LA’S SCHOOLS-To not note that this date, Sunday, December 7th, is the anniversary of that Date That Will Live in Infamy would be to forget.
Before that Sunday in 1941 the events of history were not so immediate. Sure, the generations previous probably remembered where they were and what they were doing when they heard the Titanic was lost or the archduke shot; when Lindy landed at Le Bourget.
But national consciousness had never been awakened so collectively, so immediately – in an instant everyone knew the world had changed. An entire generation of Americans was baptized in the moment in the fire of Pearl Harbor.
There have been similar moments, similar days of infamy since: Nov. 22nd, 1963. Sept 11, 2001. Oddly, I remember the dates and where-I-was+what-I-was-doing, but the days of the week are not so indelible. (Nov 22, 1963 was a Friday; it was Tuesday, September eleventh.)
My mother never forgot where she was and what she was doing on Dec. 7, 1941; my father remembers that Sunday still.
The winter sailing weekend in Newport, the slatting of the halyards against the wooden masts. Someone’s tinny radio crackles on the dock: "We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin..."
“Oh my God! …have you heard?”
Their memories become our memory; in remembering them we remember then. The circle is unbroken.
MONDAY THE FBI CAME TO CALL AT LAUSD BEAUDRY. To hear the story told it was a surprise, G-men on a raid, search warrants and badges flashed – a strike force of special agents seizing and boxing-up and carting-off evidence.
►KPCC: “The investigation came as a surprise to district officials and will delay the rollout of iPads to more students in the district.
“Superintendent Ramon Cortines said he first learned about the investigation when 20 boxes of documents were seized by FBI agents Monday afternoon.”
►LA Times: “The FBI visit surprised school officials, according to L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines.
“‘They stopped by late yesterday afternoon,’ Cortines said Tuesday. ‘I found out at 4:30 in the afternoon on Monday.’ Cortines said he then alerted the district's general counsel to notify the Board of Education.”
All very dramatic. In actuality it was all much more mundane.
I have written my share of screenplays; the creating of drama is stock-in-trade. Leave drama to the professionals: LAUSD is never in need of a prompt to take logos, pathos and ethos all the way to bathos.
This was not an FBI “fishing expedition”.
The subpoena for the material was issued to the LAUSD General Counsel nine days before on Friday, November 21st and was served no later than Monday November 24th. The subpoena didn’t just request the files, it actually described them:
“All originals and copies of all and any records and documents related to Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Request for Proposal 1118 (RFP 1118), The Common Core Technology Project (CCTP), Apple, Pearson Incorporated …”
and specified where they were:
“…that are located in Room 22-125 at 333 S. Beaudry Ave, Los Angeles CA 90017 in the LAUSD Office of Inspector General. “
“As a convenience to you, you can produce the demanded documents by mail or in person to Special Agent Liana M. Jensen …” And if there were any questions, the office and cell phone numbers of the FBI Special Agent in Charge were provided.
There was a request that the existence of the subpoena not be disclosed to outside parties – but that provision would not and could not have applied to the superintendent and/or board of education.
This wasn’t a federal raid; it was the transfer of files in the custody of the Inspector General to the U.S. Attorney.
In all likelihood the Federal Grand Jury didn’t delve into the files on Friday morning at 9:30 AM in Room 1346 on the 13th floor of the U.S. Courthouse. There’s a lot of cataloging and photocopying and the adminsitrivia of the mundane legal process remaining; there is homework to be done. Leads to be followed. Don’t expect indictments, perp walks and the issuance of orange jumpsuits any time soon. There was far too much urgency in the iPads for All initiative; I don’t expect the same from the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.
If this was a 60 Minutes story, it would be about iPads and MiSiS. It might even be about education and kids. Because it’s an FBI story it’s only about the iPads and the content.
●●●
QUOTE O’ TH’ WEEK (from LA School Report): “Andy Bowman, a spokesman for Apple, said the company declines to comment on anything that relates to LA Unified”.
●●●
ON FRIDAY MORNING I attended a breakfast hosted by the Tri-Cities Consortium, an AB86 collaboration of the Adult Ed divisions of Compton, Lynwood and Paramount School Districts with the Compton Community College District to work together to provide adult education, Career Tech Ed and higher education in those communities.
(Coincidentally, a Paramount USD teacher-turned-legislator was named chair of Assembly Ed this week: 20 YEAR TEACHER/FRESHMAN LEGISLATOR NAMED CHAIR OF ASSEMBLY ED COMMITTEE )
What we are seeing there – and in the other 70 AB 86 consortia, is a genuine paradigm shift, driven by the recession and changes in state education funding but motivated by true mutual interest, collaboration and a common interest in the common good. City officials, adult educators, college faculty and community groups – organized labor, chambers of commerce, veterans' advocates - local, county, state and federal governments: In the room, at the table and on the same page.
In the Tri-Cities this is an effort focused on “College Ready and Career Prepared” - neither as either/or nor ‘the first is preferable to the latter’…but rather in the clear realization that the first is one of multiple pathways to the latter. And that what was once K-12 Public Education now goes from preschool to post-doctoral study.
I heard the same joke repeated twice in the morning: “I went to college so I could afford to pay my plumber.” The second time it was “…my air conditioner repair person”- but it was an AC tech student telling the joke.
We heard from a community member who successfully benefitted from local adult ed and community college collaboration; from a young student who is currently attending a career tech program, and from Assembly Member Anthony Rendon who went from high school drop-out to GED to Community College and into the California State University and UC system – eventually getting his Ph.D. Without ever amassing more than $2500 in debt! The Hon. Mr. Rendon may just be the poster child for the California Master Plan for Education.
Former LAUSD Boardmember, Community College trustee and Assemblyman Warren Furitani put it all in perspective – and into the moment: The cases we are seeing all around us of Black men falling victim to police deadly force on the street are instances first+foremost of ignorance. Racism is ignorance. Fear-of-the-Other is ignorance, Violence is ignorance. Poverty in the end is a symptom-of, cause-of and perpetuator-of ignorance.
The remedy for ignorance is education. The possibility, opportunity, availability and accessibility of low-cost/high-quality education take the Travon Martins and Michael Browns and Eric Garners off the street. Education arms the George Zimmermans, Darren Wilsons and Daniel Pantaleos with better weapons than guns+chokeholds.
Black Lives Matter. Latino Lives Matter. Asian Lives Matter. White Lives Matter. Policemen’s Lives Matter …not because they are Black or Latino, or Asian or White or policemen …but because they are lives and Every Life Matters.
We the People. We Hold These Truths to be Self Evident ….and Among These are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Together. We. Can. Will. Must.
(Scott Folsom is a parent and parent leader in LAUSD. He is the former President of Los Angeles 10th District PTSA and represents PTA as Vice-chair the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. Scott is a member of the California State PTA Board on Managers. He blogs at the excellent 4 LA Kids … where this perspective was originally posted.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 99
Pub: Dec 9, 2014