Teacher in Vergara trial blames student for performing poorly

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Mark Harris

Vickie Decker

For the second time this week, the defense in Vergara vs. California today turned to a teacher characterized as “ineffective” by a plaintiff in the case to show a starkly different picture.

Vickie Decker, a middle school math teacher, refuted assertions by Jose Macias, the father of student plaintiff, Julia Macias, who had claimed in earlier testimony that Decker was harmful to his daughter’s education.

Decker, who has spent nearly 20 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District, challenged those accusations, saying Julia had performed poorly in her class and did not accept her offers to help her with the work.

“In her first semester she did fairly well,” Decker said of Julia, then adding her tests and quiz results in the second semester “were very poor.”

Jose Macias had testified that Decker “demoralized” and “intimidated” his daughter, making her “afraid to ask questions,” prompting her to seek moving to a different class.

Decker’s testimony is important to the defense — the state, the California Teachers Association (CTA) and the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) — in trying to show that students in the case had not suffered with ineffective teachers, and certainly not to the extent that five state laws governing teachers should be struck down.

Beatriz Vergara, Julia Macias and seven other student-plaintiffs are trying to show that their own experiences are evidence of why laws on seniority, dismissals and tenure should be changed to help guarantee access to quality public education for all California students.

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As deadline nears, 6 of 13 have qualified for District 1 race*

Posted on March 7, 2014 by LA School Report

imgres With the 5 pm deadline just hours away, six of the 13 candidates who expressed an interest in running for the vacant District 1 LA Unified board seat have qualified for the ballot.

By noon today, according to the city clerk’s office, George McKenna, Sherlett Newbill, Alex Johnson, Genethia Hudley-Hayes, Hattie McFrazier and Omarosa Manigault have submitted the required signature petitions and qualified for the June 3 special election. Alison Noel has filed her petitions but hasn’t yet been qualified.

The six other candidates, have until the end of the day today to submit their petitions.

They are David Moch, Rachel Johnson, Marco Mendoza, Marilyn Veincentotzs, Priscilla Reed and Lady Cage-Barile.

The City Clerk’s Office has 10 days to verify signatures. Read rules here. Marguerite LaMotte, who died in December, had held the District 1 seat since 2003.

LA School Report will update further changes after the deadline.

*Updates filings at noon.

Vergara witness says state laws governing teachers work

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Mark Harris

Cal-Berkeley professor Jesse Rothstein

The battle of the experts continued today in Vergara vs. California as an expert in labor economics and public policy called by the defense provided rationales for keeping in place the state laws governing teachers that are under challenge in the case.

Jesse Rothstein, a professor at Cal-Berkeley and a former senior economist on the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors, testified that the two-year tenure statute was adequate to identify ineffective teachers and still help school districts attract new employees.

He also said a “last-in, first-out” process that favors seniority in times of staff reduction is more fair and objective than so-called “value-added” models that take into account student performance to measure teacher effectiveness.

And he said the dismissal statutes protect teachers against “arbitrary and capricious decisions of employers” who might want to get rid of certain teachers.

These three issues — tenure, dismissal and seniority — are central to the case, which began more than a month ago. The nine student-plaintiffs are trying to show that California’s laws governing the issues combine to deny public education students access to a quality education.

The state and its two big teachers unions — the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers — are trying to convince the court that the laws are fine as they are, posing none of the pernicious effects the plaintiffs claim.

Rothstein’s testimony, under direct questioning by Jim Finberg, representing the unions, was largely focused on opinions derived from his own studies and those of others that took general views on the subjects at issue in the case. Rothstein left the strong impression that he believed the laws, as they are, do not impede academic performance because of ineffective teachers.

But later, under cross examination by Marcellus McRae, the plaintiffs lead lawyer, he admitted that he knew little about how the laws play out in California and that none of his own work specifically reflected public education policies in the state.

Continue reading →

Quietly, LA Unified gets a voice in place for District 1

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Vanessa Romo

Sylvia Rousseau

After school board member Marguerite LaMotte died, her district — which stretches from Palms to Central Los Angeles — went without a voice for 89 days. That ended Tuesday, when the Los Angeles Unified School Board hired Sylvia Rousseau as a temporary “liaison” for the community.

The appointment approved by unanimous consent after little fanfare and no public debate.

Rousseau, who will continue teaching full time at the USC Rossier School of Education, will serve until a permanent replacement has been elected later this year. The district has agreed to pay her $49.90 per hour.”

Today, her second day on the job, Rousseau told LA School Report, “I’m really trying to get a profile on what District 1 is like.”

“I want to learn from the community, parents, and principals so that the board has a more clear idea of what its needs are as they deliberate on major decisions that affect District 1” she said.

Rousseau said she will report her findings to the board at each monthly meeting.

Information will also be going in the other direction. Working with local superintendents and school principals, Rousseau is responsible for keeping District 1 parents informed about long-term issues, including the new Local Control Funding Formula and Common Core implementation.

Parents have accused the board and Superintendent John Deasy of acting secretively, making the appointment in a closed session meeting and failing to speak publicly about Rousseau’s role.

But district officials said that may be more an issue of expediency. Rather than hold an open debate to refine specific job responsibilities, board members met individually with her and agreed that she was ideally suited for the job.

“This is a person of such high esteem and caliber that we chose to trust her with the substance of the work, based on what she said to us individually,” said board member Steve Zimmer, who has been the leading advocate for finding some means of connection between the board and District 1 until the special election, which is scheduled for June 3.

Zimmer said Rousseau’s major focus will be conveying to the board “data and trends” from within District 1 so the information can be considered in two of the biggest issues before the board in the coming months — the district’s annual budget and setting priorities for how to spend new state money from the Local Control Funding Formula.

Previous Posts: The LA Unified board appoints a ‘liaison’ for vacant board seat; Does experience count? LAUSD candidates vie for attention; The LA Unified board twice voted against a caretaker for vacant seat.

E4E poses questions, 10 candidates for union chief answer

Posted on March 6, 2014 by LA School Report

avatars-000054535429-qf5zpr-t200x200 Educators 4 Excellence, a teacher advocacy group comprised of members of the Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, has developed an interactive election guide focusing on the 10 candidates running for UTLA president.

The guide poses four questions and provides audio responses from each candidate.

The interviews were conducted earlier this week and are included in a larger package of information about the candidates and the election.

In Vergara, witness says districts can overcome ineffective teachers

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Mark Harris

Robert Fraisse

The defense in Vergara v California began its case today, calling to the witness stand a veteran educator whose testimony about identifying and dealing with ineffective teachers came in stark contrast to the views of earlier witnesses in the case.

Robert Fraisse, whose career included serving as superintendent in three California school districts, appeared to give the defense a boost by testifying that the five laws under challenge in the trial — governing teacher seniority, tenure and dismissal — are not to blame for the presence of ineffective teachers, that well-managed districts can operate smoothly within the laws and that the statutes don’t infringe on students’ rights to a quality education.

Point by point, his comments contradicted many of the plaintiffs’ witnesses, who appeared over the first four weeks of the case. Fraisse was the first to the stand for the defendants — the state and its two biggest teacher unions — after Judge Rolf Treu ruled yesterday that the case would proceed.

Among other things, Fraisse said appropriately trained evaluators can identify ineffective teachers within two years if the school district’s human resource plan is working properly. He said standardized test scores are not necessarily the major factors in making teacher evaluations and that alternative data is vital to consider as well, including local standardized exams, portfolio assessments and teacher evaluations.

In countering another major contention of the nine students who are the plaintiffs, Fraisse told the court that while superintendent for the Hueneme Elementary School District, he never experienced an unequal distribution of ineffective teachers in lower-income schools.

Glenn Rothner, a lawyer for the unions, asked Fraisse, “Did you do anything to encourage highly effective teachers to teach in lower income schools?’ Fraisse said he would assign the best principals to the neediest schools as a way to attract effective teachers to those campuses.

Continue reading →

Tensions rise as UTLA candidate take on issues, each other

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Brianna Sacks

David Garcia (left), Alex Caputo-Pearl
Candidates for President of UTLA

Tensions deepened last night among the candidates running for the top job at United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) as one of them came close to a physical confrontation with another after the event ended.

Hosted by the teacher advocacy group, Educators4Excellence, at City Hall in Boyle Heights, the event played before a crowd of about 60 teachers, activists, students and community members dining on Subway sandwiches.

E4E members Bianca Sanchez and Jeff Austin moderated four questions to the 10 candidates — all male — running to lead the second largest union in the nation.

Friction was most evident between David Garcia, a substitute teacher, and Alex Caputo-Pearl, who is running at the top of a slate called “Union Power,” over Caputo-Pearl’s recent campaign appearances at LA Unified schools. Garcia angrily accused Caputo-Pearl of violating union election rules and misusing his ties to LAUSD. After the forum, the two nearly got into an altercation, as Garcia swatted at Caputo-Pearl before being restrained.

Other candidates, like Saul Lankster, agreed with Garcia’s accusations, saying that the school district is “giving Caputo-Pearl all the answers to the test since he has had unfettered access to all schools since September.”

The district has said Caputo-Pearl did not file proper paperwork for the unpaid leave, but he has not been disciplined.

“We have to accept fact that this is a very specialized election and the district has made its vote,” Lankster continued as a few crowd members clapped and hooted.

Such issues are why E4E hosted the forum, as the previous debates have often spiraled off topic and were rooted in rhetoric and personal attacks, according to E4E Executive Director Ama Nyamekye.

“There is too much at stake here in LAUSD and UTLA not to ask our candidates to squarely tackle tough policy issues,” she said. “We need to refocus the debate in this election.”

Continue reading →

LA Unified board votes to pay Deasy for unused vacation*

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Vanessa Romo

Superintendent John Deasy: Little time for vacation

Superintendent John Deasy works too much.

So much so, that he rarely takes time off for vacation. As a result, the Los Angeles Unified School board voted at its monthly meeting yesterday to pay him for up to 24 days of unused vacation time, the equivalent of nearly $30,000 added to his annual salary of $330,000, according to Megan Reilly, the district’s chief financial officer.

School board member Bennett Kayser alone objected to what he said is a salary increase for Deasy, who threatened to quit four months ago. Kayser said it was inappropriate especially, “while we have employees who have not gotten a raise in years.”

It is the kind of perk that is sure to anger union leaders on the eve of contract negotiations after years of drastic budget cuts. Warren Fletcher, president of the teachers union, along with many of his nine challengers in UTLA’s current election campaign, are making pay raises for teachers a big part of their campaigns.

“I know a lot of teachers who would love to get their vacation days paid out. It’ll be interesting to see if they can get the same thing,” a union insider told LA School Report.

In one of its shorter meetings — under five hours — the board covered a lot of other territory, with discussions on Cesar Chavez, Armenian genocide, water conservation, Women’s History Month, National Library Week and figuring out a way to encourage district employees to get health coverage. The members also spent a few hours deliberating the future of a handful of schools, based on their fiscal viability.

Conditional charter renewals for Magnolia Science Academy 6 and 7 were approved in a five to one vote, with Kayser, again, as the only dissenter.

Continue reading →

Judge rules Vergara case goes on; defense case starts Wednesday

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Mark Harris

Judge Rolf Treu, L.A. Superior Court

After giving lawyers one more chance to make their arguments today, Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu ruled that Vergara v California will proceed, denying the defendants’ request to throw the case out.

As defendants, the state and its two biggest teachers unions tried to persuade the judge that in four weeks of testimony, the plaintiffs — nine students — did not present enough evidence to prove that the five contested statutes governing teacher dismissal, tenure and layoffs deny students right to an effective education.

As a result, Treu invited the defendants to start presenting their own witnesses, the first of whom, Robert Fraisse, a former teacher, principal and superintendent, will take the stand tomorrow morning.

Fraisse,who served as superintendent in three California school districts — Laguna Beach, Conejo Valley and Hueneme Elementary — is the defense’s second witness. Due to a scheduling issue, the first – Susan Moore Johnson, a professor of Education at Harvard — testified several weeks ago.

In the oral arguments, Jim Finberg, a lawyer for the California Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Association, and Deputy State Attorney Nimrod Elias insisted that plaintiffs have not shown that the statutes are unconstitutional on their face or have caused the plaintiffs any significant harm. They further said the testimony 22 educators, experts and student litigants was not enough to establish a direct link between the contested laws and the individual plaintiffs.

Ted Boutrous, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, responded by telling the court they have provided overwhelming and compelling evidence that demonstrates the challenged statutes impose a “real and appreciable” impact on students’ fundamental right to an education. He said testimony from educators and experts in labor economics and statistical research had shown that the statutes result in students not getting the educational opportunities they deserve.

After Treu’s ruling, Boutrous issued a statement, saying, “We are very pleased with Judge Treu’s ruling and look forward to the rest of the trial.” He added “These arbitrary laws are hurting kids every day. We do not believe the State and the teachers unions will be able to prove otherwise.”

Treu’s ruling was the fifth time defendants were denied in a request to have the case dismissed.

Previous Posts: Vergara plaintiffs file a response, asking that the case continues; Vergara lawyers preview their case, the one they might need.

Breaking News: Judge allows Vergara case to continue

Posted on March 4, 2014 by LA School Report

Elizabeth Vergara

Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu resumed the Vergara v California trial today by telling lawyers for both sides that he would allow the case to continue.

After hearing oral arguments from both sides, he denied the defendants’ request to dismiss the case based on a lack of evidence.

“The court finds sufficient evidence, credible evidence, to move forward with a trial,” Treu said.

Details to come.

With testing moratorium, LAUSD crafts its own for ELL shift

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Chase Niesner

With a year-long state moratorium on standardized testing, LAUSD is crafting its own assessment to determine if English learning students are ready for an English-only curriculum.

The new tests will look a lot like the tests they replace, said Hilda Maldonado, director of the LAUSD Multilingual and Multicultural department. The district had initially sought to purchase the old CST tests independently but found the nearly half-million dollar price tag too expensive for the 40,000 tests needed for ELL students this year.

The new assessment will be administered by schools from March 17 to May 23, according to Maldonado, adding that students in grades 3-9 will have the option of “banking” their CST scores from the previous year if they scored a basic or above. The CST tests have been replaced by the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced tests, which are slated to be officially administered next school year.

Continue reading →

Livestream coverage of today’s LAUSD school board meeting

Posted on March 4, 2014 by LA School Report

LA Unified School Board members meet today with a hefty agenda that includes charter school renewals, approving building repairs and a possible discussion about how to spend the new local control funding (though that will likely be put off for a future meeting).

1:00 p.m.: LA Unified School Board Meeting

click LIVESTREAM LAUSD

Vergara trial resumes but for how long — a day or maybe weeks

Posted on March 4, 2014 by LA School Report

Judge Rolf Treu, L.A. Superior Court

It could be a monumental day in the Vergara vs. California trial. Or it could just lead to more testimony.

Lawyers are expecting California Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu to decide whether to throw the case out, as the defendants are asking, or keep it going, as the plaintiffs are urging.

The decision turns on whether he believes the plaintiffs, after four weeks of testimony, have failed to show that California public school children have been denied access to quality education because of state laws that protect ineffective teachers. If he agrees, he’ll rule for the defendants — the state and its two big teachers union.

If he believes Elizabeth Vergara and the eight other student plaintiffs have made a case, then the trial goes on.

It all starts at 1:30 p.m.

Does experience count? LAUSD candidates vie for attention

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Vanessa Romo

SpecialElectionforum-3-32014 An experience gap is emerging as an election issue — that’s one of the takeaways as south LA residents got an early look yesterday at some of candidates in the highly contested race to fill the vacant LA Unified school board seat.

The forum attracted 5 of the 13 contenders in the special election scheduled for June 3. They mostly agreed with each other on the issues but offered only few specifics about how they’d represent District 1, which is home to nearly 110 schools.

While no particular candidate appeared to break away from the pack, the two most experienced candidates received the most applause from the audience of about 50 — and who offered the most specific plans for steering board toward policies that will benefit District 1 students.

Retired principal and former local superintendent George McKenna, who is well-known for turning around Washington Prep in the early 1980s, got a rousing reaction from the crowd when he told them, “I’m going to run on what I’ve done, not what I promise to do.”

Continue reading →

Teachers union plans leaflet push for raises, smaller classes

Posted on March 3, 2014 by LA School Report

UTLA logo The Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, is planning to blanket the district with leaflets tomorrow to build support among parents for smaller class sizes, fully staffed schools and raises.

With help from health and human services workers, teachers intend to pass out informational leaflets before and, in some cases, after school.

The leaflets ask parents to contact LA Unified board members to push for using new tax dollars in the classroom.

“Students and LAUSD employees all suffered during the recession years,” UTLA President Warren Fletcher said in a statement. Now that the District has the money, it’s time to right some wrongs. It is wrong when school librarians are laid off and campus libraries are closed; when schools do not have a full time nurse; and when there are not enough mental health professionals to serve student needs. It’s wrong when schools are unsanitary and unsafe.”

Zimmer introducing plan to give students a role with school board

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Michael Janofsky

stevezimmer12_17 Fresh off his (unsuccessful) effort to get a District 1 voice onto the LA Unified school board right away, trustee Steve Zimmer is returning to the monthly board meeting tomorrow with a plan that would lead to another voice with influence on the board:

Students.

Zimmer is introducing a measure — the Student Engagement and Empowerment Resolution of 2014 — that would create a student advisory member of the school board, a “student congress” made up of two representatives from each district high school, and from that, a student from each of the board’s seven districts to serve as liaisons between the congress and the school board.

The program, starting as a pilot in 2014-2015, would also create a district-wide curriculum for high schools using the televised board meetings as a “teaching tool” to increase student involvement with board actions and draw district students closer to issues that bear directly on them.

As his motion says, the student congress and student board member would be “embraced by the Board to bring a new level of legitimacy, accountability, and transparency to policy decisions enacted” by the board, starting with the spring semester of 2015.

“I’ve always believed in student empowerment,” Zimmer said in an interview with LA School Report. “The lack of an authentic student voice is something I have always felt obligated to address.”

Continue reading →

Vergara lawyers await decision on whether to let case proceed

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Mark Harris

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Marcellus McRae

After a one-week recess, the court resumes tomorrow in the case of Vergara vs. California. Attorneys for both the defense and the nine student plaintiffs are gearing up for what could turn out to be a critical juncture in this landmark case.

Before Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu is whether to throw the case out or let it proceed with the defense calling its series of witnesses.

As they have before, the defendants — the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers and the state — are seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. They filed a Motion for Judgment, claiming the plaintiffs have not proven that five statutes governing teacher dismissals, tenure and layoffs deny California students their fundamental right to a quality education.

The unions and the state maintain that after four weeks of testimony from educators, experts and some of the student litigants, there are still “serious and insurmountable” gaps in the plaintiffs’ case.

Continue reading →

Candidates for open District 1 seat to join forum on Monday

Posted on February 28, 2014 by LA School Report

images Residents of LA Unified District 1 will have an early look at some of the candidates for the open board seat on Monday, when Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, at 4269 S Figueroa St., holds its weekly conference for area ministers.

A candidates’ forum is scheduled as an opportunity for the ministers and members of the public to meet the candidates and ask questions. All 13 candidates have been invited to attend, and so far, George McKenna, Genethia Hudley-Hayes, Alex Johnson, Hattie McFrazier and Omarosa Manigault have accepted.

For more info click here.

LA Unified teachers union race gets national attention

Posted on February 28, 2014 by LA School Report

While LA School Report has been paying close attention to the elections taking place at UTLA, the nations second largest teachers union, the competition hasn’t attracted much outside attention – that is until recently.

Now, education blogger, Anthony Cody at Edweek-Teacher, has launched a series of Question-and-Answers with the 10 candidates vying for union president, each being asked the same questions.

So far four have been published:
Gregg Solkovits
Kevin Mottus
Alex Caputo-Pearl
Bill Gaffney

See full series here: Edweek: Living in Dialogue

LA School Report

What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District)

Category Archives: School Report News

Teacher in Vergara trial blames student for performing poorly

As deadline nears, 6 of 13 have qualified for District 1 race*

Vergara witness says state laws governing teachers work

Quietly, LA Unified gets a voice in place for District 1

E4E poses questions, 10 candidates for union chief answer

In Vergara, witness says districts can overcome ineffective teachers

Tensions rise as UTLA candidate take on issues, each other

LA Unified board votes to pay Deasy for unused vacation*

Judge rules Vergara case goes on; defense case starts Wednesday

Breaking News: Judge allows Vergara case to continue

With testing moratorium, LAUSD crafts its own for ELL shift

Livestream coverage of today’s LAUSD school board meeting

Vergara trial resumes but for how long — a day or maybe weeks

Does experience count? LAUSD candidates vie for attention

Teachers union plans leaflet push for raises, smaller classes

Zimmer introducing plan to give students a role with school board

Vergara lawyers await decision on whether to let case proceed

Candidates for open District 1 seat to join forum on Monday

LA Unified teachers union race gets national attention

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