By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.“ – Benjamin Franklin On Wednesday, August 15, the LAUSD School Board met for the first time since Ref Rodriguez resigned in disgrace on July 23, 2018. Neither a discussion about scheduling a special election to fill the seat nor Board Member Scott Schmerelson’s resolution to temporarily […]
The LAUSD Continues to Reward Failure
Shoot the hostage.” – Speed The California Charter School Association (CCSA) paid millions to purchase the LAUSD School Board, but their narrow majority is in danger. Not only is Ref Rodriguez, one of their hand-selected Board members, facing criminal charges related to his campaign, but the charter school chain he founded has accused him of having […]
The Real Carpetbaggers in LAUSD’s District 2
Carpetbagger: A person from the northern states who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from the Reconstruction. If the photo on the front of the latest Monica Garcia flyer to hit your mailbox looks familiar, it is because it was the same one that the California Charter School Association (CCSA) used […]
Education for Sale: Lack of Oversight
This is the second section of my paper: Education for Sale: LAUSD Throws the Fight in Its Competition with Charters. The previous section can be found at: The Broad Way Towards Bankruptcy On the other side of the equation, the CCSA has proven that they are more than willing to compete with the LAUSD […]
The District’s Deaf Ears
Shut up! Sit down!” -Ben Stern Under Bennett Kaser’s leadership, the LAUSD’s Budget, Facilities and Audit (BFA) Committee exposed details of John Deasy’s iPad program that helped lead to the former Superintendent’s resignation. Kayser was rewarded for his efforts with a campaign to unseat him that was heavily funded by the California Charters School Association […]
LA Progressive: Ref Rodriguez—What the PUC Is Going on Here?
By Robert D Skeels “The L.A. County district attorney’s office indicated Monday that it expected another, separate probe to be conducted by L.A. Unified’s inspector general.” — LA Times Ref Rodriguez: What the PUC Is Going on Here? In the LA Progressive piece What the PUC Is Going on Here? Hans Johnson and Hector Huezo of […]
LAUSD District 5: Money, education and the school board race! On KPFK’s Politics or Pedagogy? with John Cromshow
Featuring an analysis of education, policy and practice affecting our public schools. KPFK 90.7 FM KPFK’s Politics or Pedagogy? with John Cromshow Tuesday, April 28 7:00 PM Call in number: (818) 985-5735 TOPIC: Money, education and the school board race. Case in point, LAUSD District 5. It takes money to run a political campaign – […]
How is CCSA’s Ref Rodriguez hiding his billionaire and ideologue contributors?
“In the long run, charter schools are being strategically used to pave the way for vouchers. The voucher advocates, who are very powerful and funded by right-wing foundations and families, recognize that the word voucher has been successfully discredited by enlightened Americans who believe in the public sector. So they’ve resorted to two strategies. First, […]
PROFITS! Why Ref Rodriguez and his CCSA covet the LAUSD Board Seat
“The education industry represents, in our opinion, the final frontier of a number of sectors once under public control… represents the largest market opportunity… the K-12 market is the Big Enchilada.” — Montgomery Securities prospectus quoted in Jonathan Kozol’s The Big Enchilada Most of the time the charter school industry’s corporate leadership is able to […]
Open letter to Andrew Thomas regarding the LAUSD District 5 runoff
Dr. Andrew Thomas: Congratulations on your respectable election finish, and on noting on your website that out-of-town billionaires are financing the campaign of charter industry profiteer Refugio “Ref” Rodriguez against an incumbent endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA). Your analysis ignores the fact that most UTLA teachers are also public school parents, live […]