LA SCHOOLS-As the LAUSD Board of Education nears the target date for renewing the contract of Superintendent John Deasy, there are many things they must consider. Here are a DIRTY DOZEN issues which most teachers and UTLA recognize and report on, and which an angry public reinforces.
Board members, pay attention, before signing this inept administrator another year to mismanage the District.
Los Angeles Unified School District Management Failures and Consequences:
1. Failure to provide curriculum necessary for competitive four-year college and university admission requirements, resulting in lower college application and admission rates.
2. Failure to meet the needs of all students, resulting in fewer support services, such as counseling, guidance, college admission, transition from school to work to career, special programs.
3. Failures related to MiSiS technology, resulting in delayed scheduling of students into necessary coursework, errors in transcripts, student data, and grade point averages (critical for seniors applying for fall 2015 college admissions), chaotic opening of the 2104-15 school year, overwhelming and time-consuming efforts of counselors, faculty and staff to fix issues without any knowledgeable and concerted effort by the District to assist with system failures.
Reports suggest that Deasy knew of this potential failure from his own past experience, and was advised by IT not to rush this program into using it this term before it could be tested.
4. Failure to offer viable solutions to MISIS problems, resulting in a complete and widespread systemic breakdown affecting all District schools and staff.
5. Lack of District information and expertise in addressing curriculum guidelines, resulting in focus on "credit recovery", standardized testing preparation and scores, magnet programs (schools of choice) that affect home school enrollment and re-direct enrollment elsewhere.
6. Lip service paid only to quality school indicators, resulting in fewer Advanced Placement (AP) offerings, college preparatory electives and advanced sequential courses, thus actually focusing resources and personnel on basic graduation requirements, dispelling the District myth that all students have access to A-G UC/CSU college prep coursework.
7. Lack of foresight and cooperative long-term planning which benefit students, parents, and community, resulting in the sell-off of LAUSD schools and their ensuing abandonment to charter, private, independent, home, online and alternative schooling.
8. Lack of public confidence in the ability of District schools to meet the academic, interpersonal, and psycho-social needs of their children, resulting in turning to other outside voices.
9. Lack of school faculty and staff confidence in administration to support, problem-solve, and implement realistic change at individual schools.
10. Lack of communication among all parties, resulting in little or no information, as well as misinformation in order to keep both personnel and the public, ignorant and non-participatory, since they have only nominal say in school policies and procedures. The District and the BoE must operate with transparency, and they must be available to the public, the taxpayers, who foot all the bills and all the salaries.
11. Failure of administration to manage effectively due to their own personal motives and agendas and desire to control outcomes, resulting in curtailing constructive discussion, eliminating naysayers, ignoring self-governance, curriculum decisions, assessment and budget, perpetuating confusing academic standards, and limiting change from within.
12. Misuse of power as with firing or 'jailing' teachers of excellence such as Iris Stevenson, Choir Director at Crenshaw High School, (Crenshaw High choir director sentenced to Teacher Jail...by Betty Pleasant).
John Deasy seems not to have the personality or work skills to be able to assess programs, and people, without using haste, mendacity, and secrecy. According to the UTLA figures last year, 91% LAUSD teachers voted NO CONFIDENCE in Deasy, and as the public learns of his vast mismanagement, there is a public outcry for a new Superintendent to be hired.
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Many teachers and parents are suggesting the talents of Jackie Goldberg who is a longtime educator, and has been a legislator, to act as interim Superintendent while the BoE does a national search for a new full time Superintendent.
Jackie was trained at UC Berkeley and got her graduate degree at U. of Chicago. She taught in Compton for many years, and she also served as a member and as President of the LAUSD Board of Education. Most recently Jackie was a member of the LA City Council. She is highly respected Californian who truly knows education issues, the school District, and how to operate a large public organization.
The public and educators demand a highly trained, valid credentialed, person with classroom and administrative experience, but a person who has not bought into the pseudo- business training of the Broad Academy....no more 'Broadie' CEOS trying to run the District on a business model. Educating 650,000 LA children requires a true, proven, educator leader, who has no puppet strings attached.
(Ellen Lubic is Director of Joining Forces for Education and a public policy educator in Los Angeles. She is an occasional contributor to CityWatch. Diane DeBoer is a 32-year high school educator and college counselor.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 78
Pub: Sep 26, 2014
