Friday, February 4, 2011

Deasy Attacks Rhee & Calls for Free Healthcare for L.A. Kids


Is Deasy Leveraging Himself To Passify UTLA?
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest in the nation, faces staggering budget cuts and a protracted battle with its teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), over attacks on seniority and tenure, massive increases in private charter schools, and publication of teachers’ value-added scores. Incoming Superintendent John Deasy will have his hands full managing these issues without instigating a full blown uprising by L.A. teachers. This may be why, in a recent public appearance, he appeared to oppose the corporate Ed Reform agenda and support a progressive health agenda for L.A. children.

In the speech, Deasy called for free health, vision and dental care for all Los Angeles students who lack it. While this goal is compassionate and sensible (lack of health insurance is a major cause of absenteeism for students) he had no plan for bringing it to fruition. With LAUSD, L.A. city and the state of California all facing large budget deficits, this laudable goal is really more window dressing than a serious reform goal.

In the speech, Deasy also attacked former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, accusing her of becoming too political and polarizing. He said she has fallen prey to hyper-orthodoxy on reform and shut the door on fruitful collaboration with groups such as teachers unions. Yet Deasy also supports much of the same corporate Ed Defrom orthodoxy, such as the notion that teachers must be replaced when they don’t improve student achievement. To his credit, he did concede that schools districts cannot “fire their way to success,” either.

The biggest clue that he intends to co-opt the union was his statement that UTLA was not too intransigent to work with, a concession he undermined with his naïve belief that charters and traditional schools can be allies.

2 comments:

  1. Outsourcing education on the cheap to Charter Management companies is NOT the answer either. America is even outsourcing public schools to Charter Management companies run by h1-b visa uncredentialed teachers. In America the Gulen Movement under Islamic Imam Fethullah Gulen operates 122 Charter Schools, they abuse h1-b Visas and bring in their fellow "followers" and bypass good solid American teachers.
    Do your research on the Gulen Movement's worldwide schools. Why was Gulen exiled from Turkey? What is his grand ambition? Why does Ex-FBI Turkish Translator Sibel Edmonds call Gulen "100% threat to American security"
    In Los Angeles the schools are called Magnolia Science Academies.
    http://www.magnoliascienceacademy.blogspot.com
    http://www.gulencharterschools.weebly.com
    http://www.charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com
    http://www.charterschoolwatchdog.com
    http://www.gulencharterschoolsUSA.blogspot.com
    http://www.gulenschoolsworldwide.blogspot.com

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  2. Dear Anon,

    You need to read more carefully and not jump to the conclusion that everyone is your enemy.

    My post is a criticism of Deasy, not an endorsement of privatization. I'd also suggest that before you freak out publicly on other peoples' blogs, you read some of their other writing first, and get a sense of where they're really coming from.

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