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(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) It is much easier to point a finger at the latest incarnation of LAUSD institutional failure, Superintendent John Deasy, then to finally realize that the problem isn't Deasy per se, but the way LAUSD is set up to fail. Once we understand this we can take the time and effort necessary to reconfigure LAUSD into a viable form that finally allows this critically necessary institution of public education to get it right. What hangs in the balance is whether or not we will remain a nation that honestly aspires to being "One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice [and education] for all."

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) It is important for the credibility of this blog to recognize when those we have rightfully criticized in the past finally stand up and speak truth to power. Today, February 9th, on the Pat Morrison radio show on 89.3 KPCC, UTLA President Warren Fletcher finally lived up to his responsibility as the head of a union charged with the protection of predominantly innocent teachers in a a school environment that is safe for all. This was in marked contrast to what LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy and his predecessors have done in their longstanding abysmal treatment of teachers, which in the context of the Miramonte tragedy, LAUSD has been seeking to lay exclusively at their feet.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) If you've been watching the news, reading the papers or listening to talk radio at all during the past week, you've heard of the events at Miramonte Elementary School. Two longtime male teachers have been accused of the most reprehensible acts against children and recently a female teacher has been accused of acting in concert with them. To make matters even worse, over the past few days it has been revealed that complaints of the same nature were made against another teacher several years ago, which were never addressed. Needless to say, this story has gone ballistic and has easily been disseminated across the country by now. Parent reactions have been justifiably severe. They include soliciting the services of attorneys, withholding attendance, demonstrating outside the school and making further inquiries. The immediate result has been what's described as an "unprecedented" action by the district superintendent of LAUSD, John Deasy. He has moved the entire staff, both certificated and classified off the campus and by this Thursday, February 9th, he'll have replaced them entirely. So what we should now be asking ourselves is what exactly brought these events about and what are the motivations in the steps taken thus far by the district.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Not only has LAUSD administration continued to sweep these scandals under the carpet for years, they do so while allowing the sexual harassment and bullying of teachers and others as well. When teacher Sheril Sakai reported that she was being sexually harassed at her school, not only was nothing done, but charges where brought against her that have lead to her removal from the classroom and her livelihood. Ms. Sakai is only one of hundreds of teachers that have been subjected to this treatment as a matter of standard operating procedure at LAUSD.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) The actual task of fixing public education would be rather straight forward - if honestly addressed. There are several factors that continue to purposefully confound the process by substituting platitudes for any in depth and pragmatic program that would define itself by the student and their families actual existence and needs. Initially. we would have to pragmatically address the engrained subjective needs and deficits of those already in the system to whatever extent still possible, with the clear knowledge that the longer they have been in the present system, the more immutable the damage.

Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) When is a union not a union? Affected schools under the stabilization and empowerment initiative will be automatically waived from the district policy of giving priority placement to recently laid off teachers in newly vacant positions. District officials claim that this will ensure the placement of teachers who are the most "proper fit." In practice, however, districts and schools will have a free hand to replace experienced veterans with their younger and lower paid counterparts, if the positions are filled at all.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) One year ago Diane Ravitch spoke at Immanuel Presbyterian Church across from the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) headquarters. Her analysis of how the corporate agenda was proceeding unimpeded for privatizing public education and in the process getting rid of a professional teacher corp was impeccable. Again yesterday she made another insightful speech on the abysmal state of American public education, which she offered without honorarium in solidarity with teachers and in recognition of the fact that there is no rational basis for anything that the educational establishment and their political and corporate supporters continue to do in complete derogation of the public education reality Ravitch knows so well. That being said, I must say that her presentation only succeeded in depressing me even more than I already was about the prognosis for public education, because it offered no suggestion of "direct action" to impede the charter school privatization juggernaut. Lined up on one side in the approximately 30 minute presentation she made was the obscene amounts of money from folks like the Gates, Walton, and Broad Foundations, the print and electronic media parroting privatization party line, and the governors of many states, along with other local, state, and federal politicians eager to feed at the $370 billion a year ed biz trough.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Probably the great malaise that continues to infect all those involved with public education is a sense of apathy and hopelessness. Whether explicitly expressed by those who have given up and are just hanging on until retirement or implicitly stated by those who continue to mouth platitudes on public education success in the face of their own continuing failure, there is not only no belief in or implementation of a plan for fixing public education, but conveniently no belief that it can actually be accomplished. In reality, nothing is further from the truth nor more indicative of the fact that racism is still very much alive and well in America for those of all ethnicities that continue to profit from the status quo.

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(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) It was 19th century British historian Lord Acton who said, "All power tends to corrupt, absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely." You'd think by the 21st century we might have learned this lesson, but the purposefully failed Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), which absolutely refuses to share power with any of its shareholders- teachers, parent, or students- has continued to exemplify this quote and there doesn't seem to be any governmental entity willing to bring it to any end, even though so doing is the clear prerequisite of finally having a well run and pragmatic public school system capable of dealing with the problems LAUSD continues to cause and is clearly incapable of addressing.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Probably the greatest irony of purposefully failed public education at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) - with the active longstanding complicity of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) leadership - is the complete lack of imagination exhibited by these two entities in carrying on self-serving business as usual to the ongoing determent of predominantly Latino and Black students who have been and continue to be sold short on the public education that is their right. A testament to just how long this pernicious system has been in place is that most educators - whatever their ethnicity - have no real expectation that minority children can learn. In an old television police show, the intro would always say, "The names have been changed to protect the innocent." At LAUSD, the names of their latest "education reform" scam are always changed from Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN) to Charter to Small Learning Community to ESBMM and now to Local Initial School (LIS), but if you review previous incarnations of supposed education reform, that is all that has changed and the innocent students and teachers are never protected . The present Memorandum of Understanding that LAUSD and UTLA leaderships are trying to rush through as an early Christmas present for themselves is exactly like earlier reforms that never pragmatically address the dismal reality of LAUSD schools with anything other than edspeak rhetoric, instead of a specific plan that lays out what you do with students who have been socially promoted from grade to grade without having fulfilled grade level standards until they quit, disrupt the class because they are no longer capable of being engaged, or "graduate" with a diploma that isn't worth the paper it is written on.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Last night I attended a United Teachers Los Angeles House of Representatives meeting at the UTLA headquarters. For those of you with better things to do with your life, I will give a less in depth analysis of why this tentative agreement is a disaster for teachers - and by logical extension - students, parents, or anybody else that actually wants real public education reform. Simply stated: It's business as usual On tomorrow's post I will go into a more details analysis - if you are still not convinced - of the specific terms of the proposed contract that are problematic to say the least.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) LAUSD and UTLA have announced that they have reached a tentative agreement UTLA President Warren Fletcher is either suffering from early onset Alzheimer's or he has totally capitulated to LAUSD leadership either out of being in over his head as UTLA president, stupidity, or concern about maintaining his recent personal good fortune of having his annual salary and benefits phenomenally augmented over his measly teachers salary and a manner not too dissimilar to LAUSD administration that also have forgotten that they started their careers in education as teachers and then got as far away from the purposefully cultivated insanity of the average LAUSD classroom.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) New for the holiday season for those of you who are looking for the gift that keeps on taking. It is called the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board Game, it has very little to do with education and everything to do with making obscene amounts of money at whatever the cost. For those of you who have played Monopoly in the past, the transition to the LAUSD Board Game should be rather straight forward. Like Monopoly, it's all about money, but adds the crucial function of reinforcing negative racial and ethnic student stereotypes, while bring to the game world the leading edge media favorite of applying these negative stereotypes to teachers and anyone else who gets in the way of the ultimate goal of the game: The privatization of public education and the dumbing down of as much of the 99% as possible

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) As one clueless superintendent after another is anointed by the forces of public education privatization and the mass media to implement revolutionary public education reform that never seems to come about in our public schools, nobody in a position of power questions or seems willing to hold accountable a non-system of public education where predominantly Black and Latino students have the continued and generational misfortune of being sold out with a one-way ticket to the underclass..

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) While it requires only a rudimentary education to spot the daily blatant distortions that Fox News KTTV 11 puts out in lieu of any real, truthful, and unbias reporting, the fact that Fox News successfully continues to get away with this travesty passed off as the "news" is a powerful testament as to just how far the average America has gone down from being educated in a manner that LAUSD students and their parents of the 1950s and 1960s took for granted. As I described in the prior post about Fox 11 KTTV News concerning morally challenged "Reporter" Daniel Leighton, what Fox does is pander to the deep seeded ignorance and prejudices of its listening audience, while requiring no critical analysis of itself or of its audience that seems incapable, because of its own LAUSD "education," replete with not even basic skills of critical analysis, to make them aware of the rational contradictions of virtually everything Fox 11 KTTV says. It is not out of the realm of the possible to imagine a Fox ad campaign with the slogan, "Fox News, well thought and objective analysis never gets in the way.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) If you have been targeted for dismissal as a teacher by LAUSD, there is one way that you might be able to defend yourself, which United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and their attorneys at Trygstad, Schwab & Trygstad seem to avoid at all costs. California Education Code Section 44944 requires: (a) (1) In a dismissal or suspension proceeding initiated pursuant to Section 44934, if a hearing is requested by the employee,the hearing shall be commenced within 60 days from the date of the employee's demand for a hearing. This provision is presently ignored by LAUSD, UTLA, and Trystad, Schwab & Trygstad to the detriment of the teacher being brought up on charges and facing dismissal.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) As perdaily approaches its two year anniversary this November of writing about all the news that's fit to print about the inept Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), that somehow never seems to see the light of day with the Los Angeles Times or any other mainstream media outlet - or Broad and Gates Foundation financially dependent National Public Radio outlets for that matter. In moments of self-doubt, one wonders whether we are making a difference? With the excellent self-critical educational skills that I developed as a student from an LAUSD of a different era during the 1950s and 1960s, I reflected as we post our 300th blog post as to whether what I am reporting makes any difference in the unceasing and purposeful decline of public education at LAUSD and the rest of predominantly minority filled public school districts throughout this country. After all, it's hard to stay a racist without LAUSD and its compadres throughout this country continuing to cultivate stereotypes of Black and Latino stupidity from the naive optimism of Black and Latino children and their parents who continue to pursue the American dream, when they should know better by now.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) When I read Mr. Isenberg's blog about the rubber rooms, I thought the District's process was, at worst, simply stupid. This morning, I had an opportunity to visit one of these teachers at his temporary assignment. Teachers call these temporary assignments "rubber rooms", apparently due to the similarity to holding facilities at mental hospitals that have walls made of rubber to prevent patient self-injury. What I observed was appalling - and what I heard was even worse. Teachers are required to sit in separated cubicles that are more reminiscent of jail visiting facilities than of a school site. I also confirmed that the District has given them absolutely nothing to do - not even "busy work". Having been required to work at an empty desk during my own whistleblowing experience, I know that being required to do nothing while being watched constantly is an extremely stressful and totally punitive procedure.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) LAUSD continues to incarcerate more and more innocent teachers in "rubber rooms" (usually Local District Offices) in a desperate attempt to either balance their budget or get rid of competent teachers who have balked at going along with LAUSD corruption and long failed business as usual policies that administrators without imagination haven't a clue how to change. In a culture that finds daycare in lieu of the excellent public education preferable, these teachers were foolish enough to believe that they could implement against LAUSD & UTLA incompetent self-dealing, something better and consistent with the ideals that got them into teaching in the first place. These teacher are tortured on a daily basis by LAUSD administrators who would have no trouble working a Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo..

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) If you were a school district like the Los Angeles Unified School District that had a $408 million budget shortfall for the academic year 2011-2012 and $15 billion in unfunded and already vested lifetime medical benefits, what would you do? Here's a little gambit that would make Bernie Madoff or John Gotti proud. The scintillating intellects at LAUSD and their new Superintendent John Deasy straight from the Gates Foundation with his mandate to privatize public education, tells his underlings to target teachers with the following characteristics:

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken, like recently termed out UTLA President A.J. Duffy eschewed the use of a first and middle name throughout his career, which I am sad to say is about all these two men have in common. Mencken, who was known at the "Sage of Baltimore" for his satire, wit, and journalistic excellence would have had a field day in examining the blatant hypocrisy of A.J. Duffy and his mercenary proclivities for never being fettered by any belief that he wasn't willing to sell out...for the right price.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) David Lyell's political aspiration are his exclusive motivation. The well-being of his fellow teachers has nothing to do with anything he says or does. Before David ran for UTLA Secretary, he blogged for me at perdaily to advance his candidacy, while doing the same at NYC teachers, and anywhere else he could to promote himself, his career, and his candidacy for UTLA Secretary - his first step toward the political career he so covets - think LAUSD Board member Jose Huizar for a comparable plan. Predictably, after being pursued for access to perdaily and other sites where I blog, II haven't heard much from David since his election. I wonder why?

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) As somebody who went to law school and taught constitutional law at both the secondary and university levels, I had always operated under the delusion that one was innocent until proven guilty by a preponderance of the evidence in a civil case and beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal case. In the corrupt world created by the Los Angeles Unifed School District (LAUSD) and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), nothing could be further from the truth. From the moment you are targeted for removal from teaching for what quickly becomes a never ending sequence of fabricated charges based on reasons mentioned in Part 1 of this article, you are presumed guilty by virtually everybody you deal with. And even those few people who see clearly that you are being railroaded by LAUSD and UTLA do nothing to intervene on your behalf, because they are terrified of losing their own jobs...or privileges While there are some pretty awful teachers within LAUSD, ironically, they will be the last to be harassed, attacked, and removed, because they play ball with corrupt LAUSD or UTLA administrations. None of this could take place if UTLA did its job and the law firm of Trygstad, Schwab & Trygstad didn't help in facilitating your removal from teaching by LAUSD. Here is the way it is done:

((Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) If you are a teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) you have no civil rights and no union rights. LAUSD may target you for removal, because you either refuse to go along with the longstanding and highly profitable financial scam they have been running for generations now called public education, aka minority daycare. It is being played against predominantly students of color in a school district that Whites abandon long ago (only 6% left in LAUSD), making it more segregated that it was prior to Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. Or if you are just "guilty" of having a great deal of seniority, which puts you high on the salary scale, you can be removed from teaching with no collective bargaining rights and especially no arbitration as guaranteed by the LAUSD/UTLA Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is now systematically ignored, even if UTLA voted for it. With a $408 million budget shortfall, it's open season on older high-seniority and better paid teachers who either suffer from good teaching or honesty in the face of endemic LAUSD/UTLA corruption.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) When we think of those who collaborated with Nationalsozialismus or Nazism and the Third Reich during World War II, we usually have quite appropriate visions of Vichy France. But early on, the Nazis had sympathizers in many other countries organizations including in America and some moved on to becoming allies and collaborators. It may be surprising to realize but some of these were even Jews themselves who went so far as to help in the selection of other Jews who would go to the camps. Most noteworthy and vile among the many features of Nazism was racism, assassination and genocide. But the Nazis also opposed liberalism, democracy, capitalism, industrialization and, of greatest interest to us, trade unionism. The most powerful unit within Nazi corps was the Schutzstaffel or the SS which faithfully enforced the policies listed above. They did the dirty work. So the issue to be addressed here is the similar nature of certain organizations and their working committees who are taking over the field of education within our own Los Angeles community. For any of you who have done any time with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) the comparisons to Nazi Germany are more than apparent. The totalitarianism and suppression of freedom of expression are commonplace and daily ordeals. Teacher intimidation and roundups grow in frequency. The loses of protections under tenure, permanency, and seniority are recent. The end of careers or the threat of it is a constant presence. And what makes these conditions so much worse is the ever reliable collaborative relationship the district holds with its partner, the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA).

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) It is a difficult thing to say - and it would seem from what I read - a difficult thing to comprehend, but there is very little that can be done within the existing power structure at both the state and federal level. Having said this, you must understand that I am not "so negative," as I have been labeled, but rather a realist who would like to act in a way that is likely to REQUIRE a response from the corrupt power structure that presently ignores us at no cost to themselves. You can file an action with Public Employees Review Board and the likely result with be that you will lose...two years from now in an action decided by the same type of political appointees that are as much in the pocket of LAUSD as is the California Teacher Credentialing, where 43% of the employees are afraid for their jobs if they report the nepotism and corruption that is rampant in these and other state and federal agencies. You can demand that LAUSD, UTLA, and other corrupt entities treat you in a manner the complies with law and your rights to equal protect and due process, b

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) The lost city of Petra in modern day Jordan, which was popularized in Spielberg-Lucas classic film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was inhabited from 7000 B.C., before fading into oblivion. The vibrant society of Easter Island, off the coast of South America, also built a flourishing civilization made famous by massive stone faces that remain to this day starring out to sea long after this civilization responsible for them disappeared. The Mayan culture of Southern Mexico and Central America also thrived from 2000 B.C. until 900 A.D. and then, like its predecessors went into decline and irrelevance. In all these civilizations, what brought them down was a failure to adapt and a total disregard for the exigencies demanded by their changing environment. With a public education system at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) that harkens back to the failed pseudo-science of Social Darwinism from which it defined itself and the subjective needs of those in power to justify their own fragile power in defiance of necessary adaptation, we have arrived at the same tipping point for our civilization, where we will have to decide in the next few years whether we want to join the people of Petra, Easter Island, and Mayan civilizations as another also ran. Is the immutable nature of civilization such that no civilization can endure and reinvent itself with an amalgamation of the ideas it was founded on and those adaptations that will allow it to continue.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Yesterday, I was drawn to the 8th floor of the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) building on Wilshire Boulevard, because I was intrigued by the email I had received about the meeting, which said it was going to be about trying to define alternative and truly effective ways to deal with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) corruption and dysfunction that has continued undaunted to assure that predominantly Latino (73.4%) and Black students (10.2%) of LAUSD student population do not get the public education they are entitled to and which would allow them to be productive member of society. When I arrived, I saw David Rapkin and several other people from the self-proclaimed "activist" teacher faction of UTLA called PEAC. I had had a run in with them 14 months ago as Rapkin immediately pointed out at one of their meetings, when I pointed out that we were now 40 years after the student walkouts in E.L.A. and that Latino education at LAUSD was now worse than it was then, to which I was told, "It takes time to build a union movement." As I left that meeting, I pointed out that 40 years of "radical organizing without results seemed a bit much, given the desperate conditions that LAUSD Latino students continue to face that are now even worse than they were back then." I went on to say that my students didn't have the luxury like they did to sit around in what strongly resembled a faculty staff development- which also never seem to go anywhere- talking about revolution in public education, but never actually doing something that might bring it about.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) I have been publishing perdaily for about a year and a half now. Maybe some of you wonder why I continue to show LAUSD and UTLA administrative corruption and incompetence no quarter, while constantly seeking to illustrate the all too often depressing reality that these self-serving and dishonest administrators have made in Los Angeles and elsewhere by building a system of public education that accommodates to failure, instead of pragmatically demanding the best from every student and teacher. While some of you might think my fight involves the harassment, bogus charges, suspensions, and ultimate dismissal proceeding that LAUSD with the help of UTLA is still trying to hang on me and other innocent teachers throughout the district, you would be wrong as I am not vindictive no matter how egregious and malicious the crimes of the those at LAUSD and UTLA are.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) For any reader who hasn't taken out the time to spend five minutes devoted to the articles recently appearing in perdaily.com suggesting the power of a parent and student boycott, you may be missing one of your last chances to save public education and the noble profession of teaching. In fact, before reading any further here, you may wish to go back and first read LAUSD vs. REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE-BOYCOTT?, WILL BLACK AND LATINO PARENTS SUPPORT A BOYCOTT OF LAUSD? and LAUSD BOYCOTT. The language herein is quite colorful but not merely rhetoric. You have to understand the essential principle at work, What's stated are facts and events unfolding even as you read this - if you choose to do so. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that you may know most of it already as do many others and especially if you're in the teaching profession. But that's also the problem. While the feds, the state, and district go about their business of shaving expenses by reducing education to a series of cheaply packaged programs - that only vendors profit from - and teaching to a rating scale of performance against the criteria of these programs, we all stand by waiting for someone else to do something about it because we correctly realize that others see what we see.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) In a school district like the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) with a combined Latino and Black student population of close to 90%, several important questions were brought up when we met last Friday, April 22nd to explore whether Latino and Black students and parents would support a boycott of LAUSD in an attempt to finally hold corrupt and self-serving LAUSD administration and the politicians and corporate interests that keep them in power accountable to this majority constituency.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) You have no expectation that criminals act rationally, so why would you think that the logic of firing one principal instead of 3 teachers would make any sense to the not so petty criminals running LAUSD and public school districts like it around the United States. These people could never have gotten or continued to maintain their corrupt power over generations of students and their parents, if they were not protected by politicians at both the state and federal level, who are themselves put in power by corporations that want to privatize public education to monetize the potential $250-370 billion a year business of public education, while dumbing the citizenry down to eliminate dissent.. Google Professor Lois Weiner and neo-liberal agenda. Maybe after you read this you will not expect to be treated fairly and might finally decide to do something before it is too late.

JOHN GOTTI - NYC OR LA's NEXT SUPERINTENDENT? - "HIGHLY QUALIFIED" (Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) In the last couple of months, emboldened by "the dominant narrative" of the corporate media blaming teachers for for their own longstanding incompetence, LAUSD has significantly augmented the number more teachers - especially those at the top of the salary scale - it is going trying to force out of the profession on bogus charges. My email at perdaily has exploded with desperate teachers who have come under attack and don't know what to do. This appears to be motivated by a desperate effort at LAUSD to balance their $408 million deficit, before lower echelon administrators start losing their jobs. The teachers who contact me at perdaily all tell a strikingly similar story of having ridiculous fabricated charges brought against them to try and force them into quitting or early retirement, rather than face the costly hearing process, appeals, and exorbitant lawyers fees and protracted court costs over years on unpaid administrative leave of trying to save their jobs.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) If Teacher Paulette Jackson supposedly did not turn in her lesson plans on time, even though she often stayed at school until 10pm preparing for the next day, she was put on unpaid administrative level without benefits and LAUSD moved for her removal as a teacher in complete derogation of a 14 year exemplary career. Dave Peters goes to a school as a substitute and winds up being fired, when a man with an LAUSD visitor's pass on his shirt allegedly touches two of his students. Where was the school's administration? How is a sub supposed to know who is supposed to be on campus? Sorry, not relevant in LAUSD Mike Bujko reports a female assistant principal going into the Boys' Locker Room while the boys were changing and Bujko is harassed and forced into early retirement. Roz Press gets sprayed with a toxic fire extinguisher and has been sick for the last 10 years, but LAUSD goes after her and not the student.

(Mensaje se repite en Espanol) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) A belated happy birthday to the late Dr. Martin Luther King. Still fighting to make your wisdom and insight a reality in our America. While injustice of any kind is reprehensible, it is my belief that the greatest injustice possible takes place when government authorities abuse there vast power to attack individuals without even the slightest good faith belief that they have done anything wrong. After sitting through the teacher Paulette Jackson's inquisition that was held two weeks ago in the Office of Administrative Hearings, I was curious to find out if the way she had been treated in complete and utter derogation of her civil and property rights was an exception or the rule. Regrettably, what I uncovered was a consistent and undeviating pattern of complete and total disregard of individual LAUSD teachers and classified staff rights. Mampre Polmakian was the LAUSD attorney representing the District against Ms. Jackson in a matter that by all rights should have been handled by UTLA grievance under the LAUSD/UTLA Collective Bargains Agreement, if UTLA leadership wasn't so clearly in collusion with LAUSD against its own members.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) What is very popular in the mainstream media these days is using the false dichotomy to misdirect the reader or listener away from other possibly more viable alternatives by failing to acknowledge that they even exist. A relative simple and straight forward example of this phenomenon could be seen on the March 30, 2011 Patt Morrison show on KPCC where the topic had to do with whether half-day or full day kindergarten was better for young students, who came most likely from lower socio-economic families where standard English (or Spanish for that matter) was not the language spoken in the home. Throughout the 20 minutes or so devoted to this segment Patt Morrison carefully steered the conversation between the supposedly exclusive positives and negatives of either option without ever addressing whether some other factors might also be at play.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) (As I get read to post this 3rd article in a series about corruption at UTLA by Mark Hemphill at perdaily, the UTLA election results are in and Warren Fletcher has been elected president with David Lyell as Secretary. While Fletcher was able to take the top spot at the union, he did not carry all of his slate. Given the low turn out in the run-off, allegations of gross irregularities, and general teacher apathy, Fletcher does not have much time to posit a clear and specific plan to rally support from rank and file, before UTLA is made irrelevant by the incessant outrageous actions by LAUSD that have gone unanswered by A.J. Duffy and the exiting cabal that have continued to run things at UTLA into the ground. Whatever you thoughts are at this time, the least effect thing that teachers and other LAUSD employees can do is to continue to fight among ourselves instead of coming together behind Warren to keep him focused on what needs to be done for us to become a force to be reckoned with as the silenced majority at LAUSD - majority needs to rule. Notice that the minority who continue to run things at LAUSD still face no consequences for their dishonesty. Any teacher can tell you what happens in a classroom when there are no consequences and clearly the same is true for LAUSD administration - care to give them consequences? Warren deserves at least a chance to see if he represents anything other than the same capitulation to LAUSD that has gone on for the last 4 administrations of UTLA. Clearly, whether you choose to accept it or not, Warren will either reestablish a fair balance of collective bargaining with LAUSD or he just might be the last president of this union)

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Part 2: The Roles of Ambitious Bit Players If you had the patience to read through part 1 on this subject, you now have a good idea of just how rife with corruption the first round the UTLA election was. You also know the main offenders and how all attempts to hold them accountable have met with less than enthusiasm by the union or generally ignored. Nevertheless, the reader deserves to know the depth to which the corruption has reached. Chiefs are of little impact without braves to do their bidding. The same applies here. To compromise this election to the level reported, it took great cooperation from smaller players with origins where it would have never been expected. There isn't the time or the space to cover every one of them, but the following is a representative example.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Part 1: Where It All Began Unless you're a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District teaching community, you probably didn't know that round one of the elections for offices within the United Teachers of Los Angeles union has come and gone and round two comes to a conclusion March 29 between the two surviving virtually indistinguishable runoff slates to decide the remaining offices. However, even if you're a member of the teaching community, you may not know of these events, given that estimates of the voter turnout ran as low as 15% and no higher than 17%. Pretty sorry for the second largest teacher's union in the country. At some school sites, teachers didn't even know there was an election, and if they did, they couldn't identify the candidates much less separate them by their positions on issues. But even if you're not a teacher, Keep this in mind. What happens here will dramatically effect all teachers, public education and you by transference. So read on if you want to know what's really going on.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) One of the advantages of having a long and purposeful failed public education system, where abysmal English language skills are only matched by equally atrocious math skills is that the Los Angeles Times reporter Jason Song can write an article entitled, "L.A. schools chief cuts his own pay" and fewer people are left with enough critical thinking skills to question either the linguistic sophistry or fuzzy math that Song uses to arrive at his conclusion in complete derogation of what has actually taken place. The fable goes something like this: Gates Foundation's John Deasy is given the job of Superintendent of LAUSD to replace Ramon Cortines at $330,000 a year with no other candidates for the position. Ramon Cortines has been paid $250,000 a year, if you don't count his generous benefits package and the $150,000 a year he also made from Scholastics for 10 years in a clear conflict of interest that LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia told him not to worry about, even though LAUSD had $16 million a year in contracts with Scholastics. As we have seen elsewhere lately, it just seems like some people are above the law.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) In the Warsaw Ghetto, a young zionist came back, after following the trains filled with Jews, to tell the Jewish leaders about Auschwitz and the extermination camps. The leaders, who had been supplying lists to the Nazis of the people in the ghetto to be "relocated" refused to believe what the young zionist was telling them about the "ultimate solution." They continued to fight among themselves, while offering their tacit support to the enemy, because that had allowed them to survive in the past. In the end, they were either killed in Auschwitz or in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. These folks didn't have a choice, teachers, students, and parents in LAUSD do.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Something important took place today at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. Students at the highly successful magnet school with excellent Humanities, Music, and Drama Magnets as well as 6 small learning communities who were threatened last week with the loss of 22 of their teachers decided to fight back. Using Facebook and other social media they organized thousands of their fellow students, parents, and supporters to stage a walkout from the school to say in the clearest of possible terms that they were not going to passively roll over and allow their educations and futures to be compromised by politically inspired manipulations throughout this state and country that were trying to impose draconian cuts to education that really had no rational justification. As one of the organizers of the event student Olivia Natt said in some of her remarks addressed to the whole student body, which had walked out of Hamilton High School in an orderly manner at 9:00am, "Children should not be used as leverage by politicians for their partisan political goals."

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) When I first started teaching back in the late 1980s, somebody told me that principals were Gods and I was foolish enough to believe that they did not mean this literally. Today I spent another day in the surrealistic world of the Office of Administrative Hearings at 320 W. 4th St. in Downtown Los Angeles in "courtroom" number 9 on the 6th floor, where I got another object lesson in just how unquestioningly LAUSD administration will support its principals no matter what they do. What I saw again was an expensive process where LAUSD Attorney Mampre R. Pomakian, Staff Relations or Human Resources Ira Berman (he can't seem to make up his mind) and an expensive cast of judge, commissioners, court reporter, paralegal, and a stellar supporting cast spent their time trying to prove that when it comes to teachers: IF IT DOESN'T FIT, YOU MUST CONVICT

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) From the first day of this farce, the judge and two retired teacher were given LAUSD's book of "evidence" against Ms. Jackson, even before the judge decided as to whether it was admissible or not. Even after the judge had ruled that some document could not come in or other documents of questionable origin could, there was no attempt made to limit what access these two retired teachers would have to "the evidence" presented by LAUSD. While a professional judge might be able to limit his ultimate deliberation to admissible evidence, one could not reasonable expect two retired teachers to not be impermissible swayed. However, even with LAUSD's failure to comply with discovery of documents requested by Dr. Michael Wells, who was helping Ms. Jackson in her defense, based on a claim of sovereign immunity, the rank incompetence of LAUSD shown through. One witness who had written Ms. Jackson up for alleged improper behavior admitted that he had never observed her firsthand and had only written her up "as a favor" to somebody else at LAUSD who asked him to do so and yet this proceeding was allowed to go on.

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) (This post keeps getting more and more surreal as the day goes on in terms as to what LAUSD and UTLA can do without due process of law or maintaining even basic civil rights having to do with the property rights involved in employment. I just received the following email from Tara Thomas at UTLA) "Thank you, I received your email. You didn't receive a ballot this time around because the eligibility is based upon paying Union dues as of February 4th payroll. Our records indicate that you have not paid union dues since December 2010. You are on Inactive status at this time. In Unity, Tara R Thomas UTLA Business Office Phone 213-637-5165  fax 213-368-6231 tthomas@utla.net" So it seems that all LAUSD would have to do to eliminate UTLA as a union is to put us all on unpaid administrative leave in complete derogation of the LAUSD/UTLA Collective Bargaining Agreement and applicable law, because by so doing, teachers - according to Tara Thomas of UTLA - would lose their right to vote at UTLA in any attempt to confront LAUSD corruption in the illegal dismissal of teachers or UTLA complicit in these illegal actions. So what happened to the legal presumption of being innocent until shown guilty by a preponderance of the evidence with the burden of so proving on the alleging party???

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) How You Can Expect to be Treated by the National Education Association (when you need them most) by Daniel Geery Following negotiations of our Master Agreement, in 1989, the Shelley School District hired a new superintendent, Val Edrington, well-known for his militaristic approach to things. Edrington was not pleased with my active role in the IEA and NEA. Shortly after his arrival that I was placed on probation, based on a long list of nonsensical allegations, such as "dominating grade level meetings," being absent when I was present, getting "blacktop smudges on PE balls," having inadequate lesson plans (though for seven years the previous administration commended my teaching and lesson plans), and for the content of a letter that was never published, wherein I questioned the superintendent's questionable history and activities in our district. Specifically, I had composed a draft of a letter about the shenanigans of the superintendent, took it to a local paper to see what one of the reporter's thought might need to be changed for it to be published. He kept a copy and took it to the school district's lawyer. To my surprise and horror, a termination hearing was scheduled in May, 1991. I asked the Idaho Education Association and its Executive Director to send a lawyer to assist me. "We can't," they claimed--such an action, they said, would be "too costly." A kangaroo court proceeding ensued. No record was made that was suitable for review, I was fired, with no income and no recourse.It is difficult to convey in words how demoralizing and depressing this situation was. In this small community, social support evaporated. The mere firing of an educator meant to many that I must have done something horribly wrong to be terminated from a tenured teaching position (several of my peers, aware of what was going on, were deeply concerned, but at a loss as to what to do).

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Before the hearing began, Judge Nafarrette said, "I haven't even reviewed the file," which Administrative Law Judge Scarlett had only given him at 8:40am that same morning. But as I listened to the testimony, I realized this was only the last step of a seamless system of endemic incompetence that started with the unwarranted harassment and removal from teaching of Ms. Jackson by novice Principal Kendra Wallace of Daniel Webster Middle School with the blind support of LAUSD administration that not only offered no critical analysis of the completely false charges brought against Ms. Jackson, but actually helped in the fabrication of evidence against her.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Bullying/abuse in the workplace and educational/academia setting deprives families and society of security; financial stability, emotional balance and can result in debilitating health for the victim/target and or their family members. Those that abuse/bully others in the workplace, in the schools, in the boardrooms are destroying intelligent and talented people from living productive and quality lives. Workplace and educational/academia bullies/ abusers are obliterating lives. THERE IS NO INTERVENTION IN 85% OF THE CASES Workplace abuse/bullying is two to three times more prevalent than illegal discrimination. In most cases, it is sub-lethal and non-physical. According a Zogby Poll approximately one in six workers have directly experienced workplace abuse.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) There is no way that public education throughout this country can be as bad and corrupt as it presently is without the willing collusion of teachers' unions like UTLA and those in Philadelphia, NYC, and elsewhere with their dysfunctional school districts. If you would like to try and turn it around, you must conquer your LAUSD/UTLA purposefully cultivated teacher apathy and vote for new leadership in the UTLA runoff elections. This is the first step to change and accountability for everyone at LAUSD and UTLA, along with the politicians who empower them and look the other way while they systematically dismantle meaningful public education in this country. Key to fulfilling the clear corporate agenda of ending democracy in this country is eliminating a publicly educated citizenry that is capable of understanding the ramifications of what is being done to them and their children in public schools that has made them incapable of having sufficient education to operate as a repository of power and oversight as anticipated by our Founding Fathers.

THE NON-IDENTICAL TWINS? (Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) Duffy, Over the last 6 years, it has been hard to distinguish any difference between what you and Julie Washington do. Now, if you have your way, I will not have to. If Julie Washington gets in to continue your disastrous regime's approach to dealing with LAUSD, in another 3 years there likely will not be a UTLA to stand up for our rights. It takes a great deal of chutzpah to accuse others of "lying by omission," when that is what your regime has done for two terms and a total of 6 years. As I have mentioned several times on this site, I was a teacher for 23 years with excellent Stulls and not a mark against me, until I reported the fraudulent graduation of 79 students from my school with valid diplomas, even though they had low elementary school reading abilities on the STAR Reading Assessment with some as low as 2nd grade. You also know that teachers are giving assessments that they have the answers to, even though they are not supposed to grade them. But, with bogus value added assessment with a 45% margin of error, these teachers are not supposed to "help their students do well," when they know their very jobs may hang in the balance?

By David Lyell (left), LAUSD teacher (Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) A report published this month by UC Berkeley economist Jesse Rothstein raises serious ethical questions about the objectivity of an analysis of "value-added" models by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In his report, "Review of Learning About Teaching," Rothstein concludes that The Gates Foundation's "Measures of Effective Teaching" (MET) Project contains, "troubling indications that the Project's conclusions were predetermined." Rothstein asserts that "the Gates Foundation has widely circulated a stand-alone policy brief (with the same title as the research report) that omits the full analysis, so even careful readers will be unaware of the weak evidentiary basis for its conclusions."

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) The first round of the UTLA Election have now been tallied with 6186 union member voting out of an approximate 45,000 members for a dismal 13.75% turnout. While UTLA can continue to call itself a union for a little while, until LAUSD finishes dismantling it with the help of UTLA leadership, a real union has the ability to get rank and file into the street to shut down LAUSD, before LAUSD succeeds in shutting down teaching as a fairly compensated profession in Los Angeles. This is a big part of the neo-liberal agenda for the privatization of public education and the dumbing down of curriculum and is going on all over this country. UTLA can only succeed by doing something more than just reacting to the latest outrage proposed by LAUSD. It requires UTLA leadership to actively organize rank and file under a clearly stated and specific alternative plan for real public education reform that concentrates on reforming LAUSD and not teacher, which UTLA leadership presently stands by and allows to be harassed, dismissed, and scapegoated for the crimes of this district that A.J.Duffy and his cronies have allowed to continue while taking no action.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) As of this writing, I have received no ballot and was wondering how many of you are in the same situation, which seems designed to maintain the same cabal of Duffyesque control at UTLA in the person of Julie Washington et al, who Duffy has taken every opportunity to push to the rank and file, while denying other candidates and slates equal access. Today at perdaily, we received allegations that there was "beginning to emerge election mail tampering, possible fraud with packets of opposition candidate flyers, supposedly mailed out, by firm hired by UTLA." In addition, we receive other claims that "many dues payers received packets of candidate flyers only AFTER they voted!" What further added to what is more and more seeming like a concerted effort to thwart Opposition candidates and an honest election is that the, "Flyers were also either double stuffed or sent on duplicate packets so even more dues payers got NO flyers of some opposition candidates at all with their packets."

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) While the rational mind tells you that the harassment, intimidation, and bullying you see at LAUSD are not just happening to you and 200 teachers deposited in rubber rooms around the District, there is something very empowering about realizing that there is nothing personal about these despicable acts that are practiced around this country to silence the majority of excellent teachers who dare to stand up for what they know to be right. It is rather sad that our unions seem equally tainted by the same corruption that exists in these purposefully failed school districts, where money and power have long ago supplanted the desire to give all students the public education they are entitled to. What follows is Lorna Stremcha's story in her own words. See how much of her Montana reality is exactly the same as what you or one of your colleagues has experience in Los Angeles Unified, NYC Public Schools, or the vast majority of purposefully corrupted school districts in between that continue to maintain power at any cost by savaging teachers and ignoring the needs of students.

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) The following candidates are not together on a slate, but represent the best voices in UTLA to bring much needed change to our union. Only 20% of all members vote. So even if you do not vote for any of these candidates, please vote! Part of the reason we get kicked around so much by the school district is because we are not actively involved, and we do not make our voices heard in elections. Officers: President: Warren Fletcher NEA Vice President: M.J. Roberts AFT Vice President: John Cromshow Elementary Vice President Juan Ramirez Secondary Vice President: Frances M. Copeland Treasurer: Scott Johnson Secretary: David Lyell Board of Directors: NEA Central Area: Catherine R. Proctor NEA Valley East Area: Erika Jones AFT Valley East Area: Lisa Karahalios NEA Valley West: Colleen Schwab NEA Harbor Area: Haidee Fierrro, Elgin Scott, Aaron Bruhnke, Candidate for Special Education: Tim Delia Candidate for Substitutes: Dave Peters If you do not receive a ballot in the next few days, please call and/or email Tara Thomas at UTLA to request a ballot. You can reach Tara at: 213.637.5165

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) As we have said many times over during the last year on this site, the unquestioned fallacy that remains the exclusive mantra of mainstream media is that the longstanding failure of public education is the responsibility of teachers, when nothing could be further from the truth. In the following comment, meant to address this purposeful distortion of who is really responsible for failed public education, Karen Horwitz, the founder of NAPTA, talks about who should really be held responsible for the ongoing and premeditated failure of public education in this country. My voice, the voice of Karen Horwitz, and those of the silenced majority - which is never given space in mainstream media - is really the dominant narrative that must be heard, if we ever expect to reconstitute an uncorrupted public education system as the sine qua non of this country's continuation as a philosophically and economically vital democracy, where the interest of the majority take precedence over those who continue to pervert the system for their own self-interest:

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) On January 18th, 19th, and 20th, Sonali Kolhatkar dedicated three segments of her daily morning show Uprising on KPFK - 90.7FM at 8a.m. - to the endemic corruption that continues to be allowed in the running of public education at LAUSD and elsewhere throughout the United States. She focused on the systematic harassment of any teacher that stands against this corruption in defense of honest and rigorous public education for all in a country that is now more segregated than it was pre-Brown vs Board of Education.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post Although Professor Joel Shatzky's writing and videos are about New York City public schools, can you see your own purposefully failed public school in the following three videos he has written or in the many articles and Huffington Post blogs he has written? Joel Shatzky:Brooklyn, New York Joel.Shatzky@cortland.edu Professor of English Emeritus--SUNY, College at Cortland (1968-2005) Adjunct instructor-Kingsborough CC (CUNY) 2006-- ) Regular contributor to the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-shatzky/educating-for-democracy-l_1_b_809924.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/searchS/?q=Joel+Shatzky Author of "The Thinking Crisis" with Ellen Hill (Authors Choice Press: New York, 2001) Numerous articles on education in Jewish Currents. Script-writer for three YouTube satires on educational "reform."

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) I was a teacher for LAUSD for 32 years with good evaluations until I and 2 other colleagues (P.E. Teachers) reported a female Asst. Principal entered the boys' locker room when the football team was changing for a game. As "mandatory reporters, we reported the incident and the administration as a whole started various kinds of harassment and retaliation as a result of that reporting. It got to the point where it became unbearable to continue working for LAUSD, which forced me to retire 2.5 years earlier that I had intended. I filed a lawsuit against the LAUSD and the individuals involved and am currently in the Appeals process. During the trial 5 employees and administrators perjured themselves while giving false testimony even thought there was direct evidence from the LAUSD itself that there were boys dressing in the locker room when the AP went into it. The LAUSD has used every trick in the book to try to get this case dismissed and was unable to do so. We are moving forward with the hope that a positive result for us in this case may open up Pandora's box against the LAUSD and many more teachers may come forward with similar lawsuits. Call me, if you like. I am in Rio de Janeiro 1.954.671.0279

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) In Jason Felch and Jason Song's latest piece of yellow journalism for the L.A. Times entitled "Teachers no longer safe in seniority," one cannot help being astounded at the ability of these two journalistic aparatchiks to say so much while consciously leaving out critical information that might allow their readers to come up with exactly the opposite conclusion The Two Jasons want them to. What makes this all the more reprehensible is that anybody with the access to LAUSD of The Two Jasons and their other job threatened colleagues at the Times undoubtedly know that what they "report" are scripted talking points of a neo-liberal agenda to destroy the remnants of real public education and the knowledge and empowerment our Founding Fathers counted on public education for to give the citizens of this country as the repository of power under the constitution- no education, no democracy.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) (For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) I'm disappointed by the appointment of John Deasy as the superintendent to the LAUSD School Board. The school board didn't even bother to consider any other candidates, which is very strange. The public needs to remember that the mayor, who celebrated this appointment, after recently attacking UTLA, was also handed a vote of "no confidence" by teachers at eight of the 10 schools he takes credit for operating. The reality is that the teachers at those school sites operate those schools. The mayor, who rarely shows up, only operates them on paper, and dismally at that. We need to remember that this is the same mayor who, in 2009, spent 15 times as much as his nearest opponent on his campaign, then refused to debate him.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) It is my New Year's resolution for 2011 to finally develop and publicize a clearly stated and specific platform for real and accountable public education reform by bringing together people from all over this country to share their collective and remarkably similar insights as to the real nature of the purposefully failed and the endemically corrupt present public education system as well as a rather straight forward way it can be dealt with. This is the first of many blogs from myself and an initial list of insightful educators, parents, students, writers, and others from all of the United States whose views have been systematically excluded from the mainstream media and the present carefully controlled monologue of bogus public education reform that will continue until we the people stop and replace it with a truly functional public education system. The links to these tenacious heroes who continue to posit a positive views of excellent public education for all will be posted and linked to on a daily basis on this site and increased as they are joined by others from around the country until we reach the critical mass necessary to achieve the pragmatic and effective implementation of public education that we are entitled to. Browse through their links to see the stark similarities of the present corrupt public education system around this country and their clear vision of what has to replace it if we intend to survive as a democracy that vests power in its highly educated citizens.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) On November 5th last week, I received the following terse email from David Rapkin of Progressive Educators For Action (PEAC), the self-proclaimed progressive activist arm of UTLA: "At a certain point, people and groups need to disagree forthrightly on principle and part ways clearly. It is the decision of the PEAC leadership that your posts are no longer welcome nor permitted on the list." David Two days later after sending the following incendiary comment to David: Enjoy the cool aid (reference to Jim Jones, Guiana, and the cult-like adherence to doctrine to the point of adamantly refusing to hear or deal with anything outside accepted dogma, i.e. fanatic.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) On Sunday, November 7th Mitchell Landsberg of the Los Angeles Times wrote an article entitled "Teachers unions clout in question," which is a completely and utter distortion of everything that he knows from having daily and intimate access to the highest echelons of LAUSD, which he once described to me as resembling a "MASH triage unit in Superintendent Ramon Cortines's offfice," where they are running from brush fire to brush fire without a clue as how to deal with any of the issues they face in a logical and definitive manner. Mitchell Landsberg, Jason Song, Howard Blume, and other journalists that limit themselves to publishing what Diane Ravitch ironically calls "the dominant narrative" party line that is parroted all the way down the line from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who all know the reality of public education's programmed failure that has gone on for generations, but choose for what must be their own career security to write articles that incessantly mention dominant narrative talking points without the slightest critical analysis which should be the hallmark of real journalism.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) The engine driving LAUSD administrative harassment of teachers is the fact that administrators up until now have faced no consequences for harassing teachers to the point of their actions qualifying as a criminal conspiracy that not only fabricates testimony, but also offers witnesses incentives if they are willing to perjure themselves in LAUSD's mindless campaign to get rid of any teacher willing to stand up for the educational values that could truly reform public education at LAUSD. These administrators continue to go into retirement with no personal responsibility for their illegal actions in violation of teachers civil rights and at worst leave a financially strapped LAUSD holding the bag for any future liability in the unlikely event that the harassed teacher's rights should ultimately be vindicated in the judicial system.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) In writing this blog over the last year, the reality I have had the hardest time accepting is the silence of teachers in the face of conscious and premeditated malfeasance and outright criminality within LAUSD leadership. Today I would like to explain why teachers who surely know what I do about endemic corruption at LAUSD steadfastly refuse to stand up against this corruption. In order to do this I would like to describe what happens to any teacher who dares to question the ill-conceived policies of LAUSD that objectively have no chance of improving public education in Los Angeles. In so doing, I will use my own case and those of many of the several hundred teachers who had the temerity to take exception to LAUSD's failed and self-serving policies and are presently suffering the consequences and have had the guts to talk openly with me about their regrettable situation.

(Mensaje se repite en Español) UTLA is designed to fail, because it sees itself as subservient or at the very least deferential to LAUSD. If you know that LAUSD is a failed culture, any organization like UTLA which only reacts and never posits its own definition of what professional teachers should stand for is doom to failure along with LAUSD, because it has no specific program around which it can organize its rank and file. Is there any wonder that most teachers are profoundly apathetic or depressed? Without a proactive approach, Superintendent Cortines or his successors will never respect UTLA President A.J. Duffy (nor were his predecessors John Perez or Day Higuchi respected). They have all had the same motto, "Let's see what the District says." Do any of you think Julie Washington is going to be any different if she is elected to replace Duffy? Don't get me wrong, I don't blame any of them. It's just impossible for this union to reach its potential as a good advocate for the teachers in this passive position. :It takes $57 a month from us to talk in the same generalized platitude we are all too familiar with from staff development, which also never gets implemented.

(en español después) The simple answer to this question is that no LAUSD administrator has ever been held personally liability for their egregious actions no matter how malicious they are as long as they are protecting the status quo at LAUSD. The basis of LAUSD's strength requires no intelligence, but rather is in its willingness to brutally stiffle any opposition to the self-serving business as usually policy of the District administration that has gone on now for generations, while continuing to decimate mostly minority youth.

(en español después) On Friday, October 8, 2010 LAUSD Chief Academic Officer Judy Elliott sent me a letter saying that she was going to submit my name to the LAUSD Board for dismissal as a teacher. In retrospect and in culmination of more then a year long campaign of harassment against me, the following facts are surprisingly undisputed: - My fate was sealed with LAUSD from the moment I stood up against endemic LAUSD fraud. - Nobody in LAUSD administration has ever read my responses to the completely fabricated charges against me or ever reviewed any of the rather conclusive evidence I have submitted on various occasions that none of the charges against me ever took place. LAUSD administrators have even admitted they have never read or done any independent investigation at meetings with myself and UTLA representatives.

(en español después) If you have ever watched a professional billiards or pool tournament, you come to a realization about those who are best at the game; they know how to play shape. While they are capable of making the impressive difficult shot, they only do so when a prior miscalculation has left them in a difficult position. No great pool player would ever put themselves in a position where they had to make a difficult shot every time. They play shape, so that they can make it look relatively easy as they run the table against their opponent. In public education our formidable opponent is ignorance and it behooves us to also play shape, so that we can best use our limited resources in a manner that gets the best return on our investment. Sadly, what we have done is set up a system of public education that makes it even more difficult, if not impossible, for educators to achieve success. The hostile school work environment and apathy that infects all levels of public school functioning plays all of us that are involved against each other.

(en español después) When Adoph Eichmann, one of the main architects of the "final solution," was being tried in Israel for his crimes, Hanna Arendt said that one had the rational expectation of seeing a Count Dracula or some other image of quintessential evil, but what one saw at the trial was an old man who looked like an accountant. Thus she coined the phrase, "The Banality of Evil." On Monday, October 4th I was given one hour to make my case before LAUSD Chief Academic Officer Judy Elliott as to why she should not have Ira Berman of LAUSD Staff Relations take my name to the next LAUSD Board meeting for my immediate suspension without pay and subsequent dismissal from employment as a teacher for LAUSD. This pro forma "Skelly meeting," which would allow LAUSD to leapfrog over the LAUSD/UTLA Collective Bargaining required next step which would have given me access to neutral arbitration of the 4 Notices of Unsatisfactory Acts and 4 pending Suspensions totaling 49 days, gave me 1 hour to defend myself against an unceasing 2 year campaign of harassment by Principal Janet with the aid of LAUSD administrators all the way up the food chain at LAUSD to the superintendent's office where it got tacit approval.

There is a false dichotomy in seeing UTLA and LAUSD as two separate entities. Whether it is UTLA past presidents Day Higuchi, John Perez, or now A.J. Duffy, UTLA has never promulgated an independent position on matters of education that "professionals" would have done long ago. Rather, UTLA always reacts to LAUSD dysfunctional behavior while stifling any rank and file input that might truly posit a more viable and professional system of public education in opposition.

Why is it that we only take notice of a gross injustice after it has taken place? I guess because it is much easier to glorify somebody in death while never really addressing the things that killed him and continue to threaten his colleagues and students. The tentative suicide of 39-year-old 5th grade Miramonte Elementary School teacher Rigoberto Ruelas should more truthfully be attributed to something more than the simplistic and convenient answer of just the poor performance ratings that this dedicated teacher received and which were callously published in the Los Angeles Times with the false implication that this exceptional man who himself beat the odds in what continues to be the LAUSD stacked deck against Latino education in this city.

As I prepare for my pro forma meeting with LAUSD Chief Academic Officer Judy Elliott with the awareness the decision as to recommending my dismissal from LAUSD employment as a teacher has probably long since been made, I share with you my response to the following email I received this morning from another one of the many teachers - estimates are between 80 and 200 teachers - under paid administrative leave at LAUSD Local District offices or their homes (aka rubber room/teacher jails).

What I found myself wishing while she talked was that she and many of her colleagues who share unique knowledge and beliefs about what real public education reform should look like (Charles Kerchner, Lois Weiner, Pablo Noguera, Jonathan Kozol, and others) would escape the ivory tower long enough to use their combined and fleeting celebrity to help organize a national public education reform movement. Such a movement, driven by data and the real life daily experience of "4 million classroom teachers supported by their families" would no longer be a topic or constituency that the presently hijacked media in this country could continue to ignore.

(en español después) In reading through Steve Lopez's article in the Sunday, September 19, 2010 Los Angeles Times entitled Sitting down with A.J. Duffy, I couldn't help but think that Mr. Lopez and his colleagues at the L. A. Times should take the advice offered to Duffy to "join the discussion" on improving public education in L. A. instead of engaging in sanitized discussions that conspicuously leave out vast amounts of relevant information crucial to finally giving all students the public education they are entitled to and which is an essential prerequisite for any putative democracy.