The black preacher at Morning Star Baptist Missionary Church believes LAUSD systematically dumbs down curriculum in Watts because it's easier on teachers than pushing age-appropriate lessons. The grade-schoolers are bright and speak English but, like many inner-city kids, they suffer from thin vocabularies compared with suburban kids. The unhappy result, she says, is that the advanced children languish and those who need extra help get left far behind.
Pastor Clark, like her weathered adobe house, is gnarled and bent and welcoming. Her half-cemented front yard in Watts is a gathering center, strewn with a sofa or two and a huge, Southern-style barbecue. Her eyes are young, glinting with interest.
A teacher's assistant at LAUSD for 26 years, she says, "I know how the school district works, and I don't mind telling them. I know what is. A lot of parents at Weigand and here in Watts probably don't understand — yet. But once you understand it, you know when something's moving — and when it's not."
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Monica Ratliff: The Woman Who May Change L.A.Cobian's arrival set off a stream of teacher departures and increasingly ugly disputes. One was with Jessica Medina, a young mother with the name Adamaris tattooed in feminine script across her chest. Medina lives with two young nephews and two children of her own in a colorful, fern-planted, Watts bungalow that can't be more than 16 feet wide.
Medina's third-grade son can't speak very well, so she approached Cobian for help applying for special education. After frustrating talks with the reluctant Cobian, Medina turned to a social worker to act as go-between. Eventually, Medina says, "I found a program at Kaiser Permanente because LAUSD would not teach my son. The principal said he didn't need [special ed] and could learn on a computer! So now he goes to an off-school nonprofit that teaches him math. I'm grateful. But math from Kaiser Permanente!"
Several mothers who sought special ed help were similarly angry, even as other controversies were coming to a boil: Cobian was fighting with a preschool teacher over petty rules regarding Halloween and other celebrations. Preschool parents had planned to buy tiny "culmination" caps and gowns for a winter 2011 ceremony, and were furious when Cobian invoked an LAUSD rule that bars these outfits except in high school. That didn't go over big in Watts. Meanwhile, some well-liked teachers were beginning to bail out.
Pro- and anti-Cobian camps formed, and in June 2011, about 70 parents and teachers turned in a scraggly petition demanding that LAUSD remove her. District officials interceded, and an uneasy peace settled in. Several parents transferred their children away — and more teachers left.
At first, Llury Garcia didn't understand what the hubbub was all about. The pretty 30-year-old has her own problems: She suffers from lupus and congestive heart failure and has had two strokes. She's sharp and well-spoken, but her own schooling was a travelogue of LAUSD disasters: Miramonte, Ascot Avenue and Parmalee Avenue elementary schools; Thomas Edison Middle School; Fremont High School.
"I started going gang in school," Garcia says, "because I thought I'd get more support from my friends than from the grown-ups." Her eyes fill with tears, and she shakes them off. "I know what it's like when the teacher asks you to read something and you cannot do it. I went to the L.A. Job Corps Center and couldn't qualify for my GED. I couldn't learn. I just gave up."
But when Parent Revolution arrived in Watts in 2012, Flores saw in Garcia a good brain dying to learn, like a lot of kids he knew in LAUSD and in the Army. She was already on a Weigand committee, trying to help at the school. When Garcia volunteered to contact parents about Parent Trigger, Flores warned her, "'You need to understand, the other side will attack you personally.' " Still, Garcia told Flores and Alvarado: "I'd like to be the parent representative here."
"Before, I wouldn't step up as a mom," Garcia says. "I was so shy." She adds, "I have changed so much. Now I believe I can do anything. ... This is the best thing I have ever done in my life. Now I'm not quiet. Now I talk, talk, talk. "
The law requires that 50 percent of parents sign a petition in order to take action. The parents opted for the most modest reform. They could have chosen to fire everyone, as occurred at 24th Street Elementary School this year, or they could have awarded Weigand to a charter operator or other group with a good plan for turning Weigand around. Instead, they simply asked LAUSD to fire the principal.
On April 2, the parents turned in enough signatures to LAUSD to do just that.
Irma Cobian had been a successful lawyer but walked away more than 20 years ago to be an educator. She's plainspoken, with a wide, friendly face that's easy to like. Near the end of the school year, weeks after the Weigand parents turned in signatures to have her removed, she robustly strides around the campus in flip-flops and a dark blue polo shirt with "Weigand" embroidered across it, still talking about her ideas on how to improve education.
Green Beret? Doubt it.
Lost a kidney in Somalia? Yeah, right. Check out his LinkedIn profile - I never heard of Purple "Stars". Flores - I think you meant Purple Heart.
Did this reporter even ask for proof he was Special Forces?
It's a sad day when even mentors can't tell the truth.
Let's deal with real legal facts. The California "Parent Empowerment", Trigger, law, rules and regulations state that signatures cannot be obtained with intimidation, promises of any kind or any other kind of persuasion of that nature. I like the Parent Empowerment Law for use against terrible districts like LAUSD who do not listen to parents and students as least under the last boards of education. I do not like the illegal way in which Parent Revolution has used it in California and everywhere else in the U.S. they have been. First ask the question of why is it that on their front page they have the button Parent Trigger Laws. Hit the button and go to the bottom of the page and hit the button law and regulations and gee it is empty; Try to find any information on their website of their involvement in Florida or anywhere else. Nothing. In Florida they had a 15 page law and a misleading video up all produced by Ben Austin here in L.A. Ben Austin is a political professional. He knows what he is doing.
Mrs. Stewart, are you really so bad as a reporter that you did not check the California law, rules and regulations and how those signatures were obtained all of which is in the public sector before you wrote this false story of what happened and with no mention of the illegal methodology which they used in obtaining those signatures? If so, you should not be a reporter. A reporter is not supposed to be a "True Believer" who does not double check. The simplest of checks would have found out this information. Parents, teachers and community testified at the LAUSD Board at the 24th Street and other time and in the San Bernadino Papers on this I found the stories and you cannot with Lexus Nexis? This is not believable or credible. Green Beret's are highly trained in intimidation and psychological warfare and every sign of that is here. Why do you think our military is so hated around the world? It is because of these arrogant illegal acts by Green Beret's and others like that on them. It is not OK there and it is not here. You should not praise these kind of acts. The district is dirtier than you think or have the capacity to know. I can give you $20 billion in documented theft, 117,000 student not coming to school every year cost them only $1.35 billion last year alone, I know their budgets and how they lie to state agencies about their numbers and facts. I have them documented and with the state of California and with Torlakson with this information way over your head as you simply do not want to know and have been told not to know or print or it is your job as so clearly shown with this article. I have the proof of this do you?
I work at a charter as a part-time instructor for less that $20/hr. This is not gainful employment and I am constantly in debt from student loans for attending public universities that are in the process of being privatized. The "charterization" (yes, that's a term) of our public schools means profit for shareholders and managers alongside the cheapening of each educators' life. I would happily work full-time as a salaried employee for $45k/year, which is still not enough to buy a home in L.A. But, instead, I am always seeking more work so that I can survive. Make no mistake about it: the privatization (i.e. charterization) of our K-12 educational system is a sham. Teaching must be recognized as a career and not an act of charity or semi-volunteerism.
Alfonso was peeling potatoes in Somalia. He quit as a teacher. Now he plays judge and jury sentencing educators to termination. That's no way to achieve reform. Support building on the talents of educators, track successes, and bring together stakeholders. Celebrate our educators who are brave enough to show up everyday in Watts to lead and teach without sensationalizing it. Celebrate our educators who do not seek fame and make themselves out to be heroes because they know and help improve the lives gang members' children. Our educators have always been the true heroes; they don't need a rag-mag to declare it. They do the job daily, selflessly--what would our city look like without them? Alfonso is looking for credit because he deserves none. Read about Parent Revolution in Time Magazine--they call it toxic. This LA Weekly story is a desperate attempt to repair their soiled image--they don't care who they harm. Sad.
So, despite all the studies showing that Charters are less effective than public schools, the LA Weekly continues to run one sided pro-charter articles. I guess the corporation that runs the Weekly must have big money invested in a charter corporation.
@JoeyJoeJoeJr Yes, teaching at a school raped by Parent Revolution (chartered or not) turns teachers into those who work on an ad-hoc basis, never knowing if some unhappy parent or stakeholder has an axe to grind, and instead of looking towards their own generational failures, takes it out on teachers. The future of education especially in LA Unified is bleak at best. Even schools experiencing an increase in API scores still graduate functional illiterates. Very troubling.
@rbettleman Let's see them roll up their sleeves and help on campus prepare new principals and support teachers. It's one thing to oust a principal, but what about true help. Or are they just planning on destroying until no one will risk working in our schools? By the way, the people who "look out for the kids" are at schools right now all over the city today providing them with care; they are principals and teachers. Parent Revolution does not interact with children--they have no idea what it takes.
@rbettleman Don't believe it. Parents Revolution is for profit (for the profit of its employees). They empower ineffective parents and get them to project their failures onto the teachers and staff of inner city schools. You can change the staff of a school, but the pervading culture remains. Do some research into the organization and its staff.
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