Mayor Would Subordinate School Board to Superintendent
By Jennifer SolisIt took Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa about 25 minutes into his 35-minute State of the City speech this evening, to get to what everybody was waiting to hear – his plans to reshape the Los Angeles Unified School District.
He proposed two major changes in how the three-quarter million student school district will be run, if he can get the state legislature, and possibly the district’s voters, to change the charter under which the LAUSD is operated.
The mayor would turn control of the district over to the superintendent, with the elected school board reduced to being simply a clearinghouse for complaints and parental input.
A council of local mayors, with the Los Angeles mayor having by far the most power, since the control is population proportional, will hire and fire the superintendent, and set the budget.
This plan would run on a six year trial basis, after which the state legislature could change or end the experiment.
Here are some of the quotes from the mayor’s message on the LAUSD:
“Unless we solve the crisis in our schools, we shall never truly hold ourselves to account.
“We can’t be a great global city if we lose half of our work force before they graduate from high school… Eighty-one percent of middle school students are trapped in failing schools.
“We won’t tap our talent – L.A. won’t be one city if we just shrug our shoulders and adopt the path of least resistance.
“We need to make our schools more accountable by giving the superintendent far greater operational control. We need to change the funding equation and move resources from the downtown bureaucracy to the classroom.
“We need to abandon the one size fits all approach and give educators the freedom to innovate. Teachers should be respected as professionals. We need to trim the fat and beef up teacher pay.
“Every great school must have a great leader. We need a new principal leadership academy to develop a new generation of school leaders.
“Schools should control their own budget. More power should devolve to principals, teachers and parents in their [own] neighborhood.
“We need to lengthen the school day and the [school] year, and compensate teachers for that time.
“We need to genuinely engage parents as partners, with respect. We need a parent resource center and a parent coordinator in every single school.
“We need to substantially increase the number of charter schools in L.A.
“We need to replace the culture of low expectations with a culture of accountability and respect – that means uniforms, that send our kids a message that they’re in school to learn, and that we’re all on the same team. That means a parent compact, that spell out their rights, and their responsibilities to be actively engaged in their children’s education.
“We need to reinvent vocational education and give our kids more job based skills.
“We need to better coordinate city and school district efforts… by bringing cutting edge law enforcement tools, like “ComStat” in and around school campuses to guarantee our schools are free from crime and gangs.
“We need to expand after school programs, and work together on joint use to transform schools into neighborhood centers.
“We need to wake up, and shake up the bureaucracy at the LAUSD. So today, I’m asking the California Legislature to usher in a new era of progressive reform in the state’s largest school district… based on five key principles:
1 – “The buck needs to stop at the top; fragmentation is failing our kids. Voters need to be able to hire and fire, one person accountable to parents, teachers and taxpayers – a leader who is ultimately responsible for system-wide performance.
2 – “All of the cities in L.A. Unified need to be fully engaged, and given a fair voice in the process.
3 – “We need to give the superintendent the power and authority to lead and manage fundamental change.
4 – “We need to preserve the voters’ voice – an elected school board, with powers designed to serve the needs of parents, not politicians.
5 – “We need to strengthen and invigorate the charter school movement, both to give families more choices, and to keep positive pressure on the school bureaucracy.
“My proposal will give the mayors of the cities in L.A. Unified a new oversight role in {school] district affairs. A council of mayors, with proportional representation, will oversee the hiring and firing of the superintendent, and approve the budget. This proposal will add accountability by giving the superintendent, not the school board, the authority to direct personnel decisions, grant charters, develop the budget, and design and manage the instructional program.
“It will preserve the current elected school board, but it will define and redefine its responsibilities. They [school board members] will be put directly in the service of L.A.’s parents… The elected board will continue to oversee disciplinary and transfer appeals … we will ask them to be advocates for parents and the communities they serve.
“They will review complaints, create school accountability report cards, conduct an annual survey of parents, and make recommendations based on the results. Their ultimate charge will be to help parents navigate through the system and solve problems with their kids’ schools.
“We’ll ask the Legislature to make these changes on a trial basis, with six years to show progress and results. We’ll measure what we did, and how we did it, and we’ll hold ourselves accountable as well."
Addressing teachers at the close of his speech, the Mayor stated “I know that this proposal will raise some concern, and spark some controversy. Change is never comfortable. I understand your fear. It’s hard to risk what you’ve got, when you’ve never had what you deserve.
“I believe that any serious effort to improve our schools begins and ends with you. I’ve been fighting for public education my entire life. It was a public school that gave me a second chance, and a public school teacher that showed me the path to success. The teachers’ union gave me a job, but more importantly, they gave me a calling…We will never fix our schools, without raising respect and reward for the teaching profession."
Posted by Anonymous @ 4/19/2006 12:00:00 AM
56 Comments:
Anything the Mayor does at this point, will be an improvement over the
mess that calls itself LAUSD.
Go Antonio!
Here's my take, from watching. I am neither a professional AV-basher or lover, and I advise folks on speeches for a living.
Set-up:
It was a pretty good choice to be out in the community. The backdrop was okay, but it didn't read great on tv. The words behind him were cut off (did nobody frame the shot ahead of time?!?), so you couldn't see the theme ("accelerating our ambition"--more on that later) very well. It was kind of an imitation George W. backdrop, but the font was very thin, the framing bad. Also, there were pictures of AV smiling and doing leadery things behind him. These might have been good live, but looked really bad on television. You never want to have a politician have multiple faces in the same shot, for, well, obvious reasons. It was bizarre to see a live AV face with a static AV face behind in some of the cutaway angle shots.
AV, visually. Remember this stuff is arguably more important that what he said as the images and framing is what people will remember, not the words. He had a good tie, good suit, good tie knot on. He looked a little overmade up and seemed to be dripping wet on tv. I was watching on an HDTV (though I don't think the broadcast was HD) and he looked like his lip was melting. Someone should have cranked up the airconditioning as it made him seem nervous.
Cadences: AV spoke in a new tone. It mostly worked for me--less halting than his inauguration speech, but felt kind of like he was walking in a new pair of shoes. He was almost forcing a more upbeat tone and he kept coming off sounding like the cadence was Texan or Southern or something (not his accent, but his cadence). Maybe he has been working with a speech coach. At its best, it was more enthusiastic than he can be sometimes, at its worst, it was a little sing-songy.
Applause--this is the toughest thing to time in a speech. He seemed to be real slow on tv, which means he was probably pausing for a lot of applause lines. You have to cut those off and remember that your audience is in tv land, not in the gym of that school. But I'd rather have him speak too slow than too fast.
Content: Not bad. A bit all over the place, but AV is a bit all over the place. The education part was ballsy, direct, and good (if somewhat incomprehensible from a policy perspective). Let's do the part before the schools:
Nice, confident opening--reached out to President Garcetti and the council, recognized past mayor Riordan (I guess Hahn's invitation didn't arrive), and had a good greeting the masses walk up to stage. The langugage bordered on pretentions beyond what a State of the City speech should be about (he referenced the constitution as if he were giving a State of the Nation address), and the buildup took too long, but he gave off a good feeling and confidence in general. Seemed in control.
His laundry list of initiatives was good--he could have personalized things more by talking about real Angelenos (it seemed a bit removed from the every day people he kept referencing in referring to South LA, but as the saying goes, show us, don't tell us). Nothing too new on the list, but a good list nevertheless.
The overall theme I found weak. "Accelerating our Ambitions" (a play on words since he was at a school called The Accelerated School) is a tough one to digest. It is too clever and too vague. If you are mostly talking about taking over the schools to get results, you should have that be the theme in a concise and really straightforward way. If you are looking for a more general theme, this is fine, but who isn't into accelerating our ambitions (maybe he was talking about his own political career ;-0)? Remember most people can only take away one or two themes and they have to be very specific.
That said, folks would have to be asleep not to take away the main part of the speech: school takeover. This was done very nicely. AV, though he really began to sweat during this part of the speech (see above)--and someone should have gotten him something better than a bottle of water with a twist-off cap--that ain't very mayoral--he laid out his ambitions nicely. Apparently there was an earlier briefing for the press about what his plan acutally is, but he laid out some good, clear principles. When he spoke about teachers and parents he was at his best. It was weird when he said that he lived with a teacher (he should have named his wife and not made it sound like he has a gay teacher friend named Bob who lives in his basement), but this part is where he really cut the teachers union's legs out from underneath them. Where was his wife, by the way? I didn't see her or the kids (he was very good about this during the campaign to blunt any family man related criticism, but he should always keep them close).
The plan is not a coherent one, and the superintendent was on a tear about it afterwards (IMHO, he and the board always sound a bit shrill and defensive about their jobs--the only way to attack AV's plan is to attack AV, which none of them have the balls to do so far. Sure, it will drag you down, but it is the only way to srag him down, too, and as long as he is popular, the plan will move foward). Anyway, where was I...oh yes, so the plan isn't particularly inspiring or coherent (uniforms, charter schools, etc.), but AV delivered it very well. As I said, no one will remember the words, but he gave you the impression that he was passionate, confident, and ready to go (if somewhat sweaty).
There's my five cents. I give him a B+.
Great screen shot--it says in the background, "Accelerating Our Mayor Antonio" if you read what isn't chopped in two. That's about right.
Good for him. Don't bag on people bcuz you can't think positive.
8:38
Amazing post. I love blogs.
8:38 PM Are you a speech writer?
What type of profession are you in?
I'm glad someone else noticed the Southern/Texas accent, too. Must be his speech coach.
As for substance, my comments are at MS2:
http://mayorsam2.blogspot.com/2006/04/state-of-city-villaraigosa-never.html
GO ANTONIO - IT'S GREAT TO FINALLY SEE A LEADER WITH THE GUTS TO STAND UP TO THE ESTABLISHMENT AND FOR OUR KIDS.
He goes where the wave goes
No substance
I'm a speaking coach--mostly for executives, though I have been brought into a couple of gubernatorial campaigns and one presidential campaign.
AV's people were calling Sacramento all day to give them the "heads-up" about the speech.
Being a texan myself. I also noticed the collard greens and cornbread accent also.
I hide mine.
I thought he was great.
The whole show did remind me of a Presidential State of the Union address. Especially when he walked the room after being announced.
overall I think he did great. But what was with the almost becoming a southern baptist preacher?
dear walter moore,
you are a loser. nobody cares about your comments nor will they go to ms2 to see them. we can't wait for your next pathetic run Moore is Better Part 2.
Solis first goes after Arabs (see her first post), now retarded people. I guess that shit was funny about thirty years ago...I wanna like you, Jennifer, but that shit is pretty f'ed up.
Jennifer, you jumped off the deep end with your comment about the Special Olympics.
I was with you until you went there. That was a low blow.
But then again... you can be an unisightful conservative. What else could I expect.
Mr. Mayor,
Meet Mr. Duffy.
This is going to be one hell of a fight.
May the little Irish dude win.
Anyone trying to read this sequence, Jennifer Solis (thankfully) deleted her comments about retarded people. Thanks, J.
Two short dudes, fighting! This is better than a cock fight!
Moore makes some valid points on MS2. In terms of AV's speech, a lot of cliches. He can talk about "progressive reform" all he wants but in 2 years, 5 years, whatever, LAUSD will still be awful. The school system is flooded with kids from the 3rd world whose low-skilled parents don't value education and show little inclination to assimilate. Sad, but even sadder for the taxpayer who has to pay for all these schemes.
It's Rollin Osterweis
10:14 The Southern accent to appease the Blacks in Los Angeles. Immigration issue tarnished his image 43% in South Los Angeles
Conned blacks all at once
Wat did ya hear?
Little Ol' Lady from Los Angeles fed AV LAUSD news and he gobbledit up
Hey asshole,
I'm black and I don't like being preached at. I guess AV wasn't trying to appease all blacks. That comment was a hasty generalization from a small mind.
Newspapers critizing Antonio's speech. Valley people didn't appreciate being left out. Why did Antonio praise South LA so much and forget about the rest of the city? I agree he screwed up with the illegal immigration stance. Only issue was education and a little bit of crime. Didn't even touch the homeless issue. WHY?
AV missed a lot of issues. Because he knows that he has no plans. Damn, many of you suck on AV's dick like Mayor Sam sucks on Alger's dick.
Jennifer, the proper term is Developmentally Disabled. Puta!
Under AV's plan, citizens will have even less influence upon LAUSD policy and practice. The big money that dominates school board politics will migrate and become concentrated in the mayor's coffers. Under AV's plan, parents will have only a "complaint dept board" that will be powerless to do anything.
Of course, there will be Parent Centers at each school. That will certainly raise student achievement.
Can someone tell me why there is so much vulgar and profane language on this blog?
Lucky for Villraigosa he only has to do battle with two mental midgets: Tokofsky and Canter.
I think Tokofsky and Canter are part of the problem and I'm glad to see that our Mayor is going to relegate them to advisory status.
I love it. Make these burro-crats at the District get real jobs.
His plan is DOA; Coming from the Mayor of LA, the School breakup plan is so heavily slanted to give LA all the voting and say on issues, all smaller cities will vote against it. BTW, the state legislature won't go for the idea of deciding the whole plan over the voters, since as AV said, the parents should be involved. How can they be involved if they are left of of the whole picture.
Do you know why there are no PTA's in inner city? Anyone? Thats because we have to many wetbacks in this part of the country that do not want to join the rest of us taxpaying Americans. to many Mexicans, Too many pupusa eating folk and all.
There was a one sentence mention of the homeless, and he mentioned Woodland Hills regarding crime.
who's the highest paid lausd school board member?
the answer is Anotonio Villar.
el gringo you racist fuck-head whats your fear? that you daugher or son might bring home maria or juan.
Hey gringo did'nt your poor little grandmother and drunk-grandfather swim thru the atlantic ocean? who the bigger wetback now you idiot.
I find it difficult to believe that anyone who watched the speech last night, would find it anything more that a big failure. It was bizarre/surreal in its entirety. The school takeover it nothing more than a power grab. The speech was too long, and lacked real substance. And by peppering his speech with filler such as talk of uniforms, "because we are all on the same team" only made it more ridiculous.
I can appreciate that Antonio is ambitious, but he bit off more that he could chew last night and it showed. He is not ready (I doubt that he ever will be) for the big stage and his handlers should realize that. Less is more with Antonio, a lot less.
Hey 11:15 am:
do you always resort to foul language? Anyways, My lineage comes from a long line if royalty in which I, through the hard work of my lineage, am thankful and respectingly so, take care of this land that has given unto me and my children so much. By the way, my great grandfather was in the House of Commons, who so happend to be an instramental tool in the Bishopric of Manchester Act of 1847. Would you happen to know that, perhaps not, with the reference of your foul mouth to express oneself is quite evident you are a commoner. My family did not "swim" across, they enjoyed the luxury of a steamship over the peon efforts of a flotation device to cross a river.
Did anyone find the Shakespeare closing a little weird?
Let me see if I got this correctly:
A couple of weeks ago Antonio marched for illegal immigrant civic rights. Last night in his speech he proposed a bunch of civic improvements that will cost taxpayers big bucks. Do you see a connection there as I do?
He also wants LA to be a world class city, but he didn't say how this can happen when we're turning into a third world town. Fact is, it won't happen without a serious change of direction by the Mayor and everyone else.
Gee, I think I do get it!
Los Angeles Times Editorial and Daily News Editorials gave our mayor two thumbs up.
Channel 11, 2,4, and 7 all carried the entire speech live.
Lots of folks never knew our mayor gave a state of the city speech, maybe because Hahn was an invisible mayor.
Thought the entire speech was great, i do agree with that backdrop needed to be framed better.
UTLA SUCKS UTLA SUCKS UTLA SUCKS
Hahn's states of the city were held during the day and dealt with things accomplished, not just "vision." If he did them at 5:00, it probably would not have been carried live on TV like AV.
If the mayor's SEIU connections are gone (due to the whole Ludlow indictment), where will he have the political muscle to get his LAUSD reforms implemented?
Wasn't there an effort by a female state senator that got shot down late last year? My guess is that he'll have to use his state-level political muscle (wherever that is coming from) to get these changes implemented.
Does anyone know where the mayor would get the legal authority to re-do LAUSD? The mayor in L.A. is a pretty powerless position - everything Antonio is talking about is the leveraging of pure political might. How can he have so much confidence in his influence on the state legislature? Especially after having some of his strongest supporters indicted by the Feds.
Good Grief! Run the City. it's enough of a challenge and leave the schools to the professionals.
You've lost me totally--
2:03
Its called being very close friends with Fabian Nunez.
once again a political hack who thinks that government can change people. its the parents of these children in the schools that can make the change not the government! AV is a joke. he was clearly coached on what to say and that shakespeare crap made me barf. all talk and no substance for "LIL TONY Bologna" i wonder when lil tony was tagging the walls of east la if he tagged with a shakespeare phrase? no way the LAUSD will ever give control to LA City HAcks! lil tony has more of a chance catching a whale with a worm then getting control of lausd. and that "I Believe" b/s is crap! give it up lil tony bologna, go back to the mayors house and watch t.v.
I doubt AV ever even finishes dinner (or a thought), let alone a comprehensive "vision". . .
well said Archie. did u see Chick- N- Shit smiling her ass off in the front row? it made me sick just looking at her fake ass. i have a feeling this LAUSD take over b/s is her thought not lil tony's.
I was expecting Antonio to mention at least some of his accomplishments. He did not. I thought it was odd he was praise an speak so much about South LA knowing the whole city was watching. Was that to make up to the blacks for the whole illegal stance? He should have touched on a major issue of homelessness here in LA. As much as I critize Antonio at least I give him credit for going after the horrible school situation for our kids. No one ever mentioned how badly our school system failure was. I don't think he'll win this battle but give credit where credit is due.
What do you say if your a failed former mayoral candidate whom no one voted for on a blog no one reads?
If your Walter Moore you write a hate filled posting exposing your sour grapes mentality. The voters of this City made their choice, and it wasn't you sir.
the State of the City address has no rules or guidelines in what should or should not be said, but Walter Moore being the one man band he is thinks it must be centered around what he believes are the rules and guidelines, even though none exist.
If you are Walter Moore and you want to rebutt the Mayor you certainly don't list your association with American Patrol who is listed side by side with KKK members and Neo-Nazi groups. http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp?S=CA&m= ...
Go to this site to read Moore!
http://lavoice.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1748#comments
once again your right archie. i didnt see slick ricks lips move but i did see his right arm up lil tony's rear! just watch Chick-n-shit is involved in this lausd mess. there is some pay back in this for her down the road. she's up to some thing just watch and wait. her and lil tony are one in the same-two power hungry govt hacks feeding off the tax payers of los angeles!
Good for Antonio stating that he didn't agree with city council's decision to spend $39 million for new elephat exhibit but will let it stand.
What's up with David "Z" man. Seems he's changing his tune.
laweekly.com
The day may soon come when City Hall reverts to its more mundane routine, where mayors bicker with the City Council, elicit indignant outbursts from the San Fernando Valley and bring the expectations of the populace crashing down to earth. But in 2006, at least, the sky is the limit for Los Angeles and its rock-star mayor.
Interesting comments about the immigration issue hurting AV. A few wks ago I was in the audience at a luncheon where AV was being honored by a big LA business group. His speech was completely weird, nothing about how he'd grow business or anything. Instead it was all hooray for the illegals and how "exciting" it was to see half a million of them marching. You could have heard a pin drop. People looked down and looked at each other and everyone seemed real uncomfortable. After AV left, an exec at my table said: "I didn't pay 200 bucks to have more of that shit shoved down my throat." Not exactly the target audience for THAT speech.
remember Archie what LIL TONY BALOGNA said "I BELIEVE". i believe nothing will happen so dont worry so much about it. same old city hall b/s as usual.
Just let me say one ting here, I believe that this mayor has quite a bit of work, but with the help of legalizing immrgrant workers, los angeles will become a better place to live. we should all embrace this issue and not pretend like it is not here.
Now if that is the most stupidest thing I have heard. Its the illegals in this town that have done messed this thing up in Los Angeles. The fact that the LAUSD is bad carries over into the city, with crime among juvinile, especially in inner city where those dam illegals are. how that for contributing to the city. They only provide job security for our men and women in blue, and they can't keep up. I say ship em back to where they came from. Help LA May Ass!
I could not agree with you more there with this issue of immigrants and the whole, let put this thing to rest now and really define this, THEY ARE ILLEGALS! They have only demonstrated that they cannot play by the rules.
I all for it, let ship those dam illegals back, and save this country from all those chilli choking wetbacks, you go mel
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