be more positive and
professional, we need to make
it that way ourselves, but that’s
another story.”
and on it goes…
Jack…thanks so much for this report. I hope you, and Lisa Alva Wood too, will get in touch with me at
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
so we can work together to find a strong candidate to support for Marguerite La Motte’s seat on the BoE.
Oct. 29 was a day so filled with lies, artifice, and divisiveness, and showing to the world the arrogance of Parent Revolution, United Way, Eli Broad and all his paid toadies, that we need unity and strength in numbers to report truth to our community and to hold the LAUSD BoE to a far higher standard.
Ellen Lubic
I just dug up this old post
describing the conference
call… with actual quotes…
from one “Julie Tran”
Educators for Excellence is
but one of the groups involve.
Here it is:
– – – – – – – – – – –
Hi Ellen,
I think we met briefly once.
It’s Julie. I was just forwarded
an email with an account of a
conference call coordinating the
various astroturf groups
who will be protesting against
us tomorrow.
Yep, that’s right. Some mole
within their ranks leaked this
to me.
Did you ever want to eavesdrop
on a planning session of a
bunch of ed reform astroturf
groups as they are trying to
create a demonstration that
has the appearance of an
actual community grass
roots protest— when it’s
actually a manufactured
farce concocted by well-paid
corporate shills?
Now’s your chance!
Enjoy:
(Folks, this is real.
Gabe, Ryan, and the rest
pull out all the stops to
earn their respective
$200,000-plus salaries)
———–
“Date: Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: conference call
“GABE (Rose, from Parent Rev.):
“#4 wear your organization’s
T-shirt to show broad support.
“We will be sending an email with
talking points. Any other questions?
“Commenters are looking for talking
points and one page info sheet
to send to supporters.’
“RYAN (Smith, from United Way, Julie)”
‘Create as many signs as possible.
Utilize chants.’
“GABE (Rose, from Parent Rev.):
” ‘Are we trying to pack the
boardroom?
“RYAN: ‘Yes, I’ll talk to you offline
about that. Regarding media
outreach, we will utilize
our guy here: Charles/Mary Lou
(Endowment),
” ‘Can I connect you to Jason
Mandel?’
GABE: “Sandy will email Ryan a
tag line. Let’s see… we’ll call it…
” ‘Communities for John Deasy’
“… or …
” ‘Communities for Educational
Justice’! ”
RYAN: “Good, but let’s not make
this ad hominem against certain
Board Members or UTLA union
leaders. Also, we are not trying
to change John Deasy’s mind.”
GABE: “Right. This is much
broader than Deasy.
Although we are very
supportive of his courage, this is
really about telling the board that
the community… we want our
initiatives to continue and we
want to hold them responsible for
making sure they stay the course.
We’ve been working on this for
decades. We’ve seen
superintendents come and go.
The progress over the last 4-5
years needs to continue.”
END OF CALL
———————————-
Then there’s a summary of
another conference call:
————————————
“BETH (???): “Can anyone on
the call confirm that Deasy
contacted anyone in educ.
reform community that he
spoke to board members
about resigning?”
RYAN: “Hey. Let’s not go down
that road. A lot of it’s conjecture
rather than truly substantiated.
I’m hoping we can talk a little
more off line.
ELLEN ( Pais President &
CEO – Los Angeles Education
Partnership): “People in
Sacramento are talking about
this, wondering, ‘What-the-heck
is going on?”
LINDA (???): “Has any email went
out? We want to send to our staff
and parents.
RYAN: “We will send it out after
this call finishes.”
RENE (Rodman, from Parent
Partnership): “Is everyone aware
that there is a petition up to support
the superintendent? Let’s not
duplicate efforts.
RYAN: “I’ll send out both and
people should sign both. We can’t
get enough signatures.”
“We have a total 150-160 who will
show up for tomorrow. This is a
testament to the work that’s
happening. If you are willing to
speak, email Elmer.”
erolean@unitedway.org:
“Yolie Flores and Caprice Young
will join the rally to speak in support
of the issues and the leadership
of the district. We also want
parents, teachers and if possible
students although they should be
in school.”
——————————————
The students “should be in school?”
Really, now… ya think?
There’s more:
—————————————–
“There is a theory that it was
possibly leaked as a way to push
out the superintendent, but that’s
not confirmed. There is a school
board meeting tomorrow. Been
turned mostly into a closed session.
“At 12:30, two items, and then
immediately afterwards, they’ll
go into closed session. This will
be a shorter meeting. Changes
our plans regarding press
conference and rally. CLASS
believes that students and
communities are most in need of
support. We have been supportive
of many of Deasy’s initiatives.
“This is beign made about John, but
—Support of Prop 30,
—protecting teachers from budget
based layoffs for first time in ,
—saving 200 counselors jobs,
—his support of 193K students
breakfast in classroom,
—efforts against policies that push
students out, end of defiance.
“A lot of policies that put students first.
Important for progress of lauds.
We will rally around continuation
of these policies no matter what,
and Deasy.
“CLASS hosting press conference
and rally about these issues which
have been supported by Deasy.
“10:30am Rally arrivals,
“start at 11am.
“Press conference immediately after.
“Thought about one after board
meeting too, so students and
teachers will be in the shot.
“Many of the organizations have
asked to speak and participate.
“We need to tell school board
members that we support Deasy
and visionary leadership. We are
asking each of you organizations
to tap your constituencies to make
phone calls and emails to board
members. Important that all board
members are communicated to,
but most important Vladovic and
two considered swing votes—
Monica Ratliff and Steve
Zimmer.
“We support these policies and
visionary leadership.
————————————————
Ellen, here’s a list of everyone
included at the end of this email.
It’s sort of
“THE L.E.A.: THE LEAGUE OF
EXTRAORDINARY ASTROTURF” :
——————————————————-
“Ryan Smith – United Way Greater Los Angeles
“CLASS –
“California Endowment
“Educators for Excellence
“Community coalition
“Inner city struggle
“Parent revolution
“Alliance for a better community
“campaign for college opportunity
“advancement project
“children now
“communities in schools
“students first
“laup
“students matter
“teach plus
“good will of southern California
“seiu local 99
“Green Dot
“LA music center
“Sing together
“New Teacher Center
“Herb Alpert Foundation
“Families in Schools
“Mind Research Institute
“Partnership for LA Schools
“ACLU of Southern Calif
“Kids LA
“Ed Voice
“LA Gay & Lesbian Center
“Arts
“Teach for America
“Educare Foundation
“CCSA
“Education Pioneers
“LA Voice
“Parent Partnership
“Educate Our State
“LA Urban League
“Pique
“RFK Center
“UCLA Center for Ed
“LA Small School Center
“YPI
“Lacer After School Program
“Asian Americans for Education Justice
CFY
“Goal: update you on info we know re:
John Deasy incident. Much more
than you probably already know.
“School board meeting tomorrow.
“Impending rally and press conference.”
——————————————–
Karen, that’s quite a formidable
assembly of astroturfers.
I mean, really. With “The Mind
Research Institute” on their side,
they’re going to be hard to beat.
Also, what-the-hell is “The Herb
Alpert Foundation” doing here
on this list?
Does this mean that
“The Tijuana Brass” reunite
tomorrow so they can
serenade the astroturfers’
“Save Deasy” rally with
“A TASTE OF HONEY”?
That alone should bring ‘em
all down to Beaudry!
See you at the rally.
Ta for now,
Julie
Deasey has some interesting supporters, I must say. The hard Right American Enterprise Institute and the entire public school privatization industry.
Is there anyone who isn’t a paid hack who supports this guy?
To the best of my knowledge, no.
Ben Austin: a little advice—
Don’t do a Michelle Rhee and run away from this discussion like the former Chancellor of DCPS did with the owner of this blog.
Don’t do a David Coleman and run away from this discussion like Mr. Common Core did with the owner of this blog.
No surrogates. No ignoring. No posting comments elsewhere.
If you do any of the above, that constitutes silence, and that means assent.
Ellen Lubic and the viewers of this blog await your decision on whether or not “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
Or they run away.
Which will it be?
😒
Having written a book chapter on Ben Austin and the so-called Parent Revolution he was postioned to lead (in press), I’m with Ellen.
Austin is a con.
This is so surreal. A nightmare. Its beyond 1984
I can’t understand why people want to dismantle our society, the wealthy apparently don’t study history. This is how the French Revolution started. Anarchy isn’t pretty, and no one wins. Do these people really want to destroy the society around them? They sure seem suicidal.
They are demented by greed and power, a lunacy many enable by becoming ardent bootlickers and towel boys. The rest of us tend to concede to this superiority they afffect . Even when we know better.
I can only speak for Adelanto where I worked. Only Parent Revolution was able to break the long, corrupt system going on there. Desert Trails was not “charterized” (passive voice), but parents CHOSE whom they wanted to run their school from invited applications. They had to go to court twice, and persevered. At one point I met with parent revolution organizers and found them to have more integrity than the upper management and union of Adelanto at the time who were constantly screaming “Honesty, Integrity, Dignity,” while students were failing for years.
Diane has documented the Adelanto fiasco extensively. Parents were tricked and bullied into signing and were not allowed to retract their signatures. Only a tiny minority of parents (current parents, to say nothing of future parents, teachers, taxpayers and other interested parties) got to vote on the charter provider.
Go sell your snake oil elsewhere.
Yes, Mrs. Austin.
Dienne and Linda: the comments by changemaker are astonishing given the extensive information available online about the real state of affairs regarding Adelanto and Parent Revolution. Can s/he be so smug and arrogant as to believe that mere assertion trumps facts, logic and decency?
Yes, the elementary school was charterized. Democratic principles? Only the parents who at the time had children at the school [not former or future parents] could sign the petition. Then out of that bare majority of petition-signers [those who did not sign the petition were denied a voice] only a tiny minority—53 out of 466 parents!—voted for the charter.
For example, from the Daily Press, 1-9-13, article entitled “Desert Trails petition approved”:
“The Adelanto School District’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted in favor of the Desert Trails Charter petition, promising a fresh start to the failing elementary school.
Desert Trails Elementary, which was deemed failing by the state, found itself at the center of the nation’s first successful effort to invoke the Parent Trigger law, allowing parents to gather signatures to force reform. But after the ASD Board of Trustees in March rejected the parent union’s initial petition, five parents filed a lawsuit against the district demanding they verify the petition and that the court recognize the educational rights of students at Desert Trails.
DTPU held an election in October, in which parents who signed the petition could vote on which charter school they wanted to see take over Desert Trails. Only 53 of the original 466 parent petitioners voted, and amongst those who did, the vast majority voted in favor of LaVerne Prep.”
Link: http://www.vvdailypress.com/articles/trails-38493-adelanto-approved.html
DTPU = Desert Trails Parent Union.
See also this blog, 6-28-13:
Link: https://dianeravitch.net/2013/06/28/parent-a-sad-graduation-day-at-desert-trails-elementary-school-in-adelanto-ca/
I repeat: let Mr. Ben Austin come on this blog himself.
Otherwise, his silence is his consent to the truthfulness of Ellen Lubic’s account.
😎
Awesome reporting, Ellen Lubic!
Changemaker…please identify yourself by name and occupation so we can assess your credibility and know that you are not Austin or a member of his claque.
The accounts at Adelanto are widely published, including the list of petition signers and the comments of actual parents who felt dupped by Austin and his hired intimidating team, and by the phony parents he sent to mislead actual parents. All of this information is online reported by credible sources.
Ellen Lubic
Changemaker in German is Goebbels.
Tell us, Changemaker, how are the kids doing now?
I witnessed a similar staged PR campaign (as the author mentions) when I attended a public meeting of officials addressing community members regarding their anger at the closing of many public schools in Brooklyn especially when the closing coincided with the opening of charters. Rows of buses were lined up outside the location where the event took place and an enormous sea of people wearing orange t -shirts stormed into the auditorium. They were from the Bronx and shouted a chant (have forgotten what it was). They were not members of the Brooklyn community but were bused in by those opposing those who opposed charters and public school closings. They were loud and sat on one side of the auditorium. Bouncer like people strolled back and forth on the teacher side of the auditorium in wait to throw out anyone who dared get unruly. Ughh…
Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
Thank you, Ellen, for bearing witness and testifying about this Austin-tatious event.
I believe that it was symbolic of not only the privatization of our school system but also the Orwellian transformation of our society into two classes: the billionaires and the rest of us. Much like the middle class in this country, our teachers and public schools are gradually being pushed to the sidelines in a sustained effort to make education big business.
Keep public schools public.
There is an even scarier coda to Ellen’s story, if you can believe that. Outside the Boardroom, one of the victims of Deasy’s teacher jail was briefly interviewed and featured on KCAL 9 news in Los Angeles. He spoke eloquently about how Deasy is saddling teachers with false allegations, throwing them in teacher jail, and then dismissing them using those false allegations. Though he had already been dismissed over false allegations which were more than a year ago at that point, LAUSD police (Yes, LAUSD has its own police department) knocked on his door the very next morning. They brought with them an FBI agent to intimidate and silence the teacher. LAUSD’s message was crystal clear.
“Don’t ***k with us.”
LAUSD is operating just like the mafia. They are rubbing people out. They are sending FBI “hitmen” to teachers’ homes to keep them silent and afraid.
Wow…had heard this about a few other teachers, and saw the interviewee as I waited in line. But did not know the extent of this and did not know that he got an FBI visit too.
I too am a jailed senior teacher and I know this story intimately. I am being dismissed based upon lies and the Board does nothing to listen to us. They admit that they don’t read teachers’ responses to charges or consider any exculpatory evidence.
I was third in line at the meeting but I was not allowed to speak. The paid speakers were moved into the building by the LAUSD poIice. I was told that all speaker cards had been given out so Vanessa mixed her stories up.
When I arrived, the paid marchers were chanting and walking in front of the door. I realized that they were quite young – they should have been in school – so I asked each one, “Are you a parent?” Each one answered truthfully, “No.” Next time I’ll know to ask who paid them and if this is a district sanctioned field trip.
Inside the board room I did make noise and I loudly asked the chanters, “Who is paying you?” One smart ass asked me the same question and I answered, “No one. After 25 years teaching John Deasy is having me fired.” I also said, “Deasy calls me a prostitute but you have sold your souls and integrity.” When Gabe and Ryan led them in chanting, “Si se puede!” (Yes it can be done) I chanted loudly, “Se vendieron!” (You have sold yourselves). No one countered my statements and they are out of character with my formerly reserved and courteous manner. None of the paid speakers, including one quisling LAUSD teacher, have skin in this game.
Prostitutes rent their bodies, these people have sold their integrity and community.
Thanks for this view mykeyd1.
Wish we had been able to coordinate on Oct. 29. Yes, the one teacher the Board permitted to speak in favor of Deasy, the older man with the beard and glasses, was a disgrace. In that whole charade, only Walter Wattles, and the Deasy- fired sub, spoke the truth, and they had to force the Board to hear them.
Please get in touch with me at
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
so we can work together in this ongoing battle.
We need to unite with Jack from above, and Lisa Alva Wood, and others to build our base for all to hear our voices.
I am planning a meeting in the next two weeks to discuss the issues, and primarily to zero in on a candidate for the La Motte seat. Marguerite will be sorely missed as an independent member of this pathetic BoE. She and Ratliff were the only two members who had the guts to dig for truth and to not be intimidated by the Eli Broad forces.
Ellen Lubic
Dear Matti, Too long time no see. Tong is working on my case, nothing to report yet. Plan on being at the vigil Mon at 4:00. I’m going to speak, would you consider speaking? Here’s my speech already vetted by UTLA.
MD’s Revised housed teacher statement
John Deasy allows administrators to remove and “house” senior teachers based upon the flimsiest of allegations and almost all allegations lead to termination. Law enforcement investigations, if exculpatory, are ignored by the LAUSD even though Mr. Deasy said on television that “if cleared by law enforcement a teacher would be returned to the classroom.” Six separate “teacher jails” spread across the city hold approximately 300 unjustly accused teachers at any one time.
Housed teachers are denied meaningful due process and are instead subjected to a series of sham investigations and proforma meetings where administrators read from prewritten scripts with predetermined outcomes and photocopied signatures. We cannot properly defend ourselves. This perversion of due process does not reflect the rules of fairness which are the foundation our society. Mr. Deasy has stated that he wants to be able to summarily fire any teacher based only upon allegations. He cries that it is too expensive for the district if the teacher appeals, yet in less than two years, hundreds of unjustly jailed teachers have been dismissed or forced to retire or resign.
The LAUSD spends substantial money to fire innocent teachers and to house us, and each of us must spend everything we have to defend ourselves .Many have lost homes; two have suffered heart attacks.
The Commission on Teacher Credentialing in Sacramento revokes few credentials based upon LAUSD “evidence” and it has rebuked Mr. Deasy for submitting allegations that are “neither required nor authorized,” by statute. The existence of an action against us before the Commission makes it almost impossible for us to work in education. THIS IS THE ON-GOING NIGHTMARE OF THE LAUSD TEACHER.
What do you think? Maybe you could tell the FBI visit story. You don’t need details, just the fact that the FBI and LAUSD School Police mobilized so quickly is scary enough. I hope your dad can attend too.
Check out the link below.
Unity, Michael D. PS. Janis Luckstein is becoming very active in our fight. She has invited jailed teachers to the sub committee holiday celebration 12/23 at Vegas Seafood Buffet in H’wood. You could bring Julie and just pay $12 for her. I’m definitely going to be there, maybe Jeff too.
________________________________
Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, Longtime LAUSD Board Member, Dies at 80
Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, who served on the Los Angeles Board of Education longer than any other current member, has died, an L.A. Unified spokesperson said Wednesday. She was 80. The spokesperson declined to comment on the date or manner of LaMotte’s death….
******In November, she cast the sole opposing vote when the Board of Education voted 5-1 to give Superintendent John Deasy a positive job evaluation, the Los Angeles Times reported.*****
Thank you Susan for reminding us all the Marguerite passed away yesterday. She was a wonderful brave woman who spoke her mind, and she was both a teacher and an administrator at LAUSD. It was remarkable that as one of her final BoE votes she had the guts to vote no on the Deasy evaluation.
Monica Ratliff I believe, abstained. So we know who the other five gutless members were.
Please readers, send a letter to the editor of the LA Times similar to mine posted below, asking, demanding, a public election for the new LAUSD open seat due the tragic death of the strong leader, Marguerite La Motte. The article in today’s paper by Howard Blume, spells out the the choices of election vs. appointment. With such a weak willed Board that would renew the Deasy contract despite all the clear reasons not to, these folks are not to be trusted.
Monica Ratliff needs a similar fair-minded colleague to affect legitimate change.
Marguerite’s community, the district she represented and served longer than any other member, deserves to make their own choice.
Here is my letter…please take a few minutes and write yours.
Public election is the only way to go
With all the machinations and power playing that LAUSD and the BoE attract, it would be only fair to have the public from Marguerite La Motte’s district make their own choice of whom they wish to have as their representative. La Motte was a strong voice for teachers, not billionaires and politicians. It behooves the community to fill the seat with a like-minded person. The Board, in renewing Deasy’s contract despite the 91% NO CONFIDENCE vote of teachers, and the many angry taxpayers who did not want him to stay, cannot be trusted to make a fair choice. La Motte was the only Board member with the guts to vote NO as to his evaluation.
Ellen Lubic
Director, Joining Forces for Education
It’s just disgraceful that these so-called social service organizations have allied with privatizers and deregulators of public schools. But I was at that rally too, one of probably only 10 or so people who were trying to show board members their backbones. If people cannot leave the comforts of their homes for a day to counter a theatrical event, that theater comes across as reality.
Karen, it isn’t that they are allied, they are bought by the same wealthy malefactors that are behind the privatization. They are pigs slopped at the same trough. It isn’t good enough to take money and do some good while taking an active part in helping destroy the basis of our democracy and the profession on which it depends; teachers. It’s a sad situation but telling the truth is the only way we can overcome.
If it’s not too late to ask a question about the LAUSD Board’s decision to re-appoint (and extend!) Deasy:
Obviously, Galatzan and Garcia were going to vote for Deasy.
It’s no surprise that Zimmer did so as well: he wants intestinal fortitude and is a spineless, backstabbing weasel.
To her credit, LaMotte voted no. I’ll give Ratliff a pass on abstaining, as she’s new to the board.
This leaves Vladovic, supposedly Deasy’s adversary, and Kayser, who supposedly wished Deasy farewell in the press. I understand the pressures they were under, but WHY? Why do people think they voted for Deasy?
Threats from Broad, Gates, Austin, Waltons, etc. or perhaps they are just traitors. Zimmer was supported by UTLA to the tune of $1 mil while teachers are told that UTLA is running out of money. UTLA has not articulated a clear position or agenda for improving LAUSD that includes protections for teachers so it’s easy for Zimmer, Kayser and Vladovic to claim teacher support while presiding over a pogrom against senior teachers. If we blindly support whomever the machine puts forward then we get what we deserve. We supported Antonio Sanchez and when it became clear that he was in the privatizers pocket many argued that we couldn’t withdraw our endorsement because we’d look like wafflers. Boy we’re looking good now!! What kind of syrup would you like to be drowned in?
Mykeyd1…add to that, the support UTLA gave with their endorsement of both Sanchez and Ratliff which was a non-starter…and the info that two legislators strong armed them to support Sanchez (Fletcher was already at the Sanchez winner party the eve of the election as reported by LA Education Report). Blume alluded it to it in a small paragraph at the bottom of one of his articles that the LA Times buried next to the Obits.
UTLA let us know that was the only way they could fight back. Was it the weak will of Fletcher?
I heard, info only, not fact, that it was Villaraigosa and his cousin, House Speaker Perez, who indicated that without the union endorsement of Sanchez (who Perez wants in Sacramento and whom he and V. were grooming for an Assembly run), UTLA would lose access to the State house. We in California are subject to too much of this kind of slimy politics (from Dems and/or Reps) that steals the voice of the voters.