Education News Round-Up: October 2011
LAUSD AND UTLA Gearing up to Establish a New Contract
The Los Angeles Unified School District and the United Teachers Los Angeles union will soon begin to work towards establishing a new contract. Superintendent John Deasy proposed a number of suggestions last July and these will be taken into account. "Mutual consent in hiring," "A robust and meaningful evaluation system," "A better process for granting tenure," "Compensation reform," and "No cap or limits on teacher-led reforms and innovations" are the key contract reform suggestions Deasy is promoting.
UTLA's primary goal in the negotiations is a re-instatement of 661 teacher and other aid positions that have been laid-off. The date of these negotiations is yet to be established. To read more about the upcoming contract negotiations, click here. Picture courtesy of LAWEEKLY.
John Deasy Doesn't Hesitate to Deal Harshly with Discrimination
After LAUSD substitute teacher Patricia McAllister made an anti-Semitic remark on air, she was promptly fired by LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy. During an interview with 200,287 online views, McAllister stated that she wanted Zionist Jews "to be run out of this country" due to involvement in federal banking. McAllister also repeated her sentiments on FOX11 news. After firing McAllister, Deasy released the following statement:
Her comments, made during non-work time at a recent protest rally, were her private opinions and were not made in the context of District services. At LAUSD, we recognize that the law is very protective of the freedom of speech rights of public employees when they are speaking as private citizens during non-working time.
I further emphasize to our students, who watch us and look to us for guidance, to be role models and to represent the ideals by which LAUSD lives, that we will never stand for behavior that is disrespectful, intolerant or discriminatory.
To read more about this story, please click here.
After Arming Students with Crunchy Carrots, LAUSD is awarded the Golden Carrot Award
As the rising rates of childhood obesity continue to worry parents and educators across the nation, many school districts are looking for ways to reverse this troubling trend by providing healthier school lunches. This month, the Los Angeles Unified School District was awarded the 2011 Golden Carrot Award grand prize, along with Greenville, S.C., and Denver, who were the two runners-up. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a non-profit organization founded in 1985, implemented the award in 2004.
The schools in these three cities developed innovative and healthy lunch menus that prominently feature a plethora of fruits and vegetables, as well as are low-fat and contain whole grains. Plant-based and vegetarian meals were also featured on these award-winning menus. Armed with nutritious meals, we wish LAUSD students all the best this year! To read more about the 2011 Golden Carrot Award winner and runners-up, please click here.
Steve Jobs' Impact on the World of Education
One of the most significant changes the education world has undergone in the last twenty years is the introduction of technology to the classroom. Today, many students can't imagine a time when every classroom did not have a computer. Steve Jobs is widely accepted as the creative genius that created many of the products that students often take for granted today. From svelte laptops to the new ipad 2 and iphone 4S, Jobs was the brains behind the many Apple products that have revolutionized the way the world stores, shares, and interacts with music, film, and the written word. Click here to read NPR's article about Steve Jobs' legacy and impact on the world of education.
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