Los Angeles’ school politics is beginning to sound like a soap opera. Tune in next week to see if long-suffering Superintendent John Deasy, much admired by billionaire Eli Broad, survives yet another unjust attack at the hands of the brutes who disapprove of the $1.3 billion iPad fiasco, the bungled computer mess, the other snafus unjustly laid at the feet of a man guilty only of caring too much. Forget the emails showing possible collusion between Deasy and Apple, Deasy and Pearson. What matters details like this when a great man is in our midst, loved and appreciated most by those too rich to patronize the schools he oversees. Never forget: every organization funded by Bill Gates adores this man: think Educators 4 Excellence; think United Way of Los Angeles.
It was not enough that the LA Times’ editorial writer Karin Klein paid him tribute and chastised the LAUSD for seeking to hold him accountable: how dare they! Now her boss Jim Newton weighs in with another full-throated defense of the Indispensable Man. Okay, says Newton, so his handling of the $1.3 billion deal for the iPads was “admittedly sloppy.” Well, “sloppy” is one way to characterize the friendly negotiations between Deasy and Apple. Others might have less kindly words. Like, why did LA have to buy an obsolete model at a higher than retail price? Why did Deasy think that buying iPads mattered more than repairing schools, which the voters wanted in the first place? What part of 25-year construction bond approved by the electorate did Deasy misunderstand?
Do read Jim Newton’s apologia for Deasy. All of his errors on blamed on the Board, for daring to expect accountability, and on the union for…. for being the union, always a ready scapegoat for the editorial board of the L.A. Times, even for matters in which the u ion had no role.
Stay tuned. This is the soap opera that ends in tragedy or never ends at all.
But also read this letter to the editor, which I post in full, in case it gets deleted:
Offred Gillead on September 29, 2014 11:48 am at 11:48 am said:
We have officially entered into a super bizzaro, gothic world with Jim Newton.
With his Emily Bronte opening: “There’s a storm cloud gathering over Los Angeles politics these days” before moving into gaunt, haunted purple poignancy, “It’s taking a toll on the superintendent. I visited him in his office last week…he looked drawn. Already slight, he’s lost weight.”
Deasy’s rich, cultish supporters, have always given us a variation of THE MARTYRDOM OF JOHN DEASY. I tingle over Newton’s words like “have been dragged across these coals” and “put through the local grinder”.
Okay. I get it.
I’m really reading 50 SHADES OF DEASY, a story that makes Deasy’s backers swoon.
Newton says, “Deasy has made matters worse by some admittedly sloppy handling of a deal intended to put iPads in the hands of students.” Really? “Admittedly?” When did Deasy EVER admit to this?
Newton tells us, “So, what’s not to like? By his own admission, Deasy can be bullheaded and impatient.”
Ana Steele could understand that. She might say, like Newton, “No one is suggesting he did anything for personal gain, but his trademark impatience may have left him…vulnerable.”
Sensitive and obsessively-driven! Like Moses! Dr. Frankenstein! Ahab! Hamlet! Dr. Strangelove!
Deasy confides, “‘I could have done a thousand things better,’ he conceded during our conversation.”
Really? How about naming ONE thing, Doc?
In Deasy’s perverse brain, his biggest fault is that he CARES TOO MUCH. He is TOO MUCH of a perfectionist. His only goal is to lift children out of poverty and has to put up with hundreds who stand in his way.
“He’s quick to correct and sometimes short-tempered….Even Deasy’s critics acknowledge that he is a powerful intellect and a determined education reformer.”
Karl Rove also breathlessly informed us that George Bush was the smartest person he ever met and, famously, “The Decider”.
I don’t know what Christian Grey non-disclosure contract might have gotten signed between the two, but the Op-Ed hints: “But here’s the perversity of punishing Deasy for aggressiveness…”
Sizzle!
Do we really need to read the whole trilogy to find out where this story ends? I hope the BOE has the good taste to call this series quits.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am LAUSD http://www.examiner.com/article/i-am-lausd
A TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE ON
HOW THE I-PADS ACTUALLY
WORKED IN PRACTICE:
Apart from the corruption involved—
conflict 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 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-ned 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 two weeks
ago.
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 on 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, 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.”
Here’s some video showing how LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy “honors” his LAUSD teaching staff:
LAUSD Substitute Teacher Patrena Shankling’s job required her to follow the lesson plans that the permanent teacher—for whom she was subbing—left for her. Indeed, failing to do so would lead to her being written up and fired, a fact that Superintendent Deasy ignored when Ms. Shankling later pointed it out to him.
Superintendent Deasy came in unannounced while Ms. Shenkling was doing what was required of her and following the plan. Superintendent Deasy did not announce himself, or who who he was, of what he wanted. She couldn’t recognize him from Adam… so after he was verbally abusing her and upsetting her students for a while, she did what she or any teacher—permanent or sub—was allowed to do as the head of the classroom with any stranger who wanders in to the room and starts raving like an a—hole:
She asked him to leave.
Public humiliation is barred by the UTLA contract. No administrator—not even the Superintendent—can reprimand someone in front of students, staff, parents, and/or whomever, and a grievance can be filed against that person, which, if upheld, will remain permanently in that person’s file as a formal admonishment.
(Since Ms. Shenkling was fired that same day—unlike permanent teachers like myself, subs can be fired at will—she no longer had any standing to file such a grievance. Speaking at this Board meeting was her only recourse at this point.)
That’s why then-UTLA-president Warren Fletcher (who subbed for about half of his 30 year teaching career, by the way) brought up Ms. Shankling, a fellow substitute, to recount her story at this public and televised Board meeting.
One other subtlety that needs mentioning.
At the time of Ms. Shankling’s testimony, Superintendent Deasy was engaging in a smear campaign against Dr. Richard Vladovic, the LAUSD Board president, and also a former teacher/administrator who was an opponent of Superintendent Deasy and much of what Deasy—and Deasy’s corporate backers—wanted Superintendent Deasy to execute.
Initially, Superintendent Deasy heard Vladovic was likely going to be voted in as the next LAUSD Board President—due to the results of spring 2013 elections where Monica Ratliff and Steve Zimmer defeated their corporate reform-allied opponents.
Upon learning of Vladovic’s imminent ascendancy to the LAUSD Board Presidency, Superintendent Deasy threatened to resign (Deasy does that a lot, by the way… though strangely, he never follows through). This signaled Superintendent Deasy’s corporate backers to pressure the Board not to vote in Vladovic as president.
When this fake resignation threat ploy and resulting pressure failed, Deasy leaked confidential documents of investigations of Vladovic for Vladovic’s alleged verbal abusive treatment of his staff, and another for sexual harassment of other staff. These occurred years earlier, and the investigations had were shown to be without merit, and thus, should have remained sealed.
Here’s the kicker: the woman—then and now—making the accusations was Deasy’s current personal secretary… a fact that leaked out.
Pure coincidence?
Anyway, this slime job failed as well, and the Board voted Vladovic in as president.
Here’s the deal—the ones beating the drum loudest that Vladovic was an abusive harasser and unfit to be Board president—were Deasy’s two allies on the Board, corporate reform stooges Tamar Galatzan and Monica Garcia. In doing so, these two are ostensibly standing up for the rights of employees to be free from workplace abuse, and for those victims to be able to speak up for themselves after they’ve been abused.
Well, when a vote comes where these two will decide whether Ms. Shankling will be allowed to speak up FOR HERSELF, about the abuse she suffered AT THE HANDS OF DEASY, and the chair Vladovic asks…
at 02:45
“All opposed?”
Ms. Galatzan and Ms. Garcia then thrust their hands up without blinking an eye. Apparently, their principles in support victims of harassment don’t extend to victims of Superintendent Deasy.
(For reference in the video, Vladovic the chair, is dead center. Superintendant Deasy is to Vladovic’s immediate right. Just to the right of Deasy are his corporate reform allies, Ms. Garcia and Ms. Galatzan. Watch as these twi thrust their hands up at 02:46 in opposition to Ms. Shankling being allowed an extension to speak.)
For Ms. Shankling to confront Deasy right to Deasy’s face required a lot of courage, as this is a very scary, intimidating person, with that reputation preceeding him. (Ask anyone who works in LAUSD’s Beaudry Building, its downtown headquarters.)
Also, Vladovic, citing a time constraint a moment earlier, is not going to allow Ms. Shankling to speak more than 3 minutes, but asks to see if anyone will make a motion to allow her an extension.
at: 02:30
Instantly, Monica Ratliff—the teacher on leave to serve on the Board, and who had just left the classroom three months earlier to serve on the Board—quickly says, “Ill make a motion. I want to hear the story.”
(Ratliff barely won her election by about 1,000 votes out of 80,000… even though she had only $44,000 to spend, and her corporate-reform-allied opponent spent $3 million that he got from his backers… Thank God for democracy, as her opponent, had he won, would have been under strict orders from his corporate masters not to say what Ms. Ratliff said and did in this circumstance.)
The late Marguerite LaMotte—this opponent of corporate reform passed away just a month after this meeting—seconds the motion.
LaMotte further points out that, throughout the meeting, countless astroturf / corporate reform spokespersons were allowed to speak on behalf of keeping Deasy… and allowed to go beyond the 3-minute limit for speakers, so those Board members sympathetic to Ms. Shankling should think it fair that Ms. Shankling be allowed the same opportunity.
Watch this video again at:
The L.A. Times even covered this.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/10/local/la-me-0410-banks-20120410
In the article, Shankling is described as:
————————-
“One of the teachers she’s subbed for wrote a letter of support that reads like a report card: “Ms. Shankling is … conscientious, committed, competent … punctual, well-groomed … an excellent record-keeper who understands the importance of accuracy.”
————————————–
Here’s more (NOTE… when prompted, Deasy doesn’t apologize in the least, or even acknowledge that his abusive behavior violates LAUSD’S Code of Conduct against public humiliation):
———————
“If Deasy thinks the exercise shortchanges students, ‘he could have asked me to step outside to talk about it,’ (Ms. Shankling) said. “The problem was not the assignment. The problem was his behavior.
” ‘He’s a bully, to walk in there and disrespect a teacher the way he did. It’s so easy for him to talk about what students don’t have. A lot of what they don’t have is respect.’ ”
“Deasy’s not apologizing for his reaction. His frustration had reached the boiling point:
” ‘I’m sitting with students who have not dropped out, who have not quit, who are the most likely to go to college. And I’m watching them copying rules that were handed to them into a notebook. I struggle with that. I struggle with it a lot.’
” ‘We have a shortened school year, and so many [other] issues,’ he said. ‘This is not the way we want to use the time for students. Teaching the conventions of writing might have been a better use of their time in class.’ “
All teachers are asking is that the Superintendent be evaluated based on the same standards. If only that were the case, he would have been fired long ago. The concept that he is allowed to put the whole of LAUSD at serious risk of bankruptcy as more and more resources from the general and bond funds are being requested to shore up the messed up iPad project and MiSiS computer tracking system, is beyond comprehension. Even if it could be proved that he had assisted in improving outcomes for students, his complete disregard for the expense and lack of district resources to support and maintain these projects is and will continue to undermine any future progress. But, he’ll be long gone by then.
Someone did a “Ten Stupidest Things Arne Duncan Said” a while ago.
Perhaps the same thing could be done for L.A. Schools Superintendent John Deasy. Here’s a good start.
Go to Deasy’s interview last month (Sepember 2014) with Tavis Smiley:
—————————–
Dr. John Deasy, LAUSD Superintendent | Interviews | Tavis Smiley | PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/john-deasy-2/
The quote is at —
03:52 – 04:29
(the CAPITALS and () parentheticals are mine, Jack)
—————————————————–
JOHN DEASY:
“As far as Last-In–and-First-Out, I don’t support that in any fashion whatsoever… uhhmm… in the notion that when you have to make decisions to lay off faculty because of budget cuts—and we know here in California, we’ve been through a horrific situation, uhhh… in terms of lack of money for public education—the decision has to be made solely on the day the person is hired. Well, why don’t we use teacher HEIGHT? I mean, THAT’S objective… uhmm, you can easily determine the highest, the tallest teacher. You wouldn’t do that either. So why (base it on) some day (i.e. start day on the job)?
“You want to be able to make a decision on the contributions teachers make…”
—————————————————–
At this point in the interview, Deasy then deviously dishes out some disinformation and misdirection as he gushes about how wonderful some teachers and their “contribution” is, and and that “honoring” those good teachers’ contribution is the only and real reason he’s out to gut all teachers’ job protections in backing the Vergara decision.
Gee, how nice of him.
Why MUST those evil teacher unions get in his way when all Deasy wants to do is “honor” teachers? What’s WRONG with them? They’re all just corrupt, defenders of a failed status quo putting their own adult self-interest ahead of the children that they’re failing to teach!
Thank God we have John Deasy to take them on!
Deasy fails to mention that it’s NOT just “BAD” teachers’ job protections he’s after, but “ALL” teachers’ job protections.
I was in an audience when Deasy gave a speech at Occidental College a couple years ago, and he said a teacher’s career should not last more than five years, before that teacher moves on to their “real” career. Deasy and his ilk view the veteran teacher—10 years or more—with undisguised contempt, seeing them as lazy, overpaid, and basically worthless. If you went to an LAUSD teacher jail, it looks like an AARP meeting, as the Deasy-ite principals were given a directive to doctor up and trump up false charges against as many veterans as possible—to lower the line of item of salary in the budget, not improve teacher quality. If the Vergara decision stands, they’ll all be instantly fired.
The truth is that Deasy—and more specifically, the moneyed forces backing him—wants to de-professionalize teaching, to make it more like a low-level service job like office temping, fast food, retail, etc., than a profession like law, medicine, engineering, etc. Of course this as being done…
1) to lessen the tax burden on business and ramp up their bottom line profits and the price of their shareholders’ stock;
AND
2) to make education a more profitable industry for privatization—where teachers can be more like Walmart workers with no job protections, little pay, etc.
That’s why Teach For America, and TNTP, and all similar groups get millions and millions of dollars of corporate backing. This fits right in with the long-term plan of the Billionaire Boys Club—Bill Gates, Eli Broad, the Walton family, etc.—to destroy the teaching profession, and privatize public education… taking it from the public commons where it is accountable and transparent to the public via democratically-elected school boards, and put it under the control of private interests who are NOT accountable to the public, not transparent to the public, and who don’t educate all the public—i.e. the most costly and difficult kids to educate… Special Ed, English Language Learners, kids in high poverty, homeless, foster care, etc.
Anyway, getting back to the above quote, Deasy says that a teacher’s length of service should be totally ignored when making personnel or compensation decisions.
THE REASON: basing such decisions on a teacher’s number of years of services is the same as basing it on a teacher’s number of inches in his height.
Really, John? Seriously? You’re in your mid-fifties now, and it’s possible you may soon or eventually need open-heart surgery (or some other high-risk surgery.) Would you prefer to be operated on by a surgeon who’s done it…
2 times before he operates on you?
20 times before he operates on you?
200 times before he operates on you?
2,000 times before he operates on you?
According to you, John, judging that surgeon on the prior number of times he’s successfully performed open-heart surgery is like judging him on the number of inches of his height.
What an asinine analogy. Let’s compare it even further.
INCHES OF HEIGHT: a teacher—or his supervising administrator(s)—has NO control over that, as it is decided in the womb.
YEARS OF TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM: being able to survive this is totally dependent on the teacher’s innate abilities, persistence, drive to work hard, and his determination to perform the countless and highly-demanding requirements of the job… and survive administrator evalutions, and prove himself / herself over and over to an administrator that they deserve to be on the job—even AFTER being granted tenure.
Bad teachers can and do get justly pushed out all the time… without actually going thru the technical process of termination or “being fired.”. The same goes for high-paid teachers who are unjustly fired, in order to save money.
What must a teacher do during that say, his first year of teaching, or 2 years, or 5, 10, 20, 30, etc., to remain on the job? What are some of the requirements that he must perform, or else, if he fails to do so, will get written up and eventually fired?
Well, let’s examine that.
Principals and other administrators come through our classes all the ding-dong day, folllowed by criticisms, e-mails and / or “conference memos” which demand and get immediate action.
Parents can be equally demanding, as evidenced during the scheduled parent-teacher conferences during the school year, and those unscheduled conferences resulting from a problem the parent demands that the teacher MUST address.
The students’ results on quarterly assessments—and annual standardized tests—in Language and Math are scrutinized to a fair-thee-well.
Accompanying these analyses are demands to address the needs of those students who are falling behind., and administrative monitoring as to whether we as teachers have done so. (And this is apart from the annual or bi-annual “Stull” evaluation that teachers go through)
Here’s more of what a teacher does:
— detailed report cards;
— lesson planning or all subjects (with a detailed lesson plan book with precisely stated objectives, methodology, etc— present and visible at all times);
— endless, constant grading & gradebook record-keeping that would tax any accountant;
— meticulously decorated and designed walls and bulletin boards ( with graded & finished student work corresponding to California Standards posted both in the classroom and in the hallway, and which must be changed regularly);
— mandated classroom environment with required centers (library, listening center, etc.); constant photocopying / prep for the upcoming lessons);
— I.E.P meetings for certain children with issues (with detailed documentation, writing, pre-planning, and execution of the I.E.P. plan itself);
— after-school “homework” clubs / tutoring that most teachers offer (unpaid and off-the-clock mind you);
— the grading of students’ writing (a very labor-intensive job by itself ) followed by individual one-on-one writing conferences with each student; regular after-school teacher meetings;
— intervening in and counseling regarding bullying, fights, or the often toxic dynamics of cliques; grade-level meetings;
— meetings of the entire faculty;
— after-school professional development meetings;
— the newly-mandated prep for the standardized tests;
— constant intervention with misbehaving children involving phone calls / meetings with parents; home visits;
— unpaid and emotionally-draining social work for children from distressed, impoverished homes with often-horrific personal situations;
— constant organizing and cleaning of the classroom itself;
— planning and executing of on-going projects;
— purchasing out-of-pocket supplies;
— the focused, on-your-feet performance of directed instruction itself; attending to children with special needs; and on and on…
That’s only a PARTIAL list of what we are required to do.
Now according to Deasy, the length of time that a teacher has performed these and other demands SHOULD MEAN NOTHING when making decisions in:
paying that teacher (salary schedule);
or
not firing/continuing to hire that teacher.
Why? Well, because Deasy says that judging by the years on the job doing all this is the same as judging that teacher by the inches of that teachers’ height.
The unbelievable demands they constantly have to meet, and the challenging and trying circumstances in which they work mean nothing to this man—or again, more specifically, the moneyed forces backing him.
Try to imagine L.A. Police Chief Beck saying:
———————————————————
L.A. Police Chief Beck:
“As far as Last-In–and-First-Out, I don’t support that in any fashion whatsoever… uhhmm… where the decision on pay or continuing to hire that police officer has to be made solely on the day a police officer is hired. Well, why don’t we use police officer HEIGHT? I mean, THAT’S objective… uhmm, you can easily determine the highest, the tallest police officer. You wouldn’t do that either. So why base police officer pay or personnel decisions based on their start day on the job?”
———————————————————
Or a Fire Chief, or a leader in any branch of the U.S. armed forces… dumping on those who chose to make teaching, or fire fighting, or the military a career instead of a short-time gig, before they move on to—as Deasy puts it—their “real” career.
The morale would plummet.
Deasy says that he would prefer a system where a teacher’s career lasts five years max. Well, 50% of public school teachers ALREADY quit within five years. As far as career change teachers—those coming from other professions, that’s 50% after TWO years, and 75% after five years.
Deasy—-and the moneyed forces directing him—-want to make it so that 100% of teachers quit withing five years…. that’s “public school” teachers, not the private schools where so many corporate reform billionaires send their own kids.
How many 2-years-and-out Teach for America corps members teach at Bill Gates’ kids’ private school up in Seattle? Or Michelle Rhee/Tim Huffman’s kids at Harpeth Hall in Tennessee? Or Obama’s kids at Sidwell Friends in D.C.? Or Rahm Emanuel’s kids at the Chicago Lab School?
When I talk to those career change teachers—who came from aerospace, or accounting, or entertainment, or from wherever—I hear something along the lines of… “I had no idea that this job was so hard, so demanding, so grueling, so full of stress, so time-consuming… yadda-yadda-yadda… ”
The ones who don’t wash out in five years or less, the ones who stay on longer—longer than Deasy’s preferred five years—are the survivors, the dedicated ones, the creme-de-la-creme, and as such, deserve a system of due process, and a pay system with step increases—where commensurately higher pay comes with a commensurate increase in years of the experience that more and more years on the job brings.
No doubt about it, teachers get better the longer they are on the job—it’s totally counter-intuitive and defies common sense to think otherwise. Their instincts on how to handle the myriad of situations that arise—both academic and non-academic—become second-nature. Through trial and error and repeated practice, they improve in their ability in how to teach specific concepts—i.e. the dreaded “rounding” lesson in Math for the little ones, up to Calculus for the high schoolers. The constant ongoing evaluation from administrators—both formal and informal—sharpen all of their skills.
In short, they’re professionals, and should be treated with the respect that professionals deservce, and not have their years of experience equated to inches in their height, and essentially told that those years MEAN NOTHING. What a slap in the face!
If the idea that teachers improve with experience were not so, the websites of the expensive private schools would not tout the decades of teaching experience that their staff brings to the job.
Deasy taught two years at a military school back in the 1980’s. That’s the sum of his own experience, so perhaps he’s intimidated by those with decades of experience… as well as carrying out his corporate masters’ marching orders in targeting veteran teachers.
If DZ’s intentions has been to lift the students out of poverty, I fail to understand how indebting our school district, giving our public schools to charters, disparaging our veteran teacher staff and blowing up our internal computer system would do this. I don’t understand how doing things in the interest of corporate cronies instead of the public welfare helps our students. If you really want to help our students, resign and leave, now.
Just sent a letter to Newton disputing the statistics he (cleverly) mentions to prop up Deasy but doesn’t really specify. Suspensions are down, for example, because Deasy said no one can be suspended. How is that improving the lot of students? I agree with “educator” above, Deasy will be long gone before our district completely crumbles from the weight of his mistakes.
And did you see the recent letters from administrators (anonymous) detailing the effects that Deasy has had on the morale and functioning of most of them? It’s truly unconscionable to praise “impatience” as if it were incidental to his policies.
“Commandments from on High”
Deasy descended from mountaintop
With tablets in his arms
Commandments: “Buy the Apple crop
And patronize their farms”
🙂
Two pieces from the LATIMES, today, re John Deasy and LAUSD.
“L.A. Unified’s bond committee demonstrates how to ask questions about iPads”—
Link: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-lausd-ipads-20140928-story.html
“Civic and business leaders urge L.A. school board to keep Supt. Deasy”—
Link: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-leaders-deasy-board-20140929-story.html
Bottom line: some citizens are more equal than others.
Take the ed bizness, for example…
Ms. Patrena Shankling does her job well to a fault: Deasy fires her after a few minutes of inexcusably sloppy observation and absolutely no contextual info.
John Deasy: hasty and reckless in committing LAUSD to predictably unsustainable ventures and foreseeably reckless squandering of public good will and resources.
Patrena Shankling: no bites at the apple.
John Deasy: as many bites at the apple [and Apple] as he wants.
So how do we compare these two? Let’s pay heed to a very old and very dead and very Greek guy:
“You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man’s actions are, such must be his spirit.” [Demosthenes]
Ah…
Eli Broad is all in for John Deasy.
I’m all in for Patrena Shankling.
There is a 98% “satisfactory” [thank you, Bill Gates!] chance of certainty that my pick is 100% better than that of Eli Broad.
😎
“I’m all in for Patrena Shankling.”
Moi aussi.
KrazyTA, I think I love you.
Deasy is clearly a racist . It is obvious when you consider how he treated Shankling and others . That situation is almost comical because she had no idea who Deasy was when he showed up in her class at 8 am . She only assumed he was an “administarator” because of the way he was dressed. We recognize them immediately in LA by the clothes which teachers cannot even afford much less keep up ; after all we work so hard in such filthy schools . Like Shankling’s neighborhood school, WA Prep, which has a great campus culture but really needs repairs more than most . All the hood schools are that neglected. Anyway Shankling is stunned when Deasygoes off on her in front of students and wonders who he is, because she knows anyone could just come off the street and it is not professional to act the way he was. The Students wrote declarations about the incident; many said the “super attendant” was rude, agressive and basically bullying a sub they knew well and respected. She ordered Deasy out. He fired her in front of students. At this ooint she thinks this man is a lunatic and she is not far off.
Before Shankling he fired Patricia McCallister , another middle aged black woman who also worked for the district many years as a sub. While she is not as sympathetic as Shankling, I argue that Deasy cannot do what he did , which was fire her for an unfortunate remark she made at an OCCUPY sit in outside the district offices one evening. McCallister made a reference to “Zionist Jews” in banking who are creating havoc with the economy to a reporter. Deasy fired her very publicly, denouncing HER as a racist. As a woman who has identified with race throughout her lifetime, the reference seems more innocent than Deasy took it. She is black and she wears that, so identifying Jews as such is not really racist. It is more about her thought process. I suspect there many Jews in banking who acted unethically, but there were also bankers of other shades right in there with them. It was not a very bright move on McCallister’s part, but I do believe when she is off duty she can say what she thinks just as Neo Nazis can have ugly parades to thwart MLK DAY. Deasy defended his actions and the liberals were inclined to agree because the political correctness reflex is so knee jerk in LA.
What many people do not realize is that teachers’ jail was and probably still is ( as house arrest) surprisingly weighted with black teachers who are not a large population in the rank and file to begin with. 93% of the teachers who face charges are over 40 and I will bet my next paycheck that the RiFs and displaccements are much the same demographic. While I was in teacher jail the black women who were okd timers in rhe offices came from downtown to do business with the suits in the local district . I could hear them discussing how wretched things were downtown and many were talking about violations. They meant civil rights, contracts and yes, laws because Deasy has misappropriated Title 1 funds to buy tests teachers could not possibly work into a pacing plan that was aoready all tests . Indeed when Deasy did this the first time there was something like $32 million being drained from a fund meant to help poor students. Sorry, but tests do not HELP poor students . On the contrary.
. For decades the distruct has used parents to oversee the money . They are elected and have been a huge success for decades. Established as they are , questioning Deasy prompted his swift reprisals and he unilaterally demolished that commttee, which was called DAC . These humble folks could not believe what Deasy was pulling and stood their ground. They were promptly banned from campuses where their children attended classes and humiliated when campus police escorted them out of meetings. Some report that Deasy sent his ever growjng LASP over to their houses and warned them they’d be deported if they didnt back off.
So here is a guy with his own Gestapo who hates women of color and intimidates Latinos and Asians who displease him . He also loathes teachers in casse you were wondering who eise occuupies his lenghthy poop list. He has fired or disposed of thousands of veteran teachers illegally and he recruited so many interns he is violating NCLB laws about the number of credentialed teachers needed in schools. I believe the law was necessary fir these reasons. After all, suitts are going with TFA because interns are so much cheaper. In the short haul anyway. Notably most are white and under 30.
LAUSD has just finished the first of three apartment complexes it intends to house these interns in during their two years of teaching .
They are never going to demand raises or have tenure so he is happy to accomodate them and add to the district’s real estate portfolio . And btw LAUSD has money to build that gestapo luxury suites in one of those Taj Mahal schools, and while there are no full time nurses on any campuses Deasy proudly opened a clinic at another school in Hollywood. There is also an education museum full of artifacts to contrast with the iPad, an art gallery– Deasy boasts about “the collection” and one new school just got a $ 36 million dollar air conditioning extravaganza.
Deasy has purchased solar panels that to my knowledge are not being used and if they are, they can never pay for themselves in our lifetimes. The administrative bloat is obscene in those offices downtown where Deasy often has a catered lunch brought up to his staff and we know he has a taste for finer things given that the suits he wears cost more than a month’s salary for teachers . Inside that askew tower on Beaudry, the assistants make $100k a year and have their own assistants, consultants are often hired to do the jobs of the overpaid administration, and in the basement there is a sandwich bar, a dry cleaner and a sushi bar , all newly installed and for the upper level suits’ conveinence . Deasy is by no means the first to spend taxpayers’ money likea drunken sailor .
There are rooms in that buildung where dozens of metal detectors lay in forgotten heaps, sushi robots disappear and lawyers languish at $150 an hour while LAUSD employs $450 an hour sharks to do real battle .
Nearby are Taj Mahal high schools, 3 in a small section in DTLA that took quite a bit more than the last bond measure money to complete, making Eli Broad a much richer man who actually has the gall to act like he owns two of them: RFK, which was once the Ambassador Hotel, has talking chairs in the auditorium and 14k gold paint was imported from Europe for the project . Then there is the Arts HS which has had a few names but the only one to stick is #9 as the kids call it. These kids are especially bright and outspoken as young art soldiers who wonder why the school has architectural conceits that cost many millions of dollars but serve no purpose while they have no actual arts in their program . A very famous archetect was brought in from Germany to design this thing which looms over the freeway like a robot on the verge of battle . It looks like it wants to attack the church on the other side of the freeway.
The 3rd school, the real money maker that Broad distances himself from sits on a site Broad sold to LAUSD ( as well as that beastial building on Beaudry) . It was the most expensive school ever built them but it never opened because Belmont was considered too toxic to be safe. A former dairy built upon an active earthquake fault , the site had such high levels of methane gas, scientists deemed the school too big a risk to ever open up; as it turns out, the construction was very shoddy and it was falling apart before they came to demolish it, an effort that was hidden from cameras and onlookers
( you can se all this on full disclosure network -FDN-, the series is called Belmont Fiasco) . At the time there was an earnest IG in office; he was so disgusted and frustrated by what was going on he left the district because it refused to abide the law and common sense . Scientists were hired ; they said the school was not fit for human habitation . The only way it could be was if you built it on stilts . But guess what! LAUSD built a new school there after the old one was torn down, blaming UTLA for spreading misinformation about the site.
They swear ROYBALS is safe, but this is what they saud about BELMONT.
Recently several school police ( they have the new luxury suites there) were overcome by a noxious stench. It made several OFFICERS ill. Paramedics were called and the school was breifly evacuated . The cheif said he had no idea what this was and in THE same breath assured people it was perfectly safe to send kids there for lessons. Keep in mind that a very small amount of methane causes brain damage .
So maybe he has an excuse , but if any child or staff is harmed Broad and LAUSD will be fresh OUT of EXCUSES.
LA is, as Deasy says , the place where others will see the future of public education, but it doesnt have to be what it has been for decades or what it is now. Not if teachers and parents unite to push these swine out and sell off all these ostentatious burdens. The best urban districts have old school schools . They are not fancy but they’re clean .
While many millions were squandered on marble floors for Beaudry and these silly schools, kids in south central, Watts, Athens, Wilmingtin and elsewhere are going to classes without heat or air. THE WALLS OF SOME ARE FULL OF ASBESTOS AND MOLD. And there are rat droppings on books that are older than the students Some structures are unsafe and will crumble in heavy rains . We gotta make Deasy the catalyst for an urban revolt that is more than another teachers’ strike over raises. Teachers need and deserve this money but most are wise enough to understand it is the least of our problems . We do not have any kind of union we can rely on as it is part of the problem .What we didnt have before are smart activist parents like Karen Wolf, Sara Roos , Cynthia Lui , kpfk Kim, Carl Petersen , Scott Folsom and Stuart Magruder coming in to defend what is ours (not Eli Broad’s. ) Teachers have to get past fear and stand beside these parents as well as the ones at their school. It is time to do something radical in LA ne that the nation is watching us thanks to this raw deal with Apple.
rene diedrich: thank you for the info.
Hurts to read that you know about teacher jail because you were in it.
😒
Briefly, my take on the educrats like John Deasy: the enablers and enforcers of the “education reform” movement are a rainbow coalition of men and women of all colors and backgrounds with various political labels.
They are united in pushing charters and privatization at the expense of public school staffs, students, parents, communities, and the vast majority of the US public. And they are exasperated with, and disaffected from, the fundamental ideals of democracy.
So, for example, when I read that the rheephorm axe has fallen disproportionately on black women who are teachers in places like Chicago and New Orleans, and folks are surprised and angry and blindsided, my reaction is—
Just the same as my reaction to the pass/fail rates on high-stakes standardized tests. Getting rid of black female teachers or failing 70% of NY students is not a bug in the “education reform” business plan that masquerades as an education model.
It’s a feature. It’s meant to do that. That’s the way “ed reform” works. And whatever face it takes to make it work—male or female, someone of any racial or ethnic background, or gender orientation, or anything else—is just part of the game plan.
Just my POV…
And again, thank you for your comments.
😎
Thank you, Crazy TA. Knowledge is power, that is why I know so much about LAUSD . Unfortunately, guys like Newton, who clearly chooses NOT to know is someone with more pull than all of us together or so he assumes. The comments in the times suggest otherwise. But all those dissenters cannot hope to affect change unless they act sooner than later. We will find out soon enough. Today the BOE meets to discuss Deasy’s performance behind closed doors . They are NOT supposed to decide his fate and whatever they decide will not be committed to paper. You see “accountable” is something Teacgers hav to be. Deasy who has control of billions of dollars and the lives of 600,000 children is above all that . Now I have to wonder if that would Newton , Alter Lynton, Klein and the rest would say if their investment went south . I mean, if they invested in common core , it will but they have charter schools, apple stock, and so much more Deasy has allowed them to make bank on. If there is a God , we can only hope they Allen’s up in the deepest circles of Hell for getting rich at the expense of poor children .
So this is where the Sacramento Bee is getting information that lead to their description of “reform-minded” Deasy as a Superintendent who’s “lead an educational turnaround of the state’s largest school district” and “who’s being targeted by the LAUSD School Board”, in the endorsement that their Editorial Board gave “reformer” Marshall Tuck, former charter school operator, for California State Superintendent of Instruction on Friday, September 26, 2014.
They did not endorse incumbent Tom Torlakson, former teacher and Democratic legislator, arguing that he has been a “reliable operative for the teachers unions” and the “teachers unions have a chokehold on the state’s public education system and that’s been detrimental for everyone, including teachers.” The Bee also denounced that the unions defended the teacher protections in the Vergara case.
It’s just the end of Sept and we are already exhausted.
I bet. Hang in there, Della . Take yourself to the spa on PD Tuesday. Glenn Ivy in Riverside has a two for one deal. Grab a freing and get in the hot springs, have a coctail , swin and get a facial. You need it. Or whatever makes you feel good. .
Just a reminder to readers….about 1 1/2 years ago Diane posted an article of mine on how corrupt LA is and how much nepotism is involved….and this melody lingers on. Below is an article about what should be accessible public records. Gone, destroyed, never were written???? Read it and weep.
If this BoE folds once more to the dictums of Eli Broad and his greed merchant cronies, then the Board itself must be investigated. When Annie Gilbertson found the 2 year old emails weeks ago, linking Deasy and Aquino to Apple and Pearson, an act that might be viewed as fraud and collusion, the BoE immediately chose to purchase software from MS to delete completely all internal emails older than one year. Why would they do this within the same week that the Deasy story broke even in the biased LA Times? Are they too culpable?
When Deasy then hired Saferstein to investigate the BoE, what did he know? Perhaps Saferstein would give a cut rate price for this investigation if We the People could afford to hire him.
—————————————————————————————-
http://laschoolreport.com/lausd-keeps-no-written-records-of-deasy-performance-reviews/#comment-2727
LAUSD keeps no written records of Deasy performance reviews
Deasy comments on education politics
Superintendent John Deasy
As the LA Unified school board prepares to meet privately tomorrow to discuss how to evaluate Superintendent John Deasy in his performance review next month, it might be instructive to have a look at the board’s previous evaluations of him to understand what criteria they used.
Except for one thing: They don’t exist.
None of Deasy’s previous performance reviews has been codified, which is to say, there’s no record explain any vote cast.
A request to the district for past evaluations was answered quickly with one sentence from the legal department: “There are no documents that would respond to your request.”
The lack of written records of Deasy’s review is clearly a decision of this board and its president, Richard Vladovic, but it’s unclear, the department said, if previous boards have submitted them for other superintendents. (LA School Report has asked the district to do some digging.)
There is no law requiring the board to create a written or digital record of a superintendent’s evaluation. But the absence of a written report would suggest that no individual member could be held accountable for reasons voting for or against continued employment — a key measure for voters in considering school board election choices.
Deasy’s contract with the district says the board “may consider” such goals as 100 percent graduation, proficiency for all students, 100 percent attendance, “engaged parents and families” and “safety of schools.”
Combine the use of “may consider” and the imprecision of some of the goals, and it’s a pretty subjective accounting method. So it will remain unknown, for example, whether improved academic performance districtwide, falling dropout rates and rising attendance rates carries as much weight as his handling of the iPad program.
All the public learns is that following a decision to retain or dismiss the superintendent, the board announces the vote and nothing more, which was the case last year, when the board said Deasy had been retained in a 5-1 vote — Monica Ratliff abstained — triggering a one-year contract extension, to 2016.
Part of the discussion in tomorrow’s closed session is to kick around ideas for what criteria can be used this time to “evaluate” Deasy when his performance review arrives on Oct. 21 — whether anything is recorded or not.
Earlier this week, Bennett Kayser’s office circulated to the other board members a brief from the California School Boards Association called “Defining Governance.” It’s a best-practices document that includes a section on “The importance of board commitments in the areas of core beliefs, productive partnerships and board values, norms and protocols.”
As part of “board performance,” it suggests that “effective boards hold themselves accountable.” It also says, “Holding the superintendent accountable for results is a critical practice of effective boards.”
It’s silent on any requirement or recommendation that a board create a written record of its deliberations, including what criteria were used as a reason to take action one way or another.
But the absence of a written review on Deasy denies future boards the ability to learn from others’ experience and deprives parents insight into decisions made by board representatives they elected.
The state school boards association brief relied, to some degree, on research by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation included in its report, School Board Governance Guide.
The guide says, “Effective boards set clear accountability targets for the district, which can be measured by quantitative data such as student achievement results, graduation rates, attendance figures, and budget dollars. If the superintendent does not make satisfactory progress on these indicators, the board is charged with finding a replacement.”
There was no section on iPad programs.
=
Dig it my friends: Deasey is going to walk away, head held high, with a huge severance check tightly grasped in his fist.. Any formal investigation of wrong doing will be aborted, thanks to Eli Broad. The main stream press will editorialize and point fingers at those who drove Deasey out of town; there will be much finger pointing. Have no fear, no one will take the fall. Here’s some other truths we know: suffer the children; suffer the parents;, suffer the schools; suffer the teachers. LAUSD will be left to continue to crumble. The shame of the LAUSD will not be washed away by Eli Broad’s money. It is only a matter of time.
“What part of 25-year construction bond approved by the electorate did Deasy misunderstand?”
All of it, apparently.
Since you’ve correctly identified the soap operatic nature of this story, I’d like to suggest a title: “As The Stomach Turns.”
It’s deja vu all over again! Or, the writers of this long running soap have lost their creativity:
Last fall, as the BOE here in LA were preparing for Deasy’s performance review, BOE prez Valdovick was suddenly in the news charged with alleged sexual harrassment. Lo and behold! Extended contract for Deasy with even more dough.
This fall, as the BOE here in LA prepares for Deasy’s annual review, BOE member McKenna is suddenly in the news for allegedly covering up a sex abuse case.
Sex sells. But does it have to sell out 600,000 children?
Am glad I’m not the only one for whom the McKenna smear seemed reminiscent of the Vladovic smear. I wonder if Karl Rove does Deasy’s PR?
I a, so glad you said this. It is not likely that McKenna has any control of Berndts fate. I have helped that attorney manuever his way through LAUSD so I contacted him to wxplain that this was a set up. I hope he does what he has thus far and asks the questions I gave him. If he does this he will know what is up. If it turns out McKenna his it, he has to pay the price. But Vlad was cleared by lausd of knowing about a perv when he was local sup so how are they different!? Deasysidnt have but 4 admin in campus. Schools half its size have 8 . Few of them are yer round or in one of the worst hoods on the nation. In fact, MES had a very high oercentage if oerv situations, one was exposed just the year before and, ofcourse, conceaked from public,
Anyway it is well known that Deasy is top down when it comes to making these calls. He is prone to protecting the people whi abuse students and known to go after those who report them hust like they always have only much more so.
The editorial waxing poetic about the superintendent withstanding storm clouds was as out of step with reality as George Bush’s “heckuva job Brownie” in the midst of Hurricane Katrina.
LAUSD is in crisis, and saving one man’s job will do nothing for the students who have suffered from extremist reforms that have shuttered libraries, eliminated school nurses and social workers, decimated the arts, closed engaging career tech programs, cut their parents’ adult education programs and other severe austerity measures. That’s not impatience; that’s surrender. Public school parents like me don’t have to be conspiracy theorists to see why the 1% of Los Angeles are so interested in bolstering this regime. But it’s pretty insulting for the LA Times to pretend that it’s because it’s been so successful.
Well, for the one percent, it has been successful: profits by the bucketful. Too bad about public education in Los Angeles, though.
I like this post because Diane wrote it with a school marm’s kind of sarcasm. It surely rankled some pampeered LA Hydes, I tell you what.
For this Midwestern outdoor loving boy, I can’t for the life of me figure out which of this country’s two largest cities is the most screwed up in regard to public education. LA or NYC???
I think LA Times editorial apologists are pushing us into the Twilight Zone.
I’m so sick and Deasy—in the lawsuit, and
in general with comments like “lifting children
out of poverty—claiming he’s all about
the children.
Here’s a blast from the recent past (July 2013)
regarding Deasy failing to do something to
improve education for kids—in this case,
lower class size, as directed to him in a 5-2
vote of the pre-Ratliff board:
https://dianeravitch.net/2013/07/12/deasy-defies-new-l-a-board-majority/
Before you read this, here’s Board Member
Zimmer’s impassioned speech that preceded
the vote to lower class size:
Zimmer points out the hypocrisy of Deasy—
and his two allies on the school board,
Tamar Galatzan & Monica Garcia
On the one hand, they champion
the charter schools/chains that
financially back Deasy, Galatzan, and
Garcia, and that they claim are so
superior to traditional public schools
with unions, AND THEIR MAIN FEATURE
IS LOWER CLASS SIZE. The charters tout
this on their web pages, that Zimmer, in a
Pacino-esque moment, starts throwing
around the room.
And yet… Deasy, Galatzan, and Garcia
fight tooth and nail from funding the
same lowering of class size for those
traditional public schools, effectively
tying one hand behind those schools’
and teachers’ backs, and denying those
students the advantages of lower class size.
They’re rigging the game in favor of their
beloved charters who bankrolled their
campaigns.
They do this because even though they
know full well that traditional public school
students would benefit from this—the way
the students in their beloved charters do—
their ultimate goal is to starve the traditional
public schools into failure, and weaken
and wreck the teachers’ union, as they will
have less members, less dues, and a
membership angry at their leaders, and
fighting among themselves for less
classroom positions.
Deasy, Galatzan, and Garcia are following
their corporate masters’ marching orders…
and doing so to the detriment of the students
in tradiional public schools.
Even after this motion was passed, DEASY
publicly went on L.A. SCHOOL REPORT
and defiantly said, “I’m not doing it… You
can’t make me.” He derided the plan
to lower class size as “a directive to hire
every human being on the West Coast.”
Here’s Ravitch’s coverage at the time:
https://dianeravitch.net/2013/07/12/deasy-defies-new-l-a-board-majority/
============================
Deasy Defies New L.A. Board Majority
By dianeravitch
July 12, 2013 //
When the Los Angeles school board prepared to elect a new president, Superintendent John Deasy let it be known that he might resign if Richard Vladovic won the election.
Vladovic won by 5-2. The two nay votes came from outgoing president Monica Garcia and her ally Tamar Galatzan.
Before the election, there were rumors that Vladovic was under investigation for verbally abusing board employees, and newspaper accounts suggested that Deasy was trying to derail his candidacy. That did not help their working relationship.
The new board passed a resolution endorsing class size reduction, a measure opposed by Deasy. Deasy favored a motion by Galatzan proposing more money for high-needs students, which was postponed by the board.
In a show of defiance, Deasy said he would comply with the resolution that was not passed because the board did not forbid him from doing it. Deasy opposes reduced class size because it will mean hiring more staff.
This is what he told the LA School Report (a pro-corporate reform newspaper):
————————————
JOHN DEASY: “The Board voted down the directive to have me come and do it,” said Deasy, referring to Galatzan’s local spending resolution. “[But] they can’t stop me from doing it; we’re doing it anyway. If they had voted to prevent me from doing it… well they didn’t think of that.”
———————————–
“The Superintendent explained that the future spending plan the Board ordered him to produce will comply with the Board-passed Kayser resolution regarding staffing (or as Deasy derisively called it, a “directive to hire every human being on the West Coast”) but will also include some form of the local spending plan he and Galaztan have been advocating.”
When the unions learned that Deasy would ignore the board vote, they wrote a letter to the board.
They raised the question about why Deasy intended to flout the authority of the board he works for.
With a number of strong wills converging, this will be worth watching.
Bottom line: How long will Deasy last as an employee of a board whose leadership he does not like or trust, and how long will the board tolerate insubordination by Deasy?
For your convenience, here’s the text of the two
the two union presidents’ letter TO THE 7
LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS,
expressing their outrage over Deasy’s
defiance of the Board’s directive:
(those union presidents are then-President
of the UTLA teachers’ union Warren Fletcher,
and his equivalent for administrators/principals/
asst. principals, Judy Perez, President,
Associated Administrators of Los Angeles”
(AALA)
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“July 10, 2013
“Honorable Richard Vladovic,
—President, LAUSD Board of Education
“Honorable Marguerite LaMotte,
—Board Member, District 1
“Honorable Monica Garcia,
—Board Member, District 2
“Honorable Tamar Galatzan,
—Board Member, District 3
“Honorable Steve Zimmer,
—Board Member, District 4
“Honorable Bennett Kayser,
—Board Member, District 5
“Honorable Monica Ratliff,
—Board Member, District 6
“Dear Board Members:
“We are writing on behalf of the members of our two
organizations: United Teachers Los Angeles, which
represents the 36,000 classroom teachers and health
and human services professionals of LAUSD, and
Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, exclusive
representative for over 2,300 certificated and
classified administrators within the District.
“We wish to raise a concern about recent statements
by Superintendent John Deasy, related to his
obligation to abide by the policy positions and
directives of the Board of Education.
“On June 20, the ‘LA School Report,’ published a
story entitled, ‘Defiant Deasy Says He’ll Push
Targeted Spending Plan Anyway.’ In that article
Mr. Deasy clearly indicates that it is his intention
to circumvent the Board vote on use of new state
LCFF monies.
“Specifically, Mr. Deasy is quoted as stating that,
” ‘The Board voted down the directive. . . ,’ referring
to Ms. Galatzan’s recent local spending resolution,
” ‘[But] they can’t stop me from doing it; we’re doing
it anyway.’ ”
“To date, we have not been able to locate
any report that Mr. Deasy has disavowed these
public statements, nor has he indicated that he was
misquoted.
“The Superintendent is an employee of the District,
and is legally required to operate ‘under the
control of the Board.’ The California courts have
recognized that a Superintendent does not
‘exercise independent powers’ (Main vs.
Claremont, Unified School District, 161
CalApp 2d189, 204).
“As the presidents of two organizations charged
with representing and bargaining for a large
proportion of District employees, we do not
expect that Mr. Deasy’s statements and policy
positions will always align with those of our
respective organizations.
“However, as both District employees and as
taxpayers, we do expect that the
Superintendent will, at all times, discharge his
duties in a manner that is consistent with his
role as the District’s chief executive officer.
Statements and conduct to the contrary can
only erode public confidence in the Board
and the District.
“California law clearly places both the power
and the responsibility for ultimate leadership
of the District in the hands of its elected
governing board. Regardless of Mr. Deasy’s
motives or intentions, no district, and no
community, is served when this democratic
authority is undermined.
“Please contact either of us if you have any
questions. We are thankful for your time and
attention to this matter.
“Respectfully,
“Warren Fletcher
President,
United Teachers Los Angeles
“Judith Perez
President,
Associated Administrators of Los Angeles”
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Did this letter have any impact on Deasy’s
defiant refusal to lower class size?
Nope… it never happened to this day.
Oh… and here’s the earlier L.A. SCHOOL
REPORT article that includes the
comments from Deasy about defying
the board (and includes Deasy’s
asinine “hire every human being on
the West Coast” line:
http://laschoolreport.com/defiant-deasy-says-hell-continue-to-push-local-spending-plan/
————————————————
“Defiant Deasy Says He’ll Push
Targeted Spending Plan Anyway
“Posted on June 20, 2013 1:28 pm
“by Hillel Aron
“During Tuesday’s seemingly endless meeting, the LAUSD School Board postponed Board member Tamar Galatzan’s resolution to have new State education funds flow to schools with large numbers of low-income and English language learning students and approved Board member Bennett Kayser’s resolution calling for the district to hire more staff across the board.
“The votes seemed like a loss for LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who had floated the idea of having new funding flow where it was needed most (along the lines of the Galatzan resolution) and had opposed the idea of hiring more staff.
“But on Wednesday a defiant Deasy told LA School Report that his plan for future spending will include the spirit of Galatzan’s resolution anyway:
“ ‘The Board voted down the directive to have me come and do it,’ said Deasy, referring to Galatzan’s local spending resolution. ‘ [But] they can’t stop me from doing it; we’re doing it anyway. If they had voted to prevent me from doing it… well they didn’t think of that.’
“The Superintendent explained that the future spending plan the Board ordered him to produce will comply with the Board-passed Kayser resolution regarding staffing (or as Deasy derisively called it, a ‘directive to hire every human being on the West Coast’ ) but will also include some form of the local spending plan he and Galaztan have been advocating.
————————————————
There’s a great COMMENT from Robert Skeels
accompanying and BELOW this article:
—————————————————–
ROBERT SKEELS:
“Once again this Superintendent proves he values profits over pupils. Rather than address the abjectly overflowing class sizes that have students sitting on the floor and windowsills, Deasy chooses to direct funds to Rupert Murdoch’s DIBBELS®, Laurene Powell Jobs’ iPads, and John Fallon’s textbooks. Students need access to books and the world of literature, not distracting toys designed for playing Angry Birds.
“Deasy was already shunting Title I and Title III funds to corporate profits, and LCFF essentially gives him a blank check to stuff more money into the pockets of the people that put him in power. Meanwhile LAUSD students are denied an education that would provide them the critical thinking skills to change a sick world that would allow a former Gates Foundation executive to run an urban school district.”
—————————
… followed up by another great comment
from one “Chance LaRue”:
—————————————
CHANCE LaRUE:
“This is all true, Mr. Skeels, but Deasy wants to destroy LAUSD. This is his agenda, because Gates, Broad, Walton and the rest of these greed corporate thugs have more than trillion dollar signs .in their eyes as they commandeer public education. They see a next generation of compliant consumers and wage slaves. Everything these people do is about enriching themselves. They sport black holes, where their souls ought to be.”