The Pentagon has been giving military equipment not only to police departments, but to school districts.
In Los Angeles, Mike Klonsky reports, “Supt. John Deasy has stocked up 61 M16 assault rifles, three grenade launchers, and a mine-resistant vehicle from the Pentagon.” These things might prove useful, Mike speculates, if something bad happens. “like an ISIS attack or a sharp decline in test scores.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I believe they gave several back after pressure from some community groups. Big deal!
Oh, well, it’s okay then. Keep calm and carry on.
Mind boggling.
“They gave back…” Of course that makes their behavior OK. Deasey and crew remain on the other side of sanity.
Joan,
It doesn’t look like they gave anything back. Where did you hear that? This from LAist a few days ago. http://laist.com/2014/09/15/lausd_has_a_tank_built_for_war.php
If you want to see an uprising, just let one of those weapons harm a single hair of an LA’s child’s head.
No Ellen…At LAUSD, even the grenade lauchers they supposedly returned today, if used and fired at children, it would be spun by Deasy, Broad, and the LA Times to all be the fault of the teachers, and maybe of the children for not testing well, and of the micromanaging BoE.
That is their PR mantra of the day.
Our situation here with this inept and devious Supt. has made us the laughing stock of the nation.
Ellen, I am so sorry that a district with so much potential has been torn apart by egomaniacal, testosterone-filled, super macho men whose main concern is their own pleasures and not that of those who should be their primary concern.
I guess it’s more “fun” to strut about and show off their “toys” than deal with the real issues. As Shakespeare might have said today – “all hot air with no substance”.
If they pull out the big guns because of a sharp decline in test scores, who will they be aimed at?
Cheryl… now that is ONE SCARY QUESTION…. all roads lead to teachers these days so now what… our union dues secretly being funneled toward the purchase of m-16’s and the likes to arm teachers for the battle of the century???? Ughhh! I should not joke about this… what Deasy did IS NO JOKE! I am even more amazed that he still holds down his job. But then again… these times are crazy.
Colleagues…anyone can file a Grand Jury form asking for investigation of LAUSD. Just think if hundreds were to be filed today.
Form below…………………………………….
CITIZEN COMPLAINT FORM
DATE:
1. Who: Name:
Address:
City, State, Zip Code:
Telephone: ( ) Extension:
2. What: Subject of Complaint.
3. When: Date(s) of incident:
4. Where:
5. Why/How: Attach pertinent documents and correspondence with dates.
Complaint Guidelines Rev 01/17/2013
2.Briefly state the nature of complaint and the action of what Los Angeles County
department, section, agency, or official(s) that you believe was illegal or improper. Use additional sheets if necessary.
4. Names and addresses of other departments, agencies or officials involved in this complaint. Include dates and
types of contact, i.e. phone, letter, personal. Use additional sheets if necessary.
Communications from the public can provide valuable information to the Civil Grand Jury. Any private
citizen, government employee, or officer may submit a completed complaint form to request that the Civil
Grand Jury conduct an investigation. This complaint must be in writing and is treated as confidential. Prior to
submitting the Complaint Form to the Grand Jury office, please retain a copy for your records if needed.
Receipt of all complaints will be acknowledged.
If the Civil Grand Jury determines that a matter is within the legally permissible scope of its investigative
powers and would warrant further inquiry, additional information may be requested. If a matter does not fall
within the Civil Grand Jury’s investigative authority, or the jury determines not to investigate a complaint, no
action will be taken and there will be no further contact from the Civil Grand Jury.
The findings of any investigation conducted by the Civil Grand Jury can be communicated only in a formal
final report published at the conclusion of the Grand Jury’s term, June 30th.
Some complaints are not suitable for civil grand jury action. For example, the Civil Grand Jury has no
jurisdiction over judicial performance, actions of the court, or cases that are pending in the courts.
Grievances of this nature must be resolved through the established judicial appeal system. The Civil Grand
Jury has no jurisdiction or authority to investigate federal or state agencies. Only causes of action occurring
within the County of Los Angeles are eligible for review.
The jurisdiction of the Civil Grand Jury includes the following:
a.Consideration of evidence of misconduct against public officials within Los Angeles County.
b.Inquiry into the condition and management of the jails within the county.
c. Investigation and report on the operations, accounts, and records of the officers, departments or
functions of the county including those operations, accounts, and records of any special legislative
district or other district in the county created pursuant to state law for which the officers of the
county are serving in their ex officio capacity as officers of the districts.
d.Investigation of the books and records of any incorporated city or joint powers agency located in the
county.
Mail complaint form to: Los Angeles County Civil Grand Jury
Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center
210 West Temple Street, Eleventh Floor, Room 11-506
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Ellen, who will be the first to file? Are there no brave souls in the district? Is everyone cowed and fearful? Does everyone believe that Deasey is the ‘second coming’?
Teachers
Mike Deasy: the American version of GMainwaring in “My Dad’s Army.”
I meant “John the ‘GMainwaring’ Deasy.”
A TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE ON
HOW THE I-PADS ACTUALLY
WORKED IN PRACTICE:
Apart from the corruption involved—
conflicts of interests; going thru the
motions of a sham bidding process
when the winner had already been
chosen, etc.—one thing people forget
is that the $1.3 Billion Ipad purchase
was a majorly dumb-ass idea on
so many OTHER levels it’s hard to believe.
First of all, the bond money Deasy
blew on the Ipad debacle was
meant for the construction and
repair of existing BUILDINGS and
related infrastructure. Deasy and his
allies made the looney argument
that the portable hand computers constituted
PART of the building infrastructure…
WTF???!!!
After a stretch like that, even most
pliant gymnast would be on muscle
relaxants for weeks.
Another consideration is that, in practice,
Deasy was warned by teachers (like
the one BELOW) about all the problems
that would crop up in the actual
implementation.
Mind you, these are problems that
played out, and still would have played
out…
1) even if spending a billion-plus dollars of construction
bond money on I-pads was legally allowable (it ain’t)
and
2) even if the entire process was conducted
on the up-and-up, with no corruption
or conflict of interests (it wasn’t).
The whole I-pad purchase was, again,
a majorly dumbass undertaking from
the get-go, and this, again, was pointed
out by UTLA, parents, and community members.
Right now, that same bond money that
was blown in the Ipad fiasco..
… that same money would have gone
to repair… for example…
desperately-needed air-conditioning in the older
LAUSD school buildings. Instead, it went to
I-pads, and this has meant that children are now
sitting in classes that are the equivalent
of ovens… drenched with sweat, unable
to even concentrate… in this brutal
heat wave that we’re enduring this week.
Thanks Dr. Deasy! (while Deasy sits in his
air-conditioned, luxury office on the 24th
floor of LAUSD Admin. building at
3rd and Beaudry downtown as this
plays out.)
Below is a link to an article on a blog
written by LAUSD teacher Martha
Infante—who teaches in South Central.
This is from her own individual blog.
In this blog post, she goes after OTHER aspects
of the Ipad debacle not covered in the
media — the fact that, apart from the
implementation of Pearson’s Common
Core testing, these I-pads were
completely useless.
Again, this is written from the
point-of-view of a the teacher on
the ground giving the actual skinny
on what actually went on with
how the Ipads performed:
Martha offers countless other criticisms:
—students getting robbed while
taking them home (as they have for
much less expensive items)
—With no policies and safeguards
in place, these devices would “disappear”
from schools and find themselves on the
black market. (they have);
—current and former administrators
refused to take responsibility for missing
computer devices”;
—students do not want to use
these devices with only Pearson
software installed on them;
—diversion of bond money that
should have gone for building repairs,
cleaning, resources, and overall
infrastructure, etc.;
—LAUSD greatly overpaid for them;
—each school’s wifi network could not
handle the usage by their entire student body.
Beyond that, there were practical uses
that were prevented by the Person/Common
Core programmed priority that went along
with, and were built in to these devices:
—No opportunity to Skype with schools
around the world,
—no ability to make “Prezis” ( (SaaS
use Ipads for class presentations
using presentation software and storytelling
tool for presenting ideas on a virtual canvas.)
— no general internet access to look stuff up.
—Once testing was over, these devices
were sent back to the district.
—teachers were totally left out of
the decision-making;
MARTHA INFANTE:
“No one asked us, the teachers, and every last prediction came true. When people started asking questions, they were silenced.”
(Regarding one of those being “silenced”, Martha hyperlinks to the times
article “LAUSD has enough yes-men; it needs Stuart Magruder,”
about a parent member of the Bond Oversight committee who voiced objections,
and was canned in Parliamentary maneuver by LAUSD Board Member
Tamar Galatzan… a corporate reformist whose campaign was
bankrolled by Eli Broad and Bill Gates, among others.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-magruder-20140617-story.html
Martha continues…
MARTHA INFANTE: “Now I start my school year with students sharing cell phones with each other to do research (contrary to popular belief, not all students from poverty have internet access). I research ways to write grants for a class set of kindles, because these are the most affordable and at least they can connect to the worldwide web.
“But worse, I suffer the insult of a Bostonian man telling me that he is more interested and invested in improving the lives of our students than I and thousands of others of educators are and have been.
“I am not content to let this ride out. My students don’t have a voice (yet) and I do. Stay tuned for more blogging this year, and thank you for reading.”
—————————————————-
Here’s the entirety of Martha’s blog article:
http://dontforgetsouthcentral.blogspot.com/2014/08/ipads-are-good-for-students-arent-they.html
Don’t Forget South Central: iPads Are Good For Students, Aren’t They?
————————————————–
————————————————–
“Don’t Forget South Central: iPads Are Good For Students. Aren’t they?
“If you believe technology can replace teachers, then yes. I do not believe it. Let me back up. Hi! My name is Martha Infante and I have been in education for 24 yea…
“As a career classroom teacher, it has been a surreal experience to live trough the transformation of my profession.
“If you believe technology can replace teachers, then yes. I do not believe it.
“Let me back up.
“Hi! My name is Martha Infante and I have been in education for 24 years. I love teaching. I would also love a class set of computers for my students to do research and projects, but our schools have been decimated in recent years with budget cuts and we are only now recovering. In fact, this is what got me started in blogging.
“Why is the iPad issue so controversial? It might be because our Superintendent John Deasy, who sees himself as a champion of civil rights, believes iPads will equalize educational opportunities for students from poverty. Not more teachers, counselors, clean buildings, resources, training…but iPads.
“The Los Angeles Unified School District, however, is paying $768 per device for its students, teachers and administrators, making it one of the nation’s most expensive technology programs.
“After we overpaid for these devices with bond money, they made their appearance in my school for one purpose only: to test children. No opportunity to Skype with schools around the world, no ability to make Prezis, no general internet access to look stuff up. Once testing was over, these devices were sent back to the district.
“What did we give up when choosing these expensive devices? Well, the money that could have gone to infrastructure went to iPads. As a result, schools have ant, roach, and rodent issues, broken classrooms and buildings, and few devices to use for instructional purposes.
“I have a real problem with not involving teachers in the conversation. My main concern was that students would get robbed (and possibly injured) while taking their iPads home. This happens regularly in the neighborhood where I teach, for much less valuable items.
“With no policies and safeguards in place, these devices would “disappear” from schools and find themselves on the black market.
“At Dymally Senior High, “current and former administrators refused to take responsibility for missing computer devices,” the report said.-LA Times
“Students will not want to use these devices with only Pearson software installed on them.
“Was each school’s wifi network enough to handle the usage by their entire student body?
“No one asked us, the teachers, and every last prediction came true. When people started asking questions, they were silenced.
“LAUSD has enough yes-men; it needs Stuart Magruder
“Now I start my school year with students sharing cell phones with each other to do research (contrary to popular belief, not all students from poverty have internet access). I research ways to write grants for a class set of kindles, because these are the most affordable and at least they can connect to the worldwide web.
“But worse, I suffer the insult of a Bostonian man telling me that he is more interested and invested in improving the lives of our students than I and thousands of others of educators are and have been.
“I am not content to let this ride out. My students don’t have a voice (yet) and I do. Stay tuned for more blogging this year, and thank you for reading.”
Preparing for war in the LAUSD makes perfect sense, if you share Deasey’s pathology.
“Pathology” is the correct word to use describing Deasy
Gawker had a snarky blog post about this (with a lively comments section): http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-la-school-district-has-grenade-launchers-because-w-1635540871/all
Wow! And I thought some of the students I had in my classes were tough! As per Mr. Klonsky’s last observation, the teacher’s union could be classified as a terrorist threat as well.
Just checked the calendar, it’s not April 1st. Something is very, very wrong here, and it scares the hell out of me. You can’t make this stuff up, can you?
Are they kidding? School districts can’t keep track of computers and cameras and whiteboards and all of the other equipment that seems to disappear. Now, ISIS knows where they can go to pick up a few more items for their arsenal.
ISIS, the new bogeyman of the military industrial complex.
Deasy is just doing the bidding of his Master(s). Quite gleefully I might add. That is the psychopathy of it all. Normal humans don’t act this way; only the truly “off” ones with money and those who want money will do anything for it; at the expense of everyone else. I don’t get how any of them can, with a straight face, tell you eating crap is good for you, so they’ve cooked up a huge batch, now open up and down the hatch.
None of them have a stitch of conscience. Sociopaths and Psychopaths.
“Teach to the M16”
Dr. Strangelove in LA
M16’s are Deasy’s way
Letting teachers know who rules
Tests and VAMs and army tools
Can we all just keep it simple: purchasing those weapons was the product of a man with a serious emotional illness who is out of control.. Nothing more needs to be written. We should fear for the teachers and students of the LAUSD. The Deasey nightmare must end, lest the system receive additional trauma that will take years to ameliorate.
KISS:
Crazy Deasy in LA
Really nothing more to say
I looked at the headline of this post and thought it was the Onion. And then I realized it wasn’t. Scary stuff.
I know if you want to look at data, white people are in population decline. Hispanic and Latinos are at replacement levels, Real Africans and people from the middle east generally have a replacement level of 1 to 8. Although, the Islamic religions generally a broadly people from the region do seem to have a tendency to become more radicalized. We are letting in a lot of refugees in this country. Islamist have different views and there will be cultural and possible terroristic back lash to deal with in the future.
The climate is changing world wide and bad policies will lead to food and resource shortages. America like Europe is going to have a heavily Muslim influenced country in the future. Most Muslims like most other people in most religions are peaceful. People from the middle east are more Muslim by culture then by religion as again, are most people/ religious, since common since dictates, ” Do onto other what you would have them do unto you.”
But it is crazy to keep arming and prepping government agencies for this! The government wants schools to be gun free zones and then randomly decide to arm school districts. The government does not know who will wind up with these weapons in the future. Who is storing and maintaining these weapons anyways?
Arizona State University got 79 assault rifles.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2014/09/17/asu-community-college-police-got-military-surplus/15812247/
Equally insane. Obviously, there will be a student revolt at ASU, which will require extraordinary intervention to make the campus safe. The militarization of police and now educational institutions demonstrates how far fight wing/NRA ideology has seeped into our lives.
cross-posted
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Mike-Klonsky-s-LA-Chancel-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Corruption_Education_Money_Pentagon-140918-629.html#comment512024with this intro: “If you want to grasp the enormous corruption of how our moneys spent… THIS is a must read!” and this commentary following the link
“AGGGGGGH! But no surprise to anyone following the corruption of LAUSD thanks to John Deasy, who even lied about his credentials. Got to Perdaily.com where Lenny Isenberg chronicles the debacle in Los Angeles
and read how the children have been denied an education
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/07/social-promotion–lausds-prime-mover-for-continued-and-predictable-student-failure–do-they-really-w.html
LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT JOHN DEASY IS A BLATANT LIAR- SO WHY DOESN’T KNBC’S CONAN NOLAN CALL HIM ON IT? (VIDEO) – Perdaily.com and the teachers terrorized and sent packing”
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/03/lausd-and-utla–connecting-the-dots-of-blattant-corruption.html
I LOVE the last comment in the article: “like an ISIS attack or LOW TEST SCORES”. Emphasis mine.
“Supt. John Deasy has stocked up 61, M16 assault rifles, three grenade launchers, and a mine-resistant vehicle from the Pentagon.”
This is so wrong in so many ways.
In addition, if it did come down to a mass uprising because of the actions of the oligarchs buying up American and getting rid of democracy as we know it, for instance, there are an estimated 100,000 members of street gangs in Los Angeles and some of the more hard-core members have access to or already have similar weapons except for—possibly—the mine-resistant vehicle from the Pentagon, and having fought in a war and follow the current wars, there is no such thing as a destruction-resistant vehicle (like if they run out of gasoline what use are they).
And the gangs don’t represent the total number of people who own firearms.
According to CBS news, “(CBS News) LOS ANGELES – Gun sales in California are booming. More than 600,000 were sold in 2011. However by last year, sales had jumped to 817,000. That’s an increase of 36 percent.”
Deasy could sell off a few things to pay for the upgrades the iPads will be needing.