Magnet Angel

Feeling Pretty Shell Shocked?

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:31:25 +0000

It hasn’t been the greatest month to be an LAUSD parent. Or for that matter, a staffer, an administrator, or a teacher. First the Miramonte scandal rocked the headlines with one teacher, then a second, and then another arrest of a janitor at a different school. Several more instances of inappropriate behavior have resulted in teachers and aides being removed from schools. Beyond the scandals, budget projections are out, and as dire as they’ve been the last four years, this year seems to be even more horrific.

And yet, we muddle on. Parents attending meetings for the parent teacher organizations or school governance councils. Parents looking for prospective middle schools and high schools are touring. Despite the fact that these criminal acts have gone on, and despite knowing the battle we face with Sacramento and the district to keep the schools financially afloat, we also know that there are incredible things going on inside classrooms throughout the district. We believe in those great teachers and the fantastic school sites.

The hardest thing to face is the impact these news stories have on the good teachers. Some media-grabbing lawyer implied last week there is something insidious about children in a classroom after school. Really? I sincerely hope he doesn’t have kids, or that by the time he does have children, that he realizes that the best teachers have kids in the classroom long after the bell rings. Some are offering tutoring, others are offering a safer place to be than out on the yard. In the case of my daughter’s school, so many of the teachers have their own children attending, there are rooms after school that almost look like a regular class during the day–children doing their homework, playing school, or helping the teachers prepare for the next day.

With regard to the cuts, the fact that anyone still wants to be a teacher or a principal is a miracle in itself. With the news scandals in recent weeks, it has to make good teachers question everything they do, which is horrifically sad. As parents we need to be aware of our children’s surroundings. And we have to be focused on how the cuts affect those who want to be a teacher, and those who watch staff. Parents should engage in very active conversations asking how these types of incidents are prevented at their children’s schools. And be on campus. And most of all, support the great teachers we all know.

Feeling Pretty Shell Shocked? (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 02/08/2012 | Comment on this post
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More Abuse Scandals Rock LAUSD

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:38:11 +0000

This week hasn’t been a good one for LAUSD. Or parents. Or students. First the news that a 30-year veteran teacher from Miramonte Elementary school was arrested on lewd acts with a child. And honestly, if that was the only story, I wouldn’t have written about it. The news has covered it well. The police have him under arrest. And rehashing something that horrible serves little purpose.

But this morning, another teacher at Miramonte has been removed from the classroom on allegations of lewd conduct. Allegations can conceivably be false, so for the sake of argument, I can still bite my tongue. Then the “third strike” of the week, a Hamilton High School music teacher has been removed from the classroom since 2010 for having sex with several of his students and the district is seeking his dismissal while he continues to collect a paycheck.

What the HELL is happening in LAUSD? Where are the classroom visits by principals? Where are the parent volunteers? How do children report these crimes and things disappear from the teachers’ files? If there are complaints dating back to the 90s, how was this allowed to continue?

Clearly there is a horrible breakdown somewhere in the system. Miramonte is an underperforming school and its students are clearly victims–and there have been victims for over 20 years that LAUSD has let down. Yet Hamilton is a highly regarded high school with great programs. Families simply can not get complacent with a “that can’t happen here” mentality. Child predators find ways to be near children and young adults and gain the trust of their families regardless of their income and education levels.

At this point, I strongly encourage each family to utilize their legal rights and visit a classroom for 20 minutes to observe their child’s class. Every parent and grandparent should volunteer on campus and in the classroom as much as possible. And if there isn’t a bulletin that requires principals to randomly walk into classrooms all day long, there should be. The local district folks should be walking into classrooms all day long as well.

I keep hoping each story is the last one, but I’m afraid that it’s far from over. The child predators must be removed, but right now it’s clear that LAUSD isn’t doing its job in cleaning house.

More Abuse Scandals Rock LAUSD (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 02/03/2012 | Comment on this post
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Post tags: abuse, Hamilton, Miramonte

Donors Choose/Wasserman Foundation Program Ends Prematurely

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:25:56 +0000

After a robo-call from John Deasy this evening and a Daily News article this afternoon claiming the program would end February 3rd, the funding for the Donors Choose/Wasserman Foundation grants are all gone as of Tuesday evening.

Families attempting to redeem cards on the Donors Choose website were met with a message that said the funds were no longer available. And teachers still posting projects will need to find alternative funding sources for supplies.

The Wasserman Foundation Facebook page is rife with frustrated parents and teachers attempting to redeem cards. In addition, there’s some claims that some Starbucks outlets were requiring a purchase to receive the cards. Approximately 285,000 cards were supposed to be distributed through the Starbucks stores, but at $10 per card, if every one was redeemed, that would have claimed $2.85 million of the grant.

Originally slated for a two-year venture, Los Angeles teachers and families spent the allotted $4 million dollars in less than eleven weeks. Take into consideration the three-week winter break that interrupted the process of project posting and gift cards sent home to fund them, and the program lasted a mere eight weeks.

As of yesterday, the Wasserman Foundation was tweeting that families had until February 16th to redeem the cards sent directly home and the gift cards distributed through select area Starbucks cards were to be good through March 16th. Even Donors Choose predicted the cards to be redeemed through February 3rd. Then tonight, they were all void.

The program successfully funded 8,000 projects, and provided Los Angeles schools with $4 million in matching funds and gift cards toward projects.

Donors Choose/Wasserman Foundation Program Ends Prematurely (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 01/31/2012 | Comment on this post
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Donors Choose, but the Starbucks Locales are Definitely Odd…

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:21:29 +0000

The second leg of the Donors Choose/Wasserman Foundation Los Angeles programs rolls out today. Participating Starbucks offer free $10 Donors Choose gift cards, following a program that provided $15 cards to LAUSD families late last year. But for families along the 118, you’re frankly out of luck. Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, Mission Hills, San Fernando and Sylmar don’t have a single Starbucks participating in order to get the $10 gift cards to fund teacher projects. While North Valley families are dismayed, if you happen to be going to Universal City Walk, or LAX, you will have plenty of opportunities to receive the cards, aimed at funding teachers’ wish list projects on the site.

Some schools, in anticipation of the second round of cards, have 100% participation among teachers, writing project requests on anything from the basics like ink cartridges for printers, to science projects like frogs for dissection, to technology splurges teachers could not afford on their own like E-readers for the children.

For families along the 118, many will pay more in gas to retrieve the “free” cards than the cards are worth to the teachers. In addition, many of those venues charge for parking to the tune of $15 or more, so the plan has not been thought out. Even the Wasserman Facebook page said “all area Starbucks” until the list came out Friday. So what gives? Do I really have to drive 10-15 miles to support my daughter’s school? Or perhaps the Foundation would like to reallocate the unused card value to the communities they skipped over? I’m sure that the schools along the 118 in both wealthy and less tony areas would be willing to split, say $1 million dollars in unfunded projects, right?

I’ll report back after I go make an afternoon drive in pouring rain and try to hit as many of these Starbucks and see if there are any cards left. Our teachers are counting on it.

UPDATE: I just received a rather discouraging email from Donors Choose. In essence, this leg of the promotion intentionally sought out locations that would have foot traffic that is not affiliated with a school site. This round of fundraising equates to way to promote Donors Choose rather than to support LAUSD schools. The teachers with projects will still be chosen, but there is no home field advantage by families familiar with the schools.

Donors Choose, but the Starbucks Locales are Definitely Odd… (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 01/23/2012 | Comment on this post
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Post tags: Donors Choose, Starbucks, Wasserman Foundation

LAUSD Considers Another Parcel Tax Proposal

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:47:12 +0000

It’s a case of deja vu all over again, but Superintendent John Deasy hit the airwaves yesterday proposing another parcel tax to increase funding for LAUSD schools.

The $200-300 per year parcel tax is targeted for the November election–after the 2012-13 school year begins. So the district has to make the draconian cuts and then hope it passes, to restore the money, or keep spending and if it doesn’t pass, admit they guessed wrong. Again.

The good news kept coming this morning with the LA Times article about Governor Brown’s suggested tax increases that are off by $2 billion (that’s $2,000,000,000), and the possibility that even with the half-cent tax increase and the income tax increase, there’ll likely be more school cuts. How can any one trust any of the information coming out if the projections are this out of whack?

If the individual schools requested the money, and parents could direct where they want the funds to go, it might have half a chance. Actually, many schools already have donation drives to buy the barest of essentials. Non-Title I schools notoriously request a similar amount from each family at the beginning of the school year simply to buy paper, or fund field trips, or buy positions that the district no longer funds. If the parcel tax goes into the black hole known as LAUSD’s general coffers, it will never pass. Few people actually understand the bonds for construction are restricted for building new schools, so it’s highly unlikely that any plea will convince voters of the school’s plight.

LAUSD Considers Another Parcel Tax Proposal (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 01/12/2012 | Comment on this post
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LAUSD to Allow True Open Enrollment

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:20:56 +0000

The LAUSD school board will be considering a plan to allow students to choose their schools, rather than be zoned for specific campuses by address, according to the Daily News. Families would apply to the school of their choice. Obviously the details have to be worked out, but the implications are tremendous.

The proposal, presented by Nury Martinez and Monica Garcia, would create competition for students and potentially attract families back to the district from charters and private schools.

The district has always had a cobbled together approach to choice–magnets, open enrollment at specific campuses, and SAS programs for gifted students. This proposal would allow any student to apply to any campus. What remains to be seen is if this would remove home-field advantage for people living in specific neighborhoods. A similar policy in San Francisco is notorious for causing difficulty as parents rank their choices–and there is no preference for neighborhood families. Clearly families who purchased in highly sought after school boundaries will have concerns on how the program is implemented and how it will affect property values. In addition, there’s not enough spaces at all the schools ranked 8, 9 or 10 for every student in the district. Conversely, shouldn’t we be focusing on having excellent schools in EVERY neighborhood? That is clearly not the current case.

School campuses would essentially compete for students and create programs that appeal to families would draw students back to the district. Campuses that don’t create appealing programs would lose enrollment and be forced to change. Schools could conceivably experiment with their calendar, their schedule, or their theme to merit community support. Of course, the proof would be in the success of the program–test scores or graduation rates.

It’s interesting. It’s incredibly exciting. Now, let’s just hope that it actually works.

LAUSD to Allow True Open Enrollment (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 01/09/2012 | Comment on this post
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Making Schools Autonomous…and Responsible

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:20:33 +0000

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy and UTLA have reached a tentative agreement to bring decision making to the school sites.

Replacing the Public School Choice resolution that put schools out to bid, teachers within a school will have three years to turn a school around.

If a school wants to change their schedule, their curriculum, or choose their staff, it will be in their power. The devil will be in the details, however. In schools that currently control the right to hire, Deasy has vetoed the school community choice–in some cases, multiple times.

Teacher groups led some extremely successful applicant teams during the rounds of Public School Choice–beating out well-financed charters. It would be in the district–and the union’s–best interest to create thriving programs that parents and families seek out.

Right now, the plan is still lacking a parent component. But any program that fails to invite families and the community to the table is destined to fail.

While this pact is a step in the right direction, I really need to see how it plays out before I celebrate.

UTLA members will vote by December 12.

Making Schools Autonomous…and Responsible (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 11/30/2011 | Comment on this post
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Parents Choose: $4 Million in Classroom Project Grants

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:51:19 +0000

Every family in LAUSD will soon be receiving a $15 gift card to be applied to teacher-requested projects on the Donors Choose website.

Originally, I had concerns about viral PR campaigns for certain projects, but each project is limited to 50 donors. Some teachers already use Donors Choose to help fund classroom projects, so they’ll have a leg up, but other teachers should take the opportunity to create a project for their students. Between requests for class sets of novels, iPads for educational games, and sports equipment, parents should have no trouble finding a project that supports their goals.

The Wasserman Foundation provided the funding. Early next year, Starbucks customers in Los Angeles will receive gift cards to apply to their favorite projects, as well, creating awareness outside the parent community for the needs for the most basic materials in the classroom.

Have you received your gift card? What project did you support? Do you have a project that needs support? Post in the comments section.

Parents Choose: $4 Million in Classroom Project Grants (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 11/14/2011 | Comment on this post
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Magnet Season in Full Swing

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:48:01 +0000

So today is November 3rd. We’ve now been on two tours, which ironically weren’t even really for magnet schools, and last night we attended the Middle School Magnet Night at Sepulveda. Thanks to previous commitments, my daughter and I arrived 10 minutes late and circumnavigated several blocks in North Hills before parking on Sepulveda, completely missing the “orientation” part of the program, which my husband (who’d arrived with plenty of time and found parking in the same zip code as the school) assured me I’d missed nothing. Since I give similar magnet presentations to various groups in my area, I’ll take his word for it. Let’s face it, with kids 10 years apart, there’s a certain nostalgia with these types of school events, and even with the distance in time, there’s still an aspect of dread.

There are still parents who have no idea how the program works, and clearly have never read the brochure. There are still parents who try to corner the magnet coordinators and spend way too much time giving way too much information about their specific situation, while the rest of the group just sits uncomfortably. But it’s not just the parents lacking social graces. In one presentation, I listened to one magnet coordinator of a very popular magnet encourage parents with no points to apply even though he had 2-300 kids on his wait list at each grade level. I’m not Math major, but even at four wait-list points per year, the child would graduate middle school and still be no closer to attending that magnet. And another Math/Science magnet coordinator try to throw other highly regarded magnets under the proverbial bus–using an apples to oranges comparison of the API scores of entire schools to compare their programs. The nicest thing I can say is it was just tacky. Promote your programs, bring out students and parents, and encourage tours. Don’t say we’re better than school x because they’re not that good–especially when they ARE that good.

But among the presentations, we hit two great ones–one my husband and I had already toured, and one my son graduated from in 2004. My 10 year old has never even hinted she had any interest in it before last night, but we agreed to put our meager 8 points into that basket and see what happens. We’ll apply to the other via SAS and a variety of academies and hope for the best.

Batting .500 for the evening’s presentations is better than our odds at either of the schools, but in the meantime, we’ll see. With the new application being online only, there’s a definite feeling that applications will go down. A post card arrived last week to herald the new system only to be lacking the obvious logo of LAUSD, so most I’ve talked to only knew of it from a robo-call. Without the brochure mailed out, no one really knows if applications will be up from ease of use or down from lack of information. We’ll see.

Magnet Season in Full Swing (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 11/03/2011 | Comment on this post
Post categories: LAUSD Magnet, LAUSD News, Public School Choice
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Magnet Season to Begin Online

Angel Zobel Rodriguez — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:59:57 +0000

LAUSD has added a twist to magnet season: the brochures are going online. Starting on November 1st, families will be able to look up various programs, apply online, receive confirmation, change their minds, and reapply to different programs until the December 16th deadline.

Which is great news. But speaking as a parent of a college student with vivid memories of the UC websites crashing near the deadline, I urge everyone to visit the website early, and apply early. If a family has a huge epiphany and wishes to change, avoid that last week, because lausd.net is notorious for going down when parents need information the most. And since parents need to visit parent.access.lausd.net first, I suggest checking that access page and signing up as quickly as possible.

For families of Valley middle school students there is a “Meet the Magnets” Night, and for high school at least two schools feature information for parents. Sepulveda Middle School hosts their annual magnet night on Wednesday, November 2nd from 6 to 8 pm for information on middle school magnets throughout the Valley, while for high schools, Monroe High School hosts their magnet night on Thursday, November 3rd, and Walter Reed Middle School offers a Meet the High Schools Night (including public and private school options) on November 2nd from 6 to 8 pm. Considering the dedication of the new high school in San Fernando is also November 2nd, I suspect there are more than a few LAUSD calendars that are NOT being consulted before scheduling events, but these events are all great options for families to get a lot of information for the investment of just a couple of hours.

After that, it will be the tours. Plenty of them, I suspect. I am already trying to figure out how I can be dropping off a child at 7:45 am (and no sooner) and magically be across the Valley by 8 am. So to the schools that offer tours at varying times of the day–THANK YOU. The upside of 8 am tours is that we will become well-acquainted with the traffic that we will actually have to endure each morning. We’ll be clearing our calendars and doing the tours just like everyone else, so I’m already practicing my breathing exercises.

A lack of printed brochures will make some of the seminars I give for gifted parents a bit of a challenge, since I won’t be able to refer everyone to page X or Y for information, but hopefully, it will work out just fine. I’m looking forward to hitting that return key and getting the confirmation.

For more information or to ask specific questions on LAUSD magnet programs, please visit askamagnetyenta.wordpress.com

Magnet Season to Begin Online (Permalink) originally appeared on Magnet Angel on 10/18/2011 | Comment on this post
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Post tags: magnet season, tours