Damien Newton

We Want To Hear Your Stories Of Teaching At Home During The Coronavirus Shutdown

The headline says it all. We’re looking for stories from parents, students and teachers about what they are doing to keep our kids on track during the Coronavirus shutdown.

I have two kids, ages 7 (1st grade) and 10 (4th grade). Even though they go to the same school, their teachers are employing different strategies to educate the kids. I’ll be writing about those experiences sometime next week.

If you’re interested in sharing your story, please drop a line to me (damien@la-edex.org) or Sara (sara@la-edex.org). If you’re interested in writing down your story, that would be great. If not, but you still have something to add that would benefit the community, we’ll figure out a way to get your story out there.

Thanks everyone, and stay safe.

Explaining Coronavirus to Kids

So you’re on day two (or more for the more cautious of us) of your efforts of being a homeschooler and the kids are asking one question that you’re having trouble answering:

Daddy (gender is male because it’s my kids asking me in this parable) what actually is the Coronavirus?

Like any “good parent in the 21st century” I knew exactly what to do. I spent a half hour on YouTube to find a video that works for my kids (ages 1st and 4th grade). Here it is:

Kids a little older, middle schoolers, might get more out of this video.

And for the scientists and high schoolers, this video gives a more adult breakdown.

Now That the Election Is Over, Here’s How EdEx Is Going to Move Forward

As Sara and I were working to create LAEdEx, we originally planned to launch after the March primary elections. Concerned that the website not be seen as just an election vehicle for progressive candidates, we were nevertheless compelled to report on the unfolding extreme efforts to influence, and stakes surrounding the four contested seats for the LAUSD Board of Education.

We decided to rush the rollout, without even a fully formed social media strategy and just a bare-bones design on our website. But our reporting on the enormous spending and onerous campaign literature was timely and presented in a way sufficiently different from mainstream media as to move understanding and coverage forward. While the media did a pretty good job covering who was spending money on what candidates, we are proud to have been a substantive part of that conversation.

Moving forward we’d love to have a fundraising strategy in place for the long-term that would allow us to pay for an editor or other written contributions. But for now, our plan remains simply to provide quality articles and opinion pieces to help inform and empower supporters of public education.

Headlines: Elections, Charter Co-Locations and Coronavirus

And just like that, the focus switches from School Board elections and Prop. 13 [2020] (RIP!), to the Coronavirus and the District’s response. The District has been emailing and calling LAUSD parents daily and posting even more regular updates on Twitter.

While LAUSD’s response has been proactive and competent, LAUSD admits that the potential pandemic is “uncharted territory” and has plans for a potential shutdown.

Also uncharted is Superintendent Beutner’s foray into videography which is a little unfortunate for the paucity of soap, important for hygiene in breaking down cell walls. Some parents have been contacting teachers to ask whether soap or other supplies would be welcome donations to their classroom.

And perhaps not everyone in LAUSD is handling the situation flawlessly. A Chinese-American student is accusing his North Hollywood School of discrimination and retaliation after he objected to being sent to the nurse’s office for coughing.

But just because we’re all talking Coronavirus, doesn’t mean there aren’t other things happening.

As I type this, a protest is going on at Trinity Avenue School where frustrated public school parents are speaking out against the co-location with Gabriella Charter School.

In national news, the DeVos family is still scary! Last week while Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was fielding criticism about her new education budget, we heard news that another of her family is planting paid spies in progressive groups. Creepy.

And if the news has just bummed you out too much. Here’s a video of Scott Schmerelson reading Little Red Riding Hood to some students in PALS.

Election Analysis: Mixed Results and There’s a Lot of Work Ahead

As the election results rolled in last night, much of the media focused on the drama in the Democratic Presidential Primary. But a lot happened in local races as well. The battle over whether or not the Los Angeles Unified School Board is controlled by supporters of public education and the UTLA or “school choice” and unfettered charter school expansion remains up in the air.

But first, let’s discuss Proposition 13 and what its failure means for the Schools and Communities First Ballot Initiative this fall. While the two ballot initiatives are very different, the failure of Proposition 13 doesn’t bode well for supporters of robust funding for public education.

Prop 13 (2020) was a bond measure that wouldn’t actually raise taxes, but was still opposed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Association. We understand the Prop. 13 was complicated and that plenty of people reading this likely voted against it. But some of the opposition was based around mis-information that Prop 13 (the 1978 ballot measure that capped property taxes) was under attack.

Headlines: Prop 13 Gets Complicated, Out-of-Control Spending in LAUSD Races Makes National News, UTLA Picks a New President…

The big news continues to be the record breaking spending going on in this year’s school district races. Everyone from the local press, to the national press, to the education-focused press, to UTLA to Bernie Sanders was talking about the amount of money being spent by pro-charter school candidates to upend the current pro-public school majority on the LAUSD School Board. In just the past weeks (and echoing abominable messaging of previous campaigns), the attack mailers against candidates Jackie Goldberg and Scott Schmerelson have been called anti-semitic, untrue and Trump-Like.

Gavin Newson (center left) poses with Jackie Goldberg, Scott Schmerelson and Patricia Castellanos, three of the four UTLA endorsed candidates for LAUSD School Board. The missing fourth is George McKenna from Board District 1.

At least one ad has been disavowed by its creators, the California Charter School Alliance, targeting Scott Schmerelson.

Sara Roos wrote more on spending over the weekend here at EdEx if you missed it. And hey! The article got a shout-out from UTLA.

Editorial : Yes on Prop. 13

Last week, we wrote about some confusion about what is, and isn’t, on the ballot in the ongoing spring primary ballot that closes next Tuesday.*** But let’s be clear: if you care about public education, you should vote yes on State Measure 13 or Prop 13.

As we noted last week, Prop 13 is a statewide bond measure that will raise $15 bllion to use for immediate costs, to fix crumbling schools, upgrade emergency response equipment and basically make the structures our students learn in more modern and safe.

Top News: Charter Relocations, More on the Big Money in LAUSD Races, Schools and Communities First

Kyle Stokes at KPCC/LAist has been keeping a close eye on the school board race. Breaking down who is spending and when they are spending, he shows us that the outside money has been flowing towards a slate of candidates that oppose the pro-public schools majority on the Council.

The Los Angeles Times’ Steve Lopez looks at the mailings against Scott Schmerelson and urges readers to take a shower to clean off the slime after reading about it.

More on spending later today, including nearly $1 million dropped on one-day last week. (Update: here it is.)

Rounding Up the Top News

Every week we’ll be rounding up the top education news. Here’s the top news from the last eight days.

Who is funding the LAUSD elections?

LAUSD Board elections are becoming more and more expensive. We’ve already discussed how much of that money is from dark money PAC’s, but over the last week larger, legacy media have taken a look at the mega-bucks that are taking over the LAUSD Board elections.

LAist notes that the record for spending in an LAUSD primary election is at least $5.7 million. That record is being challenged with a couple of weeks left, and the figure of over $4 million spent so far is rising rapidly.

Rounding Up the Top News

Every week we’ll be rounding up the top education news both locally and nationwide.

A pro-charter school group filed a complaint against LAUSD Board Member Scott Schmerelson claiming conflict of interest. Despite scary headlines on their website, and a story that echoed their complaints in the Daily News, the Fair Political Practices Commission dismissed the charges and issued a warning in less than three weeks. On Twitter, KPCC reporter Kyle Stokes notes that this hasn’t stopped charter advocates from sending expensive mailers smearing him for putting “his own profit over the safety of LA kids.