The school is buzzing with projects. In one room, she points to some girls working on paper crowns for teachers, and chuckles about who's going to clean up the mess.
There's a consensus, internally, within LAUSD, that Cobian was a "best-friend" principal who let her No. 1 responsibility to the children in Watts — instruction — founder for her first two years.
The school had potential: Deasy says he saw "some excellent teaching" during the chances he had to visit. And Cobian clearly supported the kids personally and from her heart. On this particular day on campus, a small boy named Damien scrambles past Cobian — who stops him to make him tie his shoe. Cobian tells him she knew he'd been teased over his first name.
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Monica Ratliff: The Woman Who May Change L.A."They say it's the devil," the boy explains, peering up at her questioningly.
"Now that's not true!" Cobian warmly exclaims. "They're talking about a stupid movie some guys made in Hollywood, and your name does not mean the devil! It's nowhere in the Bible! Did you know that Damien is the name of a beloved priest who helped sick people, Father Damien? So you can be proud of your name. OK?"
The boy nods happily and vanishes to the playground.
Small girls run up to Cobian as she takes final photos for a teacher-appreciation project, her camera around her neck. "Culmination was so fun!" cries one fifth grader.
"So fun!" cries her friend.
"No, no, it was not!" Cobian calls to them. "Remember, it was sad! You are sad because I have to go away! Remember! They are making me go away."
Both girls pull long faces. The entire campus has been trained to mourn her departure.
Cobian blames a number of factors for the plummeting test scores on her watch. She blames LAUSD for failing to provide her a "written plan," saying, "There was a math coach who targeted the students [having trouble] in 4th- and 5th-grade math, I believe. ... But it wasn't written down. So I didn't know how it was achieved. ... Then second grade fell in Language Arts, because we had one teacher out for 90 days. ... And they took funding away for special reading and reading coaches ... And I don't think my teachers understood the training they got for teaching the math books ..."
These were telling admissions. All schools were hit with the budget cuts, yet LAUSD enjoyed rising academic achievements anyway. Cobian failed to immediately determine what the last principal had done, letting two years slide by. She didn't learn which grade levels faced problems before, and had no grip on her teachers' grasp of the math textbook.
Last August, just as Parent Revolution arrived in Watts, LAUSD placed Weigand in the Public School Choice program, an experimental system in which teachers, administrators and parents attempt to collaborate on a plan that will drag a school out of its rut. Cobian wrote the plan, which by all accounts is well-reasoned.
It will never be known if Cobian had the chops to implement the Public School Choice plan she wrote. Katie McGrath, LAUSD's instructional director for the Watts area and Cobian's boss, tells L.A. Weekly, "It's really unfortunate that we are losing her before she had her chance."
But Cobian saw little urgency in turning Weigand around. She tells the Weekly that "all education research shows it takes five years" to boost student achievement, including "two to three years" just to "build a philosophy with your staff."
Inner-city children haven't got five years. By that time, they're at Markham Middle School, rated a 2 on the statewide Similar Schools Ranking. At Markham, learning is often a matter of luck.
Superintendent Deasy squirms when told of Cobian's claims that it takes five years to train teachers to do their jobs in the inner city. "Really!" he erupts. "The woman who turned around Huntington Park High School was at ground zero — and that school had the highest gains in the district!"
Another example: the three-year academic 180 at once-horrific Garfield High School, driven by principal Jose Huerta and his teachers.
But paranoia gripped Cobian and the teaching staff she brought in. After Parent Revolution arrived, Pastor Clark, who has long been active in civil rights and was chairwoman of the Watts Neighborhood Council, arranged a community meeting at her church to discuss improving Weigand, inviting every employee of the school. Not a single teacher showed up, she says.
Staying officially one step removed from the finger pointing, Cobian refused to comment on key mothers who led the Parent Trigger campaign. Instead, she advises the Weekly to speak to her part-time parent aide and volunteer, Laura Gonzalez, saying, "There is one person who cannot stand me, and Llury Garcia is the spokesperson for her, and this is the one who wanted me fired. Parent Revolution is fired by the same fire that drove that first petition. It'll allll come out."
As for Gonzalez, she scoffs at Llury Garcia's transformation to parent advocate, saying, "I can't understand what got into her. All of a sudden I see her out there banging on doors, like, like, like a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses!" She then blames much of the parent revolt on the former preschool teacher who was involved in the kerfuffle over caps and gowns for preschoolers.
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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