Howard Blume and Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times describe the storm clouds gathered around Superintendent John Deasy. The problem is rooted in the peculiar bidding process for what will eventually be a $1.3 billion effort to give a computer to every student and staff member. Released emails showed that Deasy and his close associate Jaime Aquino (a former employees of Pearson) were in discussions about the bidding two years before the bidding began. After this revelation from the emails, which seemed to imply favoritism for Apple and Pearson, Deasy canceled and restarted the bidding.
Then Deasy asked for a release of all emails between board members and technology companies. Not exactly a way to build relationships, especially when four of the seven board members are not exactly Deasy supporters.
Deasy’s supporters say he is being targeted unfairly. Eli Broad says he is the best superintendent that he has seen in the half-century he has lived in Los Angeles.
Will he survive? Is his credibility compromised? Will he shift the blame to the board? Stay tuned for what is becoming a long-running drama.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
LAUSD in turmoil—the teachers are holding it together http://www.examiner.com/article/lausd-turmoil-the-teachers-are-holding-it-together
Fire Deasy NOW!
The community deserves a full investigation, and external independent audit (not by the School Board IG), and a Grand Jury convended to review any and all potential malfeasance.
…typo…convened…
Sadly, I think he will. He is busy tap-dancing and pointing fingers at others. Tell you one thing – he won’t go down alone, and he’s got very powerful people $upporting him, because he supports “the agenda.”
He should be jailed, along with his funders and his ilk. He is an embarrassment not just because of this – the list of his wrongdoings is long. What troubles me most is how he practically pee’d his pants in delight over the Vergara decision. He is no friend to education or students…he is bowl of sugar free jello….no taste and loaded with nothing.
Broad says Deasy is the best his money could buy? Did I decipher that correctly?
Eli Broad is a bane on this country.
Eli–your arrogance cannot be pleasing to God.
Eli doesn’t need to please God. He believes he is God.. If this play is a Greek tragedy,, he will eventually be brought low. Be patient.
Deasy’s most ardent praise comes from Eli Broad. Enough said.
Eli Broads opinion is not really something anyone needs to hear. His superintendent school spawned , and mentored Deasy, . It taught him among other things to create chaos, denigrate teachers, close programs, cut funding, get in with the mayor, ignore educators opinions, talk up charter schools, get rid of tenure if you can, gut the union etc. so then given this criteria we can all see why Deasy is the best superintendent Eli Broad has ever seen because he’s done all of the above and more. The teachers voted 96percent that he’s doing a horrible job, the union detests him, he went to court with the fake vegara trial because he couldn’t clobber the union with his rhetoric, thought he tried. He is a sham of an educator with an iffy PHD and no idea what a real teacher endures under his tenure. Sigh. the state of education should NEVER DEPEND on the opinion of a non educator billionaire like Eli Broad.and ANYONE AT ALL that graduates from his sham of a superintendent school. Exposing that school in the media would save a lot of heartache for future districts..
Eli Broad is also the prime mentor and glorifier of Michelle Rhee. His eye is always on the prize….to turn public education in a vast profit machine.
I question the fact that the la times is giving this platform to Deasy to whine and say how hard he is working for the students. If this is the type of work that you do for students, we are in big trouble. Indebting our district, messing up our internal computer system, sending our most valued educators to teacher jail is not helping our district or students. If Deasy had any integrity and sense, he would resign now. But as one commenter said in the la times, you can’t lead if the troops don’t support you. We don’t. Leave now!
Yes, you can’t win a battle by firing on your own troops. I believe Diane said that first.
I think I told this story before but I’ll tell it again:
Last month I met a teacher who had to quit her position at my former school for personal reasons. Once she decided to get another job, she found that the market was very tight. This is what she said to me:
“I sent out my applications to every district imaginable, but of course not to LAUSD. I’m not THAT desperate!”
And that’s what “Dr.” Deasy has done to the civil rights of Los Angeles children. The man didn’t even care enough about education to study for a legitimate doctorate.
If it can be shown that Deasy made decisions to line his own pockets, I hope he goes to jail (the real kind).
It appears that Deasy is using a defense very similar to his departed deputy superintendent, Jaime Aquino. Both are complaining about the board of ed members are not on the same page or don’t have the same vision. Apparently, both Deasy and Aquino think that the board is there to rubber stamp every initiative presented by Deasy without questioning. That certainly would completely eliminate the need for an elected board.
This is an autocratic style of management for sure. If the superintendent has a great idea, then let him share it. The board will approve it if has worth. That is their job. In the case of the iPads, the board obviously didn’t do enough to research the plan. And, now we see the result of what a failed system of checks and balances.
As an Angeleno deeply committed to true public education, my fingers are crossed. Of course, that leaves LA with the matter of a successor – ah, well.
Deasy has previously issued faux-signals that he might just have to leave LAUSD, what with all the abuse he takes…etc. It became cleat that such public whines were the kick-off for well-orchestrated PR plays, definitely stage managed by professionals.
Example: In October 2013, when the School Board was due to assess his performance and decide whether to renew his contract in light of the i-Pad drama, this dance began. First whining; then hagiographic profiles on local TV, The mayor trumpeted his praises. Money shot: United WayLA summoned a slew of poor Broad-dependent charities , non-profits and charter-school operators to show up at Board meeting in tee-shirts, grab speaking slots to sing paeans to Deasy. (Supporters handed out ‘daisies’ for Deasy. Yes, they really did that.)
It wasn’t just a ground game; legalistic strategy was crafted. A 10-year old previously-investigated sexual harassment claim (against an employee who now reports directly to Deasy) vs Board Pres Vladovic was revived – with a motion by another Board Member to demand at this late date a public ethics censure of Vladovic. All these threads came together seamlessly on the very morning that the Board was to decide his future.
This is the type of political theater that needs the stern hand and purse of privatizers. Everyone in LA assumes the Broad is somehow underwriting Deasy’s current legal bills. Our only hope is that the attorney is mainly there to orchestrate an exit.
HOWEVER: Local activists will not sit quietly if exit terms absolve Deasy of legal accountability or blocks deeper investigations. The Board Members might want to think deeply as to next steps.
It’s my belief that we have someone within LAUSD who could lead our district better Deasy, we owe it to ourselves to at least search for this person. I believe its a woman also. At any rate, Deasy is slick as are his backers. They knew what this man was capable of, just look at his prior tenures at other school districts, he did the same things. Deasy was hired to come in cutting teacher staff(older), enabling more charters and provide an entrée for the corporatist to get our tax monies. Job completed, time to go.
Um, name of this person?
LAUSD is rapidly going down the tubes. So, if there is some savior in-waiting, now is the time to appear, deus ex machina.
Here’s the exact quote…
“There has never been a better, more effective superintendent of the LAUSD than John Deasy.”
Eli Broad — September 12, 2014 article
in the Los Angeles Times, written by
Howard Blume and Teresa Watanabe
——————————————————–
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-deasy-future-20140913-story.html#page=1
Here’s my take, with citations from the article above.
With Deasy on the ropes, his corporate backers
are rushing in to support him.
It’s interesting: one of corporate reform’s tenets
is that education should be run like the private
sector, with strict accountability for
failures, screw-ups, etc.
If a teacher can’t raise test scores… OUT YOU GO!!!
(and we can now see how well that approach has
worked out in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and elsewhere)
However, if someone in the private sector
was currently in Deasy’s situation:
—smoking gun emails showing corrupt
practices in rigging a shame bidding process
when the “winner” had already been chosen,
and with whom they were in a “close
relationship” two years prior to the bidding even
being opened up;
—under possible criminal investigation for
conflict of interest corruption charges;
— a waste of $200 million in the now-abandoned
Ipad program, since the whole process has to
be started over from scratch… that $200 million
effectively poured into a sewer in front of
LAUSD’s Beaudry Administration Building…
and on and on…
Would someone with that track record in the
private sector be allowed to keep his job?
Why “Yes!” says, Eli Broad.
Eli thinks that Deasy’s just fine and dandy.
It’s those teacher union puppets on the
LAUSD School Board who are the real
problem. They’re just cynically exploiting
the Ipad situation to sabotage Deasy…
THEY are the problem, not John D.
——————————————————-
“In the 50 years I’ve lived in Los Angeles, there has never been a better, more effective superintendent of the LAUSD than John Deasy,” philanthropist Eli Broad said in a statement. “I’m disappointed that John’s detractors have seized upon this (Ipad) issue to further criticize his work and to attempt to derail the progress under his leadership. My support of John Deasy has never been stronger.”
——————————————————-
There’s more…
——————————————————-
“George Kieffer, chairman of the Civic Alliance — a network of leaders from major foundations and civic groups — said this week that the majority of members continue to support Deasy.
“He and leaders of such organizations as InnerCity Struggle and Community Coalition have credited Deasy with leading successful efforts to increase student attendance, graduation rates and completion of college preparatory courses, among other matters.”
——————————————————-
What’s interesting is that Kiefer says while part of the
problem would be solved by Deasy taking “ownership”
of his part in the crisis… the real problem is those on the LAUSD
School Board putting “excessive focus” on the Ipad debacle, and who are engaging in “petty politics”—led by the “dysfunctional” Monica Ratliff, who chairs the committee investigating he Ipad debacle, and who has publicly released emails and a report incriminating Deasy and his ipad pointman, former Assistant Superintendent Jaime Aquino:
——————————————————-
“Kieffer said Deasy must take “ownership” of problems in the iPad rollout and resolve them.
“But he and other allies also chided the school board for what they view as an excessive focus on the iPad project at the expense of issues directly tied to student learning.
“The school board appears to be dysfunctional,” Kieffer said. “There is too much petty politics. There is too much micromanagement.”
——————————————————-
And other Deasy supporters weigh in on this:
——————————————————-
“Elise Buik, who heads United Way of Greater Los Angeles, said the iPad issue “is being used as a platform to personally attack” Deasy and called on all sides to refocus on student learning.”
——————————————————-
That’s right, Elise. Like Eli and Mr. Kieffer, you
believe that if Board Member Ratliff and others
are just a bunch of meanies making unfair,
politicized, “personal attacks” on Deasy,
If Ratliff and the others would just SHUT UP
about the whole Ipad controversy,
the problem would magically be fixed and go
away.
Thankfully, Board Member Zimmer counters this:
——————————————————-
“School board member Steve Zimmer rejected that criticism. He said his responsibilities required him to make sure the district was getting the best technology deal possible for the millions of public tax dollars being spent.
“The investigation underway, he said, was not aimed at Deasy but at the “integrity of the process.”
“Zimmer also took issue with the perception that the board was not focusing on educational issues.
“In the last few days, he said, he and Deasy have discussed how to stabilize schools facing declining enrollments, invest in dual immersion language programs and keep struggling students engaged in school through athletic programs.”
——————————————————-
Recently-elected UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl weighed
in on Deasy’s Ipad problems, and the stalled contract negotiations:
——————————————————-
“Deasy said he doesn’t believe the union is willing to reach a deal with him — a point on which some of his supporters and critics agree.
“Union leader Alex Caputo-Pearl doesn’t go that far. But he does suggest Deasy’s leadership style is ill-matched to the job and that, on merit, Deasy should be replaced for his handling of the iPad contract and a new student information system, called MISIS, that has malfunctioned.
“For Caputo-Pearl and board members, personal and policy issues have combined to make Deasy’s future in the district less tenable.”
—————————————————
I have a hypothetical scenario. If Ratliff’s opponent
Antonio Sanchez—the corporate reform candidate
and former personal assistant to Antonio Villaraigosa—
had won the elections, and thus, been in Ratliff’s shoes
during all this, how do you think this would have
played out.
My guess: Antonio Sanchez would have called Villaraigosa
on the phone, and told him about all the incrimination evidence
he had uncovered. Villaraigosa would have then ordered him to
destroy and delete everything he could, and bury anything
he could not as deeply as possible. Sanchez would have
followed his corporate masters’ marching orders.
The same thing goes for Zimmer’s opponent Kate Anderson.
Had she defeated Zimmer, he’d be blathering the same
nonsense as Broad, Kieffer, and Buik… and backing Deasy
to the hilt.
Thank God we still have a democracy here in LAUSD!
I’m almost grateful to him. Ed reformers are selling ed tech too hard. It’s reckless, even if they’re well-intentioned. Public schools have budgets and there should be some caution when focusing on an area.
It doesn’t even help their cause to sell it this hard. It will inevitably disappoint, and the people who are paying for it (the public) will be mad.
The statements they made to Deasy are ridiculous, as far as over-promising. He’s a dope for buying it, but the salespeople are also dopes for not thinking longer term.
It’s a huge potential market for them, although for some reason politicians think they’re persuasive when they deny this.
Perhaps they could tamp down a little of the greed and actually offer some proven value? There’s a crazy strategy, huh? Take your time, do it right instead of fast?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2754547/Apple-boss-Steve-Jobs-didnt-let-children-iPads-limited-tech-consumption.html
Apple boss Steve Jobs didn’t let his children have iPads and limited their tech consumption
Every evening Steve made a point of having dinner at the big long table in their kitchen, discussing books and history and a variety of things,’ biographer Walter Isaacson, who wrote ‘Steve Jobs,’ told the Times.
Jobs, who died in October 2011, was not alone: a number of executives limit how much they expose their children to the very technology they produce or sell to put food on the table.
Jack….you mention George Keiffer who has spoken out in support of Deasy.
Keiffer is a partner in one of the most prestigious and powerful law firms in the nation, Manatt. He is also on the UC Board of Regents. So the Keiffer reach in determining education policy extends far beyond LAUSD. This kind of power vested in one person is dangerous.
These wealthy men are used to wielding vast power and do not give up easily. It is incumbent on all the rest of us to work together, beating the drums loudly, to keep the information flowing, and to hold Deasy and the BoE members feet to the fire.
Also, above, it was mentioned that the BoE is footing Deasy’s legal bill for his representation by Harvey Saferstein. We do not yet know who is paying for this golden legal service.
We MUST have an independent audit to see everything, including what the Deasy contract says, for if it does not specify that the Board pays for his legal fees to sue them, then let’s see if it is Eli Broad who is paying that bill. However, if his contract specifies he is held harmless, and can use our tax money to sue us through the Board, then we all should be marching on Beaudry.
I didn’t mention him so much as the L.A. Times piece that is the subject of this article on this blog mentioned him.
I’m merely quoting the article, which again, is here:
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-deasy-future-20140913-story.html#page=1
It’s interesting that he castigates Ms. Ratliff and the board for their “micromanagement” of Deasy.
Uhhh… Mr. Kieffer… that’s their job, the job for which Los Angeles’ citizen-taxpayers elected the seven LAUSD Board members.
Is Kieffer implying that the work of the committee chaired by Board Member Ratliff—uncovering and publicizing the smoking gun emails, and also the paid luxury junket for LAUSD officials and the free Ipad gifts, etc—constitutes the “micromanagement” that Kieffer so abhors?
Would Kieffer have preferred if Ratliff’s committee and its work thus far never should have happened, and that LAUSD and the 10 million citizen-taxpayers that fund LAUSD would also have been better off if they were never any the wiser about the I-pad debacle?..
A sort of “what 10 million Los Angelenos don’t know won’t hurt ’em.”?
That’s about as diametrically opposed to a free and functioning democracy and free and open government and press as one can imagine.
Keiffer was ‘appointed’ to the UC Board of Regents as political patronage, but the LAUSD BoE members were all ‘elected’ to be the voice of the People. It is indeed their job to manage the superintendent.
Too many of the Broad/Keiffer ultra wealthy and powerful do not recognize that distinction.
When, in the past week, I read that Ryan of United Way, who was the lead in putting on the street theater last Oct. 29 (along with Rose of Parent Rev) and also the photo op of chairs lined up on Beaudry, had left United Way for a job with a conservative think tank….and then when I read that Deasy/Broad/Ridley-Thomas protégé Alex Johnson, had been appointed leader of the Ca. Chidlren’s Defense Fund, it seemed to indicate that the rats were already leaving the sinking Deasy ship.
Is there a California lawyer out there who would be willing to, pro bono, go right to court to file an injunction to stop any and all shredding/erasing/destroying of any and all documents at LAUSD until this situation is resolved?
If so, there are complainants available to sign on with you. Please reach me at
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
Good for you, Ellen. How about UCLA, USC, Stanford, Boalt Hall , student legal defenders? Certainly wort a try if you come up dry. I remain aghast that there is not a single lawyer willing to take on Deasey bro bono.. With all due respect to you and other resisters, WTF is going on in Southern California? Are all attorneys bo rally dead, basically zombies?
I will now attempt to express one small thought in one very long sentence:
I have heard many good arguments why using a billion dollars in interest bearing, municipal bonds, (that were originally intended for facilities and building maintenance, in a district that has scores of schools in desperate need of repair), to buy “high-end” (apple i-pad) tablets, that will become obsolete and useless, long, long, before tax payers have finished forking over their hard earned pay, to pay for them- is a bad idea; but… I haven’t heard any arguments from anyone supporting the i-pad immersion agenda, that explains why amassing such deep, long-term, public dept, for such short-term, and relatively narrow educational benefits- makes any sense at all (from the public’s point of view).
John…I understand your angst. it is mind boggling that nary a single public service lawyer seems willing to take on this issue.
Teachers in ‘teacher jai’l also cannot find any pro bono help. I get many letters almost every day from teachers who are desparate for legal help but do not have the cash to pay for it. Pulbic Counsel, Inc. in LA seems totally on the side of the privatizers, and only seems to help inner city folks, for photo ops. I do not know one teacher they have ever represented. They support Deasy and are part of this United Way scamming of the public pretending to be pro inner city students, when actually the big boys donations seem to buy their allegiance.
Broad seems to be the great intimidator. We in California are the hub of the privatization wheel….with not only Broad, but with all the Silicon Valley and show biz billionaires who are partnered in ALEC.
Good suggestion re the the law students, John, thanks…I will follow up on that.
As one used to say ‘back in the day’: “Dare to struggle, dare to win”. Another saying worth remembering, from May, 1968, the Paris student uprising: début d’une lutte prolongée (the beginning of a long struggle) . Yes, slogans from another time and place,. but they remain appropriate and sustaining for the ghastly, reprehensible and depressing situation that you confront. Ellen. You are a fighter.
John…you have me laughing and also reminiscing. I was to fly out of Paris in June,1968, to come home from a long European journey, but could not get across the closed French border to get to the airport in Paris, due to the student uprising. Had to find a circuitous and costly hegira which took days before I got to LAX and almost kissed the dirty runway.
Yes, we seem of the same “back in the day” generation. If we have not seen it all, we have seen a mind boggling amount. One gets to an age that reveals enough life to say, do the right thing. Yes, it is only the beginning of the long struggle. I am a student of The Art of War and recommend it to my young colleagues. Yes, it requires patience, vigilance, and tenacity. Thanks for the pep talk.
This just boggles the mind. So John and the Board are engaged in a wetting contest. Yikes! I though his career was finished when he was in PG Cty, MD and their were questions about his University of Louisville ‘quickie’ Doctorate and his relationship with the Dean now serving 63 months. But NO! Silly me. http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1896
I lived in Jersey for a number of years and worked in the city in retail and transportation, before becoming a teacher. Suffice to say I met some colorful characters with some background issues and other problems. They seemed to be more ethical and grounded than John Deasey. If I were him, I’d leave the lights on and the doors open to prevent any possible damage when they serve papers and warrants. If that doesn’t happen than I’ve lost all faith in our government – at all levels. This just cries out for an investigation by a grand jury, the Feds, or an IG.
We need more fighters, fewer ‘reasonable’ liberals; rather, more anger. Anger is the appropriate response. Yes, we are of ‘that’ generation. We remember what was worth the fight. We remember what happened while waiting for reasoned discourse. The simple truth is that you sit amongst people who are harming chilren. They are ripping off (remember that phrase) huge sums of money that would otherwise rebuild the LAUSD. They are trampling the basic right to ‘be heard’. They feel no shame, no guilt and certainly no remorse. You are on the right track and you will find others with whom to make alliance. Deasey and his gang will be stopped, either by their own self destructive over-reaching, or by people like you,taking direct action, who will nail them for their lawlessness. It is only a matter of time. With tongue in cheek and reversing a common bit of supposed wisdom: it is the arrival not the journey that matters.
Bonds are for buildings. iPads make for expensive shingles, but in a decade when they are obsolete, but still being paid for by the taxpayers, that may be the only value they have.
What about an insider filing a Qui Tam (whistleblower/false claims)?
http://www.warrenbensonlaw.com/false-claims/federal-false-claims/
It is all about the money and the deals. These business types have no affinity for kids – especially at risk kids. Such a waste of time and money.
I am absolutely positive that several board members’ emails are linked to the current illegal bidding shenanigans. The people of Los Angeles need to demand accountability and once and for all stop using taxpayers’ dollars to steal from school children. Plain and simple.
“The people of Los Angeles need to demand accountability and once and for all stop using taxpayers’ dollars to steal from school children”. No question. Posting a blog entry is the easy part. The hard part is confronting and resisting Deasey’s gang. Who will ‘hit the bricks’?Who will organize. These are the real questions. .