Busted! The L.A. Times is reporting that “The California Department of Education has alerted 99 school districts, including Los Angeles Unified,” and Santa Ana Unified, “that they are in danger of being abolished, taken over or stripped of administrators and schools under their jurisdiction. But whether these and other harsh measures will come to pass is questionable at best.”
Here are a few more excerpts from the Times article:
Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, state officials have not adopted severe punishments against school districts, and they appear reluctant now.
But their authority to do so became sweeping this fall in the wake of the most recent results on state standardized tests.
For the first time, school districts that continue to fall short of academic benchmarks are exposed to severe measures, and federal law requires the state in the next few months to take some action.
The ultimate federal sanction under the No Child Left Behind law is withholding money from a state or school district, a rare tactic. The U.S. Department of Education could cite only one example: The department once penalized Texas for being late in delivering test results for schools.
Despite the lack of federal enforcement, “states are beginning to feel a little overwhelmed” at the high number of perpetually low-achieving schools and school districts, said Raymond Simon, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.
Will ANY changes be coming at Santa Ana Unified? We’ll see. Part of the problem is most of the administrators don’t live in Santa Ana – so their kids don’t go to school here. They are happy to get their big fat paychecks while the district continues to tank. The Trustees are not much better. Audrey Noji sent her boy to an Irvine High School. Rob Richardson has no kids. Rosie Avila went the private school route. John Palacio and Jose Hernandez are the only ones who have put their kids through Santa Ana schools.
How will Supt Russo and her pal Dr. Noji spin this story?
Tuesday’s school board meeting should be lively considering the Budget Reduction Committee is recommending the elimination of 486classified positions. A well placed SAUSD parajito is reporting Victoria Zaragoza championed this draconian measure citing the district needs to make these job cuts to protect the safety of the students. And it doesn’t stop there. The committee also recommended the creation of 972 part-time positions with NO BENEFITS.
How many ways can the school district – Russo, Noji and Richardson – screw its employees?
I say, let the stripping of SAUSD administrators begin!
SAUSD VOTERS: the time has come to dump Richardson, Avila and Hernandez in ’08. The removal of these board members will neutralize Noji.
Right, Art, its the administrators who are causing the kids to perform poorly on standardized tests…
Your posts get dumber by the day! You’re like an OCGOP defender of Carona!
Here’s a hint about why the schools are failing – NO HABLA INGLES!!
Just check the English proficiency statistics and you’ll have your answers. It’s no coincidence that the failing schools in Newport-Mesa are predominantly Latino with very low English proficiency.
But, hey – illegal immigration isn’t really a problem…
A federal takeover would be the best thing to ever happen to SAUSD.
#2
Children go to school to learn and it is the law. It is the district’s responsibility to teach the children. If they are not learning, it is the school district’s duty to develop and implement means and or methods to accomplish that goal. It’s no different than the garden variety job. Provide a quality service for your customers.
SAUSD has obscene amounts of money to help close the academic gap; the question that needs to be asked is what is the district doing with these monies?
A few months ago the district’s dirty linen was aired because they were asking teachers to falsify attendance records so the district could get more money from the state. A few years ago the teachers took a pay cut to keep the district solvent. And according to #1’s post the district plans on eliminating an obscene number of full time jobs and replacing them with part time jobs so they can save money by not paying benefits. Scum suckers!
Your blame game tactics are out of line. Stop blaming the children. Your ire should be directed at school district administrators and the Board of Education, particularly Audrey Noji and Rob Richardson.
Illegal immigration isn’t a problem when big business utilizes this segment of the workforce so they can increase their bottom line. It wasn’t a problem when the economy was on the upswing and the top echelon of society enjoyed record profit years. Yep, illegal immigration was not a problem when the money was freely flowing. Now that times are a bit tough, you’re looking for a scapgoat. What a hypocrite!
Take your head out of the sand; we, the Americano helped to create the illegal immigration challenges we face today, but no one wants to be HONEST about it. It’s easier to point and blame. And in your instance you want to blame innocent children. That will never resolve our problems. It will only create a bigger chasm.
I agree with #3. Boot the superintendent and her cabinet and the board of education too.
There are many factors to why the children are not achieving goals. Family, peer and environment contribute to unsatisfactory test scores.
There is a huge lack of inspiration in poor communities. Without that glimpse outside of the box, leaves many to accept their life as the norm. Not having the access to books that can bring faraway places, ideas and morals into the child’s mind stunts their growth. Lack of parks where kids can play sports to develop their strategic thinking limits their competitive skills. And not being able to surround themselves with smarter people keeps them down. In general, judgement is skewed.
It isn’t just the schools that are failing. It’s the entire community.
mary
It
School Districts are generally no better or worse than the children/parents who populate them. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear!
The Districts threatened with this take over all appear to be immigrant dominated communities living at or near poverty. In such an environment, where parent involvemenet in school activities of their kids is minimal (very poor attendance at back to school night or open houses, no viable PTO bringing community leadership and support, etc.) it is unlikely any other authority stepping in to “take over” will do any better. Primary responsibility rests with the parents in the community, and that is unlikely to change, sad to say.