Take 3 minutes and watch this great video of Jackie Goldberg, former president of the LAUSD Board, former member of the State Assembly, give the current board a tongue lashing for not choosing an educator as superintendent. For being “bought and paid for” by the devil.
And to Ref Rodriguez for not having the decency to resign or recuse himself when he is under felony indictment.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wow.
If I were one of those board members who had convinced myself that my willingness to sell out my soul for whatever the billionaires told me to do would never be known to my own family and friends, this might give me pause.
I hope all of Nick Melvoin’s constituents — his neighbors and friends — see him as the man who embraces those who commit financial crimes to get elected.
I hope all of Nick Melvoin’s constituents understand that he believes the BEST role models for children are those who lie in order to “win”.
Maybe Nick Melvoin can visit a public school to explain his belief that it is perfectly fine to lie to get what you want as long as very rich people who financially support your campaigns tell you that it is fine. And that’s why Nick Melvoin supports Ref’s right to cast the vote the billionaires who support them both demanded that they cast.
It would be just if Nick Melvoin was the subject of a recall.
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Melvoin really is the worst of the bunch. He misled public school families in that campaign. They should recall him.
There has to be some consequences for ed reformers insisting they support public schools when they’re running for office and then reneging the moment they’re in. There are a lot of kids in public schools. Abandoning their schools in favor of creating the planned “marketplace” harms them. Directly. Who decided kids in existing public schools should bear the entire burden while ed reformers phase out their schools? How is that fair to them? At the very least they could be told “the decision has been made not to invest in public schools because we’re going to a privatized system”.
Why don’t they just run on privatizing schools? We’re told over and over that the public is demanding school privatization. If that’s true why do they always hide the objective when they’re running?
Make the argument why public schools should be privatized, allow a real debate, and then win or lose. Denying it denies people the opportunity to make an informed decision.
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Chiara, Can you specify the way he reversed his promises to the public school families? It is hard to stay informed about these issues as they’re not widely reported.
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Melvoin should have just made it clear that he was rabidly pro-charter and instead of considering each issue on its merits would simply do whatever the rich billionaires who underwrote his campaign told him to do.
I wonder if Allison Holdorff Polhill feels used or has become Nick’s biggest cheerleader. She used to consider both sides of issues and try to understand the complexities of policies. Under Melvoin, the rule is you do whatever you are told by the billionaires who fund you and your constituents are to be ignored until you run your next PR campaign to pretend you aren’t owned by the charter pushers.
I would love to see Allison Holdorff Polhill resign and lead the recall efforts against Nick Melvoin. And then run for that seat.
I can’t imagine having a graduate of Harvard-Westlake mansplaining to Allison how important it is to do whatever the billionaire education reformers want, no matter who is harmed.
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I’m pleased she mentioned the lack of attention to students in existing public schools.
It’s rare that they’re mentioned at all, other than as useful rhetorical devices to promote charters and private schools. The “default” students that are treated as an undifferentiated mass who are all “failing”- useful politically but otherwise not worthwhile enough to mention.
It’s really outrageous that they aren’t represented. They’re invisible.
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I am speechless.
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Seconded.
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Just to clarify, the two board members who refused to vote for Beutner, Schmerelson and McKenna, both posted official statements criticizing the voting process and the result. These statements were published after the above meeting, so Ms. Goldberg was not yet aware of their efforts to stand up against the charter majority.
I don’t know if policies can be changed, but it seems at the very least to be unethical for Rodriguez to not recuse himself from the voting. If he is found guilty, he will have to deal with even more public outcry. What remains to be seen is what affect this will have on the next board election. Rodriguez has at least made himself the poster boy for what is wrong with privatizing our public schools.
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Rodriguez is a real winner.
In addition to the criminal charges, he was recently arrested for public drunkenness.
Teachers can lose their jobs over such things.
It’s simply amazing that he is still sucking down $125k at taxpayer expense.
Bought and paid for is the only explanation.
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“LAUSD Board s bought and paid for”
“Bought and paid for”
LA Board
“Bought and paid for”
So untoward
“Bought and paid for”
Ref-eree
“Bought and paid for”
Crook we see
“Bought and paid for”
Broadly speaking
“Bought and paid for”
Silently sneaking
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And by the way, Broadly is pronounced “Brodely”, in honor of the buyer/payer.
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Since I do not often hear that quality and strength of speech I am more than impressed; she says what needs to be said, without beating around the bush. Her concerns are those of many citizens and if others would speak out with the same vehemence our situation would be rather different. Indeed she is courageous and inspiring.
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She is amazing. Everyone should see this video. As I watched, I imagined the board members cringing in their seats. How could they not? Who could withstand her withering indictment of that shameless behavior?
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By the way, Jackie Goldberg was a career teacher before she ran for Office.
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What did she teach?
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This is what I said in public comment at the following BOE meeting. I guarantee you that I do not have the delivery of Jackie.
I’d like to start with a quote from Mr. Beutner from his LA Business Journal bio. On “Best Advice” he said, “Be honest, that should be obvious, but it seems integrity is lacking among leadership in both public and private sectors.”
So let’s start with “be honest” and “integrity.”
The process to find a new superintendent was secret. The one report out from Mr. Crain on 4/20 was “no actions were taken.” That seems to have been misleading. We know there was a 4-3 vote. What no one wants to say is what that vote was for. The 5-2 vote cannot have been a vote to select Mr. Beutner because clearly selection comes first.
Beutner does not have the qualifications demanded by the original search which the board claimed to be following.
When was the vote to give him a waiver? He does not comply with the Board of Ed Code because he is unqualified for this job.
Most community members have spoken in opposition to him.
The process was rushed. The results are divided. The majority includes the vote of an accused felon. A 4-3 vote is hardly a majority. This is not a board confident of its decision.
Where is the honesty and integrity in this search process?
Mr. Beutner does not have a mandate. In all of his press comments, Mr. Beutner says he wants “change.” There is no mandate for change.
What we appear to have is four rogue board members acting on their own, not following input from the public, parents or any educators. It looks to me like the four, with a fifth ultimately getting on board, are simply giving their donors what they paid for. The so-called civic leaders do not represent the larger population and seem to have only disdain and even contempt for educators – instead are intent on diminishing unions, cutting salaries, substituting computers for teachers and data mining our children for profit.
This is a familiar scenario. John Deasy, also appointed under a cloud, talked about a need for change and an urgency to do it. All he did was create chaos and made Los Angeles a joke with his ill-conceived push to spend over $1 billion on iPads. And before the ink is even dry on Mr. Beutner’s contract, and before he has even been vetted for financial conflicts of interest, a large job I suspect, Ms. Garcia is already dusting off the giveaway to the tech industry with her 1 to 1 digital device motion.
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“What we appear to have is four rogue board members acting on their own…”
These 4 are not acting on their own. It is not a coincidence that the
4 board members who owe their seats to the millions spent by billionaire-funded ad campaigns are the ones who are – like Nick Melvoin — insisting that the accused felon and ADMITTED liar should be able to vote with the rest of the billionaire-funded board members to break a tie vote and get the candidate their funders demanded.
What we appear to have is four rogue board members acting according to what the people who funded their campaign want. And those people are NOT their constituents.
If there is a campaign to recall Nick Melvoin for putting the needs of the billionaires who funded him over the children of LA and his own constituents, I will happily donate to it. He is not acting on his own. He and the other 4 who are owned by billionaires voted just as they were told to vote.
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The LAUSD Board heard an earful at the meetings held on May 1, including the following:
Four other former Board members also weighed in against the appointment of Beutner but the District has still not posted the videos that include those speeches. I will share them as soon as they are available.
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For those of you who wonder how the charter board members reacted to Goldberg’s tirade, be assured that they have plenty of experience in being blind, deaf and dumb to the truth as routinely presented by Ms. Goldberg and a multitude of teachers, parents and community members who have taken the time and effort to document their displeasure at how the board majority pays homage to their donors and not the 82% of students who attend LAUSD’s traditional public schools.
In many cases, Rodriguez disappears from the dias as does board president, Monica Garcia. Board vice-president and charter champion, Nick Melvoin, can be seen on a routine basis to be deep into his iPhone or computer during public comment. They simply make themselves immune to the attacks, knowing that there is a pot of gold awaiting them at the end of the charter rainbow.
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Next time someone should film those board members like Nick Melvoin on their phones or computers during commenting time.
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Yes, it would have been enlightening to watch the expressions on the board members’ faces as Jackie Goldberg was speaking.
Were they playing games on their cell phones? Did they leave for a bathroom break? Did they evince any sense of shame?
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What a speaker!
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She’s mad as hell and is not going g to take it any more.
I bet Eli Broad and his body guards would run the other way if they saw her coming down the street..
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That speech is truly from an experience and from the heart of gold in a true educator, leader and authority.
All YOUNG educators should have the courage to speak out to their young learners and parents of their students about INVALID TESTING MATERIAL and its abusive (long hours for young age) TESTING PROCEDURES.
Yes, wisdom, courage and articulate speech come from experience, education, and a heart of gold. What an admirable speech from Jackie Goldberg, former president of the LAUSD Board, former member of the State Assembly! May King
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Great going, Jackie. It can be tough when you have just 3 minutes to say what you came to say! 😊
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