Andrea Gabor, professor of journalism at Baruch College in New York City, recently interviewed Stuart Maguder, an architect in Los Angeles who serves on the Bond Oversight Committee of the school district. He was unusually outspoken in his criticism of John Deasy’s deal to spend construction bond money on IPads for all. For his criticism, he was briefly ousted from his unpaid position, then restored after a public outcry. He is critical of both Deasy and the teachers’ union, finding them both intransigent.
Gabor, an expert on the work of W. Edwards Deming, observed:
“As Magruder spoke of Deasy defeat and the union’s intransigence, I was struck by an irony: My principle purpose in traveling to Los Angeles was to attend the annual conference of the Deming Institute, which was founded in order to continue to work of W. Edwards Deming, the management guru whose ideas about systems thinking and collaborative improvement–informed by statistical theory–helped turn around struggling American industries in the 1980s.
“The unraveling in Los Angeles is just the latest example of education reformers who have yet to absorb the most valuable management lessons of the last half century–achieving lasting institutional change and improvement involves teamwork, collaboration among all the constituencies in an organization, and systems thinking. None of which have been on display in Los Angeles.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s all about communication in life.
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The piece that is excerpted in the above posting can be accessed at—
Link: http://andreagabor.com/2014/11/01/a-watchdog-reflects-on-the-failures-of-former-superintendent-deasy-and-other-grown-ups-in-the-los-angeles-public-schools/
Here is another excerpt; excuse the length, but it paints a picture of Magruder that is far different from the image projected by the MSM as an escapee from the looney bin:
[start excerpt]
Given the LAUSD’s grave fiscal problems—and the deteriorating condition of its schools–Magruder says he gave voice to local concerns about the wisdom of diverting scarce resources from school repair to purchasing technology devices that would last just three to five years. The LAUSD master plan calls for $40 billion to keep the schools up-to-date. Facilities maintenance will cost an additional $12.9 billion.
Another problem was what Magruder calls Deasy’s “technological determinism.” Magruder, who describes himself as a tech-savvy Luddite, says he was aghast to hear Deasy “denigrate” Shakespeare during a bond oversight committee meeting. Deasy suggested that preparing students for the realities of today’s world and teaching them, say, to read a newspaper is more relevant than reading Hamlet, Magruder recalls.
Magruder is convinced that Deasy saw iPads as a way to solve the “teacher problem”—an all-too-familiar refrain of ed-reformers. The plan was for Pearson, the education technology and text book giant, to load the iPad’s with curriculum materials and lessons that, Magruder says, “were aimed at making teacher’s “less pro-active and engaged” in the lesson-planning process.
Deasy was also responding to pressure from federal and state officials to “roll out a technology program” that would support the Common Core State Standards and related online tests, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Yet, pedagogically, the iPad is flawed. It’s essentially a “closed” device designed to make you a “passive consumer,” argues Magruder who uses a range of computer technology in his architectural practice. Magruder also questions whether kids in grades K-5 need any technology at all, noting that parents of young children struggle to negotiate basic rules around their use of devices such as cell phone. And, he points out, there is little research on what if any benefits technology holds for K-12 learning.
Maybe, says Magruder wrily, that’s why the late Steve Jobs had a no-iPad policy for his own kids. “They haven’t used it,” Steve Jobs once told a reporter when he was asked about how his kids like the iPad. “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.”
Other tech moguls also embrace a tech-free education for their own children. Execs from Google, Yahoo, Ebay and HP send their children to the Waldorf School which is famous for banishing all electronic technology from its classrooms. Waldorf, which has campuses around the country, promotes an approach to education that emphasizes hands-on experiential learning and physical activity designed to promote creating thinking, focus and collaborative problem solving.
As an architect, Magruder has a bias for hands-on work. Give kids a computer they can take apart. Teach them coding, which Magruder says should be a “core class” for every LAUSD student. Offer robotics classes.
[end excerpt]
No Shakespeare? Teacher problem? Bankrupt LAUSD morally and politically and financially in service to CCSS? Three strikes and you’re out. And John Deasy is out…
And note the greatest money quote of all [third paragraph of the above excerpt] regarding taking teachers out of the teaching process.
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Read the entire piece.
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I think the lack of systems thinking in ed reform is a really valid complaint, and almost shocking.
Creating a whole new school system and not giving ANY consideration to the schools that are already there is insane. Schools in a given geographical area are a system, whether ed reformers want to admit or not. That’s baked in. It’s reckless not to consider the EFFECT of ed reform on existing public schools. It’s nuts it’s so risky.
There was and is no guarantee that “choice” would benefit kids in existing public schools. They just blew right by the risk to those kids, and it’s REAL. Those schools and kids could end up much worse off. I don’t understand people who don’t look at downside risk. I just feel I have nothing in common with them. The assumption that “choice” will be all upside with NO potential downside for existing public schools is not real life. I don’t even think it;s rational, let alone prudent or responsible. That no one even asks the question “what about the public schools that are there?” is shocking to me.
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yup; agreed!
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They had to start from a place where they believe public schools are SO bad that any downside risk was nearly impossible. That had to be where they started. There’s no other rational explanation for completely ignoring it.
People don’t take risks like that regarding things they value.
They had to assign NO value to existing public school systems. If they had assigned any value, they would have considered the very real risk that ed reform could make those schools worse.
Even now there’s no analysis. In Ohio, they compare snapshots of public schools to charter schools. No one even asks if the public schools benefited at all over 15 years of ed reform. It’s as if they don’t even deserve consideration. I can’t imagine doing that. I would just never do it. I would have to look at both systems, plus/minus because I would be concerned that I would do NET damage overall when it all shook out and I wouldn’t be able to reverse it.
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Chiara: you nailed it.
The self-styled “education reformers” engage in something even less substantial than “wishful thinking”—it’s called “magical thinking.”
Thank you for your comments.
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But you’re assuming that the destruction of neighborhood schools was not the INTENT in LAUSD. I do not think it was an unintended consequence, but the actual goal. I have too much experience fighting these so-called “reforms” on the site level in LAUSD to believe anything other but. The question now is will citizens and voters get what we have demanded at every turn? At the polls, at school board meetings, at community meetings, in public surveys (http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/news/publicschoolparentsurvey0713.pdf)? Or will we see the continued expansion of privately run charters, and a narrowed curriculum and skeletal staff at traditional schools?
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Professional educators in LA are very grateful to have Karen Wolfe and RedQueenia in our corner. It is amazing that these women are 100% in the struggle to save and improve public schools, and still do full time duty as workers and as mothers. Thank you both.
Also, ‘Educator’ (S.R.) as a former teacher, and our highly respected and gifted Robert Skeels.
Karen is right on with this comment. Many parents and teachers feel the Eli Broad corrosive influence in LAUSD had/has deeper roots than insuring better education systems through charter schools. Many here feel that it is a planned and orchestrated attack to bankrupt the school system. and then use the Shock Doctrine approach of buying it all up for pennies on the dollar…just speculation of course.
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This report recaps what a group of us in LA have been writing about here for almost two years. We have been battling the true forces of evil and getting Deasy out of LAUSD was the first big battle in this war to save our public schools.
This is not an easy fix, but now with Ca. State Supt.of Public Instruction Torlakson, and Gov, Brown, both pressing for repeal of Vergara, we see movement in the correct direction.
The national resistance to CC and the multitude of testing debates leading to opting out and refusals by parents, and hopefully brave teachers, is most heartening.
Thanks Diane for supporting us and giving us this opportunity to coalesce. And a huge kudo to Stuart Magruder for having the moral courage and intelligence to speak out. Your stance, Stuart, helped turn the tide with opening up the truth, and to Monica Ratliff for her Finanace Report and sticking to her findings which certainly opened the door wider to the Deasy debacle and his resignation.
We have upcoming elections for four seats on the BoE, and it behooves the LA Times and all media to carefully report on the candidates who include charter school activists and even the Tea Party. The billionaire money from all over the country will surely pour into the coffers of the worst of the candidates as it has the past few years, but perhaps the voting public is awake and will continue to reject the privatizing plutocrats.
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W. Edwards Deming work is stellar.
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“…Pearson, the education technology and text book giant,” and on-line teaching [sic] – which Pearson considers the only real growth area of their business.
Yes, Stuart is a hero!
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To all parents with and without children in pre-college education:
We must recognize and acknowledge that physical education is extremely important to the well being of BODY, literature, languages, and music are crucially necessary to cultivate human creativity. These aspects require HUMAN INTERACTION.
Without HUMAN INTERACTION, technology has not had a chance to exist.
Thanks to human’s creation, internet was born to reach out global connection. However, we still need human force to program, to repair and to maintain the machine in good working condition.
As a result, why do we lose focus on strengthen our young generation in physical education, literature, languages, and music?
Aren’t we having the same fear of what Albert Einstein’s quote about his fear in technology?
Here it is his quote that is worth to repeat and to remind us daily:
“I FEAR the day that technology will surpass our HUMAN INTERACTION. The world will have a generation of idiots.” Back2basic
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I’m not getting where the union has been “intransigent”. The teachers have accepted furlough days, larger class sizes, layoffs, serving breakfast during instructional time, and myriad other duties. We have struggled to implement Common Core with non-common core material. We have worked valiantly to get report cards out despite MISIS erasing grades without reason or warning, or with even the barest of training on the new system. We haven’t had a raise in eight years. We’ve posted pictures on Facebook of the filthy conditions in which our students are expected to thrive. Hundreds have been sent to teacher jail, still not told what they allegedly did wrong. We have tried to make our worries heard, only to be accused of wanting to deny our students their “civil rights”! Teachers are the ones fighting FOR our kids. Meanwhile, Deasy listened to no one, left the district an estimated $300 million in the hole, took construction bond money for his pet project of I-pads no one asked for, fired needed school workers, imposed an evaluation system which helps no one, that even the principals hate, took a hefty raise for himself, and actively participated in denigrating and belittling his employees. And WE’RE the difficult ones???
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I couldn’t have put it better or more truthfully.
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Mr. Magruder asserts that his son’s counselor left at 3 pm sharp. Did Mr. Magruder confer with the school’s principal about the counselor’s schedule? Those are not the usual working hours for that high school. Is it possible that the counselor is a part-time employee? In which case, why should s/he not go on to the other job s/he needs to make ends meet?
Did Mr. Magruder inform himself of the situation at the high school? Is he aware that it does not matter the number of hours counselors and/or teachers spend banging their heads against the computer because MiSiS does whatever it wants?
Does Mr. Magruder have proof that “the union” told every member to not help students through this crisis? I know for a fact that many teachers, counselors, and administrators at elementary and secondary schools all over LAUSD have done all they could to help students get through this Deasy-manufactured crisis. Yet, Mr. Magruder is allowed to essentially libel the union by saying its leaders directed its members to not cooperate with the administration. How could they if the operation of MiSiS is out of their hands?
I believe Professor Gabor should not have blithely published these remarks without probing if such opinion has any basis on reality, regardless of whether or not Mr. Magruder’s wife is a union rep elsewhere. I am not asking for “fair and balanced,” but a modicum of responsibility should have been considered before libeling the entire workforce at LAUSD.
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