Office of Civil Rights Launches Investigation

Today, the Office of Civil Rights, under the leadership of Assistant Secretary Russlyn Ali, launched an investigation to review LAUSD's efforts to educate English language learners. The investigation will focus on two local districts -- one of which I represent: the southeast communities. This is a welcomed gift! Why? For years, the LAUSD has failed to serve this population well. Consider this:

• Only 9% of English Learners in third grade are reading at grade level
• Only 3 out of 100 English learners score proficient level in English and math in high school

English learners are also the largest group of drop outs and the least likely to be prepared to go on to college.

This shameful denial of a future to children is unacceptable. I am certain that this investigation will find a culture of low expectations, inadequate allocation of resources, an unlawful state-mandated cookie cutter approach, and racist practices that contribute to our unintended but complicit actions that deny children their right to a quality education.

Indeed, THIS is the civil rights issue of our time, and I thank the Office of Civil Rights for partnering with our community to bring educational justice to thousands and thousands of students.

Opening the Doors for Change: Yolie Urges the Adoption of Supt. Cortines' Recommendations for Public School Choice

Los Angeles Unified School District School Board Vice President Yolie Flores has commended Superintendent Ramon Cortines and his staff for their thorough review of the applicant proposals for the operation of 24 new schools and 12 existing “focus” schools on the eve of the School Board’s historic vote on Public School Choice. The Board’s vote this Tuesday is the culmination of the first round of this school reform process, which began when the Board of Education passed the Public School Choice resolution in August 2009.

“We have a historic opportunity to place high value – first and foremost – on quality education for all students. Not one school and not one student should have anything less. This has and continues to be my unwavering commitment.”

Expert review panels, an advisory vote process, and Superintendent Ramon Cortines’ experience over five decades in public education led to the recommendations that are now before the Board.

“Although there were initial challenges with the advisory vote process, the rigorous review process by multiple panels, consisting of individuals representing parents, higher education, district professionals, unions and charter operators has resulted in some exceptional recommendations by Superintendent Cortines,” said Flores “We have flung our doors wide open and invited partners to join our movement for transformation. The recommendations from Superintendent Cortines balance the voice of our parents and community with the best action plans for change.”

The Public School Choice motion introduced by Board Vice President Flores is a result of too many schools failing to meet the basic education needs of thousands of LAUSD students and failure to show significant improvements in academic performance and increased graduation rates over the years. Since its passage, the process has engaged thousands of parents, students, and community members in ways not seen previously in LAUSD. It has also created key partnerships with civic organizations, such as United Way, League of Women Voters, Families in Schools, the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, and others.

“This process has energized and provided the catalyst for hundreds of LAUSD teachers and administrators to put forth ideas and best practices they had been eager to implement but had been shelved because of archaic and bureaucratic rules or because of a culture of mediocrity,” said Flores. “Also, we are increasing our ability to learn from high quality charter schools and galvanizing the power of parents to take action on the quality of their child’s education.”

“Throughout this process, I have met with parents, grandparents, and foster parents. They all want change; they all want quality education for their children as soon as possible. We may not all agree on the ‘how’ – but we agree that change must happen now. I hope my colleagues on the board will focus on the merits of the proposals,” said Flores. “The proposals recommended by Superintendent Cortines represent the best action plans to improve student achievement, collaborate with parents, and result in long-term transformation for the entire school community. This is the beginning of greater expectations for all our schools. We should not squander this opportunity.”

Moving forward, Flores has urged a deliberate and robust review of the process, particularly the parent engagement and capacity-building efforts to help parents better understand the current educational system, the need for these and other reforms that will guarantee great schools for all students, and the choices that they have.

Change is on the way. . . But we have to do better

This past August, the LAUSD Board of Education passed the Public School Choice Resolution, a reform effort designed to shake up the status quo by challenging our own institution to offer up significantly better educational plans for failing schools and new schools. By inviting proposals from teacher groups, charters, and other non-profit educational groups, we created the conditions for interested stakeholders to put forth their best thinking and creativity to offer a quality education to all of our students.

As never before, the leadership of the District – namely Superintendent Cortines and his management team – embraced this reform effort and, together, they have worked diligently to implement the resolution with integrity and transparency.

Further, this process has engaged thousands of parents, students, and community members in ways not seen previously in LAUSD. We have also become a less insular organization by partnering with civic organizations, such as United Way, League of Women Voters, Families in Schools, the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, and others. And, perhaps more importantly, the process has energized and empowered hundreds of LAUSD teachers and administrators to put forth ideas and best practices they had been eager to implement but had been shelved because of archaic and bureaucratic rules or because of a culture of mediocrity that had become the way of life at LAUSD. Urgency has become the new watchword at LAUSD

Indeed, Public School Choice is bringing about exciting change at LAUSD on behalf of kids.

Simultaneously though, and not unexpectedly, the forces most resistant to change are hitting hard and, in some instances, even using despicable and unethical tactics to ensure that the status quo lives on. We have seen flyers to immigrant parents telling them they could be deported if they sign a charter petition; and parents have shared with me that some LAUSD employees are telling them that other operators will charge them tuition and the cost of meals, that an LAUSD high school diploma will no longer be valid, that their special needs children or English learners will not be serviced, or that their children will be kicked out of school if they do not perform well on tests. Other parents have shared that charters are paying parents to sign charter petitions. These lies, manipulations, and fear tactics are disheartening, deplorable, and an affront to those who want see the best for our children.

History has shown that there will always be those who look to thwart the Democratic process. With Public School Choice, this has been evident by those that have maligned competitor proposals and spread falsehoods rather than compete on the merits of their own proposals. This is politics as usual and why the advisory vote has had the potential to go awry. Our intention was and is to give parents the opportunity to have a voice in this process and engage them in the education of their children. It is about accountability. What we owe our parents is straightforward information, an understanding of best practices, an unbiased explanation of each plan, and a process to have their interests heard – not a vote influenced by fear and rhetoric. This approach is an insult to their capacity and right to make an informed decision for themselves and their children.

We knew going in that the process would be less than perfect, particularly the first time out, but we refused to let that deter us from taking bold action. Given where we are, the Board and Mr. Cortines must celebrate the change that is occurring, and at the same time embrace the lessons learned to improve the process for the next cycle.

To start, we must have a more thoughtful parent engagement process that truly and objectively builds the capacity of parents to understand the current system, learn about educational best practices, and know the pros and cons for the choices they have. Then we must develop a less politicized and more streamlined process to hear the voices of parents, students, teachers, and others.

Second, Mr. Cortines must develop and carry out real consequences for violating the rules he has set up for the Public School Choice process – including, if necessary, disqualifying plans that come from those violating the rules. He must also ensure that no one has an unfair advantage and that he specifies clear conflict of interest activity for internal and external applicants, as well as how we will hold everyone accountable for their actions.

Finally, we must have an improved community outreach and communication plan to continue to build public will for the reforms that our children deserve.

This is a historic time for LAUSD. As singer and songwriter Seal says, “change is gonna come.” But we must overcome the resistance to change and stand strong, making our decisions based solely on what is good for all students.

LAUSD Board of Education Stands up for Kids

After weeks of discussion and robust public debate, this past Tuesday the LAUSD School Board voted 6-1 to approve my Public School Choice Resolution. Outside of the board room, thousands and thousands of parents came out in support, demanding better education for their children. The Board responded.

This motion stemmed from my growing frustration at the seemingly casual approach to what should be a “911” emergency response, given the numbers of children’s lives and futures that are at stake. It is also a response to the chorus of parents and communities who are demanding better schools, more options, and a voice in how their schools are run.

Indeed, because LAUSD continues to make slow, steady achievement gains, there is no sense of urgency or collective outrage about the crisis in our schools, where only one third of our third-graders can read at grade level, where far too many students drop out of school, and a dismal number are prepared for a decent job or to go on to college. Our current growth path could require at least 20 years before our elementary kids are 100% proficient in reading and math, and many years beyond that for our high school students. At this rate, entire generations will be lost… lost to poverty, the streets, or jail.

What we desperately need is rapid, large-scale, student-centered reform – not business as usual. And the time could not be more opportune. We have the best Superintendent in the nation, a reform-minded board, and a host of civic and community leaders that continue to challenge the status quo.

My Public School Choice resolution – co-sponsored by Board President Monica Garcia and Dr. Richard Vladovic – opens the door for us to act with conviction and courage to transform an archaic school system that has not served all children well. Specifically, it targets new schools opening up over the next four years as well as underperforming schools, and is based on four main ideas: 1) choice and competition; 2) replication and expansion of successful school models; 3) parent engagement and input; and 4) collaboration and partnerships.

By opening up the process and inviting proposals from internal and external organizations – including LAUSD, charter operators, unions, teacher collaboratives, and other public, non-profit entities – we create the pressure to offer something better to parents and their children. We open up opportunities for partnerships and collaboration. And we invite innovation and creativity where students and teachers and learning are the center of gravity.

While I am a supporter of high-functioning charters, the resolution challenges LAUSD to replicate successful models that it currently offers to only some students. These include our magnets, the pilot schools, and our small schools. At the same time, it encourages a network of other partners to introduce and offer new ideas that respond to the learning needs of all children. And it establishes a process by which parents then have a voice (and a choice) in identifying what they want from their local neighborhood school.

Clearly this resolution ruffled the feathers of those that fear change or benefit from business as usual. But our children deserve that we stand up to those defenders of the status quo.

On this historic day, the Board of Education responded to the 911 emergency, took a stand, and made a commitment to focus on the needs of students and brings excellence to all of our schools. On August 25, 2009, we, acted as the school reform leaders that we were elected to be and genuinely put the interests of children first.

Public School Choice

Ten days ago, I introduced a resolution for the LAUSD School Board to consider. This resolution, called Public School Choice: A New Way for LAUSD is up for a vote on Tuesday July 14, 2009.

I introduced this resolution after two years of observing very little reform taking place. Despite my efforts and those of my colleagues on the Board and our Superintendent, Ray Cortines, too little progress has been made. The majority of our time has been spent on institutional problems, not problems related to the education of our students: the payroll fiasco, the Rooney case, and most recently, the budget. The distractions are real, but no excuse for not attending to our students.

Further, the reform-minded resolutions I have introduced (small schools, world languages, teacher quality) have paid little dividends to date. It became very clear that something different needed to be done to shake things up.

My Public School Choice resolution attempts to do that. I believe that choice is a strong lever for change. My proposal is that we develop a process that invites internal (LAUSD) and external (partnerships, charters) stakeholders to submit proposals to run our newly constructed schools that will open up, starting September 2010. In a period of four years, we will have over 50 schools.

The centerpiece of my resolution, however, is that parents and students will weigh in on the decision of which plan to approve. They will play an important role in determining WHO should run their neighborhood school and HOW.

This proposal is the perfect opportunity for LAUSD and UTLA (our teacher's union) to step up and deliver better schools for our kids. We have a handful of extremely effective models that we can replicate. And if we don't, then we should give others the opportunity to deliver a better educational model for our students. Anything less is immoral and unacceptable.

We must stop pretending that we own the educational choices for our kids. Especially when we haven't delivered a proper education to close to 50%. The truth is, we shouldn't own these choices, but we can make them available.

The true choice must be that of the parents and the students. Engaging them, providing choice, and putting kids first is the new name of the game.

Education Reform: The Great Debate

I have the privilege of serving on the board of the Council of Great City Schools (CGCS) representing the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Yesterday's executive committee meeting -- on which I also serve -- provoked a bit of a discussion on a topic I've been thinking about: who gets to define "education reform" and which definition is the right one.

At the center of the debate is whether frequently cited "reformers" -- Michelle Rhee (DC), Joel Klein (NYC), and Arne Duncan (formerly CEO of Chicago public schools and now U.S. Secretary of Education) -- are "the" reformers and everyone else that is doing great work in education (or at least think they are) is not.

Also at the center of the debate is the issue of charters. While most of my colleagues on the CGCS Board, including myself, say they embrace and support the idea of charters, there is great consternation that charters get all the attention despite the evidence that, overall, they do not do better than our traditional public schools. In fact, in many communities, the traditional public schools are out-performing charters.


As a school board member at the second largest school district in the nation, I can confidently say that everyone and no one has the answer to what our schools need to appropriately, adequately, and successfully give every child a good education. I think I know. And sometimes I don't. And that's because there's no magic bullet. There's no one definition of "reform" -- just a lot of people trying to get it right. We know one thing: education -- or the act of giving kids, ALL KIDS, a good education -- is complex. It's not just about one thing and it is certainly not about your reform vs. my reform. To be sure, the debate is needed. But polarizing ourselves is not.