Friday Free for All

California's landmark Parent Trigger Law, which allows students' parents to take control of failing schools, is currently before the State Board of Education which is crafting policies and regulations around the laws.  School teachers and administrators, of course no fan of the law, are seeking to direct how those rules are imposed.  Parent activists who worked to get the law passed, including Lydia Grant of Sunland-Tujunga, have filed an ethics complaint against board member Patricia Rucker, who is also a paid lobbyist for the California Teachers Association.  The parents are saying that Rucker's participation represents a conflict of interest and she should recuse herself from proceedings on the Parent Trigger Law.  Joining the parents is retired State Senator Gloria Romero, who authored the law, in calling on Rucker to step away.

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Torrential Downpour News Brief

The first day of Spring.

Here they come! The fastest growing ethnic group in the state is Asian, and the Asian-American community is rolling up their sleeves to get these potential voters naturalized. No word yet on how the California GOP intends to alienate this segment of the populace.

Sunland-Tujunga's very own  Lydia Grant will be part of a spirited  panel discussing the Parent Trigger, tomorrow night at the Skirball Center-Monday, March 21, 2011 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
The event is co-sponsored by California Teachers Empowerment Network, Parent Revolution, The Heartland Institute and Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. Hit the link for more details.

Actor Jimmy Smits has signed on to play a lead role as the Mayor of Los Angeles in a new NBC project that is going by the working title "S.I.L.A" for now.
From TV Squad- "the as-of-now untitled project is described as a complex ensemble drama in the style of 'Traffic' and 'Syriana' set in the world of crime, law enforcement and politics in sprawling modern-day Los Angeles".