The Los Angeles school board has thus far refused to reappoint Stuart Magruder to the Bond Oversight Committee. Magruder, who was appointed to the committee by the American Institute of Architects, was booted largely by the opposition of board member Tamar Galatzan, a close ally of Superintendent John Deasy. She accused Magruder of interfering wit instructional authorities when he criticized the iPad deal. In fact, Magruder was doing his job as a member of an independent oversight committee. If the committee can be removed by those it oversees, then it cannot be independent or provide oversight.
The AIA has renominated Magruder to the committee.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Nothing new here. It is quite obvious, the LAUSD does not wish to face independent oversight. Allowing independent oversight puts the LAUSD Bond flim-flam in jeopardy of actually becoming news and open to further scrutiny.
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How can an oversight committee be fired by the people they are looking over. It’s just not possible except in a totalitarian dictatorship. Which the LAUSD board is rapidly becoming. If you can’t take criticism you don’t belong in a leadership position in a democracy. I hope they get sued and taken to court over this.
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Thanks Diane for posting this article.
Once again LAUSD BoE and Supt. Deasy show that this district is one of the most corrupt in the nation. As an educator, parent, and taxpayer, I am appalled at the shenanigans of most members of this BoE. And the whole country has seen how poorly Deasy, who was trained by Eli Broad at the Broad Academy, does his job. The manipulation, mendacity, and lack of transparency in this district is far beyond what the community wants….but the voices of the real, unpaid, community is never heard. Parents and grandparents and community activists at the recent CSUN Parents Forum repeatedly
gave public testimony as to not being heard, being lied to, and being manipulated by LAUSD. This is all part of public record since the entire meeting was filmed.
As to Magruder, he was the only member of the Bond Oversight Committee to voice a vigorous protest about the Billion Dollar iPad fiasco. Where are Connie Rice, and Mr. English, and others on that Committee who are charged with making sure that bond funds voted for use to repair and build schools, are used properly? This is public money and the public needs to be protected since interest on these iPads with the projected cost of $1B will be paid over the next 25 years. Why should the public not have a voice in all this since it is the California taxpayer who foots the bill for Deasy’s decisions?
Why is the LA Times not making a huge outcry on this travesty? The LA Times should certainly be doing an in depth investigation into all the ways that LAUSD and the BoE function.
Board President Vladovic seems to be a devoted toadie to Deasy…certainly not the role he promised in order to be re elected and made leader of the Board. He shut down the Finance Committee, chaired successfully by Monica Ratliff, which was investigating the insider information regarding the golden IPads. Then, quietly, the investigation of the terribly mismanaged Miramonte School edicts imposed by Deasy, was also shut down. If other members of this failing Board are too sick or too discouraged to fight the honorable fight, they should resign. But to see how a non educator, lawyer member and her soulmate mirror image, Galatzan and Garcia, are double dealing, probably illegally, to save their sweetheart Deasy’s job, is appalling. The history of this egregious behavior should have had at least one of them thrown off the Board.
Galatzan, with her legal machinations,, was the one last year to accuse Vladovic of sexual misconduct and she pushed for a recall dismissal and censure. She is full of trickery, and outright misinformation. Garcia seconds her with unabashed glee. Watch the videos of the Board meetings. But they are barely awake when there is public testimony. The rudeness of this BoE is horrifying. They are condescending to the public and pay no attention to testimony unless it is by their own staff.
Many teachers and the parents feel that all the scenarios played out at Board meetings really are political theater, and that all the votes were preordained by Broad and Deasy. And we must not forget that Deasy was a friendly witness of the plaintiffs in the Vergera trial which seeks to do away with tenure and make instant firing with no due process available to administrators.
Deasy gave a thumbs down to funding the arts, so his mentor, Broad, brought in a new overseer of the arts program, and pays his salary, according to the LA Times and LA School Report. Broad concurrently is suing the city around issues of his self aggrandizing Broad Art Museum and needs the good publicity…and the Times always obliges with major articles about Eli, the great philanthropist.
Such nepotism, such arrogance, such a black eye for LAUSD.
Please stand strong with all of us in LA who say, BRING BACK MAGRUDER!
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You go , girl! She is so telling it like it is and being as polite as she possibly can. Tamar Galatzan tried to abuse her position as a prosecutor to bamboozle me into coming into that office about some unidentified charges. My husband is a pittbull lawyer and called that office after writing a letter that ridiculed their tactics for violating laws (and civil rights along with logic) it is supposed to uphold. Why is this woman tolerated as a prosecutor who serves the people when she takes a dump on due process every chance she gets!? Teacher jailbirds never see any real investigation and in court the district admits they do nothing but seek out negatives An LAUSD staff relations flunky asked a teacher’s attorney what he meant by exculpatory evidence. Galatzan eagerly rubber stamps these dismissals with every member on that board, including the duplicitous Ms. Ratliff who was singing like Snow White when Deasy got an extended contract. Whoever my better half spoke to at the office was appalled by what this letter to me and another teacher ( who was on tv blasting his mistreatment of veteran teachers the day Deasy got a renewed contract) was attempting to pull off . She congratulated him on his biting letter and said neither of us had to abide this crap. Now LAUSD is stealing money from teachers’ pay for alleged overpayments related to a payroll snafu in 2007 that is apparently unresolved. Whatever they demand is taken illegal from paychecks. They refuse to provide any documentation to confirm the overpayments. They send collection agencies after teachers ( myself included) without ever getting a judgement. And even more egregious yet they already sued the people who made this payroll program and won back their losses then! These cases are beyond the statute of limitations in many instances. I am getting many messages about this, and there are many who have seen pension bonuses wiped out and never heard anything about these debts until after the money was taken.
There is no way to say it nicely. These people are thieves bleeding the employees, schools and the city dry . If LA is ground zero ( i think chicago, NYC, Detroit and Philly may have that honor) , we are going to have to act fast because this spreads like a virus. LAUSD has destroyed too many lives as it is. The philanthropists are sick compulsive greed addled fiends’. They won’t stop until we make them stop. Eli Broad, Bill Gates and Walton should go to prison and forfeit fortunes to restoring everything they’ve destroyed including monetary losses as well as punitive damages. I don’t just mean teachers. I mean wage slaves at Walmart, parents, children, consumers, and taxpayers. We could call it a teachable moment where they learn how philanthropy works. Not to worry. They will have plenty left for the prison commissary. They’ll need it because their litany of crimes are likely to earn them 20 or more years.
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Very well said, Ellen. Brava!
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The following article based on new statements from LAUSD BoE member, Tamar Galatzan, was posted yesterday in LA SCHOOL REPORT.
http://laschoolreport.com/galatzan-doubles-to-block-magruder-bond-panel-lausd/
“This is about the proper role of the Bond Oversight Committee in relationship to the Board of Education… and individual committee members are substituting personal judgment for legal analysis. They’re second-guessing decisions made at school sites by teachers and principals,” she said.
Well, that’s the job of the BOC. After all, why does this committee exist if they don’t weigh in on all decisions?
It should be noted that in February and March of this year, Ms. Galatzan requested around half a million dollars in technology for a dozen schools in her district. The BOC in general expressed concern over whether these purchases were bond fundable, put approved the purchases anyway. No other board member had made this incredibly large request for schools in their districts. Also, please note that these purchases are above and beyond the 1 to 1 devices from the iPad project.
It should be considered that the attack on Mr. Magruder is intended to set an example for other BOC members, that if they continue to throw monkey wrenches into tech projects, that they too may suffer the same public humiliation and be thrown off the committee.
In the meantime, Ms. Galatzan will most certainly continue to make technology requests for more of her schools. Given that she has declared herself as a candidate for re-election, this might prove to be a valuable way to “buy” votes.
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Hey, educator, is it me or has LASR suddenly become a lot more objective? Did Jamie Alter See easy for what he is or are they playing it out to gain mire credibility? I would not say the stories are deep or investigative but they sure are not so biased.
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Thanks educator for fleshing out more of the Galatzan debacle. We must remember that the convoluted vote that took place had, at least the first round, 5 out of 7 going along with her. Ratliff abstained, Zimmer said no.
Now we will see huge donations to her campaign from Broad, Gates, and their cohorts. They will pay to keep her on the BoE doing their bidding.
I urge all Californians to vote for her opponent.
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So, as suspected, there was nothing independent or oversight about the committee in the first place. Would Magruder mind his image or his name being used for a little more symbolic protest? Bring Back Magruder paper face masks can easily be duplicated at a neighborhood copy shop. They get worn to every meeting, fundraising event, when taking coffee outside the front door of the LA Times, or better yet…worn when deliberately encountering Galatzan at her favorite coffee shop, lunch counter, grocery store, or fine dining restaurant.
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