Sunday, October 05, 2008

The news that doesn’t fit from October 5th

BATTLE BREWS OVER LAUSD LAND USE

By Melissa Pamer, Staff Writer | Daily Breeze

5 October 2008 --Los Angeles Unified has broken the rules, and San Pedro resident James Campeau is challenging its bureaucracy in an attempt to hold the school district accountable.

The site of his frustration -- and of LAUSD's transgression - is Point Fermin Elementary School, which encroaches about 25 feet onto Los Angeles city property, a few blocks from Campeau's home.

FROM RON KAYE….

Ron Kaye, former Daily News editor - a self-confessed anarchist who in the past seemed more wrong than right but now seems to be coming around (….or maybe 4LAKids is coming around …?) writes about his Saving LA Project (SLAP)/"Our LA": The effort to create a community-based movement to change the political culture of Los Angeles and reform City Hall is making steady progress.

THERE ARE NOT SEVEN WORDS YOU CAN’T SAY ON THE INTERNET ... and the linked-to video has two of them!Check this out if the LAUSD firewall saved you from the original posting!

It’s about the money #1 - LOS ANGELES CHARTER SCHOOL GROUP HAS BIG PLANS FOR SOUTH L.A.: Inner City Education Foundation aims to expand from 13 campuses to 35 in eight years.

By Mitchell Landsberg | Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 1, 2008 -- On its face, it's an ambitious plan: Expand one of Southern California's biggest charter groups from 13 to 35 schools in eight years until it becomes, in effect, the second-largest district in South Los Angeles.

But that's just the beginning.

Mike Piscal, the hard-charging founder of the Inner City Education Foundation, has a far more audacious goal than that. As he sees it, the expansion plan he is announcing today will lead to nothing less than the transformation of South L.A. "into a stable, economically vibrant community."

It’s about the money #2 – TEACHERS HAVE LITTLE REASON TO CRY POOR

By Steven Rosenberg | Staff writer LA Daily News

October 1, 2008 -- With jobs like mortgage broker, investment banker, stock analyst and others that once looked solid - and profitable - suddenly looking not so good in the wake of America's looming financial difficulties, a Daily News Special Report revealed what most of us already know despite heavy doses of conventional wisdom to the contrary.

SCHOOLS TEACHING HIGHER NUMBERS OF HOMELESS STUDENTS: School districts around the country are learning how to cope with more homeless students in their classrooms.

by Lindsey Chapman | findingDulcinea.com

Lindsey joined findingDulcinea in June of 2007. Previously, she worked for three years at an investment research firm, where she studied the energy industry, the stock market, and managed a small writing team. Lindsey also spent a short time as a legal assistant. She has a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Montana.

LAUSD PICKS UP TAB FOR OFFICIALS, SECURITY

by Eric Sondheimer - in LA Times City Section blog

In a big boost to City Section schools, the Los Angeles Unified School District has set aside $2.4 million to start reimbursing schools for expenses for officials and security at sporting events.

CAL STATE APPLICANTS SHOULD HURRY

LA Times Homeroom Blog 29 Sept./Print Edition 30 Sept.

In another sign of the nation's economic woes, fall 2009 freshman are being urged to apply early to California State University.

The application window opens this Wednesday. Because of state budget shortfalls, the system will not be able to absorb as much growth in enrollment as usual, officials said Monday, so laggards risk losing out on the campuses of their choice.

READING SHOULDN’T BE A NUMBERS GAME: Applying numerical ratings to books does nothing to help kids read better.

Opinion by Regina Powers | LA Times

September 30, 2008 -- School has started. I can tell because frazzled parents drag their embarrassed children up to the reference desk at my library to ask, "Where are the fifth-grade books? We need a 5.6 level that's worth at least 7 points."

I avoid frustrating both parties with an explanation of how the Dewey decimal system works, and ask the child, "What do you like to read?" The response from both adult and child is all too often a blank expression.

SIDE BY SIDE: McCain & Obama 0n Education

from the campaign websites

McCain on Education | Obama on Education

U.S. EDUCATION BUDGET ROILED BY FINANCIAL CRISIS

By Alyson Klein | Education Week

September 29, 2008 -- The result of the presidential election will likely help determine how much money education programs receive in the 2009 federal fiscal year, which begins this week. But a multi-billion-dollar federal plan to assist the financial markets may leave the next president with very little room for major increases for K-12 schools, perhaps for the foreseeable future.

Congress late last week approved a bill extending funding for most education programs and other parts of the federal budget at fiscal 2008 levels through March 6, when the new administration will have been in office for more than a month.

JOHNSON COMMUNITY DAY SCHOOL MOVES TO HOLLYWOOD: The South L.A. school gives troubled students a last chance. Staffers fear relocation will undermine its mission.

story By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 29, 2008  - For years, Johnson Community Day School has been the second, third or last chance for students kicked out of other middle and high schools. And many have thrived in a setting with small classes, counseling and close supervision to overcome truancy, drug use or brushes with the law.

But now Johnson itself is being booted.

ATTRITION HINDERS URBAN SCHOOL CHIEFS

LA Times | From the Associated Press

September 29, 2008 -- ST. LOUIS — St. Louis is looking for its eighth school superintendent since 2003. Kansas City, Mo., is on its 25th superintendent in 39 years.

Despite good salaries and plenty of perks, a recent study found that the average urban superintendent nationwide stays on the job only about three years -- which educators say isn't enough time to enact meaningful, long-lasting reform.

SYSTEMS, NOT SUPERHEROES

Crises create heroes.Clearly, the time has come to abandon the notion that “Superhero” leaders are the solution to all of our ills.Change can only occur with the buy-in of those involved in creating and carrying it out.

"There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with." Admiral William Frederick (Bull) Halsey Jr.

by Susan Tave Zelman, Ph.D. Superintendent of Public Instruction Ohio Department of Education Columbus, OH and Christopher T. Cross Chairman, Cross & Joftus, LLC Danville, CA from the Winter 2008 / Volume 4, No. 4 JOURNAL OF SCHOLARSHIP & PRACTICE of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS

SCHOOL GARDEN IS ALIVE WITH ENERGY

By George B. Sanchez, Staff Writer | LA Daily News

Sept 28, 2008 - NORTH HOLLYWOOD - There is a hidden garden near the intersection of the 101 and 170 freeways.

LAUSD TEACHERS THREATEN STRIKE + UTLA DECLARES AN IMPASSE IN CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

LAUSD teachers threaten strike

from KABC-TV Online

UTLA declares impasse in contract negotiations - No more District stalling!

Published on United Teachers Los Angeles

No comments: