6 Comments

1. Bart Joseph says:

   Monday, Feb 16, 2015 at

   Dear Ron,

   I’m not sure why you are a former board member, but based on the organization of this article I am gathering you either quit or were voted out. Your statement and support are inconsistent and doesn’t even touch on the real problem within society. Ethics.

   Your point, or problem statement (in the opening paragraph), I believe is that they do not practice what they preach. Then you go on about how the charter organizations are to blame. Hello?

   Then you go on about a School Board Union best practice manual and how there is no escalation process. OK, so that proves the unions manual is inconsistent with state law, since state law dictates the escalation process. Not a shock that a union would not support a competitor to their monopoly. How does that have anything to do with the current board practicing what they preach?

   Then you’re back to slamming the individual organizations they approved. Where is the logical organization of your thoughts? It must be where you start making assumptions on their compliance with state law. Very honorable for you to make claims as your conclusion and recapitulation of your problem statement. How are assumptions supporting your argument?

   Maybe if the name of the article was “Unethical charters are creating a negative opinion of our community” the article would make sense. However it seems to add to the problem prior boards created.

   If I lived in your area and had to vote on incurring indebtedness on the community with a communicator like this, I would not grant that organization with the authority of millions of dollars. I would be like the majority of the community and put the school district in the same place it is today.

   Hopefully the community sees they are attempting to use their expertise in management so in the future, the community members will have the confidence to vote in further indebtedness and bring their children back into the community to learn. I don’t blame the current board for trying…Its so hard to determine the future from a charter application. If ethics were more prevalent we wouldn’t need labor unions.

   Reply
2. Bart Joseph says:

   Monday, Feb 16, 2015 at

   I believe the board is doing the right thing to create a long term positive solution to a very difficult situation. How can a school district provide a solution when the distrust of the previous administrations for so many years has put them in a situation they can not dig themselves out of without a major change? The answer is creating the ability to raise funds without issuing long term bonds. That answer is the charter school system.

   Every charter school system is unique. Some focus on the arts, some on music, some on academics, and some on special needs. There are many to choose from and they all have their own unique methods and tools. How does an organization evaluate them from the outside? I think we have all had jobs or associations with groups that once we were an insider we found them to be different. Some of us have purchased things on recommendations only to find out they are not what they hoped for. How about going to a show or restaurant others found wonderful only to be disappointing. Evaluation requires a hands on approach in almost everything we do.

   I applaud the management to not jumping into a system without kicking the tires first. Lots of successful systems like ILead or EALAS have a number of school districts courting them, and end up with multiple locations (all of which are independent) similar to a franchise. The foundation provides a system, and the community based school implements and manages the system. The mentor district or charter approval is to help by monitoring and auditing the community school. Its the only way to be assured the system is the correct one for the community.

   Many of the top schools in the nation like Granada Hills High and El Camino High (who have won multiple academic decathlons) saw the same opportunity to improve their situation by converting from the LA School District to a Charter school based program. They were not having financial issues, or issues with employees and staff… They wanted to improve and even more success, just like every parent wants for their children.

   Now that charter schools are approaching 10% of all students in California, the unions see afraid they are losing the controls that put them in this situation to begin with and are fighting in the courts and legislation to attempt to outlaw what the public wants.
   California was the nations top schools prior to the union influence. We are now 47th in the nation. Even Jerry Brown who supported the unionization has recently stated that the budgetary impact of education in this state is the largest concern.

   The bold moves to create change and bring to the community a system that they will be supportive of and will not require more long term debt should be encouraged and supported by the community and not criticized.

   Reply
   • Brian says:

     Monday, Feb 16, 2015 at

     Kudos- Bart

     Reply
3. Ann says:

   Monday, Feb 16, 2015 at

   Bart Joseph,

   CSBA is not a union. Perhaps you might like to try Google.

   Re. your union bogeyman, CTA was founded in 1863, prior to the union-sponsored 1866 law that made a free public education even available in CA. Perhaps you are referring to the Rodda Act that allowed for collective bargaining, but let’s look at the real reason for the decline in CA public school performance after the 70’s. According to the 2005 Rand Report on the matter, “California’s demography presents public education with extraordinary challenges. To effectively meet these challenges, the state’s K–12 system is likely to require funding levels that are relatively high compared to funding in most other states. However, California school districts have experienced comparatively low levels of funding, and schools have been further stressed by extreme fluctuations in real spending per pupil. These relatively low funding levels for California’s
   K–12 public schools reflect comparatively low “effort” relative to the state’s capacity.” Unions are not cited as a reason for decline AT ALL. Another thing that IS mentioned is our high poverty rate and even when we were 20-1, the highest class sizes in the nation.

   You are aware that Granada Hills and El Camino are union shops, right? And actually, you’re wrong about finances not being a reason. Many LAUSD schools, El Camino and Granada Hills included, converted in order to gain funding to the tune of about $1000 per student. You see, under LAUSD’s blended k-12 formula, high schools were particularly hard hit by the budget cuts during the recession. As charters, they were also free from a lot of the restrictions regarding how funds could be spent.

   Perhaps the answer to improving public education might be to lessen the restrictions on the existing public schools and properly fund them, rather than giving taxpayer money to a whole second school system. Because LAUSD schools (and others) should not HAVE to convert to charters to stay fiscally solvent and to try new academic ideas.

   By the way, Bart, how’s that non-union thing working over at AEA? Teacher turnover much?

   Reply
   • SCVNews.com says:

     Monday, Feb 16, 2015 at

     Just curious — Why do we never hear union-haters complain about cops & firefighters?

     Reply
4. Bart Joseph says:

   Tuesday, Feb 17, 2015 at

   Ann,
   Sorry, anyone who does a little research will find your arguements are incorrect.

   First, The CSBA is a membership organization with the primary purpose for legal representation. http://www.csba.org/About/AboutCSBA/MissionAndVision.aspx

   Second, your rational for conversion and employment status can be found on the ECR website http://www.ecrchs.net/ecr-board/charter-document/

   There you will find the reason for conversion: “We at ECR would like to convert to charter to further develop academic standards and opportunities on campus for all learners at varied levels. We would like to have more control over governance and curriculum so that students may find more opportunities to excel in academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities. We desire that they gain skills that will prepare them for post-secondary college and career options. We want to operate efficiently and be responsible to our unique student body and parents. We want to introduce more technology into the curriculum and school site so that communication is efficient and seamless. In order to achieve such enhancement and give our students more individual support we shall lower classes sizes and increase our support staff. We would like to promote the six pillars of character in our students encouraging civic responsibility and personal growth.” Nowhere does it talk about it having more money per child. Everyone knows Chartes recieve less per child, and can not force the public indebtness on the majority.
   On the site it also shows the conversion process for teachers who were covered by the unions(lausd -utla) but choose to stay and not be covered by the union and what happens to their seniority when they go back to LAUSD…

   Governing Law: A description of the rights of any employee of the school district upon leaving the employment of the school district to work in a charter school, and of any rights of return to the school district after employment at a charter school. Education Code Section 47605(b)(5)(M).

   Current staff members will be considered employees of ECRCHS. Current permanent staff members will be considered permanent employees of ECRCHS, though all employees may opt-
   out of employment at El Camino Real Charter High School.

   A permanent employee who was represented by UTLA prior to employment at ECRCHS may

   request to transfer to another position within the District as outlined in the LAUSD-UTLA

   Collective Bargaining Agreement. Such a transfer may be granted at the sole discretion of the LAUSD.

   Lastly, I support teachers for their choices. Some need unions, others do not. Some need constant development, others come prepared. Some like being told what and how to do things, others like some freedom of materials, methods and tools. Both have their place in society and in any large community. Each child is unique and parents need choices to allow their child to reach their full potential.

   Of course none of this has anything to do with how AADSD did not comply with the law or practice what they preach similar to the article itself. Just more inaccurate viscous attacks on freedom of choice.

   Wow REally SCVNews? You have not heard anyone complain about law enforcement? Even the POTUS has made comments about them. The real question should be why do government workers need labor unions if the government complies with its own labor laws?

   Reply

Leave a Comment