Edvoice - Issues

L.A. Unified was warned about ex-priest before hiring, church says

February 4 | Los Angeles Times

By Howard Blume

The Los Angeles Archdiocese said Monday that it had warned the L.A. Unified School District of concerns it had with a former priest accused of molestation before the school system hired him in 2002 as a community outreach coordinator.

The former priest, Joseph Pina, admitted in internal church documents to a sexual relationship with a minor and to repeated “boundary issues” with women throughout his career in the clergy.

The archdiocese apparently never alerted law enforcement authorities about Pina. But a spokesman on Monday said the church did indicate its concerns to L.A. Unified in its response to a district questionnaire before the school system hired Pina.

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California abandons algebra requirement for eighth-graders

February 2 | San Jose Mercury News

By Sharon Noguchi

By falling in line with other states, California is abandoning its push for all eighth-graders to take algebra.

Last month, the State Board of Education unanimously shifted away from a 15-year policy of expecting eighth-graders to take Algebra I. The state will allow them to take either Algebra I or an alternate course that includes some algebra. New state standardized tests will focus on the alternate course -- the same one adopted by most states under the Common Core curriculum being rolled out across the nation.

Supporters welcome the change as more in line with current practice, of schools offering two tracks of math for eighth-graders. But critics fear that the new standard will let schools avoid offering rigorous courses for all. They point to a report released last week showing that some schools are not placing black and Latino students in advanced math courses even when they're prepared.

 
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New Schools CFO: SD Unified has 'Hundreds of Excess Employees'

February 1 | Voice of San Diego

By WILL CARLESS

I've done a lot of interviews with officials at the San Diego Unified School District, including most of the school board members. I've sat down with the unions and the reformists the academics and the kids themselves.

Nothing really prepared me for Stan "Data" Dobbs.

San Diego Unified's new chief financial officer is a Naval Air Force veteran. He once helped to manage more than 200,000 people, 3,800 aircraft, 11 aircraft carriers and an annual budget of more than $40 billion. He's worked at two school districts before coming here, and is a self-described problem-solver.

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Digital Learning Day

January 31 | Alliance for Excellent Education

Digital Learning Day’s Digital Town Hall will be simulcast live on Wednesday, February 6, from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (ET). This high-profile broadcast will feature and celebrate dignitaries, policymakers, and education leaders. Educators who tune in will see promising practices in digital learning from across the country and be provided with an energetic program to help make the case for effective use of technology in education. Polling with mobile devices will be used to capture live impressions from viewers. Watch it here.

 
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LAUSD allowed sex abuse at Miramonte, alleges student lawsuit naming superintendents, board members

January 29 | LA Daily News

By Barbara Jones

The attorney for a dozen students who claim they were molested at Miramonte Elementary filed suit Tuesday against a slate of LAUSD administrators, including Superintendent John Deasy and four of his predecessors, saying they knowingly allowed teachers suspected of sex abuse to continue harming students.

Attorney Brian Claypool, who previously sued the district over the sex-abuse scandal at Miramonte, says in his amended suit that district administrators deliberately ignored complaints against teacher Mark Berndt and other suspected molesters.

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Former state Senator Martha Escutia calls for LAUSD probe into perceived pattern of teacher abuse of Latino youth

January 28 | Daily Breeze

By Rob Kuznia

Former state Senator Martha Escutia, an attorney and child sex abuse survivors advocate, calls for an immediate investigation into what she believes is a pattern of alleged sexual abuse perpetrated against students by teachers and other employees at schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District at a press conference in front of George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School in Wilmington.

In the wake of yet another sex abuse arrest in the Los Angeles Unified School District, former state Sen. Martha Escutia came to a Wilmington elementary school Monday to call for an LAUSD investigation into what she believes is a pattern of such abuse against Latino youth by teachers in low-income areas. 

Escutia, an attorney who serves on the legal team representing more than 30 children allegedly abused by teachers at Miramonte Elementary School in South Los Angeles, blasted the district for refusing to turn over documents pertaining to 600 complaints about teacher misconduct.

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Firing a tenured teacher in California can be tough

January 26 | Contra Costa Times

By Matthias Gafni

She pulled a 5-year-old special-needs student from his chair, then kicked him as he lay on the ground. 

But while parents in the Brentwood Union School District railed against district officials this week for failing to fire teacher Dina Holder for her actions, those who have studied the laws governing teacher dismissal said the outcome is all too easy to understand.

Firing a tenured teacher who poses a threat to students takes too long and is too expensive, according to lawmakers, child advocates and teacher union representatives -- but none of them agree on how to fix the problem.

Holder retained a job even though she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor child abuse charge in the 2010 incident. She was transferred to another school, where she taught until a legal settlement reached this month mandated her removal from the classroom. 

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Did missed teacher evaluation prevent Brentwood from firing child abuser teacher?

January 24 | Contra Costa Times

By Matthias Gafni 

BRENTWOOD -- School administrators and their attorney say they were unable to fire a teacher convicted of child abuse, but parents are crying foul.

A Brentwood Union School District attorney told parents at Wednesday night's heated school board meeting that special needs teacher Dina Holder could not be terminated simply for kicking one of her young students at Loma Vista Elementary because the education code tied their hands from pursuing dismissal.

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LAUSD principal failed to report alleged molestation by teacher

January 24 | Los Angeles Times

The De la Torre Elementary principal first heard accusations of sexual misconduct a decade before the instructor's arrest this week, the L.A. schools chief says.

By Howard Blume, Adolfo Flores and Richard Winton 

A now-retired principal twice failed to report accusations of sexual misconduct by a teacher who this week was charged with molesting 12 students at a Wilmington elementary school, officials said.

In 2002 and 2008, the principal was told that the teacher, Robert Pimentel, 57, inappropriately touched a student. But the principal failed to tell law enforcement authorities, as required by law, said L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy.

The Los Angeles Police Department began investigating Pimentel only last March, when they learned of more recent allegations at George de la Torre Jr. Elementary School.

 
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Rating districts on school choice

January 25 | Orange County Register

Highest-rated California district earned B-minus in national survey.

By GLORIA ROMERO

As our nation marks National School Choice Week, through Feb. 2., it is intriguing for Californians to reflect on exactly what is meant by "choice" in public education, and how well California schools fare in offering choice options and policies to parents.

Toward this end of exploring the critical role of school choice in the future of education reform, Russ Whitehurst and his team at the Brookings Institution recently released the Education Choice and Competition Index, which grades more than 100 cities and large suburbs on the degree to which they empower parents with publicly funded school choices.

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