Change The LAUSD

It astounds veteran teachers.

It confuses parents trying to help their children.

It is longer and more complicated.

It appears to be out of Abbott and Costello meets The Three Stooges.

None of the school board members or the superintendents could do Math this way. 

Neither could principals, assistants or deans.

Math is a universal language; I have seen elementary students new to this country who don’t speak or read English do their Math problems.

“So why was the success of the surge followed by a withdrawal from Iraq, leaving not even the residual force that commanders and the joint chiefs knew was necessary?”

-Jeb Bush

Apparently, Iraq is not a subject that the Bush family discusses at family gatherings since they cannot seem to learn from their collective experiences. During the first Bush administration’s Gulf War, our quickly advancing troops stopped short of Baghdad because “we were concerned about the long-term balance of power at the head of the Gulf.” These concerns were lost on his son as W pushed for a second war in Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein without bothering to plan for its aftermath. The result was an insurgency that “greatly increased the spread of the Al Qaeda ideological virus.” In a second declaration of “mission accomplished,”  W signalled the approach of “a successful end” to the war by signing a Status of Forces Agreement that stated that “all the United States Forces shall withdraw from all Iraqi territory no later than December 31, 2011.” He said this withdrawal was “possible because of the success of the surge” and left “the next President with a stable foundation for the future.” Almost seven years later, Jeb, rhetorically asks why these troops left. Shouldn’t he just ask his brother the next time they have dinner?

They start testing and tracking the students in Kindergarten. Some of the students are still 4 years old. Kindergarten used to be about left and right, getting along with others, finger painting, singing and dancing, stories, and reading readiness for some. Now the students are tested and tracked, tested and tracked.

As wonderful and beloved as Common Core is, LAUSD has made it even better by providing schools with Common Core Coaches.

Truthfully, Common Core is loathed by educators who know better.

The Literacy Coaches (Open Court Police) and Math coaches were in most cases a waste of time and money.

Now here comes Common Core Coaches.

You wonder where your money went, when LAUSD decides how it's spent.

The large corporations have either purchased or forced the closure of the smaller competitors and have said goodbye to the mom and pop stores.

The banks have taken over the smaller banks and financial institutions so we just have colossal behemoths of finance.

The legislators, national and local, have been bought and paid for through campaign contributions and they listen to persuasive lobbyists.

The Brothers Rich are trying to buy a Republican Presidency through their selection process, influence, and contributions.

The cost of MiSIS is now $133 million. 

No one knows the costs of the iPad mess and the health costs to students who did not get air conditioning because the money was spent on iPads and WiFi enhancement.

The Food Services investigation is still taking place. What about the waste, loss of time, and heavy caloric foods of Breakfast in the Classroom?

How much has been spent on housing teachers in teacher jails and paying their substitutes?

What is the cost of the outside law firms and investigators?

Doing our best to waste your tax and bond money from Chatsworth to San Pedro, to mismanage our personnel from Sylmar to South Gate, to fail your children from Tujunga to Topanga, to serve them lousy food from the mountains to the sea--we are LAUSD.

• The great feeling a teacher experiences when a student’s light goes on when they acquire a skill they struggled with.
• The pleasure of sitting down on the rug and reading to or having a discussion with the class.
• The time to review a skill until everyone in the class has mastered it.
• The opportunity to sit and play a learning game with the children.
• Teachable moments.

Sure, go ahead and hold teachers accountable for test scores. Even attach their raises to the scores. Make it so they can be terminated; but wait.

Who holds the principals, assistant principals, and deans accountable? What about the downtown administrators, the superintendent and his assistants, the local administrators, and the school board members?

No one holds them accountable! The school board hires the superintendent. He and the school board hire his assistants. He and the school board select the downtown administrators and the local administrators who in turn choose and support the principals.

“I felt bad collecting my salary while being forced to sit home without doing the work.”

-David Binkle

Last December, David Binkle’s paid suspension was announced with typical LAUSD double speak. At the same time the press office was stating that he had “been temporarily reassigned pending the conclusion of an internal investigation into a CONFIDENTIAL personnel matter,” (emphasis mine) a leaked copy of the Inspector General’s draft audit stated that they “found that the program is currently at a minimum being mismanaged and at worst being consistently abused.” While the district initially stated that the investigation was likely to “wrap up in late spring or early summer,” last month they stated “they could not estimate when the investigation might be concluded.” In the meantime, Binkle was being paid his $152,000 salary not to work, a situation that was unfair to both Binkle and the taxpayers.

• Welcome back, I hope you all had a good summer.
• I know that you are anxious to get into your classrooms.
• There have been some changes, so me let me introduce your new staff members.
• Now you will sign the forms promising to report child abuse.
• Test scores. (Everybody groans)
• In and of itself, the test scores were a little up in some areas, a little flat in others, and lower in some.
• If you will turn towards the wall, our coordinator will show our scores with her analysis.  (Teachers start to draw, cutout, and prepare materials)