California's Children

Whistle-blowers: doing the right thing for the wrong reasons?

UPDATE, May 5, 2012: An attorney who worked for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and was the whistle-blower who called attention to the Commission's practices (leading the state auditor to call it the "worst run" state agency, and resulting in a number of investigations and internal changes), has lost her appeal before the State Personnel Board that her dismissal from her job was an act of retaliation. 

In a convincingly frank explanation of the dismissal, the Board, as reported in the Sacramento Bee, concluded:

...[the whistle-blower Kathy] Carroll's (Carroll, at left, in a Bee photo) firing was warranted... due to insubordination, willful disobedience, discourteous treatment, dishonesty, inexcusable neglect of duty and other "failure of good behavior." [Carroll]  "harmed the public service by going out of her way to tell co-workers disparaging remarks about others or tell the co-workers remarks others had made about them...Her immature conduct appears to be designed to cause rifts in the workplace and she failed to exercise self-control in her interactions with co-workers and her supervisors....[she] "breached the trust" placed in her as an attorney, and the "likelihood of recurrence" is high...

Previously reported on "worst-run agency":

Santa Rosa: Doyle Park closure for French charter delayed 1 year

UPDATE, May 16, 2012: Doyle Park Elementary school in Santa Rosa, threatened with closure -- so that a French-focused charter school could open in its location --  will remain open for another year as the result of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by parents, teachers and community members,  reports Martin Espinoza for the Press-Democrat. 

Santa Rosa City Schools (SRCS) board president Larry Haenel announced Monday evening that the board had settled the lawsuit by agreeing to delay the closure of the predominantly Hispanic elementary school one more year (see background stories below).

According to the (settlement) document:

- As of July 1, the Doyle Park campus will operate as a satellite campus of Brook Hill Elementary School under the administration of the Brook Hill principal.

- If the 2012-13 school year at Doyle Park results in fewer than 18 students for each of grades 1, 2, and 3, or fewer than 25 students per grades 4, 5, and 6 “there will be a presumption that the under-enrolled class is not financially feasible.” Children in under-enrolled classes likely will be reassigned to a another school.

- The Santa Rosa French American Charter School will share the Doyle Park campus for the 2012-13 school year. The schools will share common facilities, but the French charter school will have exclusive use of the kindergarten playground.

The district also agreed to amend its school closure policy to include language that calls for promoting “racial and ethnic balance.”...and to “fast track” the feasibility of a Spanish language dual immersion charter school and, if created, to find an appropriate site for it.

 

San Diego USD board member says give up & let the state take over

May 10, 2012: San Diego Unified School District board member Scott Barnett [at left, in a photo by Sam Hodgson] will take a grim message to today's board meeting, one based on his belief that the only solution to the district's insolvency is to surrender to the state. Barnett's comments were released this morning by Will Carless on Voices of San Diego.

...[Barnett]... wants the district to declare itself insolvent, roll back the 1,600 layoffs it has announced, and pass a budget that’s nowhere near balanced.

It’s a financial kamikaze that would place the district in the direct control of a state-appointed trustee. The superintendent would be fired and the school board would be relegated to an advisory board, with the trustee making all of San Diego Unified’s budgetary decisions instead of politicians.

But Barnett thinks there are distinct benefits to declaring insolvency now. He says the district could keep schools fully staffed until next spring, and he says it’s time for a new system of running city schools, since the school board has effectively run local education into the ground.

Like last October, Barnett doesn’t really seem to believe he has much of a chance of gleaning any votes for his plan from his four colleagues on the school board.

LA Board of Ed raises grad requirements for incoming 9th graders

UPDATE, May 10, 2012: The Los Angeles Board of Education voted 5-2 yesterday at a packed board meeting to raise the LAUSD graduation requirements for this year's incoming 9th grade students (graduates of 2016), reports Howard Blume for the LA Times.

At left, Director of LAUSD curriculum and instruction, Gerardo Loera.

Students will be now be required to pass a college prep curriculum, including 2 years of a foreign language, science and math classes. The class of 2016 will be allowed to graduate with Ds; however, the class of 2017 will need a C in all classes to get their high school diploma. The board also voted to reduce the number of credits required to graduate from 230 to 210; the original proposal was to reduce the number of credits to 180, but that would have left no room for important electives such as health (including sex education), music and art.

Previously reported:

Stress fractures in big districts: schools are poor, kids are poorer

May 9, 2012: Eight "stress factors" affect California's 30 largest school districts (with a combined population of nearly 2 million students, a third of the state's enrollment) and threaten the ability of these districts to provide a quality education.

These stresses and their effect are analyzed in an EdSource report, "Schools Under Stress: Pressures Mount on California's Largest School Districts," written and researched by EdSource executive director Louis Freedberg, at left, with program assistant Susan Frey. Freedberg, announcing the results of the report yesterday, tied the data to the tax initiatives that California voters will vote on in November. The data was gathered by three EdSource surveys, conducted between July 2011 and March 2012; the purpose was to provide an overview to how districts are responding to "the cascading impacts of the Great Recession on schools and the children they serve."

"...most voters have no way of objectively assessing the extent of the challenges facing these schools," said Freedberg. "We hope this report can help fill that gap." The report is free; the PDF can be downloaded here.

The big picture that emerges from the data is grim. The key findings are summarized by John Fensterwald in today's Educated Guess:

Childhood poverty: Rates of childhood poverty increased since 2007 in 26 of the 30 largest districts. Poverty rates, as defined by federal guidelines, approached 50% in districts hardest hit by the recession: Fresno (49%) and Stockton (46%). In San Bernadino City Unified, the childhood poverty rate rose 60%, to 43% from 2007-2008.

Fewer Summer Programs: Most districts have cut back their summer programs drastically since the recession,  compounding problems for students struggling to advance to the next grade or considering dropping out. Enrichment summer programs have all but disappeared. This year, Los Angeles Unified will restrict summer offerings to a handful of high schools.

Fewer Instructional Days: Twelve of the 30 districts have fewer than 180 instructional days, the norm until a few years ago. While three districts – Fontana, Long Beach, and San Jose – restored the week they had lost, three more – San Bernadino City, Moreno Valley and Chino Valley – joined another half-dozen districts at 175 days.

Larger classes: Only Stockton of the 30 districts has an average class size of 20 or fewer, and only in kindergarten. Half of the districts now report more than 30 students per class in one or more elementary grades, while two (San Francisco and Los Angeles have kept K-3 below 23). The Legislature began to relax the state’s class-size reduction rules three years ago; Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing to remove all limits (subject to local bargaining) next year.

Fewer counselors: California already had the nation’s highest rate of counselors to students  (1,810 to 1, 50% higher than the national average as of two years ago). There are on average 20% fewer counselors in 22 of 30 districts than pre-recession.

Teacher layoffs: Of 96,000 teachers in the 30 districts in 2010-11, nearly 11,000 received notices; of those 20% or 2,213 were laid off last year. This year, with uncertainty over the November tax initiative looming, Los Angeles alone issued 9,507 layoff notices in March and San Diego 1,655. What cannot be quantified is the impact on teacher and school morale of massive notices. But the uncertainty is distracting and dispiriting, with teachers focusing much of their attention on job searches.

Written for California's Children by Elizabeth J Carlyle.