Antonio's Ninth Place Ribbon
The San Francisco Chronicle reports L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has reached a "compromise" with legislators and the teachers' union regarding his plan to take over the LAUSD -- "compromise" in the sense of "didn't get jack." The key points are as follows:
1. "The city's elected school board will retain final spending authority, and, through that, ultimate control over its education priorities." REPEAT: the school board retains control over spending and priorities.
2. Villaraigosa "will be allowed to lead a mayors' council with veto power over selecting a new superintendent." (Can you say, "big deal?" Sure you can.)
3. Villaraigosa "will assume a direct role" -- whatever THAT means -- "in managing the city's 36 worst-performing schools." TRANSLATION: "Congratulatiions! We're giving you the bottom five percent. Enjoy. And thanks for boosting our stats immediately just by taking them off our hands."
What grade would you give Antonio Villaraigosa for this outcome? Or, if you're more pedagogical, state the rubric that best describes his performance.
Posted by Walter Moore @ 6/21/2006 06:08:00 PM
34 Comments:
Pact Reached on School Takeover
By HOWARD FINE
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa reached a landmark deal Wednesday morning with teachers and state legislators over his plan for more mayoral control over the Los Angeles Unified School District
This is appropriate, really.
AV will be in charge of the schools where the average student's GPA is around 1.8, just like his, in college.
They can "look up to him" (well, until about 7th grade -- or puberty -- whichever comes first). After they get that growth spurt, then they can just "admire" him.
What better example of "why study, just be charming?"
Key elements of the proposed legislation to reform the LAUSD will include:
* Making teachers and parents full partners in the decisions that affect schools.
* Giving the Superintendent greater authority over personnel, business operations, budgeting, and the facilities program. Empowering a new school leader to cut the bureaucracy and move more resources to schools and classrooms.
* Preserving the essential powers of the School Board by honing the Board of Education's focus on student achievement.
* Bringing together cities and the School District by establishing a Council of Mayors responsible for reviewing the budget and coordinating joint-use and campus safety efforts.
* Ensuring a central role for the Mayor of Los Angeles with the leadership of the LAUSD by granting the Council of Mayors both a role in the selection and final ratification of the Superintendent.
* Giving greater instructional choice to educators at their school site.
* Enabling innovation and flexibility by streamlining the process for Los Angeles's schools to receive waivers from the State Board of Education.
* Establishing a Mayor's Community Partnership for School Excellence.? Together with parents, educators and community leaders, the Mayor of Los Angeles will oversee three clusters of the lowest-performing schools.
* And includes a six-year sunset provision with the opportunity to extend reforms and final evaluations under established education criteria.
Comparing what LAUSD is today - to what this plan can do -- is like night and day.
The Mayor has delivered big for our kids and teachers.
I think you got it wrong Walter -- here is what the Chronicle reported.
Villaraigosa scores win on LA school district governance - SF Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=6392
Look at the actual provisions, not the adjectives. "Landmark" is an opinion, not a fact. When you look at who controls what at the end of the day, three words: ninth place ribbon.
He reached a compromise. After all, he is a coalition-building mayor, isn't he?
Wacko, he's still your mayor, whether you like it or not. Ha-ha!
Whatever you believe this achieves -- you have to look at what the man in place to make it happen has done in the past year.
Since AV has started several things (and finished, or made progress on exactly none of them), they could have given him the seeds to enough "Einstein" plants to turn every LAUSD kid into a genius and he'd never get around to planting and harvesting them.
He's a "competer"(in political campaigns, etc.), but not a "completer" when it comes to public service.
More status quo to come. Don't bother buying any stock in diploma printing companies.
Taking over the lowest performing clusters right from under the school district - HUGE
Literally approving the next superintendent -- as part of legislation - GROUNDBREAKING FOR LOS ANGELES.
Empowering Teachers to actually TEACH -- Innovative (Considering the status quo)
And anytime you can make Julie Korenstein cry -- you know you are doing something right.
"Empowering teachers to teach" -- excuse me, but what the heck do you think that means, exactly?
Antonio -- is it you, man? Are you the anonymous poster who keeps trying to "talk up" this debacle?
6:27 LOL
It will be interesting to see what this deal actually accomplishes, if implemented. Regardless, I fear we'll still be talking about the same underlying problems and issues when AV runs for governor.
How many schools does the LAUSD have, anyway? What percentage is represented by the 36 schools the mayor will get? Can someone find this? I've spent a good five minutes on it, and I got nuttin'.
AV can make one of his cluster at Pueblo. What a great place to start.
Walter:
LAUSD second-largest
160 new schools planned in next 8 years
By Daily News Staff
With about 720,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grades, the Los Angeles Unified School District is the biggest public school system in California and the second-largest in the nation, behind only New York City with its 1.1 million students.
Recognizing the need to prepare for future growth, LAUSD voters have approved $10 billion in bond money to build new campuses and modernize existing ones. More than 160 new schools will be built in the next eight years.
Los Angeles Unified is working to improve student achievement, but it continues to lag behind state averages on many measures. About 64 percent of schools met or exceeded state Academic Performance Index targets. The district made the strongest gains this year at all levels of the API, averaging nearly 45 points above the gains of schools statewide.
LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Superintendent Roy Romer
333 S. Beaudry Ave., Los Angeles; (213) 241-1000
Cities served: the city of Los Angeles, all or parts of 32 other cities, some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County
Grades: K-12
Total enrollment: 727,117
Total schools: 431 elementary, 73 middle, 53 high, 17 multilevel, 45 continuation high schools, 19 special education, 26 community adult
Calendar: Traditional and year-round
Average class size: 20 in kindergarten through third grade
Mean SAT math score: 458
Mean SAT verbal score: 443
English-language learners: 43 percent
Fully credentialed teachers: 92.6 percent
Free or reduced-price lunch: 74 percent of student population qualifies
Pupil-teacher ratio: 20-to-1 (K-3); N/A (4-12)
Article launched: 3-22-06
Thank you!
That's 664 schools, by my count.
Tony gets the 36 worst, so he gets "Mayoral control" over 5.42%, which rounds down to 5% of the schools.
Wacko,
That's still 5% more than you'll ever have, because Antonio Villaraigosa beat the crap out of you in last year's mayoral primary. Ha-ha!
Yea - but Wacko got enough votes to prevent Los Angeles first Jewish Mayor from happening this time, and, alas probably never given the way the demos are going.
That is probably true. Hahn BARELY beat Hertzberg. Had Wacko not run, those Republican votes would have gone to Bob. Then it would have been Antonio and Bob. Bob would have beat Antonio cause the folks that HATED Hahn and grudgingly voted for Villaraigosa, would have no issue voting for Huggy.
so you are saying its wacko's fault were stuck with AV? nice going walter
You're just figuring this out NOW????
P.S. Do you not remember Doug McIntyre's line: "Walter Moore won't be on Bob Hertzberg's Christmas card list this year"? Hey, listen to that show regularly and you'll be a year ahead of your friends -- both of 'em.
LAUSD Board Member Julie Korenstein, as quoted by the L.A. Times:
"The mayor who sends his children to private schools because he thinks private schools are better than public schools. A mayor who has never taught a day in his life. A mayor who ... has made a decision that somehow with his hand he will bless the children of L.A. Unified and make all the changes.... Somehow he has this grandiose plan that we have never seen."
The real issue is how this will further Antonio’s run for Governor after Arnold is termed out in 2010? Antonio will get his rich friends to pour money into these 36 schools and then Antonio will manipulate the parents and teachers, “focusing on the basics” by teaching the kids to take the standardized State tests that measure performance, providing special “review secessions” just before the tests or transferring in some kids to boost the scores. Since these schools are low performing, a few ringers and random chance will boost the scores and any extra money or attention can only help. Then during the primary election, Antonio will trumpet his success and ride to glory. Unfortunately, none of the underlying factors affecting the long-term barriers to better learning (crime, family turmoil, poor or burned out teachers, social environmental outside of school, cultural barriers, parental neglect etc.) will be addressed because they take to long for his election cycle. Once the mayor has moved on, the 36 schools, unceremoniously, will be sent back to the district to rot once again. It is a great day when our kids become pawns in the political game.
Julie's bitterness ought to tell us all what really happened; Antonio won this one hands down.
HIS new Superintendent will have expanded powers that now reside in the dysfunctional board, including spending where he or she decides.
It is a huge win, not a total victory, but the nose is in the tent, and I sense Antonio is not through yet. There's another session next year, and more after that. He knows how to legislate.
Way to go, Antonio. Bye, Roy. Don't let the door hit you in the ass.
The number of potential schools the Mayor will control is nearly over 1/3rd of the City of San Francisco.
Sounds significant to me.
The funny thing is that you all are going for this shit that the mayor is forcing on you. Why not use his own weapon against him.
I was going to move back to L.A. permanently but now i'll keep my ass where i am. Raise my kids in a school district where they are not forced to learn spanish, and where our politicians are just as crooked, but not on the surface.
Who are you people posting? Fact is they threw Antonio a BONE. That's it. He didn't get what he wanted and he was saying when he got to Sacramento "I WON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER." Well guess what? You lost your BIG takeover and they threw you some pieces garbage to shut you up and go away. Even the rag LA Times reports in opinion Antonio should have stayed home. I'm sure the cable media won't report like the sucked up LA Reporters and say the way it really is ANTONIO DIDN'T GET HIS BIG TAKEOOVER.
Exactly. The L.A. Times headline is not supported by the text of the article underneath it, and the paper's editorial explains what a mess of education this bill would make.
No one, other than a few lonely voices on talk radio, are talking about the 10,000 lb. gorilla in the room. Nothing will change until we stop importing poverty and stop trying to educate kids and citizens from Mexico and other 3rd world nations.
The District's high paid lobbyist, Darry Sragrow and former school employee Glenn Griztner, were the politicl geniuses who were blind sided by Antonio and the Unions. The District is paying these two knuckleheads $20k a month to be left on the sidelines while the politics plays otu. Teachers are lucky if they make $4,000 a month. This is an outrage.
Who ever hired these two idiots and wasted taxpayer money ought to be fired.
The only silver lining for the District is that for some inexplicable reason Antonio only shares in the power to hire a superintendent. AV can't fire him or her. Sounds like illusory power.
Seriously, could Antonio have done any worse by LA schools that the current management?
Sometimes the best "government" is no government.
And after spending two years watching AV pretend to be a councilmember in the 14th, I can GUARANTEE -- he is NO government.
He should run as the Libertarians' wet dream (except he still costs money).
Glenn is an idiot. Ask his wife.
The District should spend the money on the kids, not two worthless lobbyists who do little or nothing to earn it.
Antonio don't need no stinkin' lobbyists.
Ask Julie Kornstein who won and who lost. (If you can get her to stop crying, that is...)
Walter - You get too confused with the details. Antonio doesn't care about the details, he ONLY cares about the headlines. So long as the newspapers report that he won he's happy and ready to move on to his next "victory" so he can say he solved all of LA's problems before he runs for Governor. Look, he can say he solved the issues at LAX - even though all he did was cave in to loser lawsuits and leave a traffic and security nightmare for the next generation to live with. He can say he put more cops on the street - even though the money was found a few weeks before he took office. And now - look, he won on schools! Hurrah for Antonio!
Perception, not reality is all that counts.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home