Installment #3: CHARTER SCHOOLS AND A.D.A.
A Big Hiccup
Here I thought someone on your side was listening to us RE: Dr. Delgado’s October 21st 2011 missive to the LACOE rank-and-file — which many of us mistakenly understood (including myself) — by thinking that LACOE would NOT be punishing its teachers-with-families by taking out huge benefits deductions this holiday season. Alas, I guess I was mistaken, and you fully intend to illegally hammer* your teachers-with-families this holiday season – EVEN WHEN our Trust has enough money in it to defray the costs until a genuine agreement between LACOE and LACEA is reached. Many-of-us believe the media is going to have a field day with your union-busting strategies.
A.D.A
I will discuss A.D.A. first – because of its fiscal impact on LACOE. Many years ago, an appointed LACOE board member told me that Challenger was an incredible “cash cow.” With 640 inmates – and the other 3 halls averaging close to that figure – Court Schools did realize an A.D.A. based on 4300 students. Now we average about 2300 students – through no fault of teachers! Don’t forget, we Court School teachers are at the mercy of the vicissitudes of probation – whom a few years ago instituted a 7-month incarceration plan meant to enable them to count the same student twice in a fiscal year (because ‘the phase plan’ yielded almost 90% recidivism). This probation plan destroyed our curriculum delivery for almost two years – as students were moved every two months to their “next stage.” We were lucky to have 8 weeks with our students. A competitive golden parachute plan (emulating the foresight of progressive school districts) should more competently handle this diminishing A.D.A. rather than the bullying and RIF tactics LACOE currently utilizes.
Charter Schools
I have recently been invited to serve as the school board president of a “potential” charter school. It is not an honor that I-am-all-that-interested-in – but it does afford me the chance to analyze how the money flows. I don’t know about you, but I read almost daily about the graft and dishonesty in charter schools. I can’t imagine any charter school program lasting very long with probation, either. LACEA, on-the-other-hand, has continuously worked on its relationship with probation since our initial collaboration.
An Addendum
I had wanted to advance our discussion in this forum — but none of you (board members and Drs. Delgado and Ybarra) have wished to begin a dialog with myself or LACEA president, Brian Christian. So my next letter will also be sent to the L.A. Times and the Daily News.
*They weren’t behaving illegally as there was a provision in the contract language for them to do what they did – still, they didn’t have to hammer the-rank-and-file.
Shame on You LACOE
This one never made it to the media because of the aforementioned loophole that I was oblivious to.
Last week I was ready to contact the media (via e-mail letter) RE: LACOE’s abysmal treatment of close to 400 teacher families (unnecessarily exacting hundreds of dollars from the teachers’ first November paychecks for an apparently punitive purpose). As few are aware, LACOE teachers service LACOE’s incarcerated; community day school; and, special education youth: the most difficult and needy children to educate. But LACEA (the teacher union for LACOE teachers) president, Brian Christian, asked me to delay any such mailing pending the outcome of LACEA’s November 7th negotiations with LACOE.
Late November 7th, I learned that a settlement had been reached and that up to $700-or-more per teacher family would be returned to the LACEA teachers in December, and, per the tentative agreement reached with an independent mediator: NO MORE MONEY WOULD BE DEDUCTED from teacher paychecks until the new benefits package was exercised in the New Year. This information, coupled with a conference between Zev Yaraslovsky’s office, Brian Christian and myself RE: LACOE’s obligation to its professional and student clientele — left me feeling bolstered about LACOE/LACEA relations in the 2011-2012 school year.
But apparently someone in LACOE cares nothing about the youth that LACEA teachers service – as LACOE management reported to LACEA on November 10th that: LACOE intends to take additional monies from teacher paychecks on the second November paycheck – FLYING IN THE FACE OF THE NEGOTIATED TENTATIVE AGREEMENT of November 7th. Teachers shorted $1000 for the month of November; wondering if-and-when they will recoup these monies; going into the holiday season with their bills to pay – will not be at their teaching best for (as I have suggested) the neediest and most difficult student population in-the-world!
The LACOE school board; LACOE management; LACEA; and the L.A. County board of supervisors need to find out who exactly is attempting to harm the 2300 students that LACOE services daily by harming the teachers who teach these students. Whoever is making these decisions to attack and harm teachers and thereby attack and harm students is not an educator – this person sounds more like a corporate hatchet person who has to be stopped before s/he destroys the entire LACOE student service model.