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Saturday, October 8, 2022

LAUSD Up -- Periodic Reporting on the Los Angeles Unified School District

Hello from Los Angeles.

It's been a pretty big few weeks at LAUSD. In April, the LAUSD School board voted to add seven "optional" days to the school year, ostensibly to address learning "lost" during the pandemic. UTLA then filed an unfair practice charge citing the district's failure to negotiate before imposing an illegal alteration to the school year.

 

The bulldozer approach from the Superintendent's office failed as, after the complaint and a vote to boycott the extra days, UTLA got exactly what it had been asking for all along: a negotiated proposal for extended learning time.

Of course you wouldn't know that from the L.A. Times. Predictably, the Times characterized the agreement as a response to "pressure from the teachers union," rather than an admission that contractual matters must be negotiated. Quelle surprise. (paywall)

In a statement, politician and world-class suit wearer Alberto Carvalho said the district was "pleased that UTLA has accepted our proposal for the Student Acceleration Days, and we look forward to continued discussions with other labor partners." I'll bet he does.

Side note: Throughout the process there was a bunch of screeching from the reformster Los Angeles Parents "Union." The organization has turned down the volume since the agreement but it remains virulently anti-UTLA and has returned to old stand-bys school closures and masking, among other complaints and accusations. 

According to US News & World Report, LA Parents Union was co-founded by Alma Marquez, a professional organizer and advocate who also worked for Green Dot and who went on to found the National Parents Union, an anti-union organization cobbled together to oppose the NEA and AFT.

The rhetoric used by the group and its supporters is massively over the top, hostile and aggressive. They consistently characterize teachers--and particularly teachers unions--as acting counter to the interests of students.

Be aware of their true nature if they happen to pop up at your school sometime.

As I wrote here, Carvalho brings his "my way or the highway" management approach with him from Miami, and when he swaggered into town he made a lot of promises in the "This is how it's going to be" category. 

Bullies gonna bully, I suppose, but having spent a few years under the heel myself, I can say with confidence that when a knee-breaker is brought in to browbeat the teachers into submission, it's usually the bully who walks away limping. 

Perhaps Carvalho just forgot that he needs to work with partners to achieve results, and that some of his most important partners are teachers. Maybe he knows now, maybe not. Stay tuned. We are likely to see this again.


Another big thing that gripped the district--at least according to all the breathless coverage in the local media--was the cyber ransoming of data. Over Labor Day weekend, LAUSD was cyber attacked and gave up hundreds of gigabytes of data (it's not even clear yet whose or what kind). Weeks later the hackers set a deadline for ransom and, when the deadline came and went, they released 500GB of data.  

It's impossible for us on the outside to know at this point how much damage has been done. We got this from the Super:

I don't need to tell you how uncomfortable it is counting on the district to act quickly and effectively. Many of you may remember the payroll debacle, and just the letters ssis isis misis might give you a headache. 

But even if we close our eyes and whisper to ourselves over and over again they-got-this-they-got-this, the district and its administrators have rarely given us a reason to believe they're being truthful with us. Rather, as usual, their interests lie in minimizing the damage and pretending there's nothing to see here.

UTLA had this tweet:

Nice, but it's difficult to see how UTLA can do much. One thing they can do, however, is follow member and NBC teacher       @phylis_hoffman's advice and push for an independent auditor to assess the harm and risks associated with the hack. 

UTLA may not be able to do much, but it can do this. 

If you all have any additional info on the breach, info that can flesh out these stories, please share and we'll get the news out there. You can comment (anonomously, if you like) here, or you can email me at nowwaid@gmail.com. 


And finally, it was hot!

I saw lots of anti-asphaltism and chatter about demands for green space and I know that UTLA is committed to fighting for green schools and spaces:


And I must say I'm all for it. But a word of caution: Have you ever seen the district take care of anything they created? 

It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode: You know how to plant the trees; you just don't know how to grow the trees. Or feed them or water them or protect them in any way. Or even remember where you planted them. 

The most likely scenario: The district makes a big deal out of it and holds a ceremony. They plant a bunch of trees at a high-profile school, and it'll be on the news with the Super getting his picture taken, and that's it. The custodians will try for a while to keep the trees alive, until they're three people short because of transfers and illness. The drip system will fail and the earliest maintenance ticket is next summer. Some teacher will step up and try but soon the other teachers who offered to help have meetings and papers to grade, and the student volunteers have homework or soccer practice or little sisters and brothers to take care of.

And then the trees die. And the students who walk by the dead trees every day wonder why nobody gives a crap about them.

We used to say that every good program--drama, marching band, chess club, debate, robotics--is just one dedicated teacher from extinction. The system has no institutional memory and feels no responsibility for continuity. 

Please don't do this to the trees.


Finally, just a reminder to join your union. If you're already a UTLA member, here's a list of endorsements you should pay attention to. As always, your mind and your vote belong to you--please use them. 

  • Dr. Rocio Rivas - LAUSD Board District 2
  • Kelly Gonez - LAUSD Board District 6
  • Erin Darling -LA City Council District 11
  • Hugo Soto-Martinez - LA City Council District 13
  • Danielle Sandoval - LA City Council District 15
  • Lindsey Horvath - LA County Board of Supervisors District 3
  • Karen Bass - LA Mayor
  • Yes on Measure ULA


If you're not a member of your union, why not? Below is an Economic Policy Institute chart reminding us that, in addition to standing between us and fifty kids in a class and zero paid sick days, unions are crucial in mitigating income disparity. If you don't have access to a union or are prohibited from collective bargaining, vote and organize. Power concedes nothing without a demand.




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