Is it time to get rid of LAUSD? (Long Beach, Nice: neighborhoods, school districts)

[silverkris]

There are, believe it or not, some very dedicated teachers in LAUSD. Ever hear of Rafe Esquith, who teaches in a LAUSD elementary school around Koreatown? He's gotten some pretty good results with a largely, low/moderate income, ethnic minority student population over the years.

That said, I wonder if the decentralized and sprawling nature of LAUSD hurts it - doesn't seem as responsive and more bureaucratic. Maybe breaking it up into different regions would help.

[jm1982]

Yeah I agree about breaking it up into other regions. I don't doubt there are a lot of very dedicated teachers in LAUSD. Both my grandparents were teachers in LAUSD. It is the SYSTEM/Bureaucracy that gets in the way.

Everyone seems to recognize this as obvious and that massive change needs to take place, but we are still in the same situation...the status quo.

[smokingGun]

The simple truth is that we can't turn back the clock and have the educational quality & performance we saw in LAUSD in the '50 through the '80s. The demographic composition of the metro's student population has changed drastically with immigration, coupled with decreased funding post-Prop 13. This is the unfortunate reality of our situation and there's no easy way to increase graduation rates until new immigrants acculturate and the majority of kids come from English-speaking families. I read a book "How Children Succeed" earlier in the year detailing interesting experiments some charter schools were doing in trying to mold student behavior & study habits, giving children the tools to become self-motivated & self-starters, but it's hard to say if they can be applied on a district-wide basis.

[Ingenere]

Teacher unions and them wanting to retire at 50 with pensions and free healthcare.

Even if you get arrested for masturbating into blindfolded students mouths, you keep your pension.

Nice.

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by Ingenere

Teacher unions and them wanting to retire at 50 with pensions and free healthcare.

Even if you get arrested for masturbating into blindfolded students mouths, you keep your pension.

Nice.

bukaki reference on CD, now i've seen it all.

[jm1982]

We be keepin' it classy up in here.

I always thought it was
Bukkake though.

[LA Fan]

Originally Posted by quixotic59

We are NYC teachers hoping to transfer to LAUSD schools. We hear the same rhetoric here in NYC. The fact is that public schools are REQUIRED BY LAW to service ALL students. Private and charter schools handpick their students.

BINGO! MY wife teaches high school English in the LAUSD, (well she was laid off almost two years ago but sub sometimes). This is exactly what she says to me explaining some of the issues. I also heard from other teachers in the district say the same thing. Not only does ESL bring down the scores, but so does special needs students in which charter schools usually don't accept.

[John23]

I think the public system is absolutely hideous and should be broken up.

-ESL or not, there is a conveyor belt, factory mentality. Put everyone in a class, 30-35-40, and kind of rinse, wash, repeat.

For example, math is a huge sticking point for many kids. If you're failing or getting a D, why would you repeat the class doing the same thing, learning the same way?? It's terrible that you can go through school thinking you're poor in a subject, and never be exposed to a different way of learning, different method.

I don't think the system cares very much about how kids think about themselves. Not enough money in the budget for that (sarcasm). You see the results of this later.....i.e. remedial classes in college, or drop out. Or just not very confident in a subject.

-Why is everyone put in the same class? What a handicap for middle or upper middle class white or black kids (or asian or latino).

It handicaps everyone. Middle class kids don't the challenge they should. ESL kids don't get the dedicated attention to really bring them up. Aiming for the middle produces the results you see.....i.e. a 25 or 30% drop out rate.

-I think its kind of funny (strange), the results of the system are so poor....what would it take to really see change? How bad would it have to be?

[Ingenere]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

bukaki reference on CD, now i've seen it all.

Accused teacher blindfolded kids for

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by Ingenere

Teacher unions and them wanting to retire at 50 with pensions and free healthcare.

Even if you get arrested for masturbating into blindfolded students mouths, you keep your pension.

Nice.

That's why the school system is broken in Los Angeles? The teachers are overpaid and coddled?

Now I've heard it all.

I don't think everyone with the Tea Party mentality is stupid - just the vast, vast majority of them.