Results tagged “LAUSD” from School Notebook

Three local Los Angeles Unified schools are among those where parents and members of the campus community may have purchased baked goods that were later recalled by a food supplier, the district said this week.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced July 10 that the company, Colorado-based Country Creations, was recalling frosting packets that were included with its braided bread and cinnamon rolls, which were sold as school fundraiser items last spring.

The frosting may be contaminated with salmonella, the FDA said. Consumers are urged to destroy any packets that have not been eaten.

The items were sold at three elementary schools in the South Bay: Lomita Math/Science Magnet, Westport Heights and Carson Street. Three other LAUSD campuses also held fundraisers with the frozen bread products.

The district was last week notified by the California Department of Education which campuses were affected by the recall. There have been no reports of illness, a district official said.

More information is available at the Country Creations website.

The California Department of Education on Monday released updated statistics on high school dropouts for the 2007-08 school year. The numbers showed significantly better performance for Los Angeles Unified campuses than earlier data that was released in May.

The new figures showed about 26.4 percent of district high schoolers were dropouts, down from previously reported 34.9 percent.

District officials said the new data showed 72.4 percent of high schoolers graduated, up 5.3 points from 2007. In a press release, Superintendent Ramon Cortines called the new numbers "good news."

Here are the new percentage results for South Bay campuses:
- Banning High: 24.0 (down from 36.3)
- Carson High: 20.7 (down from 29.1)
- Garden High: 29.1 (down from 40.0)
- Narbonne High: 28.0 (down from 42.5)
- San Pedro High: 32.4 (down from 42.3)
- Westchester High: 22.3 (down from 31.1)

Several other South Bay school districts showed small changes from the earlier reported dropout figures -- most notable El Segundo Unified. El Segundo High's rate dropped from an earlier-reported 6.2 percent to 4.3 percent. The data is available at DataQuest.

Hi folks, I just got back from a lovely 10-day vacation and am resuming normal posting.

Here's our first local item:

Construction of a new Los Angeles Unified high school that will cater to Carson students may continue unabated, following an appellate court decision last Thursday.

The city of Long Beach had argued that the school district did not adequately account for the impact of the new campus in a state-required environmental report. The 14-acre campus is being built just over the Carson border in Long Beach, in property that the district acquired several years ago. (That portion of Long Beach is within LAUSD boundaries.)

Long Beach last year appealed a Los Angeles Superior Court decision in the school district's favor -- a ruling that was affirmed last week by a three-judge panel of the Second District Court of Appeal.

The $145 million school, set to open in 2011 at the corner of Carson Street and Santa Fe Avenue, is expected to house about 1,800 students, relieving overcrowding at Carson and Banning high schools. Construction began in October.

In other news here at the Daily Breeze, our new full-time education reporter started today. Douglas Morino, a former Breeze intern, will be covering 10 local school districts in the South Bay.

We're very happy to have him. Doug will start posting here on School Notebook in coming days/weeks.

Make sure to read Breeze intern Kate Mather's story about positive goings on at 186th Street School in Harbor Gateway.

Students at the school have provided art work for "Colors of Love and Peace," a book designed to help children who are hospitalized. The Dalai Lama wrote a forward at the request of a San Pedran Fereidun Shokatfard, who initiated the project.

"It's just a true celebration of children encouraging other children to live, to thrive, to grow," (school Principal Marcia) Sidney-Reed said. "And to feel happiness. The colors are so bright and vibrant and beautiful - it just makes you feel happy inside."

About a month after financially troubled Los Angeles Unified announced it would cut most summer school offerings to save about $34 million, the district has announced what *will* be available.

Like most secondary campuses in the district, the six high school campuses in the South Bay and Harbor Area -- Banning, Carson, Gardena, Narbonne, San Pedro and Westchester -- will all have some classes. The courses offered are only for "credit recovery" -- graduation requirements, core classes and A-G classes.

The programs will run from July 6-August 14.

More detail, including programs offered by other agencies, from a district press release pasted below

United Teachers Los Angeles members have voted to hold a "work stoppage" on May 15 in protest of recent budget cuts in Los Angeles Unified School District.

In what the union billed as biggest UTLA ballot turnout in recent history, nearly 74 percent of 26,815 ballots supported the work stoppage. UTLA represents about 48,000 teachers in the district. Votes were tallied Thursday.

"This wasn't an easy decision for our teachers to make, but we were pushed into it by a superintendent who has decided to raise class size and bring chaos to schools even though the District has the money to maintain class sizes and avoid these layoffs," UTLA President A.J. Duffy said in a union press release.. "We have to stand up for our students because the District won't. But it's not too late -- we're calling on the superintendent and the School Board to change course and make the right decision for our schools."

The action comes after the Board of Education earlier this month approved laying off thousands of new teachers, administrators and aides in response to a looming $600 million budget gap. UTLA has said the district should use federal stimulus money to avert layoffs.

Earlier this week, the board backed away from a plan to ask legislators to make it easier to fire teachers.

*UPDATE: County health officials have confirmed that they are NOT investigating any flu cases in San Pedro. (Story)

Los Angeles Unified is saying that there are no clusters of swine flu-like symptoms in San Pedro area schools, in contrast to a statement issued earlier today by county health officials.

"I would like to clear up any misinformation about the report of a cluster in San Pedro," Dr. Kimberly Uyeda, the school district's head of student medical services, said today in a recently issued press release.

"Several sick children were sent to a school nurse at an elementary school however, all were cleared to stay in school. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also determined that no investigation was necessary."

Early this morning, a county press release stated: "The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is also investigating three possible flu clusters in three schools located in the Santa Clarita Valley and San Pedro. Laboratory results on these clusters are expected by the end of the week."

At a press conference this morning, county Chief Medical Office Jonathan Fielding would not say which school was potentially affected.

We at the Breeze know parents and students are very concerned and we're working now to get officials to clarify these conflicting statements.

Meanwhile, all LAUSD campuses are open and the district is not recommending parents take their children out of school.

Karen Saunders, who heads operations at Local District 8 schools (Harbor Area, Gardena, Lomita, Carson), said, "We do not have swine flu in our district."

She added: "People are panicking."

The morning statement from the Department of Public Health has caused a flurry of calls from media and parents to local schools and the school district, education officials said.

Non-LAUSD schools in San Pedro -- Mary Star of the Sea, Port of Los Angeles High School (technically an LAUSD charter), Holy Trinity Catholic School, Rolling Hills Prep -- said they had no reported symptoms and no students have been sent home.

It's still a couple of months until the new electeds replace two outgoing members of the LAUSD Board of Education, but longtime member Julie Korenstein is making parting gifts already.

Big-time gifts: She donated more than $300,000 to schools in her board district, which is in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The school district just sent out a press release on the donations, which come near the end of Korenstein's 22-year span on the board. She gave $320,000 to 122 schools, and $83,500 for "buses, field trips, computer software, classroom materials, serving carts parent and youth summits," according to the release.

Korenstein was known for maintaining a very small office staff to reduce costs to the school district. In July, she'll be replaced on the board by Nury Martinez, who's currently on the city of San Fernando council.

The Los Angeles school board heard budget-cut recommendations Tuesday from Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who didn't go for any sugar-coating.

"We are not going to be the same. I am not going to sit here and lie to you and say everything will the same," Cortines said. "Schools will suffer."

He later continued: "I would say that these (cuts) are not in the best interest of our children, but you don't have any choice. ... You tell me where to get the money to fill that bucket. I've taken everything I can take. What I am recommending negatively affects every aspect of this district."

The district, which has already this year cut $427 million from its $6 billion budget, needs to slice off another $140 million by the end of the year. In the 2009-10 school year, the district needs to cut $596 million -- and another $156 million in 2010-11, according to a presentation by district CFO Megan Reilly.

To reduce spending for next year's budget, Cortines had recommended laying off about 8,500 employees, including 3,600 teachers. His recommendations included:

--layoffs and reassignments of one-quarter of headquarters staff
--cutting in half the budgets of local district offices, which will be moved onto campuses
--layoffs of nearly 500 counselors
--increased class sizes across K-12
--one-day furloughs for all employees

Cortines said the avoidance of midyear cuts made more dramatic reductions now necessary. Board members will vote on his proposed cuts March 31.

Here's the take from Daily News reporter George Sanchez, who talked to some parents who protested outside the board meeting.

Also of note: Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez today continues his focus on local schools with a critical look at UTLA's 347-page contract, which requires the newest teachers to be laid off first, regardless of talent. (The teachers union and LAUSD came to a tentative contract extension through 2011 yesterday.)

The Board of Education voted today to make March 31 "Cesar E. Chavez Day" -- a paid holiday across Los Angeles Unified.

The board vote was marked by student comments and performances that celebrated the Mexican-American activist leader of farm workers. Students have marched in support of the holiday, and many walked out in 2007 (the same year as the massive immigration rally in downtown LA).

A board resolution from Yolie Flores Aguilar directed Superintendent Ramon Cortines to negotiate with unions to have Chavez Day replace Admissions Day or another paid holiday.

A 2000 state law established Chavez Day as a state holiday, authorizing schools to close for the day.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines will today present budget recommendations that include laying off nearly 8,400 employees and cutting valued programs, it's being reported.

With his budget update, Cortines will tell the Los Angeles Unified board that there is already a $140 million deficit for the current school year. He'll try to patch that up by shifting funds from categorical programs, according to an LAUSD memo to board members. (It's at the end of the meeting materials -- a big download.)

The potential closure of small campuses, including Sellery Special Education Center in Gardena will be discussed as part of Cortines' budget proposals today. A decision on that will be made next week, district officials said.

(To watch the meeting, which begins at 1 p.m., go here.)

Cortines' budget recommendations will include giving schools more freedom to use their own funding as campus administrators see fit. Making preliminary budget decision so early in the year means the district is "entering new waters," Cortines wrote. He wants decisions made early so that schools can plan to "buy back" eliminated jobs with freed-up funding.

He also notes: "[L]et me be clear, we will not be receiving enough federal stimulus funding to offset the reductions that we are facing from the State and there will be reductions in personnel at our schools."

In today's papers, the Daily News writer Connie Llanos reports that class sizes could increase under the plans -- up to 42 students per instructor in some high school classes.

The Los Angeles Times' Howard Blume writes that a dropout prevention program is on the chopping block. He writes that the budget crisis has given Cortines a an opportunity to make some reforms though a chance to "trim or gut some of the central bureaucracy."

"I'm dealing with a budget deficit over three years and five years. Not everybody will be saved, and," Cortines said, "everybody shouldn't be saved."

The first thing that struck me upon arriving at today's LAUSD board meeting -- where almost 9,000 initial layoff notices were on the agenda -- was the LA Schools Police officer with the handheld metal detector.

Every single parent, teacher, employee and journalist got the once-over with a wand before entering the board room. Wow.

Then, once the meeting began, board President Monica Garcia read a statement blaming the state budget for the votes board members were about to take.

"This year Sacramento put schools first in line on the chopping block and it will do it again in May," Garcia said.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines started his report on the cuts when United Teachers Los Angeles President A.J. Duffy approached the lectern, refusing to leave.

"What is going on here is a travesty," Duffy said, speaking over Garcia, who attempted to restore order.

Teachers, waving anti-layoff signs, chanted "We won't let you cut our future" and "Shame on you."

Garcia took the meeting to an adjacent room that's usually used for closed sessions.

(Board member Julie Korenstein, a big union supporter, stood looking sadly at the chanting audience with her hand on her heart. "Don't go, Julie!" union members chanted until she left.)

Then ... a verbal skirmish broke out between a set of well-dressed district mothers and Duffy.

"Why are they disrupting this to the point that we can't hear what's going on?" one mom cried. "This is about communication. You guys are preventing communication."

Teachers then went in for another round of chanting, led by UTLA organizer and Carson Councilman Mike Gipson: "You say cut back, we say fight back!"

What theater.

I went to the press room and then the cafeteria to watch the meeting at that point, leaving a board meeting room full of protesters.

Anyway, as you probably know by now, the board voted to send out the notices. Cortines stressed that he hoped he would not have to actually lay off the number of people who would receive preliminary notices.

Board member Yolie Flores Aguilar focused her anger at Sacramento: "This is what we have been handed by the state of California," she said. "there needs to be outrage, but the outrage is misplaced. It needs to be at the state level."

Much of the board debate centered on questions about seniority and "bumping rights," perhaps prompted by today's LA Times story on the cuts.

The district faces $718 million budget shortfall over the next 17 months. Through the end of the school year, the district has a negative $140 million balance, officials said.

NOTE: I was at the meeting to report on plans for a 128-unit apartment complex that may get built on the north end of Gardena High School's campus. It was approved, and I'll have more on that later this week.

Happy Monday! Here's some linkage, catching up from the weekend:

Torrance Unified officials found an unhappy surprise this morning: Four district vehicles had had their windshields smashed.

Vu has a story today about Mira Costa High's successful media arts program.

And ... all of the short items that ran on today's School Notebook page (in the paper) can be found here.

We also have some great photos from Point Vicente Elementary School's visit to White Point on Friday. It was part of an educational program run by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy.

My story ran on Saturday about the possible closure of LAUSD's Sellery Special Education Center in Gardena. In a related story, Connie Llanos at the Daily News writes about the potential shut-down of West Valley Special Education Center in Van Nuys, with some interesting background on special ed centers.

Officials have said the two campuses are the furthest along the path toward "consolidation." We should have an idea of how many other small campuses will be closed by the March 24 board meeting.

The Daily News' George Sanchez has a story about the nearly 9,000 layoff warnings that the LAUSD board will weigh on Tuesday.

Also Saturday, I reported on Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District's move to place a $165 parcel tax on the June 2 ballot. (* FYI: This tax would require a two-thirds approval to pass.)

L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez on Sunday wrote about administrators are asking parents for $1,000 (each) at his daughter's LAUSD elementary school in LAUSD.

If parents can come up with $327,000, the school will be able to keep three academic coaches who, among other things, take the pressure off teachers in the overcrowded fourth and fifth grades. It would also pay for P.E. coaches, three kindergarten aides, library resources, computer replacement and technology support.

As I heard the pitch, along with the testaments to Ivanhoe and how lucky we are to have a great school that's been a neighborhood institution since 1889 -- yes, I said 1889 -- I was thinking the same thing I thought when I heard the pitch a year ago:

We really are lucky, because the school is so good, and because many of us are able to fork over a little extra, even in a recession. But what about the vast majority of schools that aren't as good and don't have as many parents who can write checks?

The Los Angeles school district today published its agenda for the March 10 Board of Education meeting at which staff cuts will be weighed.

The board will decide whether the following groups should get notices that they may be laid off, effective June 30:

• 1,996 elementary school teachers


• 3,477 nonpermanent certificated teachers


• 498 support staff

The board will also vote to notify all administrators, supervisors, staff lawyers (and a few other Beaudry-type groups) that they "released or reassigned" in the 2009-10 school year.

Note: The agenda was sent to media, but hasn't been published online yet. When it is, it should be here.

Ben Austin, who last year was forced out of the race for the Los Angeles school board's Westside seat, has sued the political consultant he blamed when he was booted from the ballot.

Austin filed suit against Sue Burnside and her company Burnside & Associates on Tuesday -- election day -- alleging breach of oral contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

In the complaint, Austin calls himself the "leading candidate for a position on the Los Angeles School Board, who had already amassed a healthy war chest of campaign funds, and a 'who's who' list of endorsements."

Austin had been expected to be a front-runner for the seat that Steve Zimmer has apparently won. As head of Green Dot-affiliated Los Angeles Parents Union, Austin would have been a reform-focused candidate. He has said he expected the endorsement on L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- and the complaint states that he had the mayor's backing, among that of other heavy-hitters.

He alleges that Burnside farmed out signature-gathering work to Robert Urteaga, a consultant and Montebello councilman with a felony conviction who is currently the target of a recall campaign. The signatures were gathered in the incorrect board district, disqualifying Austin, Los Angeles officials have said.

"It was a stinging defeat that has tarnished the plaintiff's reputation," the complaint reads.

Urteaga, who according to the suit told Austin that he had in turn farmed out signatures gathering, was also a target of the suit. He could not immediately be reach for comment.

Burnside has said that Austin was not her client, she never agreed to a contract with him and has never met him.

"An independent contractor misrepresented himself - without my knowledge or approval - as an employee of Burnside & Associates when he agreed to collect the signatures for Mr. Austin," Burnside wrote in an email to friends and media when Austin was disqualified in December.

She said this morning that she had not been served with the complaint and thus would not comment on the lawsuit.

Austin is seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial.

Zimmer wrapped it up, with the generous help of United Teacher Los Angeles.

Unofficial results from the Los Angeles City Clerk show Zimmer with 56.13 percent to Mike Stryer's 43.87 percent in the election for Los Angeles Unified's Westside board seat.

Those figures do not include results from the city of West Hollywood or the small portions of Calabasas and Beverly Hills that vote in District 4. Los Angeles officials are also still counting provisional ballots, mail-in ballots that arrived on Tuesday and ballots with "snags."

In a post-mortem posted online this morning, the Los Aneles Times' Howard Blume takes a look at conflicts among the groups that supported Zimmer - especially UTLA, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the charter school contingent.

The union, in other words, accepted Zimmer's efforts to collect supporters whose priorities conflict with those of the union. With about 150 charter schools in Los Angeles -- and more on the way -- Zimmer was responding to a new political reality.

"In this campaign, every time someone would come on board, it would send some shock waves to other folks," Zimmer said, "because they weren't folks that usually worked together. But if this district is going to make it, everybody has got to pull together."

On this round, the real political tug of war was destined not to occur at the ballot box but in the aftermath.

In the race to replace Marlene Canter on Los Angeles Unified's Board of Education, Steve Zimmer is leading by about 19 percentage points in early results.

Zimmer was bolstered by some $287,000 in independent spending on his behalf by United Teachers Los Angeles.

He sounded both exuberant and exhausted on the phone tonight. "It's going to be a long night," he said.

It's certainly not over yet. Zimmer's lead has narrowed with each new report since the first results came out around 8:45 p.m.

His opponent, Mike Stryer, wasn't ready to give up, saying he wouldn't comment until more numbers were released.

Follow the results from the Los Angeles City Clerk here.

*In the last dispatch of the night, I want to note that Stryer continues to close the gap. The eighth update from L.A. shows him with 42.5 percent and Zimmer with 57.5 percent. It's hard to know what percentage of the votes are in since the city doesn't break the school board districts down by precinct.

Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines has not ruled out teacher layoffs as the school district seeks to close a nearly $900 million budget gap through the next school year.

Cortines spoke to board members at a special meeting today that focused on the district's dire financial situation. LAUSD faces a $894 million budget deficit for this year and the 2009-2010 school year.

"We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of these cuts on classrooms but the severity of the current situation requires us to look at everything," Cortines said in a statement issued by the school district after the meeting.

CFO Megan Reilly said the district was "in survival mode."

Cortines said he would cut from administration first, with a planned 30 to 50 percent cut to Beaudry (the district's downtown headquarters) and the eight local district offices. Maintenance, custodial services and transportation could also be cut.

In a list of possible cuts, Cortines offered this final bullet point: "Potential reduction in some educational programs."

The superintendent said earlier this year that the district would not cut teaching staff, but that was before state legislators passed a budget that cuts more than $10 billion from education. Districts are struggling to respond, both in the South Bay and across the region and state.

Federal stimulus funds won't be enough to fill budget holes, education officials say.

The Board of Education will vote on layoffs and cuts March 10.

Students at Barton Hill Elementary School in San Pedro were joined by members of the U.S. Coast Guard in painting a mural on campus today.

The campus was adopted three years ago by the San Pedro-based Coast Guard units through the military's Partnership in Education -- a tutoring, mentoring and outreach program that was founded in 2001.

Local officers prepped the Coast Guard-themed mural yesterday and finished up today, the service branch announced in a press release.

KPCC's Larry Mantle this morning hosted Mike Stryer and Steve Zimmer on "Air Talk."

The two are vying to replace Marlene Canter representing District 4 on the Los Angeles Unified school board.

The 17-minute segment focused on district finances, their impact on the classroom, the candidates' endorsements, the superintendent's role, and reform (of course).

*Also noted, both candidates were asked at the end of the segment if they had children in the district. Zimmer stated he is not a parent. Stryer said he has two kids that "were at Marquez Elementary Charter School," a campus in Pacific Palisades that was one of LAUSD's first charters and is a California Distinguished School. Stryer did not add that his children, now beyond their elementary years, currently attend private schools.