Ellen Lubic, director of Joining Forces for Education and a professor of public policy in Los Angeles, here describes the numerous failings of Superintendent John Deasy and calls for an independent audit and grand jury investigation. The article has gone viral, receiving nearly 700,000 hits since it was published by CityWatch.
She writes:
“Finally the lack of transparency of the mismanaged leadership of LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy is seeing the light of day. The excellent investigative journalism by the LA Times education reporter, Howard Blume, and KPCC’s detailed and informed reporter, Annie Gilbertson, has opened up the stench of the secret deals and waste of taxpayer funds that Deasy manipulated throughout his tenure, and is now exposed for all to see.
“Many in the public were shocked that his contract was renewed last October after the $1 Billion iPad scandal was published not only in LA, but all over the US. And now we have the proof of the secret deals he cut with Apple and Pearson.
“We see as evidence the actual emails and signed contracts that he put taxpayers on the hook for in so many ways, from using 30 year payback with interest of the Construction Bond money he negotiated to pay for this fiasco, to claiming it was a civil rights issue for inner city students to have these top of the line but soon to be obsolete devices, when actually it was a Broad Academy-taught business model for huge “free market” profits.
“Deasy has been a disaster at LAUSD from the beginning when Eli Broad and Tony Villaraigosa imposed his hiring without further search by the Board of Education. This power play led to ongoing conniving and mendacity that is now beginning to open up for public inspection.”
Lubic cites a number of actions by Deasy that should be reviewed by credible investigators, beginning with the $1 billion iPad plan that went bad when reporters learned of Deasy’s contacts with Apple and Pearson before the bidding process. She adds:
“Deasy’s first big decision to rush all Mira Monte teachers into “teacher jail” so as to punish them for guilt by association with the one teacher who was an abuser, caused many fine teachers to lose their good reputations while they and the young students they served were permanently traumatized.
“We the taxpayers are paying ongoing for the many lawsuits that were initiated due to this LAUSD mismanagement. The plethora of hidden lawsuits filed by parents, wounded teachers, and so many others, will strain the over burdened taxpayers of LA County for years to come, due to Deasy’s lack of judgment and leadership ability…..
“Thereafter, a continuing series of terrible management by Deasy is clear to one and all, from embedding charter schools to comply with his mentor Eli Broad and the Wall Street privatizers of public education, to firing teachers for no apparent reason and/or sending them to teacher jail as he did with the award winning and widely respected and beloved choir director at Crenshaw HS, his testifying for the Vergara plaintiffs against his own teachers so he could “fire teachers rapidly,” to making Jaime Aquino take the fall for the iPads fiasco, and now Deasy is still spinning it that it was exclusively all Aquino’s fault when Deasy actually hired Aquino only weeks after becoming Superintendent and knowing Jaime has just worked for Pearson.”
Lubic concludes:
“Now, with all this evidence that shows his poor leadership skills and mendacious approach in covering up his faults with spin doctoring, we still ask why he has not been fired? We should all be calling for an external independent audit of these possibly fraudulent, but definitely mismanaged, spending of our public funds to the detriment of our public schools and the students and parents. And we should further all be demanding a Grand Jury investigation of this putrid affair.
“The LAUSD Board of Education is Deasy’s boss, and We the People are their boss, so please make your voices loud and clear to them, and to the media, and to each other, that those complicit in this mess that is LAUSD must all be investigated right now with both an external independent audit and a Grand Jury investigation.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Here, here Ellen, I thoroughly agree, we need an independent external audit asap. The problem here is the BOE. The BOE is firmly in Deasy’s pocket, why they won’t administratively suspend him, as he has done to hundreds of LAUSD teachers for just a hint of misconduct, I don’t know. The only rational reason is that they are involved in this malfeasance and fear exposure. Everyone in L.A. is calling for this type of investigation and yet nothing. Too bad the state of California can’t be proactive for its citizens and call for this type of investigation. The BOE is meeting this Tuesday, if steps are not taken to force accountability on this superintendent and his policies, the BOE must go.
Wow. Ellen Lubic is on the case with thunder, thank you.
Thanks, Ellen for the article.
The case AGAINST John Deasy is the case FOR the students and community of LA.
When you look at whose powerful interests are being protected by the Herculean effort it is taking to prop up this incompetent narcissist, then you see EVERYTHING that is wrong with the concept of social justice in this country. That Deasy has been allowed for so long to get away with the appropriation of Progressive-speak while advocating a pedagogy that devastates our most vulnerable citizens, demonstrates how topsy turvy are the values and advocacy of THE LA TIMES, the mayor’s office, the RICH economic interests who have poured millions into his survival and most pathetically of all, our own ELECTED BOE (who is supposed to CARE SOMETHING about kids and teachers’ interests!!!).
Who continues to support John Deasy and his manner of leadership?
No one I would want in charge of the education life of my child. And I promise you, none of the people who support Deasy have their own child under his tutelage.
Here’s a petition you can sign: https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/lausd-don-t-throw-good-money-after-bad-investigate-audit-bad-ed-tech-deals-1
Even Ed Week is weighing in with a devastating article. Apparently, the writer couldn’t even force himself to refer to Deasy as Dr., and instead uses Mr.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/09/10/03lausd.h34.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1
My friend Scott Folsom has some good advice to the BOE. Not all are in Deasy’s pocket, at least completely. http://4lakids.blogspot.com
I would like to add one more blight on his record. As a tenured teacher of Adult education we serviced a community of immigrants from around the world. In addition there were over 300 classes to teach high school students, who graduated without any job skills, highly skilled jobs. From airplane mechanic to nurses aid, to graphic artist. We had in place the most inexpensive beautiful system to allow anyone at any age to train for a job and be placed in a job,. We had thousand of ESL classes and high school classes for dropouts. He decided in his wisdom from Broad Academy that he should cut the whole program. Gut it. Useless. We managed by walking the streets with our signs after teaching to keep a little less than half of the program going. At one point he had to leave his offices so much noise was being made by the students he was trying to displace. They were furious. But nonetheless he gutted so much of it it’s limping and ill. The classes were reasonable at maybe 200 dollars plus books and equipment. He raised it to the 600 plus level making it impossible. LaMotte the board member who recently passed on was our supporter. Her largely African American community utilized these classes to their advantage for years. So many many people utilized these classes to start a new life. It broke our hearts and barely registered with Deasy. Any one with any common sense, in our economy, where jobs are disappearing so fast, would know and respect this program and not slash it. It was less than 1 percent of his budget A few less I pads and we’d be living. But even then our students and our union kept a little alive and thank God for that. It’s a travesty for sure when you hurt students to create chaos. The Broad academy teaches superintendents . to come in create chaos and that is what he did. Trying to shove out adult ed, parent ed,, pre schools, early childhood ed, etc. Firing teachers for no reason, visiting schools to terrify the teachers and berate them, dividing teachers against administration, refusing to listen to any side but his own, using the media to spread his wonderfulness and using the media to tell them how awful teachers were. Accepting raises in his salary when the teachers haven’t had a raise for over 7 years. Enforcing furlough days where which are basically huge pay cuts, eliminating summer school for all students it goes on and one. Destructive, not creative. And now this i pad mess exposed him for his lack of leadership, his inability to foresee the consequences of his decisions etc. I will tell him this. When you only listen to yourself and ignore the many voices of your community, students teachers, administrators and even board members and the Broad academy is all you listen to, you have no concept of leadership and you deserve what is coming your way.
And today a new twist to this LAUSD story of greed and power, lies and betrayals.
Today the LAUSD Board of Education ordered almost $300,000 of new MS software that will wipe out all internal emails after only one year. They claim they did this to save money.
This is a stab in the back to the public who pays all their salaries. It is only weeks ago that the media, Annie Gilbertson of KPCC and Howard Blume of the LA Times, finally ferretted out the two year old emails between Sleazy Deasy and Aquino, and their chosen partners for huge enrichment in the iPad fiasco, Apple and Pearson.
What is this BoE trying to hide? What other acts of Deasy, with the approbation of the Board he bullies and rules. These folks are certainly not public servants. They work for the billionaires who really run this school system.
It is clear that this shameless Board whose members seem not to care that they look like Deasy/Aquino/Broad co-conspirators are now in the business of destroying evidence.
They have made themselves culpable even more as they partner with the suspicious activities of the superintendent they chose to hire for a second term despite his many failed decisions. The teachers knew what they were doing when they gave him a 91% NO CONFIDENCE vote.
Now the public MUST give this tricky Board the same vote of NO CONFIDENCE. Is impeachment not an appropriate way to go with such underhanded behavior done in secret meeting?