An anonymous group has announced a protest and press conference at LAUSD Headquarters on September 11, 2013. The rally is planned for Noon and the press conference is slated for 5:00 PM.
Among their list of complaints is the iPad boondoggle and the singular focus on standardized tests.
Los Angeles Unified School District
333 S. Beaudry Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
#LAUSDHOPE I admire this spirit and purpose. ¡Venceremos! http://t.co/iNTvoKEkVn
— Susan Ohanian (@susanoha) July 14, 2013
'By the time we know whether the brave new technology helps, the computer industry will be much wealthier and the schools much poorer. And if it doesn't help, teachers will be blamed and the "reformers" will call for more technology.' — Professor Stephen Krashen
LArepresents is an activist group that has created a whole series of videos in defense of public education. One of their latest videos and corresponding caption is causing quite a still in LAUSD.
Emperor has no clothes? iPad giveaway to cost LAUSD $1Billion
FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY AT LAUSD:
- The cost is estimated to be $1 Billion in first 4 years alone (ipads, infrastructure, etc.)
- LAUSD only has $7 Billion in bonds left, but needs many times that for facility improvements. How has the iPad giveaway become such a top priority?
- iPads are obsolete after 3 years, but bond money has to be repaid for 25-30years, what a poor use of so much bond money!
- Apple will only replace up to 5% of broken, lost, stolen iPads, with 3 year warranty. But at a pilot program in the UK, breakage rate was 50% in just 1st year! Learn more here: http://ow.ly/mQCwd
- So is this just a ploy for superintendent John Deasy to get on the cover the nation's newspapers, at the expense of taxpayers and our children?
- Kids can get beaten up on the way to school for having just $5-10. How can we endanger kids by requiring them to take home a $678 device?
- Isn't LAUSD liable for any bullying or other inappropriate usage of the device?
- What happens after the 3 year warranty when iPads are no longer replaced? For example in a classroom with only 20 iPads for 30 kids...who gets to take one home, and who doesn't?
- Phase 1 (47 schools) which was approved in June 2013 is supposed to be a "Pilot Program". Students get iPads when school starts (August 13). But how can a Pilot Program last only 1 month before LAUSD Board votes on Phase 2 in September, which if approved iPads will be given to half of all LAUSD schools? What is this a joke? You can't possibly get any meaningful data/analysis to make such a huge decision in such a short turnaround. The Pilot Program, or Phase 1, should last at least 1 full school year.
- Remember LAUSD's last colossal IT failure? It was the BTS payroll scandal. Read more: http://ow.ly/mRPSF
LAUSD Board Members, voters are watching you! Phase 1 was approved without dissent. Phase 2 (approximately half LAUSD schools) is coming up this Fall 2013. Phase 3 (remaining schools) in early 2014.
VIDEO INDEX
1st public speaker: 1:09
2nd public speaker: 4:27
Mr. Vladovic: 8:05
Mr. Zimmer: 17:20
Ms. Lamotte: 29:31
Mr. Zimmer: 32:44
Ms. Galatzan: 35:24
Ms. Garcia: 40:04
Ms. Lamotte: 42:45
Ms. Garcia: 44:24
Michelle King, Deputy Sup't: 45:07
Mr. Vladovic: 46:19
Board Votes: 47:35
UPDATE August 2014
Dubious PhD, felonious Felner, SAP round 2, DIBELS, AGT, PSO/iPadGate, MiSiS cRiSiS, and more! Three strikes? Deasy is way past that. #LAUSD
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) August 24, 2014If the union is sound and the teachers voted of their own free will, then the relationship between the school superintendent and the teachers is not simply bad, but dysfunctional of historic proportions. — Professor Bill Tierney
When John Deasy was proffered by Eli Broad and Mayor Villaraigosa as the sole candidate to replace the retiring Ramon C. Cortines, there was no attempt to consider the appropriate superintendent for the community. Even the typically equivocating Los Angeles School District (LAUSD) Board Member Steve Zimmer voiced serious concerns:
"We didn't have a process — internal or external — for the most important job in public education in the United States right now," he tells the Weekly. "It has nothing to do with John Deasy. I'm a big fan. ... But I can't be sure that I got the best person for the job if I didn't get to even talk to anybody else."
Democracies depend on processes. There was no process with Deasy. No vetting. No considering the pro and cons of multiple candidates. The only words that could begin to describe his installment are coronation and ordination.
Far more corporate executive than educator, Deasy's reign as LAUSD Superintendent been an abject exercise in neoliberalism. Marked first by a rash of school closures, reconstitutions, and new school giveaways to private institutions, Deasy made it clear to Los Angeles that he would indeed put his ideology derived from his stints at at the Broad Superintendents Academy and the Gates Foundation before the needs of students and community. There's a litany of complaints against Deasy, most of which are related to callous cuts to vital programs, wasteful and inappropriate spending priorities, adoption of discredited and unproven policies, defiance towards our publicly elected schoolboard, and open hostility towards the very educators tasked with teaching our community's children.
However, this isn't the space to discuss Deasy's glaring shortcomings and myriad failures as superintendent. Given that his only supporters are billionaires, nonprofits that are funded by those selfsame billionaires, and the disgraced former Mayor, there is no longer any reason for this individual to continue his neoliberal project of dismantling our public commons. Instead we are commencing the search for a new superintendent now so that we don't end up in the same situation as we did when Deasy was crowned.
To that end, we are soliciting a list of viable superintendent candidates we feel will best serve the students of Los Angeles. We are also soliciting a list of attributes the community wants our next superintendent to have. Some starter items are here, but it's important that this is a community project, so we want people to submit their suggestions here. Both of these lists will be continually updated. Join us. We can identify the next superintendent candidates who will serve our community. ¡Venceremos!
Responses to the campaign have been both encouraging and overwhelming. Over the weekend dozens of candidate names have been submitted, and we haven't even reached out to local grassroots groups for their suggestions. There is now a easy to fill out form at the bottom of this post.
Either enter qualities wanted in the comments below or email suggestions. If necessary, we'll create another form, but will continually update this list as needed.
We intend to launch a social media campaign in support of this historic community project to find the right superintendent for our community. Stay tuned for details.
Deasy stayed at the Gates Foundation only a year and a half, practicing that "responsible philanthropy," which amounts to handing out money with one hand while throwing a bomb with the other. Many speculate that the Gates job was just a holding pattern for the Los Angeles appointment, which will give him the opportunity to turn LA in to the Gates model district. — Susan Ohanian
It's about time that someone demanded the Superintendent follow the directives of the elected representatives of the people of Los Angeles rather than those of the small minded tyrant named Eli calling the shots from 10900 Wilshire Boulevard. Let's applaud both Dr. Perez and Mr. Fletcher for this wonderfully worded letter demanding a modicum accountability from Mr. Deasy.
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 | Judith Perez |
| President, | President, |
| United Teachers Los Angeles | Associated Administrators of Los Angeles |
The following tweet is from a good friend who is an author, educator, and dedicated activist.
Darn it! #LAUSD Superintendent @DrDeasyLAUSD threatens to resign if Vladovic becomes Board Prez, then welches. http://t.co/wkqWPB42Lk
— Ban Torture (@BanTorture) July 8, 2013
Supt. John Deasy faces rocky relationship with new LAUSD president
Note comment No. 2 on @dianeravitch blog: Deasy Critic Wins L.A. Board Presidency http://t.co/U4l4DhQyYJ #LAUSD
— Ban Torture (@BanTorture) July 4, 2013