March 2010 Archives

Ben Austin, the reformer who got kicked out of the race for what is now Steve Zimmer's Westside LAUSD board seat, has been nominated for the State Board of Education.

Howard Times has more in the L.A. Times' news blog.

Austin is the executive director of the pro- charter Parent Revolution, and a big proponent of the "parent trigger," legislation that will help parents turn public schools into charters.

Last year, Austin's political consultant gathered signatures in the wrong board district, making him ineligible to run for the seat. (My posts from last year have more background.)

*He was appointed. An email he sent to the Parent Revolution's email list is after the jump.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today voted to ask LAUSD to allow students who have transferred to public schools out of the district to finish their education in other school districts.

From City New Service:

LOS ANGELES -The Board of Supervisors today sought to modify a plan by the Los Angeles Unified School District to cancel "interdistrict permits," which enable students who live within LAUSD boundaries to go to schools in other districts.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said students should be allowed to finish out their education at their current elementary, middle or high schools before being forced to attend an LAUSD school.

The district should "do this rationally, in a phased-in approach," rather than canceling all transfer permits summarily, Yaroslavsky said.

As proposed by the LAUSD, students enrolled outside the LAUSD would have to transfer to LAUSD schools this summer, unless they have less a year left to graduation or promotion to the next level of schooling.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines and the LAUSD Board of Education are hoping that canceling interdistrict permits will save about $51 million in state funding.

The change is expected to affect about 80 percent of the 12,000-plus students granted interdistrict permits. In Torrance alone, 2,169 students attend school under the transfer permits.

But Yaroslavsky said the LAUSD's gain will be a revenue loss to other districts, calling it a "zero-sum game."

The board voted unanimously to send a letter to the LAUSD asking for the change.

I recently wrote about Hawthorne High School's International Business Academy and a competition in NYC students were preparing to attend. Well, they've returned. Here's the press release from the Centinela Valley Union High School District:

The Hawthorne High School International Business Academy returned after competing in New York City against students from Austria, Canada, China, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia, Great Britain, Indonesia, Spain, Sweden, Italy, and Romania. The team won 4th Place at New York's International Virtual Enterprise for Best E-Commerce Website with video. There were over 230 E-Commerce website submissions worldwide.

More than 3,000 Young Business Leaders from 30 countries presented their businesses at the 13th Annual Virtual Enterprise Trade Fair. The fair is an opportunity for students to exhibit and sell virtual products and services through virtual businesses in a competitive marketplace with their local and global colleagues and peers. "We believe that high school students can best be prepared for whatever comes next with a rigorous curriculum that includes increasingly more challenging work and a program like Virtual Enterprises, which offers a truly hands-on experience in the work of business," said Peter C. Davis, president of McGraw-Hill Education. "Combine academic achievement with strong performance in this program and you've got a recipe for success in any career in the 21st Century's knowledge economy." Virtual Enterprises International was launched in New York City public schools in 1996 to develop future business leaders. There are now 500 schools offering Virtual Enterprise programs representing 11,500 students.

Hawthorne High School's School of International Business is one of the newest Small Learning Communities in Centinela Valley Union High School District. Other academies at Hawthorne include: School of Engineering, School of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Criminal Justice, and School of Info Tech. Other academies that Centinela students can choose from are: Environmental Careers, Multimedia Careers Academy (Leuzinger High School); Academy of Media Arts, Biomedical Careers, Marine Science Academy (Lawndale High School).

The Comedy and Magic Club will be donating 100 percent of ticket sales Wednesday to the Yukon Elementary Academic Alliance to help support educational programs at the Torrance Unified school. Tickets are $12, plus a $2 service charge. Tickets can be purchased by calling 310-372-1193 or online at http://www.symfonee.com/comedymagic/reservations/StepCheck.aspx. The refrence code is YES. The Comedy and Magic club is located at 1018 Hermosa Ave. in Hermosa Beach. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

President Obama signed a bill today that will reform the student loan industry. The legislation, approved by Congress last week, will oust commercial banks from most of the federal student loan market, which will now be overseen by an expanded direct-lending program by the government.

The bill also calls for increased funding for the Pell Grant Program and the revamp was included in the final health care package sent to the President. The student loan legislation has been a major focus point of Obama's education reform agenda. The change will not affect any loans made before July 1. Banks will be allowed to continue to make private, non-guaranteed college loans, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

At an 11 a.m. press conference today, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines and union leaders are announcing a deal that will preserve teacher jobs and prevent class-size increases, saving the financially beleaguered school district $140 million.

Under a tentative agreement reached by negotiators for the district, United Teachers Los Angeles and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, teachers and administrators will take five unpaid furlough days *this school year*. They'll take seven furlough days in the 2010-11 school year.

The agreement must still be ratified by members of both unions. It would save 1,825 teacher jobs, preserving current class sizes for grades K-8.

From LAUSD's press release: "In addition, LAUSD will restore a number of the nurses, counselors, librarians, and Regional Occupational Center-Regional Occupational Program instructors who were slated to be laid off on June 30, saving an estimated 284 positions. Under the AALA agreement, more than 100 school-based administrator positions will be restored."

The announcement is being made at UTLA's Wilshire Boulevard headquarters.

Full release, with info about furlough days already taken by other classes of employees, after the jump.

Los Angeles Unified School District board member Steve Zimmer's office on Thursday began sending out a response to constituent questions about inter-district transfers. The e-mail response explains the goal of his resolution: to exempt current high-school students only.

Zimmer, who represents the Westside and western San Fernando Valley, says he has heard the frustration of parents who want to continue to obtain permits to transfer their children to other, typically higher-achieving school districts. But, he said, financial pressures necessitate the move.

He also responds to "very ugly private feelings about LAUSD" that have been revealed by debate over the permit issue.

The text of the response is below:

To the Concerned Families of School Board District 4 and Beyond,

After careful consideration and weighing of priorities, I have introduced a resolution to limit the potential disruption to students caused by LAUSD's new policies regarding inter-district transfers.  The resolution will come before the Board on Tuesday, April 6.  Per our board rules, seven speakers will be allowed to present their concerns in the meeting.  If passed, the resolution will exempt all current high school students from permit cancellation. It also specifies that LAUSD staff should consider whether there is a viable LAUSD program for students who are presently enrolled in specialized programs when hearing appeals.

The goal of my resolution is to address very specific groups of students who would be materially damaged by permit cancellation. I recognize this resolution will not address everyone's needs. I have been the leading voice on the Board insisting that the Superintendent raise revenue to address our financial crisis. I support this and all of his efforts to offset the devastating cuts facing the children in our district. I have heard your voices of outrage and desperation. But I need you to understand there is outrage and desperation everywhere. We face the worst financial crisis since the depression--no one is out of harm's way.  I do care about your family and your child. But I also care about families and children in East Hollywood, Mar Vista and in the West Valley who have invested in LAUSD and do not deserve to be in classes that have almost 40 children to every teacher.

This permit issue has brought some very ugly private feelings about LAUSD and our students into the full light of day. It is one thing to advocate for the needs of your children. The outrage and widespread panic over a potential return to our schools is another thing entirely. It is not necessary to disparage schools, denigrate staff and belittle children in the name of advocacy. There is a place for a reasoned conversation about the problems in LAUSD. But what is happening here is neither reasoned nor a conversation.

Please know that if I continue to I continue to receive letters and emails disparaging (directly and indirectly) our schools and our children, I will withdraw this resolution.

Respectfully,

Steve Zimmer
Board Member District 4
Los Angeles Unified School District

A lot has been happening in the media and among parents over the inter-district permit situation in Los Angeles Unified School District.

I have a list of links to some other media stories after the jump, but first, an update on some action at the board meeting this week.

As you probably know, LAUSD plans to severely restrict the number of permits -- currently 12,249 -- it gives out to students to attend public campuses in other school districts. Many of those kids attend South Bay schools.

We had a big story on this earlier this month, and we followed up with the news that board member Steve Zimmer has a resolution that would exempt current high-schoolers. That resolution, which now has the support of Tamar Galatzan as well, will likely come to the board on April 6.

The issue came up at this week's board meeting too, causing a bit of a scene during the public comment section of the event.

More than a dozen parents came forward to plead with the board -- sometimes tearfully -- to let their children stay in outside schools.

The first parent to speak, who gave his name as Mark Milinch (not sure on the spelling), said his daughter would lose the opportunities she currently has the Spanish language immersion program at Edison Language Academy in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified.

"We will have to scramble to get her into a second-class high school," Milinch said. "Her chances of getting into universities are profoundly diminished ... I know that you do this with knowing disregard for the harm that you cause her."

His comments caused an angry outburst from board member Richard Vladovic, who represents the Harbor Area. Noting "how arrogant a parent can sound," Vladovic defended LAUSD schools, saying he and his children had attended them.

"To diminish and degrade our district is unconscionable to me. I will never, never accept that," Vladovic said. "I won't listen to it."

He rose to leave the dais, yelling, "You know how I'm going to vote now! Thank you, sir!"

After that, other parents came forward.

Some complained about the timing of the policy change, which was made quietly last month -- after the deadline had passed to apply for district magnet programs. Others said they had applied to the notoriously difficult-to-navigate magnet system in the past and been unable to get their children in, or that they had lost magnet "points" because they had left the district.

But most said they could not find LAUSD programs comparable to those in other districts, notably language immersion instruction.

One parent said she supported public education but wanted her child to stay at Edison.

"We want to be in LAUSD ... We're Democrats, we're liberals, we want to support our local school system," she said.

She asked for an exemption specifically for Edison, which gets about half of its students from outside Santa Monica.

At the end of the public comment, board President Monica Garcia thanked parents.

KPCC's Adolfo Guzman-Lopez had a story that included comments from the meeting.

After the jump are some more links on the issue.

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines is not happy with the complicated methodology used by the state Department of Education to determine a list of the lowest 5 percent of "persistently low-achieving schools."

In a March 18 letter to members of the State Board of Education and Education Secretary Bonnie Reiss, Cortines called the list "an embarrassment to the district and the state."

His frustration? LAUSD has seriously low-achieving schools that were left off the list, while some not-so-bad campuses -- such as Carson High School -- made it on. That's just what his special assistant Sharon Robinson told me when we talked last week about Carson's addition to the list, which now includes 31 LAUSD campuses.

The list was finalized at a state board meeting March 11 where several schools were swapped out (and where Carson High was added).

The 188 schools named are eligible for between $50,000 and $2 million in federal stimulus funding, but they must complete one of four fairly drastic interventions. Options include shutting down completely, reopening as a charter, firing at least half the staff and the principal, or replacing the principal and embracing less specific educational reforms.

Cortines, who heads the largest district in the state and is certainly not alone in his complaints about the state's methodology, sent state officials a list of 28 schools that he believes should be targeted by the initiative. Carson High is not on his list.

Cortines did keep Gardena High -- which was also named to the lowest-achieving 5 percent -- on his own recommended list.

He requested a review of the process for creating the list. You can look at a PDF of his letter here.

From the Associated Press:

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- A struggling Georgia high school plans to fire its entire staff in an effort to avoid being taken over by the state.

Savannah-Chatham County schools spokeswoman Karla Redditte (REHD-iht) said Thursday superintendent Thomas Lockamy met with teachers and staff at Beach High School to tell them about the plan.

Employees are being told that they may reapply for their jobs. The same number of positions will be available but only half of the teachers can be rehired under federal education law. It makes the school eligible for up to $6 million in federal grants.

A similar action at a high school in Rhode Island prompted outrage from the teachers' union and anger at President Barack Obama when he said he supported the move.

It turns out the young girl who last week reported an attempted abduction at Mira Catalina Elementary School in RPV was making the story up.

Parents should get a notification e-mail from the school today.

The event in the upscale residential neighborhood caused a bit of a frenzy among parents -- and among news media.

Our update is here.

In case you missed the article in today's Daily Breeze, here's another version from our sister paper, the San Jose Mercury News.

The announcement comes as the system grapples with historic cuts to state funding.

Declaring a fiscal emergency, University of California experts Tuesday proposed a set of financial remedies that would alter the cost, size, shape and business practices of the world-renowned educational system.

Their ideas, presented to a meeting of the university's Commission on the Future at UC San Francisco's Mission Bay center, included simple administrative efficiencies and controversial measures such as three-year degrees, online education, increased slots for out-of-state students, greater private fundraising and further fee increases.

"We are trying to find a way to move to a new reality of ever-declining state support," said UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal, who is leading the review of the size and shape of UC. "We are trying to find some solutions that can maintain quality and continue to provide access to every student in California."

Over the next two months, the commission will seek feedback on these ideas from faculty, staff, students and the public. Formal recommendations to the UC regents will be made in July.

Commission Co-chairman and UC regents President Russell Gould urged consideration of all ideas, saying, "The funding gap is so large and so fundamental that for us to be timid about this -- that's no way to make progress. There is no silver bullet to make it all well."

Despite recent protests and fiscal appeals to Sacramento, Gould said the state's deficit made him doubtful that UC could get

enough money from Sacramento to close its $237 million budget gap and urged commission members to look elsewhere for money.

"I am convinced, more than ever, we have a financial imperative to look at options of how we operate. I've watched what is going on in Sacramento, and it does not give me great confidence that we're on our way to a solution that is good to UC," he said.

In public testimony that often turned acrimonious, UC workers and students voiced their opposition to administrative salaries, campus cutbacks and increased tuition. At the close of testimony, the crowd erupted in chants and yelling, urging greater funding for the university.

"Increasing public funding is an achievable goal," said Julian Posadas, a UC Santa Cruz food service worker and vice president of AFSCME Local 3299. "Returning state support and student fee levels to 2001 levels would cost the median taxpayer just $32 annually per household."

Working groups' proposals to the commission included:

An increase in the number of out-of-state undergraduate students, perhaps doubling the number to 15,200 from 7,600. Each nonresident student contributes about $12,900 in resources above educational costs. They would be accommodated through a reduction in the size of the current student body.

Creation of a new pathway for undergraduate students to complete degrees in three years. This accelerated degree would be available only to students who arrive at UC with many Advanced Placement credits.

Design of a pilot program for online education. Students might take these online classes before enrolling or could take classes from different campuses. This would help ease overcrowding in the classroom.

Increase fees from 5 percent to 15 percent -- but adopt a multiyear fee schedule for incoming students so families could better plan for the costs.

Better recover the costs of research. While the federal government is charged for the costs incurred by UC labs doing federal research, the state is charged far less for UC research.

$637 million in funding cuts

$155 million in student enrollment "" not supported by the state

$213 million in unfunded costs over a two-year period for utilities, employee health benefits and other unavoidable inflationary costs.

Carson High and LAUSD's local district office in Gardena are inviting parents to a set of workshops this Thursday.

A school official emailed me to say that only 27 parents had signed up last week, even though more than 5,500 invitations had been sent out to parents of current students and incoming eighth graders. So there should be plenty of space left!

The event, from the school and Local District 8 GEAR, is the first-ever Parent Empowerment Workshop.

Refreshments and registration will begin at 5:00 p.m. Parents will have the opportunity to attend three 30-minute workshops throughout the evening. Free childcare will be provided and a raffle will be held, with prizes including $250 worth of $25 gas cards, $75 worth of $25 Home Depot cards and other items. RSVP and receive an extra raffle ticket.

Call 310-354-3467 to reserve workshop spaces.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District's science fair will be held at the South Coast Botanic Garden this Thursday. Public viewing is from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., with an awards ceremony to follow.

More than 100 high school students will display their research in a variety of areas of science in math.

Research students who have won awards at the local, state, national and international competitions will be competing to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose in May.

The garden is at 26300 Crenshaw Blvd., in the unincorporated area of The Hill.

Here's a fun item for the Gardena High community this week. I accidentally missed getting this into our Monday School Notebook section in the paper this week.

From Jacquie Augustus, assistant principal for student activities:

The Senior Class of 2010 at Gardena High School will present "Gardena's Got Talent" in their very own "Gar Auditorium." This program, inspirited by American Idol, will present the top talented students in the senior class. It will showcase, vocalist, spoken word, Rap, Musicians and Dance! The event will showcase the amazing talent that our school holds, as will it display the extraordinary talents of our media arts students and our stage design classes. Our student run crew, under the guidance of Michael Brooks, have proceeded to wow even those in the professional realms with their keen use of resources and acquired knowledge comparable only to those of the college, and professional world. The Senior Class under the guidance of their advisor Michael Collins, and Assistant Principal over activities have produced the show.

Please come out and help support the senior class of 2010 at Gardena High School and see this fabulous show!

What: "GARDENA'S GOT TALENT

Where: Gardena High School; 1301 West 182nd St., Gardena, Ca.

When: March 25, 2010 @ 5:30

Tickets: $5.00 pre sale at the ticket booth & $8.00 at the door.

A man walked onto the campus of Mira Catalina Elementary School in Rancho Palos Verdes Thursday afternoon and tried to kidnap a 10-year-old girl as she was walking out of the school's restroom, police said.

Here's the sketch. He's white, 20 to 30 yers old, about 5 feet 6 inches tall with spiky brown hair.

The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information should contact the Lomita sheriff's station at 310-539-1661.

This will no doubt spur debate.

From the Associated Press:

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Fresno City College administrators say a science
instructor violated a campus anti-discrimination policy when he told students that homosexuality is a mental disorder.

Christopher Villa, vice president of student services, reported the findings last week in a letter to three students who had lodged complaints against health sciences instructor Bradley Lopez. The campus' student newspaper published Villa's letter Wednesday.

Villa says instructors are free to offer opinions that may offend students or be at odds with other professionals. But, he says, Lopez crossed the line and created "a hostile learning
environment" by making "insulting comments directed at a group based on sexual orientation."

Villa wrote that the college "will take appropriate action" to address the violations. School
officials declined to elaborate.

From the Associated Press:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A new report is showing that California community college students are missing out on as much as $500 million in unclaimed federal aid.

Officials with the nonprofit Institute for College Access and Success in Berkeley say Wednesday's report shows about 500,000 of the 2.9 million community college students in California could be eligible for a Pell Grant.

Each student could get from $400 to $5,350 to help cover expenses at a time of severe budget cuts and rising student fees.

But the report says California students are applying at a lower rate than students from other states. Some students say they don't know about the grant; others say they find the application process too complicated.

Community college officials say federal policymakers are working to help streamline the
process.

Following our story and follow-up on Los Angeles Unified's quiet plans to limit the ability of students to leave the school district and transfer to other public campuses, LAUSD has released an official announcement of the new policy.

The move will save the district $51 million, Superintendent Ramon Cortines estimates. He's trying to close a $640 million budget gap.

But the new policy has angered thousands of parents who blanch at the thought of sending their children to neighborhood LAUSD campuses. Many of the 12,249 kids on inter-district permits go to South Bay schools.

The full press release is after the jump.

Last week we got word about the death of a Mira Costa High School student. We were soon on the phone with school district and police officials. After getting details of the incident, we decided not to run anything. Here's why -

From police reporter Larry Altman:

A reader asked me Tuesday why the Daily Breeze did not cover the March 10 death of a Mira Costa High School student from Redondo Beach. Another local online media outlet did, although the story did not state how the student died.

Obviously, the sudden death of a 17-year-old boy has affected the Mira Costa student body. Principal Julie Ruisinger e-mailed parents about the boy's death and made counselors available to grieving students and faculty. She did not say how he died.

"At the present, we have very limited information," Ruisinger wrote.

Although I have information from police and the coroner's office about what happened, I didn't write a story because this teen committed suicide at home. The Daily Breeze doesn't have a rigid policy, but our general practice is to not cover suicides that occur privately.

Sometimes we do publish stories about private suicides in the paper. Many years ago, a Torrance teenager killed himself within days of leading his Little League team to a national victory. I covered the story and even went to the funeral. The story unfortunately brought pain to his family.

I've been thinking about this latest death. There's a part of me that thinks I should write a story because of the impact his loss has had on campus. And there's definitely a story behind why someone so young would take such an action.

But so far, we'll stick to the practice of leaving it alone.

Here's a story about a baseball player. A good one. Ubaldo Jimenez learned how to play ball on a dirt field, with nothing more than a few friends, a rock wrapped in socks and a tree branch. Now, the 26-year-old Dominican pitches for the Colorado Rockies and makes millions. His fastball consistently hits 96 miles per hour, the highest velocity in the major leagues. He is a contender for the Cy Young Award, the highest honor given to a Major League Pitcher.

You're no doubt wondering where this fits in on the School Notebook Blog. When he was 16, Jimenez turned down a signing bonus of $20,000 offered by the New York Mets so he could finish his education, a rarity in the Dominican Republic.

From Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports:

His father, Ubaldo Sr., drove a city bus. His mother, Ramona, worked as a nurse. In the impoverished Dominican Republic, this was life-changing money, the sort nobody turns down.

"My parents said no," Jimenez said. "They didn't want me to sign until I finished high school. I always respected my parents, and I knew it was for my own good, so I didn't sign. I always figured I was going to be a doctor anyway."

Today, the Colorado Rockies hurler throws a baseball harder than every other starter in the major leagues, and his nonpareil arm isn't nearly his most intriguing aspect. That would be who Jimenez is in spite of - and perhaps because of - where he grew up.

The Dominican is an educational wasteland. Less than half the country's children attend high school, and a significantly lower number graduates. The country spends a little more than 2 percent of its gross domestic product on public education, about 60 percent less than the United States. The culture swallows up generations of youth, and the poverty cycle continues unabated.

Baseball offers an escape for boys who now see that more than 10 percent of Major League Baseball players are of Dominican descent, and so it's nothing for a buscon - a talent agent of sorts - to snatch a 12-year-old out of school, place him in a baseball academy for four years and farm him out to teams as a 16-year-old international free agent. Though no official statistics are kept on high-school graduation among Dominican players, it's safe to say at most a handful of the 128 who played in the major leagues last year earned a diploma.

Nearly 22,000 teachers and other public school employees received pink slips by Monday's deadline.

The layoff notices are considered preliminary and final notices will be sent May 15, though not everyone who received a March notice will be laid off. Last year, 60 percent of the 26,000 teachers who received pink slips ended up losing their jobs.

From the Associated Press:

The state's public schools employ nearly 307,000 K-12 teachers, according to the state Department of Education. About 7 percent of those teachers have received pink slips.

The layoff figures do not include classified school employees such as bus drivers, maintenance workers and cafeteria staff. School districts have 45 days to issue pink slips to those workers, and as many as 10,000 could be facing unemployment, O'Connell said.

Education advocates say Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature have made the job situation worse through their attempts to plug the state's $20 billion budget deficit.

Last night, the Kansas City school board narrowly approved a proposal to close 29 of the district's 61 campuses. That's right - Half. of. their. schools.

Parents, understandably, are angry. The decision is expected to eliminate about 700 of the district's 3,000 jobs, including 285 teachers. Last year, Detroit closed 29 schools.

From the Associated Press:

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH -

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City School Superintendent John Covington says the decision to close almost half the district's schools was difficult and painful but "unquestionably the right thing to do."

The Kansas City school board voted 5-4 Wednesday night to close 29 of the district's 61 schools in an effort to stave off bankruptcy. The schools will close at the end of the school year.

During a news conference Thursday, Covington thanked the board for its vote. He said the district was spreading itself too thin by educating less than 18,000 students in 61 schools.

Despite the close vote, Covington says he's confident the board and district administration could work together to complete the massive restructuring, which includes laying off 700 employees, including about 285 teachers.

AP's earlier story is below.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Facing potential bankruptcy, the board that governs the once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is taking the unusual and contentious step of shuttering almost half its schools.

Administrators say the closures are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case. The Kansas City school board narrowly approved the plan to close 29 out of 61 schools Wednesday night at a meeting packed with angry parents. The schools will close at the end of the school year.

Although other districts nationwide are considering closures as the recession ravages their budgets, Kansas City's plan is striking. In rapidly shrinking Detroit, 29 schools closed before classes began this fall, but that still left the district with 172 schools. Most other districts are closing just one or two schools.

Emotional board member Duane Kelly told the crowd of more than 200 people Wednesday night, "This is the most painful vote I have ever cast" in 10 years on the board. Some chanted for the removal of the superintendent, while one woman asked the crowd, "Is anyone else ready to homeschool their children?"

Kansas City Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks said the closure plan had prompted some housing developers to consider backing out of projects.

"The urban core has suffered white flight post-the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. the Board of Education, blockbusting by the real estate industry, redlining by banks and other financial institutions, retail and grocery store abandonment," Brooks said to applause from the standing-room-only crowd.

"And now the public education system is aiding and abetting in the economic demise of our school district," she said. "It is shameful and sinful."

Under the approved plan, teachers at six other low-performing schools will be required to reapply for their jobs, and the district will try to sell its downtown central office. It also is expected to cut about 700 of the district's 3,000 jobs, including about 285 teachers.

District officials face dozens of issues as they begin the massive job of downsizing the district -- reworking school bus routes, figuring out what to do with vacant buildings and slashing its payroll.

Superintendent John Covington has spent the past month making the case to sometimes angry groups of parents and students that the closures are necessary.

Once the district had enough desegregation money to build such amenities as an Olympic-sized swimming pool. But the effort to use upscale facilities and programs to lure in students from the suburbs never worked quite as planned.

Covington has stressed that the district's buildings are only half-full as its population has plummeted amid political squabbling and chronically abysmal test scores. The district's enrollment of fewer than 18,000 students is about half of what the schools had a decade ago and just a quarter of its peak in the late 1960s.

Many students have left for publicly funded charter schools, private and parochial schools and the suburbs. The school district also isn't the only one serving students in Kansas City; several smaller ones operate in the city's boundaries.

Covington has blamed previous administrations for failing to close schools as the enrollment -- and the money that comes with it -- shrank. Past school closure plans were either scaled back or scrapped entirely.

Administrators warned that without the cuts, the district would have been in the red by 2011.

"None of us liked voting for this," board member and former desegregation attorney Arthur Benson said, "but it was necessary."

Pictured above, from left to right, are: El Segundo Middle School Principal Renee DeVore, Center Street School Principal Marisa Janicek, Richmond Street School Principal Dickie Van Breene, Jayne Pimlott and Michele Rogers, of the El Segundo Education Foundation, Chevron's Lily Craig,Richard Lundquist and Chris Sherrill of the El Segundo Education Foundation and El Segundo High School Princpial Jim Garza.

(Photo courtesy of El Segundo Unified School District)

Got this press release today from Janice Hickey, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for El Segundo Unified:

For the community of El Segundo the saying "when the going gets tough the tough get going" really resonates. Tuesday night at the El Segundo Unified School District School Board Meeting the El Segundo Educational Foundation made a startling announcement - in a good way - when Community Giving Chair Mrs. Chris Sherrill announced the amount of dollars raised by concerned parents and community members to contribute to ESEF to help augment programs slashed and burned by state budget cuts.

To thunderous applause Mrs. Sherrill announced that the community had poured $171,000 into Richmond Street, Center Street, El Segundo Middle and High Schools - and for the first time ever the Eagles' Nest preschool parents had joined in the fundraising effort due to their enthusiastic Parent Board. Mrs. Sherrill gave a special thanks to the Chevron Corporation who through their tireless philanthropy pledged $75,000 to match parent donations. "And when I called Lily Craig at Chevron and told her the good news/bad news - we had surpassed the $75,000 so soon into the fundraising, Lily was able to up the amount of Chevron's matching funds to $85,000!" Sherrill said.

ESEF President Richard Lundquist smiled broadly as Mrs. Sherrill also made it clear that the $85,000 pledge from Chevron was over-and-above the amount raised by the community for a grand total of $256,000 - by far a record for the El Segundo Educational Foundation.

Special mention was made of the "school captains" who worked so hard spearheading the fundraising drives at each of the sites: Julie Stolnack at Center Street, Tom Forsythe at Richmond Street, Laura Kigawa at the Middle School and Jayne Pimlott at the High School. Every year a participation percentage is set for each school to hit for the number of families contributing to the Educational Foundation - a target of 50% for the elementary schools and 25% for the middle and high schools (due to their higher enrollment). Special mention was also made of the El Segundo Middle School for far surpassing any previous records of percentage participation -- and who for their efforts earned a $500 bonus.

Mrs. Sherrill was thrilled to award each of the site principals their "Boost Your School" bonuses because as she acknowledged "in these tough times it's important that each site has a little extra money to spend on programs or projects that are important to them." Both Richmond Street and Center Street received $3500 bonuses, while the Middle School got a $2000 bonus with an additional $500 for participation, while the High School received $2000. The Eagles' Nest Preschool also received a $500 bonus due to their parent efforts as well.

The state this morning released a preliminary list of 188 schools -- including Gardena High -- that are in the bottom 5 percent of the lowest-achieving public campuses across California.

Under federal and state education law, schools named to the list may be shut down, reopened as charters or forced to undergo other dramatic reforms. (More here.)

The list was issued in response to federal education mandates from the Obama administration and state reforms passed by the Legislature in January. Being named to the list makes schools eligible to apply for between $50,000 to $2 million to fund reforms for the 2010-11 school year.

The announcement comes as Gardena has just completed the initial stages of a major LAUSD reform effort -- Public School Choice. It's not clear yet how the teacher-authored reforms under that initiative will complement or conflict with the reforms expected from the state.

Gardena is the only local school that was named to the list, which is set to be finalized at a Thursday meeting of the State Board of Education.

More soon!

Photo courtesy of North High ASB.

This account of last week's 'Day Of Action' and the impact funding cuts have had in Torrance Unified was written by North High School students Anastassia Olmosa and Aileen Yoon.

March 4th, 2010 was a defining day at North Torrance High School. If anyone had doubt in the students' dedication for their education, this day proved them wrong. It was the "Stand Up For Schools" day statewide and the students at North High took a stand, or rather a seat. Over 70 students joined in the quad to fill the 55 desks and when those filled up, many chose to stand. Their message was simple: don't throw education out on the streets.

The North High Student Council organized this event in addition to encouraging the entire school to wear blue. "I went to the Student Government and told them the facts and what the teachers were planning," teacher Don Hendricks said. "They were more than willing to jump in and educate the community about what's going on. Today, all of the students at North really showed that this is their community, their school, and that they're very concerned about the future of their education."

The 2,200-student campus named the day 'Blue Day' and wore blue to show their unity and that they care. Signs outside of the school read, "We care about our education." When asked why he cares, ASB President Tatsuya Kohrogi answered, "I've had so many opportunities here at North and I can't imagine the budget cuts taking these opportunities away from future generations."

Due to the state budgets, the Torrance Unified School District unfortunately had to cut many positions and activities from the schools, which has impacted the students' learning. Seniors are still affected by these budget cuts because colleges are reducing their admissions by 40,000 students. In reality, we're all affected because these students and their education are the future of California. But the state is not yet done with the budget cuts, and the TUSD is severely facing the repercussions. The entire district is doing what they can to work together and try and make the best of the cuts, but because of the devastating economic crisis, the only thing they can do is cut back positions and classes. Even so, the school district and the teachers they represent have come up with a petition to try and put the schools first. Because they know that the cuts will probably keep coming, they have agreed to try and find a way to compromise and put the students' needs first.

Although many students these days are seen as apathetic, the 'Stand Up for Schools' day showed that this adage is no more. Not only did this day bring the students closer together, but it also brought the entire school together. Students and teachers alike were taking a stand to support what matters most in our society today - education. This day truly showed that the power of student voice could truly promote a positive influence.
It's true that most students at North and at many other high schools don't have the ability to change what is happening to their schools, but they feel they do have the power to bring awareness to those who can make a difference by voting. Whether this day be viewed as "Stand Up For Schools" day or Blue day, it was most definitely a day to bring change and let the students' voice be heard.

In November, Aileen, a senior and editor-in-chief of North High's student newspaper, the North Wind, wrote about how the budget cuts were affecting school programs.

From the Associated Press:

By ROBIN HINDERY
Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- University of California students from around the state have traveled to Sacramento to protest steep fee hikes and cuts to higher education funding.
More than 150 students gathered Monday outside the Capitol, waving signs and urging lawmakers to take action against rising fees.

The demonstration comes three days before a planned "National Day of Action for Public Education." On Thursday, students from the UC, California State University and community college systems will hold rallies, marches, teach-ins and class walkouts throughout the state.

Similar protests are planned around the country.

Loyola Marymount University President Robert B. Lawton announced today that he would leave his post at the end of the school year.

An email Lawton sent to students at the Westchester-based university is after the jump.

Parents, alumni and community members interested in the fate of East Wilmington's Holy Family School -- which the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said last week was set to largely shut down -- are being asked to come to a meeting Tuesday night.

The meeting will cover options for responding to the archdiocese's announcement that the 118-student school will turn solely into a preschool facility next year.

The Catholic school, which was founded in 1950 and has suffered low enrollment in recent years, would be $250,000 in the red next year, according to an archdiocese spokesman.

Tuesday's meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Wilmington Senior Center at 1371 Eubank St.

From wire service reports:

Jaime Escalante, who gained international renown for his work teaching advanced math to unprepared students at Garfield High School in East L.A., is fighting cancer, but his family has run out of money to pay for treatments, it was reported today.

Vanessa Marquez, who appeared in "Stand and Deliver," the 1988 film that dramatized Escalante's experience at Garfield High, said in an interview on Fox 11 that so far $5,000 has been raised toward the $30,000 needed by the family.

The cast members of "Stand and Deliver" are putting together a fund raiser. Contributions can be sent to "Friends of Jaime;" C/O FASE; 236 West Mountain Street; Suite 105; Pasadena, CA 91103. Those who wish to make a contribution by credit card can call (626) 793-5300.

The Bolivian-born Escalante is 80 years old.