COOPERATIVES: THIS is what I'm talking about! Teachers gain 22 campuses by SignyM

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COOPERATIVES: THIS is what I'm talking about! Teachers gain 22 campuses

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, February 25, 2010 16:48
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010 7:06 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

In an unlikely victory, groups of teachers, rather than outside operators, will run the vast majority of 30 campuses under a controversial school reform effort, the Los Angeles Board of Education decided Tuesday.

It was an ironic twist to a strategy that was designed to allow outsiders to manage new or troubled campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District. When the board approved the concept in August, it was a stunning acknowledgment that the nation's second-largest school system needed help to improve its schools.

But the result was far different. Acting mostly on recommendations from Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, the board agreed Tuesday to turn over 22 of the schools to teacher-led efforts. Board members also supported Cortines' proposal to have different groups share some campuses. Teachers, for example, were given a role at two other schools along with outside groups.

The teachers competed against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's nonprofit school organization and charter schools, independently run public campuses that are mostly nonunion.

In the end, charter schools were given the chance to run four schools and the mayor's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools was given three.

www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd24-2010feb24,0,5021988.story?tra
ck=rss

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010 7:24 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Now THAT's "education reform" we can believe in!

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010 7:41 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Well, it's an "education reform" that COULD work.

The fly in the ointment is that the teachers union could be too favorable to underperforming teachers. They MUST have the ability to fire and hire... especially FIRE... because there are, indeed, underperforming teachers in our classrooms. So they are going to have to take a very managerial stance towards their own union membership, and I suggest 360 degree performance evaluations as part of the plan.

But if the administrative units... whether they are teachers unions, local administrators, or privatized charter schools... are held accountable... feet to fire!... the motivational aspect will be in place.

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010 8:18 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

BTW- As this is a topic near and dear to my heart for several reasons, I'll be following this closely and reporting what I've learned.

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010 9:02 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Now all they need to do is incorporate themselves, and they can then spend as much on political campaigns as they want! :)

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 4:10 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

So will the teachers and administrators who run these schools quit working directly for the LAUSD and be a co-op with their own pay/benefits/retirement system paid for by lump-sum funds coming from LAUSD, or will they still be just LAUSD employees in a different workgroup? Obviously, they'll still be union members.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 6:17 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Well, it's an "education reform" that COULD work.

The fly in the ointment is that the teachers union could be too favorable to underperforming teachers. They MUST have the ability to fire and hire... especially FIRE... because there are, indeed, underperforming teachers in our classrooms. So they are going to have to take a very managerial stance towards their own union membership, and I suggest 360 degree performance evaluations as part of the plan.

But if the administrative units... whether they are teachers unions, local administrators, or privatized charter schools... are held accountable... feet to fire!... the motivational aspect will be in place.

And , here's some feet to the fire , from the other side of the country :

'...Under threat of losing their jobs if they didn’t go along with extra work for not a lot of extra pay, the Central Falls Teachers’ Union refused Friday morning to accept a reform plan for one of the worst-performing high schools in the state.

The superintendent didn’t blink either.

After learning of the union’s position, School Supt. Frances Gallo notified the state that she was switching to an alternative she was hoping to avoid: firing the entire staff at Central Falls High School. In total, about 100 teachers, administrators and assistants will lose their jobs.'

http://www.projo.com/education/content/central_falls_teachers.1_02-13-
10_A8HEI7Q_v61.3a65218.html

Technically , a teacher's union IS a 'co-op'.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:13 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Technically, a teacher's union NOT a co-op, since it doesn't have the authority or responsibility for how the entire campus functions.

A co-op is an organization in which the workers have the ability to set pay scales, write job descriptions, hire and fire, keep the books, purchase and sell assets etc. Currently, the relationship between teachers unions and administrators is an adversarial one.

So... ya gonna "school" me on something you apparently know little about?

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:31 AM

KWICKO

Quote:
TIMELINE Showdown over Central Falls HS

March 17, 2007: Frances A. Gallo, veteran educator and former deputy superintendent of Providence schools, is chosen as Central Falls school superintendent.

2008-2009: Test scores remain a problem at Central Falls High School as only 3 percent of 11th graders are proficient in math in 2008 and 7 percent in 2009.

November 2009: Gallo begins talks with teachers on her plans to reform the high school.

Jan. 11, 2010: State Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist names the high school as one of the state’s worst schools and in need of closure or complete overhaul. Gallo says she already has a plan ready to implement in the fall. The plan would include a longer school day, more training, more tutoring.

Feb. 1-5, 2010: Gallo and union leaders are unable to reach an agreement on pay issues for the extra work. She says the failure is forcing her to switch to a reform model that calls for firing all teachers at the high school.

Feb. 9, 2010: During a packed meeting, Gallo gives the teachers’ union more time to agree on her original plan.

Feb. 12, 2010 Talks fail; Gallo proceeds with across-the-board firing plan.

One thing that stands out in that timeline: the math proficiency more than doubled from 2008 to 2009. While it's only 7% now, it's a huge improvement from 3% before.

The other thing that indicates is that there's a systemic problem much further down the chain, at the middle school or primary school level. If these students aren't learning math proficiency by 11th grade, it's because they weren't taught HOW to learn much earlier, in 5th, 6th, or 7th grade.

That said, the idea that it's "lazy students" who are behind such a massive overall failure of that school is ludicrous. If the vast majority of students aren't learning, it's not the students that are the problem. There's problems with the teachers, with the parents, with not reaching the kids or not finding a way to challenge them, but it's NOT *all* going to be explained as just "lazy students".

Should the superintendent be able to fire the entire staff in the wake of such results and such epic failures? Sure. But don't be surprised if other teachers in the area go out on strike in support of them.

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:43 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Tenure. Along with everything else, or maybe MORE than anything else, I think tenure has to be dealt with and GOOD incentives need to be come up with. And more...much more. Like what this thread is about, and plese, DO keep us updated. It's close to my heart, too.

When I came back from Afghanistan, even in the early 60s, I discovered I was almost a grade ahead of the kids in California--yet I was almost two YEARS behind them in social development. What does that say about our school system then--and it's gone steadily downhill ever since (thank you, Govenator, for stealing money from the school system regularly!)

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:45 AM

STORYMARK

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:

The other thing that indicates is that there's a systemic problem much further down the chain, at the middle school or primary school level.

That's a big part of the problem - social promotion, generally at the middle school level. I don't know about Cali, but here, NO kid is EVER held back in middle school. So, they can literally learn nothing at all for three years, and still progress to the High School - where credits do count, and these kids are woefully unequipped to pass even the most rudimentary classes.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 9:23 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
A co-op is an organization in which the workers have the ability to set pay scales, write job descriptions, hire and fire, keep the books, purchase and sell assets etc.

SignyM.

I couldn't find anything in the LA Times article indicating that the 'groups of teachers' were actually independent co-ops as described above, as opposed to just being a re-organization of responsibility within the existing school system. Got any info one way or the other?

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 9:28 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So far, very little. If the teacher's union competed against private charter schools on a equal footing (and in essence won the bid) they would have to have the same scope of responsibility, otherwise the cost proposals can't really be compared.

So I'm looking for a detailed discussion of the teacher's union proposal.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 9:40 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

AND HERE IT IS. (Or at least a more detailed description).

Byline: NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN

Staff Writer

Los Angeles Unified's teachers union stepped into district-reform efforts this week, proposing a charter-like model that would give campuses greater control over budgets, hiring and curriculum.

If it gains support, the United Teachers Los Angeles model would become the only formally approved alternative to the increasingly popular charter-school movement, which has drawn interest from more than a dozen San Fernando Valley schools.

Under the union's proposal, schools would receive at least 95 percent of funding from the district but would also get full control over expenditures, hiring, curriculum, class schedules and professional development.

Unlike charter schools, however, teachers would be bound by the UTLA UTLA United Teachers of Los Angeles (California) contract, providing protections for teachers but also making it difficult to remove ineffective workers. {RUH ROH!}

"What we're trying to accomplish is to give schools the same kind of autonomies, or as close to those autonomies, that charter schools get," said UTLA President A.J. Duffy who's been pushing for the program for years.

"Potentially, what we've done was to combine ideas that we have with ideas we've seen developed at charter schools and give them to schools that have the capacity to do it."

The union submitted its plan to the district's innovation division Wednesday, calling for Woodland Hills Academy (formerly Parkman Middle School) to be the first to roll out the model.

The high-performing school, frustrated by a bureaucracy that hampered its finances and led to students defecting to nearby charter schools, filed to become a charter school in 2005.

Concerned that it could spark spark a wave of similar conversions, the district offered charter-like freedoms to keep the school in the system. But after a successful year, the school staff still decided to reapply to become a charter in order to have greater access to funds.

For Duffy, who's running for re-election in February, the key to winning broad support for reform is local control, and he said he is determined to make Woodland Hills Academy the pilot school for his school-based management plan.

"One of the things charters have shown us is that the bureaucracy is the greatest bulwark for the status quo and we have to break the status quo. The status quo doesn't work," he said.

"It's going to give more life to teaching as a profession and this model is one of the answers to create a quality education program for students."

Schwab said the school already has implemented many of the union's proposals.

"We believe it would bring in greater parent involvement and it gives a local school-based management council the ability to decide what would work for their school," Schwab said.

"We'd like the support of the district and we think it would be a good blueprint blueprint, white-on-blue photographic print, commonly of a working drawing used during building or manufacturing. The plan is first drawn to scale on a special paper or tracing cloth through which light can penetrate. that would be effective for schools not only throughout the Valley but throughout the district."

Young, head of the state's Charter Schools Association, said she strongly supports the district experimenting with new forms of decentralized authority. But Young cautioned that the concept must include accountability. Under state law, if a charter school performs in the bottom 30 percent of public schools, its charter will not be renewed in five years.

"They always talk about charter-like freedoms, but they don't talk about charter-like accountability," Young said. "For the first time in a long time, the district is actually being forced to compete in ways that are actually going to improve student achievement.

"Now, when they face a serious threat ... they're getting real about decentralization.

Karen Littman, director of the district's innovation division, said all of the proposals coming through her department are in progress.

"We've started the conversations, but we won't do any initiatives in the innovation division without accountability," she emphasized.

It is unclear whether the model would need approval by the district's board.

Young said she supports any exploration of decentralization and said that if teachers support it -- and have a sense they're actively engaged in decision-making decision-making,
{????} there rarely is a need to fire teachers.

Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools are publicly funded campuses that operate independently of the district and most state regulations, exercising full control over their resources and electing their own school boards to set policies and budgets.

But Young warned that when schools taste a little freedom, they often want more, and the next natural step after the UTLA model may be the charter movement.

"The biggest likelihood is that once the school-site leadership begins to understand what real freedom looks like, they're going to want real freedom, not fake freedom," Young said.

"And the district is going to have to be ready to provide that in exchange for high student achievement."

But Duffy said most teachers do not favor charters.

"Teachers turn to charters because they can't get the system to give them the freedoms they want. Once we start giving them the freedoms, then this is the kind of thing they want," Duffy said.

Young would not say which schools have contacted her to discuss becoming charters, but she said several in the Valley are feeling competitive pressures.

Taft High School Principal Sharon Thomas said her teachers have been weighing whether to become a charter because they're frustrated with dwindling funding.

More here

www.thefreelibrary.com/UNION'S+'BIG+IDEA'+FOR+LAUSD+PROPOSED+CHARTER-L
IKE+MODEL+WOULD+GIVE...-a0167845926

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:48 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
AND HERE IT IS.

Looking at this article and the UTLA site http://www.utla.net/scresources it appears to me that the teachers in these schools will stay employees of the school district, but will have a lot more local control of budget, curriculum, hiring, etc.

This may not be a bad thing if the local control gives the teachers and administrators a sense of ownership and pride in their schools' performance. However, the suspicious side of me wonders if it's not just the UTLA's way of keeping union members in jobs they'd otherwise lose to non-union charter school teachers. Some of your comments seem to hint that you have the same worry.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 2:55 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Geezer, I imagine a little bit of both. But the same could prolly be said for almost any cooperative: pride in product AND control over job security. And the best way to guarantee job security??? Better product at the same or lower price. So having a vested interest in the outcome is not necessarily bad.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 4:04 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

I think about where I work - the frustrating demands and limitations placed by management that hinder doing a better job - - - anyone who has worked anywhere after a while has come to think - I could run this place better !

Well, this would be a good step to finding out.

PS I had an epiphany a few months ago. It was like the Peter principle, but not exactly. What it was - anyone who was actually doing a job could be judged on the merits of their product. But management - doesn't have a product. They have politics. And the further up you go, the more it becomes a matter of how well you play the game of keeping your boss happy. And when you get to the highest levels no one knows anything about anything else.

And that's why large organizations which have so many layers are run so badly.

Viewed from that perspective, assuming of course people are smart enough to want to keep their ability to run themselves, something like this is bound to be better. (With a caveat - you have to have the structural orgnization and motivation in place already. Otherwise you have confusion and a lack of clear goals. But assuming that they were motivated and organized enough to put their 'bid' in place, it seems they could have a good shot.)

***************************************************************

Silence is consent.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010 4:48 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Well... yes and no.

It's all TOO true in the response of how many corporations are run, sure, and one of the reasons I walk some of the rounds myself, to directly contribute a share in the product - although admittedly it's more me dodging the paperwork, and allows me to needle the boys n girls since I am BETTER at this job than they are, and THAT is why I am in charge, ha!
(this inspires them to up their game, you see.)

On the other hand, look at the mess of our relief efforts in Haiti due to having all trigger pullers and few if any, quartermasters, something the lack of is now felt all too keenly by the same army that once sneered at them.

Past a certain point of scale, you NEED people with administrative skills - the main problem you speak of is when those skills are either unrelated to the job at hand, or those skills are ALL they have - I've seen fresh out of college folks with all the right paper turn profitable companies into total clusterfucks in under a year, believe it.

But yes, the more divorced from the product line people are, the less effective they seem to be, one reason I think a good partial solution is for those people to be *required* to spend one day a week actually doing (or learning, till they can) the work of production, both to firm up their connection with the guys on the line, and also so they have a clear understanding all of the issues involved.

There was a noble (historic, perhaps fictional) who used to dine once a week with a randomly selected family under his dominion much for the same reasons, and I thought it a grand idea - as well some naval traditions require presence at the captains table for dinner every so often also as an attempted mediation of this problem.

Me, I got it lucky - having designed all the paperwork so that a monkey with a pencil could probably do it (and likely more legibly!) and set things up so that the main difference between management and grunt is who happens to be sitting in the chair at the moment.

-F

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