Jaime Aquino, the deputy superintendent for instruction in LAUSD, unexpectedly quit his $250,000 a year post, although he plans to stay until the end of the year.
The story is that he was disheartened by the change in the board, in which progressive members took control away from the corporate reform bloc controlled by Eli Broad.
Board members expressed dismay about his departure and praised him fulsomely.
Aquino was in charge of Common Core implementation, and rumors are swirling that he may be blamed for the controversial decision to invest $1 billion in iPads, using money that was approved by voters for 25-year school construction bonds.
Aquino was a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy. He was hired by John Deasy less than two weeks after Deasy took over.
Clearly Aquino was disappointed when the corporate reform bloc lost control and was reduced to only 2 votes on the board.
He personally donated $1,000 to the political campaign of Monica Garcia, the school board president, who was supported by the Eli Broad/Villaraigosa funders.
A teacher sent me the following comment: ” I am a K-5 arts teacher with LAUSD. Jaime came to speak to the arts teachers when he was newly hired and bluntly stated that he had shut down arts schools in the past for teaching “frivolous arts activities”. I hope our next Dean of Instruction makes the arts a priority in our district.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Frivolous arts activities”?
I have a story in the same vein. One of our previous principals asked a roomful of us (mostly language arts teachers) whether we really needed to teach poetry.
Happily, it really was a question, and he really wanted to know and was willing to listen. He got an earful.
We still teach poetry.
But really…he had to ask?
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I don’t think frivolous means what Mr Aquino thinks it means. I take frivolous to mean unimportant or without deep purpose. Art, that which distinguishes as human, has the deepest purpose of all. Frivolous art activities would be those without creativity, emotion, and freedom. I don’t know teachers in the arts and humanities teaching with no focus those aspects of humanity. I’m glad I don’t.
Good for LAUSD that he’s leaving. Now the rest of the country has to be afraid that he could be preparingy to foist Broad’s bad educational “reform” upon some other innocent community.
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laurahigley,
You are right. Frivolous to Aquino, et al is anything which they cannot ‘push’ for testing purposes, which is only to fill the coffers of publishers and contractors. Aquino’s reason for bailing is very telling. With the new board members, his agenda will stall. I’m sure that Eli Broad has decided to cut his losses (actually, his future profits) and send his minions off packing to another district. Meanwhile, top heavy administrators continue to make six figure salaries while kids sit in overcrowded classrooms and teachers have added custodial duties to their 12 hour work day. Nothing new for LAU!
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I agree ! Well said…
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Following along that line of thinking, I guess Picasso’s paintings are frivolous, I guess Rembrandt’s paintings are frivolous, as are El Greco’s, Vermeer’s as are the many beautiful paintings, sculptures and drawings of so many other artist’s found in our museums, and currently being created by contemporary artists. One major driver of our culture is the image: a foundation of drawing and design drives work we see on the Internet, on television, in the movies, on billboards and those images that are beautiful and moving find their way into our hearts. It’s a major form of communication.
To say that learning activities that teach art and design are “frivolous” reveals the ignorance of the speaker, of a closed mind, and that the speaker needs more exposure, more education to open to a wider world and wider creative opportunities.
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I’m reminded of how deeply important art, music and writing were to Jews, Roma and others in ghettos and even in camps. I had the privilege to visit the remnants of the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Ghetto in the Czech Republic over the summer. These victims used art as a way to demonstrate their humanity. Even in such desperate times, art was an outlet. Art is NEVER frivolous.
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at the money.howstuffworks site
there are listed 10 examples of malfeasance.
The example I share with you from Massachusetts was happening while the teachers were diligently occupied with improving standards and curriculum.
Commissioner Mitchell Chester at the Board Meeting (notes I took) stated : “i heard rumors when I came to MA” so he took no responsibility. The inspector general’s office had “boxes and boxes” of information on this particularly egregious example. John Barranco served on the board of an education service agency (known as BOCES in some states ; ESAs or ERCs in other states). He made friends on the board and then when the Executive Director retired he got his friends to appoint himself director . (This is a common practice, if not frequent, in MA; run for school board, make friends and then get your friends to appoint you superintendent ). He also was allowed to change the board during his tenure (watch what the President of Purdue is doing) so he kept getting board members that would approve his annual salary and his girlfriend’s annual salary which soon outdistanced the norm of superintendents in the region . The two of them co-opted board members (drinking buddies) to pay rent from the special education classrooms to his private “corporate” office where he was CEO after getting his salary tuned up. He is now retired and collecting the largest pension in the state teacher retirement system. His former girlfriend teaches educational management at Nova University in FL after they sued each other to divide up more pots of money. I repeatedly called and notified the FL Nova University . The way that they did this criminal act was (a) gain control of the board (b) siphon off the money from the special education classes into the “corporate” funds along with other revenue streams (c) charge the school districts “rent” for using the corporate shell building and the corporate shell “COMPUTER” (profit center) etc. being sold statewide (not just in the region of the original ESA). About 30 million dollars reported as being waylayed. Please, folks , watch for this; it is happening in unseen ways with the co-opting of boards (a lot of this is done in heavily alcoholic massage at “meetings”) and the former superintendents (like Barranco) with the usual “old boys club” rules so that the board members can then say they knew nothing about it….. In 1992 i told the previous director I would not attend any more meetings if they were held in or near a bar. The egregious malfeasance/criminal stuff occurred after he and I retired in 1992 (he had a heart attack when he heard what the new CEO was doing) and continued for 20 years. When anyone speaks out about these happenings you become “persona non grata” go get another job which I was able to do because I could teach at the university as adjunct; if I had had family responsibilities or children in college I would not have had that option so people are afraid to speak up. The Boston Globe finally got some investigative journalism going and the ethics board fined one superintendent $5,000 for ethics violation. The malfeasance is not just with the outside corporate influence; the superintendents on the board did not recognize the conflicts of interest (or claim they did not). The Executive Director position became called “CEO” gave a cover for someone who felt he was therefore entitled to all of the perquisites of any corporate CEO who worked in industry etc. The board members (one in particular) said the CEO was entitled to the huge salaries because he “saved the schools money” which is an out and out lie. Watch those boards; find out where your investigative journalists should be looking… speak out even if you are afraid of losing your job. This is a “fifth column” because it is not just “outside” influence from industry/corporations it happened within the inner workings of the educational system that is bashing teachers and marketing 5 colored brochures that say “we will make your teachers more productive.” It is insidious and it is one more reason that parents and tax payers need to have the information so that the boards can be more transparent. It is similar to the lack of oversight from the regulators whether it is FDA, EPA, SEC, or state education department. For a commissioner to say “I heard rumors” is not sufficient as an accountability measure so we have to be more vigilant; I take responsibility because i was afraid to speak out and i just took a cop-out and went to adjunct faculty in 1992 at Northeastern, U Mass, Fitchburg Universtiy etc.
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Joining Forces for Education’s statement on using Broad’s Jaime Aquino’s resignation to push for authentic reforms http://www.laschoolsmatter.info/2013/09/joining-forces-for-education-statement.html
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Thank you Robert for publishing in your link the entire email sent out a day ago. You and Schools Matter are so widely read that this link will be read by more than we at Joining Forces may have reached.
But to update you, within hours of distribution, we began hearing back, mainly from LAUSD teachers, some working, many fired, and parents, about the suggestion of a public committee to help the Board vet potential candidates for Supt. and Asst. Supt. Without exception, all were positive and supportive.
I hope many in LA will show up at the School Board meeting on Tuesday to give testimony to the Board about this venture.
The Board is scheduled to go into closed session to discuss Deasy’s evaluation and re-hiring contract later in the morning, but the opportunity to express public outrage over things like the iPads and parent trigger, and Deasy’s heavy handed leadership, and to offer support for a strong level of public input, will be possible during Public Comment.
I urge our community activists to arrive early, and immediately sign up to speak. But also, please write and call each Board member as well, and inundate the media with your letters and calls.
Robert, you have been such a guiding light for what is fair and could be accomplished to further public school education in our community and in the US. Again, I thank you for your dedicated and consistent work.
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“When the going gets tough the tough get going” is just so twentieth century.
In the twenty first century Paul Vallas is now the gold standard: “I go in, fix the system, I move on to something else.”
Link: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Paul-Vallas–213999671.html
They’re don’t abandon their posts in the hour of greatest need. We’ve got it all wrong.
It’s for the kids and $tudent $ucce$$.
Rheally.
🙂
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There seems to have been a little problem with the bidding process for the iPads. There were three finalist for hardware – Apple, HP and Dell. But only one company for software: Pearson – Aquino’s former employer. Hmmm. The public deserves to know more – a lot more.
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You’re not suggesting. . . are you?
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Pearson is definitely at the helm of some shady goings on. Aquino worked for them, and with he, Deasy & Arne Duncan all closely aligned to Evil…. I mean Eli Broad, something does not smell right! This not the first time Broad has had his way with LAUSD ‘s funding either . Though he is not directly connected to this iPad farce , there is no denying his bond measure malfeasance with the Belmont Black hole remains a major issue. The old buzzard recently boasted about doubling his billions in the last decade. It is fairly obvious the Belmont Learning Center now Roybles LC, Taj Mahal HS near it and the Beadry Building he bullied LAUSD into buying were the reason he is gaining a lead in Fortune 500s list of greedy money grabbers. He made his fortune building the first tract houses in LA, instigating white flight and a legacy of tricky tacky eyesores that litter our nation’s suburbs in ubiquitous uniform mediocrity that symbolizes an American dream gone terribly wrong. Jefferson is rolling over in his grave..
Don’t think this is the end of this man’s impact on our nation either.
Google LAUSD, Belmont, Toxic Site, and Bond Measure for an eyeful
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This whole deal stinks bad. Not only should this administrator go but we should show Deasy and anyone else responsible for this deal, the door. This should not be the only one to go and the board of education should really reassess its support for this program. The public does not like it, it needs to go. If the bond committee has any sense, they would stop this allocation asap.
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Somebody who was clueless and cared not for the children will be gone.
Imagine that taking hold and spreading across the country. All it took was a school board election!
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I just called the board presidents office and laid it down on them. You had better look at the Ravich Blog, The Skeels Blog and Facebook and Twitter to see what people think. If you do not put the public back into having some input into these important positions we are going to release all we have on your criminal and such activities we are holding in reserve. No more Gates, Broad, Walton, HP and such running this public school system anymore. We want back the process used for the election of Ruben Zacarias. It worked then, it will work now and a new one does not need to be designed. It is up to this board to show us who they are. Is this another Kabuki Dance or are you not the “Deform Board” but the “Reform Board” for real? If the board does not listen and does not have an open process for these important decisions, if they end up paying an extreme amount of money illegally using bond money and if they close the special ed centers for the most disabled we are at war.
Nothing would make us happier than for this board to once again work with the public and knowledgeable people with a deep historical knowledge to turn around LAUSD. We also believe that is LAUSD opens up the process to the public they will then be able to once again have the public support through involvement. As a result of this and when it spreads nationwide this is the antidote to the billionaires total control policy. This is the antithesis of their program and is the KISS way of stopping them. When the people have a say the billionaires and their crazy destructive programs are dead as are their 5 week wonders and Broadfather Academy graduates. Who then would vote to have them come in and destroy. They are only able to do this in the dead of night.
Last Friday CORE-CA sent a letter on letterhead to all LAUSD Board of Education members. It stated our request, in the interests of the public, to have this open process as was in place for Ruben Zacarias. CORE-CA will be at the board for closed session early. CORE-CA is the lead agency in pursuing this open and transparent process. We are here to lead the way in civil right and those rights of parents and students and the community which supports our public schools. We believe in COMMUNITY.
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