Ashford University Cuts 450 Jobs
By Consumer Bob, R. Stickney and Sarah Grieco
NBC 7 San Diego
Sep 25, 2012
Ashford University announced approximately 450 layoffs Monday morning. A majority of the layoffs were from San Diego, according to a school spokesperson Shari Rodriguez.
Employees were told to come in early when they were shown a video and offered a two-week severance package.
Rodriguez says it is part of a company-wide reorganization.
“We were called in to this meeting that we were called in for on Friday, and we had no idea what this meeting was,” a laid off employees told NBC 7 San Diego. “This video comes on and within 30 seconds they’re like, ‘Your position no longer exists, you’re terminated.’”
Another former employee said she was in a room with 100 people when they were told by a human resources representative their positions no longer existed.
“They just said because of all the changes, they were getting laid off," she said.
Employees said they were shocked by the news.
“Nobody expected it, it was a shock to everyone,” said a former employee in her 20s. “People were crying, people who have families, people who had just bought cars because they thought they had a stable job no longer have any of that.”
About a dozen former employees gathered at a Pacific Beach bar after they were told the news.
All laid off employees had worked for Ashford for less than six months and worked primarily in the recruitment area. An administrative employee told NBC 7 San Diego that many of those laid off were admissions counselors who dealt primarily with the students.
A statement from Ashford University said the following:
"Ashford University is committed to providing its students with the best opportunity to succeed, and, to that end; a reorganization of Ashford's student-facing staff has been implemented with the goal of improving student retention and academic success. As a result, 400 Ashford employees have been reassigned to roles that will support this new process and, regrettably, approximately 450 Ashford Admissions positions in San Diego and Denver have been eliminated."
Showing posts with label layoffs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label layoffs. Show all posts
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Obama: Education data justify jobs plan
Obama: Education data justify jobs plan
Associated Press
August 18, 2012
Tight school budgets have meant fewer teachers, larger classes and shorter school years, according to a White House report that President Obama says shows the need for Congress to pass his proposals to help states reduce teacher layoffs.
The study concluded that 300,000 education jobs have been lost since the official end of the recession in 2009 and that student-to-teacher ratios have increased by 4.6 percent from 2008 to 2010 and are on track to grow more.
"If we want America to lead in the 21st century, nothing is more important than giving everyone the best education possible - from the day they start preschool to the day they start their career," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.
For Obama, the report offered a fresh chance to push a nearly year-old jobs plan he proposed that provided money for states to keep teachers, police officers and firefighters on the job. The proposal included payroll tax cuts and jobless insurance provisions that Congress has passed. But other proposals in the plan have run aground amid mostly Republican opposition.
Obama is pressing Congress to act, part of an election-year strategy to portray Republicans as obstructionists. Republicans have proposed their own measures, but they have not advanced in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
While the private sector has continued to create jobs, though at a sluggish pace, the public sector has been posting monthly job losses, contributing to an 8.3 percent unemployment rate.
Obama's plan includes $25 billion in aid to prevent layoffs of teachers and pay for other education jobs. It is part of a broader effort to retain state and local government jobs...
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Obama-Education-data-justify-jobs-plan-3798736.php#ixzz240zuqFFt
Associated Press
August 18, 2012
Tight school budgets have meant fewer teachers, larger classes and shorter school years, according to a White House report that President Obama says shows the need for Congress to pass his proposals to help states reduce teacher layoffs.
The study concluded that 300,000 education jobs have been lost since the official end of the recession in 2009 and that student-to-teacher ratios have increased by 4.6 percent from 2008 to 2010 and are on track to grow more.
"If we want America to lead in the 21st century, nothing is more important than giving everyone the best education possible - from the day they start preschool to the day they start their career," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.
For Obama, the report offered a fresh chance to push a nearly year-old jobs plan he proposed that provided money for states to keep teachers, police officers and firefighters on the job. The proposal included payroll tax cuts and jobless insurance provisions that Congress has passed. But other proposals in the plan have run aground amid mostly Republican opposition.
Obama is pressing Congress to act, part of an election-year strategy to portray Republicans as obstructionists. Republicans have proposed their own measures, but they have not advanced in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
While the private sector has continued to create jobs, though at a sluggish pace, the public sector has been posting monthly job losses, contributing to an 8.3 percent unemployment rate.
Obama's plan includes $25 billion in aid to prevent layoffs of teachers and pay for other education jobs. It is part of a broader effort to retain state and local government jobs...
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Obama-Education-data-justify-jobs-plan-3798736.php#ixzz240zuqFFt
Saturday, April 30, 2011
San Diego teachers union: we won't improve education if you consider teacher layoffs
The SDEA thinks it can win by stopping efforts at improving teaching. I honestly don't know who's worse, the administration or the union. They both care more about the personal careers of the people in power in their various organizations than they do about kids.
School Reform Rooted in Working Together Grows Apart
April 27, 2011
by Emily Alpert
Last summer after San Diego Unified was criticized for turning away from federal school reforms, accused of being too close to its teachers union to seek change, the school board touted a new reform plan, rooted in collaboration with its teachers.
The school district dubbed it "community-based school reform," a very different way to fix schools than the national reform zeitgeist of evaluating or paying teachers based on test scores. Teachers would work together and share data on how kids were doing. Parents would get more involved. Everybody tied to schools would band together to come up with reform ideas of their own.
The teachers union chimed in, saying it would go to work for the reform push. The school board struck an agreement with the union and a nonprofit to test the plans at a scattering of pilot schools starting in March. The idea: model the simple process of getting people together to improve their schools, while putting the muscle of trained organizers behind it.
Now, with the district warning of teacher layoffs, the teachers union has cut off its every-other-week talks on reform with Superintendent Bill Kowba and other leaders. The budget crunch has pitted board members who have long been seen as labor allies — even derided as union puppets — against the same union that once championed them.
While many reforms are still going, the breakup between San Diego Unified and the teachers union has slowed their plans and stopped them from actually joining forces to improve schools, one of the most intriguing parts of the plan. The split has only exacerbated confusion over what, exactly, community reform means.
Some schools tapped as possible pilots are now unsure what will happen. Pacific Beach Middle School is one of them. Teachers there met earlier this year to talk about their vision for the school. Labor leaders met with Principal Julie Martel. More meetings were planned. Then came the pink slips last month.
"It came to a halt," Martel said. "It seems like it's been put on hold."
The question now is what reform will look like if the school district and the union each go it alone. Many of the efforts are still chugging along: The Equality Alliance, the nonprofit that is helping to bring parents together as part of the reform push, just wrapped up a parent survey.
San Diego Unified has tried to foster more community involvement through getting parents involved in "clusters," the schools that lead into each high school. And union leaders just met with parents and employees at Mira Mesa High School this week to talk about whether it could become a pilot school.
At Mira Mesa High, Principal Scott Giusti is excited about dreaming up new ideas with teachers, parents and anyone else with a stake in the school. But he worries about rallying teachers and parents behind a plan while the teachers union isn't talking to San Diego Unified about it. What happens, Giusti asked, if they come up with a plan and the school district doesn't like it? Or what if the union balks?
"I'm a little cautious because everybody isn't at the table," Giusti said.
Leaders on both sides say they won't let the freeze stop them from working on school reform, each in their own way. "The work can still be done without the district stepping up to the plate," said Craig Leedham, executive director of the union. "I think we'll actually accomplish more."
School board member Scott Barnett echoed their words on the other side. "The teachers union reform plan is in addition to what the San Diego Unified board is doing," he said. "Ours is going ahead."
The teachers union argues the district broke its trust by opting to warn more than 1,300 teachers of [possible] layoffs. San Diego Unified, with an estimated deficit of $114 million or more, says it had no choice. Labor leaders argue it could have used other money to spare teachers...
School Reform Rooted in Working Together Grows Apart
April 27, 2011
by Emily Alpert
Last summer after San Diego Unified was criticized for turning away from federal school reforms, accused of being too close to its teachers union to seek change, the school board touted a new reform plan, rooted in collaboration with its teachers.
The school district dubbed it "community-based school reform," a very different way to fix schools than the national reform zeitgeist of evaluating or paying teachers based on test scores. Teachers would work together and share data on how kids were doing. Parents would get more involved. Everybody tied to schools would band together to come up with reform ideas of their own.
The teachers union chimed in, saying it would go to work for the reform push. The school board struck an agreement with the union and a nonprofit to test the plans at a scattering of pilot schools starting in March. The idea: model the simple process of getting people together to improve their schools, while putting the muscle of trained organizers behind it.
Now, with the district warning of teacher layoffs, the teachers union has cut off its every-other-week talks on reform with Superintendent Bill Kowba and other leaders. The budget crunch has pitted board members who have long been seen as labor allies — even derided as union puppets — against the same union that once championed them.
While many reforms are still going, the breakup between San Diego Unified and the teachers union has slowed their plans and stopped them from actually joining forces to improve schools, one of the most intriguing parts of the plan. The split has only exacerbated confusion over what, exactly, community reform means.
Some schools tapped as possible pilots are now unsure what will happen. Pacific Beach Middle School is one of them. Teachers there met earlier this year to talk about their vision for the school. Labor leaders met with Principal Julie Martel. More meetings were planned. Then came the pink slips last month.
"It came to a halt," Martel said. "It seems like it's been put on hold."
The question now is what reform will look like if the school district and the union each go it alone. Many of the efforts are still chugging along: The Equality Alliance, the nonprofit that is helping to bring parents together as part of the reform push, just wrapped up a parent survey.
San Diego Unified has tried to foster more community involvement through getting parents involved in "clusters," the schools that lead into each high school. And union leaders just met with parents and employees at Mira Mesa High School this week to talk about whether it could become a pilot school.
At Mira Mesa High, Principal Scott Giusti is excited about dreaming up new ideas with teachers, parents and anyone else with a stake in the school. But he worries about rallying teachers and parents behind a plan while the teachers union isn't talking to San Diego Unified about it. What happens, Giusti asked, if they come up with a plan and the school district doesn't like it? Or what if the union balks?
"I'm a little cautious because everybody isn't at the table," Giusti said.
Leaders on both sides say they won't let the freeze stop them from working on school reform, each in their own way. "The work can still be done without the district stepping up to the plate," said Craig Leedham, executive director of the union. "I think we'll actually accomplish more."
School board member Scott Barnett echoed their words on the other side. "The teachers union reform plan is in addition to what the San Diego Unified board is doing," he said. "Ours is going ahead."
The teachers union argues the district broke its trust by opting to warn more than 1,300 teachers of [possible] layoffs. San Diego Unified, with an estimated deficit of $114 million or more, says it had no choice. Labor leaders argue it could have used other money to spare teachers...
Sunday, March 13, 2011
In my 24 years of education, I have never seen a teacher released due to their ineffectiveness
South Bay Principal Open to Salary Cuts
A principal at a high school in Otay Mesa says he and others are willing to take pay cuts to save the jobs of four instructors, the U-T says. If the instructors are laid off, the average class size at Montgomery High will grow from 31 to 34 students.
"In my 24 years of education, I have never seen a teacher released due to their ineffectiveness," the principal said, touching on the continuing debate over how difficult it is to get rid of bad teachers. "To lose some of the people who work the most or are effective, that's just not right."
--from Voice of San Diego Morning Report by Randy Dotinga
South County principal calls for salary cuts to save teachers
By Ashly McGlone
San Diego Union-Tribune
February 22, 2011
OTAY MESA — Montgomery High School Principal Lee Romero sees the $24 million deficit the Sweetwater Union High School District is trying to close in its $320 million budget through layoffs and wonders if there isn’t a better solution.
Such as salary cuts.
Romero said he and his wife, who is a teacher, along with others would be willing to take a pay cut if it meant saving the four instructors slated to be laid off at his school if class sizes grow from 31 to 34 students, as proposed by the district.
“At what point do we do the right thing and take the cuts away from the classroom, because it is going to hurt our kids? Nobody including the district, including the unions, are talking about taking a pay cut,” Romero said. “If we go this route (by increasing class sizes), it is going to be bad for everybody.”...
Among the teachers Romero expects to lose under seniority rules that come into effect during layoffs is special education teacher Juan Carrillo and county Teacher of the Year nominee Rhea Walker. They have been teaching for four years and 11 years, respectively.
According to Romero, those who could lose their jobs have contributed to his campus seeing an 85-point increase on the state’s performance index.
“To have more students in a classroom means more special ed students in a classroom, and it almost seems impossible,” Carrillo said.
Romero said no one should be laid off.
“In my 24 years of education, I have never seen a teacher released due to their ineffectiveness,” Romero said. “To lose some of the people who work the most or are effective, that’s just not right.”
Walker can see both sides of the tenure system.
“Time and again you have proven your worth, but the bottom line is still the dollars,” Walker said. “You are thankful and grateful to have something there to guarantee you have a job, but at the same time it’s a double-edged sword.”
Romero said pay cuts need to be addressed.
“There’s 10 percent unemployment in California and people are taking cuts, but we have not,” he said.
About 110 pink slips were issued last year; all but six Spanish teachers were called back to work. Administrators are taking four furloughs this year...
The district cut $11 million from this year’s budget to help close a more than $23 million deficit. The shortfall was covered with stimulus funds and previously restricted money that the state freed up for use in other areas.
A principal at a high school in Otay Mesa says he and others are willing to take pay cuts to save the jobs of four instructors, the U-T says. If the instructors are laid off, the average class size at Montgomery High will grow from 31 to 34 students.
"In my 24 years of education, I have never seen a teacher released due to their ineffectiveness," the principal said, touching on the continuing debate over how difficult it is to get rid of bad teachers. "To lose some of the people who work the most or are effective, that's just not right."
--from Voice of San Diego Morning Report by Randy Dotinga
South County principal calls for salary cuts to save teachers
By Ashly McGlone
San Diego Union-Tribune
February 22, 2011
OTAY MESA — Montgomery High School Principal Lee Romero sees the $24 million deficit the Sweetwater Union High School District is trying to close in its $320 million budget through layoffs and wonders if there isn’t a better solution.
Such as salary cuts.
Romero said he and his wife, who is a teacher, along with others would be willing to take a pay cut if it meant saving the four instructors slated to be laid off at his school if class sizes grow from 31 to 34 students, as proposed by the district.
“At what point do we do the right thing and take the cuts away from the classroom, because it is going to hurt our kids? Nobody including the district, including the unions, are talking about taking a pay cut,” Romero said. “If we go this route (by increasing class sizes), it is going to be bad for everybody.”...
Among the teachers Romero expects to lose under seniority rules that come into effect during layoffs is special education teacher Juan Carrillo and county Teacher of the Year nominee Rhea Walker. They have been teaching for four years and 11 years, respectively.
According to Romero, those who could lose their jobs have contributed to his campus seeing an 85-point increase on the state’s performance index.
“To have more students in a classroom means more special ed students in a classroom, and it almost seems impossible,” Carrillo said.
Romero said no one should be laid off.
“In my 24 years of education, I have never seen a teacher released due to their ineffectiveness,” Romero said. “To lose some of the people who work the most or are effective, that’s just not right.”
Walker can see both sides of the tenure system.
“Time and again you have proven your worth, but the bottom line is still the dollars,” Walker said. “You are thankful and grateful to have something there to guarantee you have a job, but at the same time it’s a double-edged sword.”
Romero said pay cuts need to be addressed.
“There’s 10 percent unemployment in California and people are taking cuts, but we have not,” he said.
About 110 pink slips were issued last year; all but six Spanish teachers were called back to work. Administrators are taking four furloughs this year...
The district cut $11 million from this year’s budget to help close a more than $23 million deficit. The shortfall was covered with stimulus funds and previously restricted money that the state freed up for use in other areas.
Possible Layoffs Would Hit Schools With Poor Students Hardest
Possible Layoffs Would Hit Schools With Poor Students Hardest
March 9, 2011
by Emily Alpert
Seventeen schools in San Diego Unified would lose more than one-fourth of their teaching staff if the school board votes for layoffs this week, according to a memo from its deputy superintendent. The hardest hit school would be Baker Elementary, which would lose 44 percent of its educators.
Under state law, the newest teachers are generally the first to lose their jobs. It's commonly known as "last hired, first fired." That means schools with lots of new teachers get hit harder when layoffs strike, as we recently explained with NBC San Diego. Most of the hardest hit schools have high percentages of disadvantaged kids.
To put these numbers in perspective, the average San Diego Unified elementary school has 64 percent of students eligible for free or reduced price lunches; middle schools average 60 percent eligible.
The new numbers back up an old worry: That layoffs have a disproportionate impact on the neediest schools. The biggest school district in the state, Los Angeles Unified, recently struck a legal settlement with the Public Counsel Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California to protect disadvantaged schools from teacher layoffs.
That means more senior teachers in other schools will end up losing their jobs instead. Los Angeles fought the settlement. Unions have generally argued that seniority is the fairest way to make the painful choice of which teachers should lose their jobs.
The same issue exists in San Diego Unified, but so far, there is no public plan to address it. The lawsuit in Los Angeles sets a legal precedent that someone could use to press the same case in San Diego, but the ruling only applies to Los Angeles. While state law says schools must pay attention to seniority when they lay off teachers, there is some wiggle room in the law to include other factors.
For instance, school districts can skip over employees in scarce or highly needed positions, sparing them from layoffs. San Diego Unified currently plans to skip employees in a few selected science and special education positions, such as physics teachers or educators who work with severely disabled students. I'm waiting for a call back to find out if there is any plan to spare struggling schools.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
In SDUSD, who is "leading the chorus of fear-mongering"? Not Richard Barrera.
"Should the Board's absurd decision stand, our schools will simply cease to function."
--San Diego Education Association
The SDEA seems to be suffering from some mental confusion. If the sentence above isn't fear-mongering, then I don't know what is. So who is actually "leading the chorus of fear-mongering"?
I'm sure that the teachers union is happy about one thing: pink slips will be distributed to the newest teachers. Incompetent and mediocre teachers with tenure will be protected from losing their jobs. Your failure to promote effective evaluations of teachers is your real violation of the trust of the voters, Richard Barrera.
The way I see it, Barrera's decision to warn teachers of the possibility of layoffs was akin to President Obama's decision to bail out the banks. Some people are going to be agnry about these decisions, but they'd be even angrier later on if the whole system fell apart because of bankruptcy.
What exactly was Richard Barrera trusted to do? Apparently, many people trusted him to always obey orders from the teachers union.
But I'm sure that there were plenty of voters who trusted him to behave responsibly towards students. He hasn't violated that trust.
‘I Am Going to Violate Your Trust in Me Tonight’
Voice of San Diego
March 11, 2011
by Emily Alpert
The biggest surprise at the school board meeting Thursday night was that board President Richard Barrera — a labor organizer long seen as a union ally on the school board — ended up voting to warn teachers of layoffs.
Barrera himself told the crowd of teachers, counselors, nurses and other workers who packed the auditorium: "I am going to violate your trust in me tonight. I'm going to vote for the superintendent's recommendations. Doing so goes against everything that I believe in."
Teachers shouted, "So don't do it!" Barrera continued: "I don't think doing this is right. I don't think doing this is smart." And he believes the school district will end up canceling most or all of them anyway.
But school district staff warned that if San Diego Unified did not prepare for layoffs, the County Office of Education, which vets its budget plans, could stop them from borrowing money to pay its bills. That was what swayed Barrera to vote to start sending out pink slips. The teachers union has argued that the layoffs are unnecessary and based on faulty predictions.
"Shame on you Richard!" someone yelled from the back of the auditorium.
What makes this remarkable is that Barrera has been at the forefront of plans to avoid sending out pink slips, this year and in the past. Two months ago he was one of the board members who floated a bold and possibly risky plan that would bank on tax extensions or a quirk in the layoff laws to prevent warnings from going out. He has never voted for pink slips before. In earlier years, Barrera pushed to find other savings and dodged layoffs. From my 2009 story:
"I kept hearing (last year), 'We've done everything we can possibly do and we have no other options than layoffs,'" said new school board member Richard Barrera. "And from our experience this year, that wasn't true. We found more savings."
Conservative critics have long pegged Barrera as a labor lackey for backing a union pact on school construction and opposing Race to the Top, a competition between states for federal stimulus money that put a premium on tying teacher evaluations to test scores. Now Barrera has seriously upset the teachers union, which denounced the decision on its website last night:
In violation of the trust placed in them by parents, educators and the broader San Diego community, Trustees Richard Barrera, Shelia Jackson and John Lee Evans voted to issue more than 1,000 absolutely unnecessary certificated layoff notices, with Superintendent Bill Kowba leading the chorus of fear-mongering and bad advice supporting their poor choice. Only Trustees Kevin Beiser and Scott Barnett had the courage of conviction to do the right thing and vote against layoffs. Should the Board's absurd decision stand, our schools will simply cease to function.... Tonight Trustees Richard Barrera, Shelia Jackson and John Lee Evans violated our trust and took the easy way out.
Evans and Jackson are also being criticized, of course. Jackson tried to advance an alternative budget plan that would consolidate more central office departments. Evans also wrestled with the decision at the meeting Thursday, saying that while he agreed that the school district should resist the cuts, this wasn't the time to do it, since it would cost them the control of the district.
"This is actually a decision that makes me very sick," said Evans, who mentioned that he wore a black suit to the meeting because it felt like a funeral.
But Barrera was the surprise vote, the one that made people gasp in the auditorium...
--San Diego Education Association
The SDEA seems to be suffering from some mental confusion. If the sentence above isn't fear-mongering, then I don't know what is. So who is actually "leading the chorus of fear-mongering"?
I'm sure that the teachers union is happy about one thing: pink slips will be distributed to the newest teachers. Incompetent and mediocre teachers with tenure will be protected from losing their jobs. Your failure to promote effective evaluations of teachers is your real violation of the trust of the voters, Richard Barrera.
The way I see it, Barrera's decision to warn teachers of the possibility of layoffs was akin to President Obama's decision to bail out the banks. Some people are going to be agnry about these decisions, but they'd be even angrier later on if the whole system fell apart because of bankruptcy.
What exactly was Richard Barrera trusted to do? Apparently, many people trusted him to always obey orders from the teachers union.
But I'm sure that there were plenty of voters who trusted him to behave responsibly towards students. He hasn't violated that trust.
‘I Am Going to Violate Your Trust in Me Tonight’
Voice of San Diego
March 11, 2011
by Emily Alpert
The biggest surprise at the school board meeting Thursday night was that board President Richard Barrera — a labor organizer long seen as a union ally on the school board — ended up voting to warn teachers of layoffs.
Barrera himself told the crowd of teachers, counselors, nurses and other workers who packed the auditorium: "I am going to violate your trust in me tonight. I'm going to vote for the superintendent's recommendations. Doing so goes against everything that I believe in."
Teachers shouted, "So don't do it!" Barrera continued: "I don't think doing this is right. I don't think doing this is smart." And he believes the school district will end up canceling most or all of them anyway.
But school district staff warned that if San Diego Unified did not prepare for layoffs, the County Office of Education, which vets its budget plans, could stop them from borrowing money to pay its bills. That was what swayed Barrera to vote to start sending out pink slips. The teachers union has argued that the layoffs are unnecessary and based on faulty predictions.
"Shame on you Richard!" someone yelled from the back of the auditorium.
What makes this remarkable is that Barrera has been at the forefront of plans to avoid sending out pink slips, this year and in the past. Two months ago he was one of the board members who floated a bold and possibly risky plan that would bank on tax extensions or a quirk in the layoff laws to prevent warnings from going out. He has never voted for pink slips before. In earlier years, Barrera pushed to find other savings and dodged layoffs. From my 2009 story:
"I kept hearing (last year), 'We've done everything we can possibly do and we have no other options than layoffs,'" said new school board member Richard Barrera. "And from our experience this year, that wasn't true. We found more savings."
Conservative critics have long pegged Barrera as a labor lackey for backing a union pact on school construction and opposing Race to the Top, a competition between states for federal stimulus money that put a premium on tying teacher evaluations to test scores. Now Barrera has seriously upset the teachers union, which denounced the decision on its website last night:
In violation of the trust placed in them by parents, educators and the broader San Diego community, Trustees Richard Barrera, Shelia Jackson and John Lee Evans voted to issue more than 1,000 absolutely unnecessary certificated layoff notices, with Superintendent Bill Kowba leading the chorus of fear-mongering and bad advice supporting their poor choice. Only Trustees Kevin Beiser and Scott Barnett had the courage of conviction to do the right thing and vote against layoffs. Should the Board's absurd decision stand, our schools will simply cease to function.... Tonight Trustees Richard Barrera, Shelia Jackson and John Lee Evans violated our trust and took the easy way out.
Evans and Jackson are also being criticized, of course. Jackson tried to advance an alternative budget plan that would consolidate more central office departments. Evans also wrestled with the decision at the meeting Thursday, saying that while he agreed that the school district should resist the cuts, this wasn't the time to do it, since it would cost them the control of the district.
"This is actually a decision that makes me very sick," said Evans, who mentioned that he wore a black suit to the meeting because it felt like a funeral.
But Barrera was the surprise vote, the one that made people gasp in the auditorium...
Friday, July 16, 2010
LBUSD Process For Firing Teachers Stands Up In Court
Long Beach USD achieved a small victory for using criteria beyond seniority to fire teachers.
LBUSD Process For Firing Teachers Stands Up In Court
by Ryan ZumMallen
Long Beach News
07.08.10
After seven days of hearings, a judge ruled today in favor of the Long Beach Unified School District and denied the Teachers Association of Long Beach's assertion that the district did not follow rules while laying off employees.
The local Board of Education is going through its final list of layoffs on July 12.
The judge agreed that the district was within its rights to determine layoffs through its seniority system, its exemption of teachers with training in college readiness programs from the seniority system,
LBUSD Process For Firing Teachers Stands Up In Court
by Ryan ZumMallen
Long Beach News
07.08.10
After seven days of hearings, a judge ruled today in favor of the Long Beach Unified School District and denied the Teachers Association of Long Beach's assertion that the district did not follow rules while laying off employees.
The local Board of Education is going through its final list of layoffs on July 12.
The judge agreed that the district was within its rights to determine layoffs through its seniority system, its exemption of teachers with training in college readiness programs from the seniority system,
Monday, May 17, 2010
Judge to LAUSD: No Layoffs at Gompers, Liechty and Markam This Year
This is terrific news for those of us who are concerned that poor teachers remain ensconced in school while good teachers are laid off.
Judge to LAUSD: No Layoffs at Gompers, Liechty and Markam This Year
May 12, 2010
School Districts Have Flexibility in Making Layoffs in Order to Provide Equal Education to All, Ruling Says
Saying that the state’s education code allows school districts flexibility in laying off teachers in order to comply with constitutional requirements to provide equal education to all students, a Superior Court judge granted an injunction today that prevents the Los Angeles Unified School District from laying off teachers at Gompers, Liechty and Markham middle schools this year. The three schools, which primarily serve low-income students and students of color, saw their teaching corps disproportionately decimated by a round of budget-driven layoffs last year, causing their education efforts to fall below the state constitutional guarantee that all students will receive a basic education consistent with prevailing statewide standards.
“Today's landmark decision carries on the ideals of Brown v. Board of Education that no child may be deprived of the right to learn,” said Mark Rosenbaum, chief counsel for the ACLU of Southern California.
Judge to LAUSD: No Layoffs at Gompers, Liechty and Markam This Year
May 12, 2010
School Districts Have Flexibility in Making Layoffs in Order to Provide Equal Education to All, Ruling Says
Saying that the state’s education code allows school districts flexibility in laying off teachers in order to comply with constitutional requirements to provide equal education to all students, a Superior Court judge granted an injunction today that prevents the Los Angeles Unified School District from laying off teachers at Gompers, Liechty and Markham middle schools this year. The three schools, which primarily serve low-income students and students of color, saw their teaching corps disproportionately decimated by a round of budget-driven layoffs last year, causing their education efforts to fall below the state constitutional guarantee that all students will receive a basic education consistent with prevailing statewide standards.
“Today's landmark decision carries on the ideals of Brown v. Board of Education that no child may be deprived of the right to learn,” said Mark Rosenbaum, chief counsel for the ACLU of Southern California.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
POWAY: PUSD to send layoff notices, appeal 'God banner' decision
See all posts re Poway Unified School District.
POWAY: PUSD to send layoff notices, appeal 'God banner' decision
By GARY WARTH
March 8, 2010
Trustees in the Poway Unified School District on Monday agreed to send layoff notices to 129 employees in anticipation of budget reductions and to appeal a recent court ruling that said the district violated a teacher's constitutional rights.
Associate Superintendent Bill Chiment said the layoff notices were a "sad but necessary strategy" to offset a projected $24 million shortfall in the district's 2010-11 budget...
Unlike the last board meeting two weeks ago, when more than 300 teachers appeared at the board meeting to protest cuts, no teachers spoke against the action Monday night.
[Maura Larkins comment: Teachers seem to think that legal issues are over their heads, and perhaps they are. Why don't teachers draw a connection between budget cuts and the huge sums spent on legal expenses, particularly liability insurance? If teachers and other citizens were more vigilant concerning the huge amounts schools pay for legal expenses and liability insurance, as well as other shenanigans of school and state officials, the budget cuts might not be necessary. Liability insurance rates are astronomical because schools have made so many bad decisions. Bad government almost always ends up costing taxpayers money.]
In closed session before the meeting, trustees also agreed to appeal federal Judge Roger Benitez's Feb. 25 ruling that the district violated the rights of Westview High School math teacher Bradley Johnson, who was ordered to remove classroom banners that contained the word "God."
Chiment said the district's appeal is not specifically to keep Johnson from hanging his banners, but rather to clarify the district's right to control what can be displayed in school classrooms.
In responding to the lawsuit last week, Chiment said the district was concerned about future lawsuits challenging its right to control classroom displays.
Also at stake, Johnson's attorney, Robert Muise of the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, has said he will file a motion asking the district to pay about $250,000 in attorney fees. A reversal of the decision would relieve the district of the fees.
Johnson had displayed two banners that contained historical and patriotic references. One read "In God We Trust," "One Nation Under God," "God Bless America" and "God Shed His Grace on Thee." A second banner contained a passage from the Declaration of Independence: "All men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator."
Also on Monday, Poway resident Scotty Blackman told the board he was launching an initiative to reduce the salaries of all state employees, including teachers, by 35 percent to 45 percent to make them comparable with the private sector...
[Maura Larkins comment: We need to pay the best teachers MUCH more to attract highly capable individuals. Scotty Blackman's idea sounds penny wise, but it's definitely pound foolish. Next thing we know Scotty will be saying we can save even more money by closing schools altogether.]
POWAY: PUSD to send layoff notices, appeal 'God banner' decision
By GARY WARTH
March 8, 2010
Trustees in the Poway Unified School District on Monday agreed to send layoff notices to 129 employees in anticipation of budget reductions and to appeal a recent court ruling that said the district violated a teacher's constitutional rights.
Associate Superintendent Bill Chiment said the layoff notices were a "sad but necessary strategy" to offset a projected $24 million shortfall in the district's 2010-11 budget...
Unlike the last board meeting two weeks ago, when more than 300 teachers appeared at the board meeting to protest cuts, no teachers spoke against the action Monday night.
[Maura Larkins comment: Teachers seem to think that legal issues are over their heads, and perhaps they are. Why don't teachers draw a connection between budget cuts and the huge sums spent on legal expenses, particularly liability insurance? If teachers and other citizens were more vigilant concerning the huge amounts schools pay for legal expenses and liability insurance, as well as other shenanigans of school and state officials, the budget cuts might not be necessary. Liability insurance rates are astronomical because schools have made so many bad decisions. Bad government almost always ends up costing taxpayers money.]
In closed session before the meeting, trustees also agreed to appeal federal Judge Roger Benitez's Feb. 25 ruling that the district violated the rights of Westview High School math teacher Bradley Johnson, who was ordered to remove classroom banners that contained the word "God."
Chiment said the district's appeal is not specifically to keep Johnson from hanging his banners, but rather to clarify the district's right to control what can be displayed in school classrooms.
In responding to the lawsuit last week, Chiment said the district was concerned about future lawsuits challenging its right to control classroom displays.
Also at stake, Johnson's attorney, Robert Muise of the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, has said he will file a motion asking the district to pay about $250,000 in attorney fees. A reversal of the decision would relieve the district of the fees.
Johnson had displayed two banners that contained historical and patriotic references. One read "In God We Trust," "One Nation Under God," "God Bless America" and "God Shed His Grace on Thee." A second banner contained a passage from the Declaration of Independence: "All men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator."
Also on Monday, Poway resident Scotty Blackman told the board he was launching an initiative to reduce the salaries of all state employees, including teachers, by 35 percent to 45 percent to make them comparable with the private sector...
[Maura Larkins comment: We need to pay the best teachers MUCH more to attract highly capable individuals. Scotty Blackman's idea sounds penny wise, but it's definitely pound foolish. Next thing we know Scotty will be saying we can save even more money by closing schools altogether.]
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