LA Unified Needs More Than a Garden Hose to Put Out This Fire

Measure E didn’t pass last week. Yet, there wasn’t much fuss made about its defeat. No big public outcry (Scott Folsom called it a half hearted attempt at a half measure in his weekly online newsletter, 4LAKids). No big important interviews. Very little publicity. In fact, it’s been pretty quiet. Those who have followed the hype and propaganda are asking, “Why so quiet?”

It’s quiet, because those of us who have been fighting the good fight (for or against) have run out of steam. We’re depressed. Of the 300,000 or so who actually voted on it, not much has been said publicly about the outcome. I personally did not vote for Measure E. Not because I’m anti-arts education, anti-public education, anti-school libraries, anti-low class sizes, anti-teacher, anti-kid, anti-taxes, or cheap. I voted “no” because I do not trust LAUSD. It’s that simple. They promised way too much with Measure E. That alone should have made voters suspicious.

The well meaning arts education community took it on as the one thing that would save the arts in schools. TV ads were run, claiming Measure E would save the poor little children in LAUSD. Celebrity public school dad Brian Austin Green sent out emails to everybody who had signed Wonderland’s petition, asking them all to vote for it. Schools sent fliers home in backpacks promoting it, as well as recorded telephone messages, encouraging parents to support it. Such campaigns definitely got people out to vote in favor of Measure E, but it didn’t persuade those of us who have heard it all before, and it certainly didn’t sit well with people who are tired of being taxed in general.

According to the latest data from the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder County Clerk, 20% of the 1.9 million registered voters voted on Measure E. It didn’t get the 2/3 needed to pass. Who voted? People who care about public education, supporters of arts education and libraries, teachers, friends of teachers, responsible voters who always participate in the democratic process (even if they aren’t passionate about everything on the ballot), and anti-tax citizens.

I could relate to the many Naïve Hopefuls who took to the streets with their puny little demonstrations (I drove my kids up to the state capitol two years in a row to demonstrate on the capitol steps with the Burning Moms, as well as protested with the same group outside of the Governor’s Conference for Women, asking Maria Shriver to put public education on the day’s agenda instead of cooking and beauty tips, and I supported the Lemonade Initiative a year ago). I felt for my friends in the arts education community who sent out e-mails and posted positive messages on Facebook. I was that idealistic once. And if I was a parent in any other school district, I might still be that idealistic. But I know too much now. No amount of PR and hopeful rhetoric could sway those of us who have been jaded by the system to buy what LAUSD was selling. We didn’t believe them. Not when so much money goes towards feeding the beast before feeding the children.

When I was a new parent ten years ago, I voted out of pure emotion and ideology. I voted for every bond measure or proposition that would benefit public school children. I was too naïve and idealistic to know that everything didn’t always have immediate or real impact on children. Fast forward ten years and take a look at the faces of my many friends, colleagues and relatives after I outed myself as being against Measure E a few days before the election. My arts education friends were shocked. My teacher friends felt betrayed. But my fellow active LAUSD parent friends…………..they were right there with me. They’ve been burned. They’re burned out. And now we’re watching LAUSD burn down.

I’ve done my part in trying to make things right for kids who attend public schools in my community. I’ve stepped up and served as PTA president at my daughter’s school when I didn’t want to, and didn’t have the time, but someone had to do it, so I stepped up. I’m doing my best to keep the arts education nonprofit that I started ten years ago going during this recession. I show up for meetings, conferences and rallies. I send letters to newspapers. I blog. I even researched running for school board. But I decided against it when I realized that nothing was ever going to change, because LAUSD is too big. I will continue to advocate for the many kids in my community whose parents are politically powerless and poor, even if I end up pulling my own daughter out of public school. That’s sad.

I’m sad. I’m tired. And I’m very concerned about the innocent victims who have no other choice other than attending their neighborhood schools. And more than that, I’m sickened to know that so many over paid adults benefit from LAUSD being so dysfunctional. They want things to stay just the way they are.

The embers that has been smoldering in LAUSD has been glowing for decades. But now the hot embers have been fanned into a full-on blaze. It will take more than a garden hose such as Measure E to put out this fire. It’s time to start pulling kids out of the burning buildings.

I'm Not Voting for It

E-mails are circulating, talking about it. Smiling little faces are asking for it on TV. Facebook is covered with posts asking people to support it (most come from members of the arts ed community, many of whom do not have children in the school system). A rally is planned for Saturday to get publicity for it. What is it? Measure E - a $100 parcel tax that should fill in $92 million of the $640 million deficit for LAUSD next year. The big promise? 1,200 jobs will be saved, school libraries will stay open, class sizes won’t increase and the arts will live on!

Do I believe it? Not for a minute.

When I started a nonprofit over 10 years ago, I hired a consultant to work with me on how to understand and navigate the school system. One of the best pieces of advice that I received from the first consultation was that whatever I did, I needed to follow through with my promises, because teachers and schools will have a hard time believing me, since they are so accustomed to LAUSD making and breaking promises to them over and over again. They had grown to expect it.

And now, ten years later, I can attest to that myself. Every time the district makes a promise, or comes out with a new, great plan, we just shake our heads. We’ll believe it when we see it. Well meaning district reps ask, “Where is the support?” They don’t get that the support they seek (usually around election time) doesn’t come, for one simple reason: they haven’t proven themselves to be worthy of our trust.

The school district is too big. I don’t think it will ever be able to right itself because too many (highly paid) adults benefit from the system being so dysfunctional. The district’s primary purpose is to manage liability – not to educate children like their mission statement says. We all know it and that’s why we get so irate whenever the district holds our children up and proclaims how much they care. Just like a dysfunctional family, kids are neglected or ignored until the adults in charge need something from them. This is one of those times. The truth is, our kids are just dollars and data to LAUSD and the lawmakers in Sacramento. Nobody really seems to care.

I’d rather donate $100 to my kid’s school for the next four years where I trust that every penny of it will go to good use. So I’m not voting for it. I’m not voting for it because I do not trust LAUSD.

Back to the Status Quo

It's been two and half months since the scary incident at my daughter's school when a maniac parent (in a hurry) drove up onto the curb and nearly missed hitting my daughter as she was walking into the back gate of her school in the morning. After witnessing such horror, I jumped into fast action and got a lot done insofar as taking on the dangerous and careless parents at our school. I arranged for an officer from the LAPD to come out to our next PTA meeting to talk about drop off and pick up hazards, as well as invited representatives from our city council's office and neighborhood council. I sent out a memo to all of our parents, letting them know about the close call my daughter had, and invited everyone to attend the next PTA meeting so they could learn about what they could do to help keep the daily threats under control (this memo was also a call out to the problem parents to let them know that the rest of us weren't going to be intimidated or buillied by them anymore - not that any of them would actually read the memo or show up at the PTA meeting, or any PTA meeting for that matter, because problem parents don't tend to read any news from the school or show up for parent meetings.) The LAPD was out every other day, making surprise visits and writing tickets left and right. A box was placed on the front counter of our main office so people could anonymously report repeat offenders so we could turn them in to the LAPD. Parents were informed about the LAUSD police and how they could report offenders online. It was GREAT! I was the the most loved and hated mom at the school. I went door to door, in the neighborhood, to invite our neighbors (who are also negatively impacted by the daily carelessness and rudeness of our parents) to our next PTA meeting. I blogged about it. I wrote an Op-Ed to the LA Times (not the first time, so I wasn't surprised when they didn't publish it because they don't tend to publish stuff that demeans parents in any way. It's not PC). Emails were getting passed around to other PTA presidents throughout our PTA district. People were writing me and calling me, telling me horror stories about the many close calls that they have had at their schools. They were holding me up as the great truth teller of the Public School Parents. I was a Valley folk hero! The word was out!

And then the day came: the PTA meeting. The LAPD. Representatives from city and neighborhood councils. Neighbors. Our principal. And who else? The same, small group of parents who show up for everything at our school. The loyal, hard working, selfless, quiet advocates for our neighborhood school. Where was everybody else? Where they always are: not there.

So it's back to the Status Quo. The same old, same old. The same parents picking up the slack. The same issues. The same day, day after day. And the problem parents? Nothing has changed there, either. It's just as dangerous in the mornings and afternoons as it was before. The cops are gone, so it's back to rushing, shoving, speeding, yelling, honking, double parking and dangerous U turns. Another unintended consequence of a free society: we're all free to be careless, selfish jerks.

From Green to Burnt Umber

My son was born in 1994. That was one of the happiest days of my life, but it was also a worrisome day for me, because that meant I had only five years to figure out where to send him to kindergarten. From everything negative that I had heard about LAUSD, I was sure that my son would be permanently harmed or disabled if we actually sent him to a public school in Los Angeles. The message I got from the media and my new mom friends was, "Good mothers do not send their children to LAUSD". So, like so many other moms in Los Angeles, I went temporarily insane as I frantically searched for the perfect school for my perfect child. The idea of moving outside of the district or sending him to private school was shot down immediately because we couldn't afford it. I consulted with my saavy new mom friends who had kids older than my son, to seek their sage advice about what to do. They all knew how to navigate the public school system. What I learned from them made me even more neurotic and fearful than I was before. I learned about the many different options inside the LAUSD, all ways of getting out of sending my kid to the neighborhood school: magnets, charters, open enrollment, lying about where we lived, homeschooling, and then revisiting relocating or finding a way to pay for private school. I was a wreck. There was a public school at the end of the block......but we couldn't dare send him there......not after all I had heard........not if I wanted to be a good mom........

When my son was four, I decided to go spy on that neighborhood school during their Open House night. I'd get to the bottom of the media reports and mommy talk. I was surprised by what I found. I didn't find any zombies, illiterate kids, or teachers speaking every language but English. I actually discovered pleasant classrooms, happy kids, delightful, competent teachers, and the old community feeling of "school". I went home that night and suggested to my husband that we actually try out that neighborhood school for kindergarten. "How bad could it really be? If it turns out that the school really is bad for him, then, well, we could pull him out!" Ha! A novel idea (my husband was relieved to learn that I had finally spun out of my self imposed insanity, had come to my senses, and was ready to accept what was being offered at the end of the block).

Enrolling my son in our neighborhood public school turned out to be a good thing for him, for many different reasons. Sure, there were times when I got really frustrated with some of the bumps along the road, but I always tried to stay focused on the Big Picture, and stay committed on being part of the solution, and not the problem. So things always seemed to work out. Enrolling him in a public school initiated me into the clan of public school parents. I did everything I could to support his school, educating myself on how the public school system worked and how I could best serve the school with my own talents, skills and experience. I joined the PTA, I volunteered to teach art in his classroom, I served on the school site council, I attended LAUSD sponsored meetings for parents, and I started a nonprofit to support arts education in public schools of my community.

As an artist with a cartooning background, I was conditioned to pay close attention to what was not being directly said to an audience, but to look for the real story on the faces of the secondary characters or people behind the scenes. So when I would attend general meetings for parents, I would really listen to what the frustrated parents with high school students had to say during public comment. Because, it seemed to me, they were the ones who knew the most. They had no agenda other than what was best for kids, and not just their own kids, but all kids. Any parent who gives that much, for that long, is doing it for the greater good. Their frustrations, while I didn't understand most of them because I was a new, green parent, made an impression on me. Their disgust and impatience with the district officials did give me cause for legitimate concern. I trusted them over the district officials, because they weren't selling anything. They weren't trying to convince us of their latest, newest Big Idea. They were just sharing their real experience - all of which was accumulated over a long period of time, on a volunteer basis. None of these parents were getting paid outrageous salaries by the LAUSD to come out and talk.........

I remember one meeting in particular regarding breaking the district up into mini districts. When one mom of a high school student asked why they should believe that this would make any difference, based upon the many failed attempts to improve the system before, the new "mini superintendent" responded with, "We can only hope........" I thought to myself, "What kind of answer is that? We can only hope? That is not an answer". I looked around the room and saw numerous frustrated faces, some of whom were down right mad. I didn't understand much of what was said during public comment at that meeting ten years ago, but I could understand that these active, "old timer" parents, were really, really upset. They had had it.

I've been thinking about those parents in that one "mini-district" meeting a lot lately. Now that my son is of high school age (and we did end up pulling him out of the system when he was supposed to go to middle school, because the system had failed him by then), and I have given ten years of my life to the advancement and support of public schools in my community, I share their disgust and fury. I too, am frustrated and disgusted. I'm tired. I'm disenchanted. I've run out of steam. I'm all used up. I'm an old timer now.

I feel like I've come full circle, and I'm teetering on the edge of public school parent insanity again. But this time it's not because of all I've heard on the street or in the media. It's from my own experience. Like those old timers I encountered when I was a kindergarten parent, my frustration is showing on my face. I too, am speaking out, based on my ten years of serving in the trenches as an active public school parent in LAUSD. Now, with the budget cuts (increased class size, lack of supplies, the elimination of many programs, the district's desperate attempts to keep kids from leaving so they don't lose more money, the unions digging in their heels on behalf of their own members, the lack of morale in all schools from the administration to the kids, the simmering resentment and blame towards scapegoat minority groups such as immigrants, the economically disadvantaged, and the disabled), I am concerned for my seven year old daughter. Should we keep her in the neighborhood public school? Is she safe? Will she get the quality of education she deserves and needs? Will she want to go to school anymore? Should we move? Should we send her to a private school? Should we send her to charter? How about a magnet? Can she get in?

Here I go again...........but I'm not green this time. I'm burnt umber.

Another Elephant Enters the Room: Lousy Parents

My daughter almost got hit by a car on her way to school today. Right in front of me. This mom, like so many other parents in a hurry every morning, made a three point turn in the middle of the street and then drove up on to the curb, AS MY KID WAS WALKING BY. I totally lost it. I went off on this mom, in front of a lot of other parents and kids. I was so furious that I drove straight to the police station.

Every day, I am upset by the many close calls that I see going on in front of the school. But I try to keep my cool because I'm the PTA President and I don't want to make a scene in front of the kids (plus, you never know if one of these wacko parents might be violent, so it's best to keep your cool). So, as PTA President, I've looked for ways to "empower" and "educate" parents (as if they were children) on how to be a "safe driver" when taking their kids to school. Because that is the politically correct thing to do. Well, enough already! I've had it with being politically correct.

I have had it. I've had it with selfish, careless, lazy, and dangerous parents. I'm sick of keeping my mouth shut and I'm sick of politely ignoring the other elephant in the room of public education. Lousy parents!!!! Lousy parents are a big part of what's wrong in public education today. But nobody dares talk too much about that. We look the other way or make excuses for them because it's not p.c. to call a lousy parent a lousy parent. So here goes. Time to call a spade a spade. Or a lousy parent a lousy parent.

You know you are a lousy parent if:

You let other people raise your kids (contrary to quiet popular belief, being an immigrant or poor doesn't automatically make you an inferior parent - being too self involved does).

You don't help your kid do his homework or show up at parent teacher conferences.

You are in the principal's office all the time, blaming the school for everything under the sun, but you never show up to any PTA meetings, family nights, or other school activities. You just complain. And your kid is out of control.

You don't know who your kid's friends are and you don't care.

You don't know your own child's strengths and weaknesses, so you're not available to help him develop or correct them.

You don't teach your child basic social skills so they can get along with others in a classroom setting (and then later in the bigger world) - you leave that for the school to do.

You blame everybody but yourself for your own faults and failures.

You spend money on things that result in denying your family food, shelter and clothing.

And finally, and most important of all, if you endanger the lives of innocent kids walking to school in the mornings by double parking, driving too fast, sailing through stop signs, making U-turns in the middle of the street, or dropping your kids off on the wrong side of the street and then pushing them into oncoming traffic. You are more than a lousy parent, you a threat to society.

To all of the parents who step up and fill in for the lousy parents at every school, going above and beyond by caring for neglected kids who are innocent victims of lousy parenting (that goes for private schools, too - lousy parents can be found everywhere, but private schools have a way of getting rid of them because they're bound by contract law and not constitutional law, public schools are stuck with them!)........thank you. You are exceptional parents and we all benefit from your thoughtfulness and generosity.

And to anybody who wants to defend lousy parents by offering up excuses for their neglectful behavior: DON'T. I'm in no mood. My kid was almost hit by one today.

Added to the Endangered Species List: Young Bright Minds of Los Angeles

So now that we're looking to lose more support for arts education (the LAUSD may be cutting its elementary school art teachers by 50% next year and the other half by 2011, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs has been put on the chopping block, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission is making it a condition that arts ed providers get a match from their school districts, and people aren't making tax deductible donations to local arts ed organizations), we all face the very real threat of losing the brightest minds of this generation because we're opting to neglect them by denying them a well rounded education which is rich in the arts.

What's at stake here? Imagination!!!!!

We stand to lose the future innovators, inventors, and leaders who can lead us out of the mess that we have created for ourselves (and THEM!). Children who are encouraged to color outside of the lines, reach for ideas and solutions outside of the box, and think for themselves (i.e. children who receive arts education), are our future problem solvers. Not the kids today who are being trained to color within the lines, regurgitate and memorize empty information so they can perform well on standardized tests, or sit still and "focus" (oh, how I have grown to hate this word. It's become an institutional word meaning "needs medication").

The cuts to arts education don't just affect the kids and schools of today. They effect all of us in Los Angeles; citizens without kids, whose kids are grown, or go to private schools. The cuts even affect citizens who could care less about anyone but themselves. Your futures all depend on the public education of children today because these are the people who will take care of you in the next couple of decades. Do you want to be dependent on an unimaginative, compliant, uninspired generation?

We need EVERYBODY to take an interest in this arts education crisis. Write your elected officials. Support your local arts organizations. Put pressure on the Status Quo to do the right thing. The parasites of public education aren't worried. They know that they are safe, because they are protected by their unions as well as their host (which is too big and dysfunctional to ever correct itself). They won't want to leave their host unless they are no longer well fed. The only hope for reform is through public pressure. It's either that, or starve the host and let it die. If that happens, I'll be pulling my second child out of public school. I won't martyr my daughter just because I'm a champion for public education. That's bad news for the Status Quo. Because she's a good test taker.

One Great Reason to Send Your Kids to Public Schools in LA

One of my favorite reasons for sending my kids to public school in Los Angeles is meeting people from all around the world. And I'm not just talking about my kids. I'm talking about myself, too.

Coming from homogeneous Colorado, where everybody is white and protestant, I didn't grow up around anybody other than people who looked just like me. So when I moved to LA over 20 years ago, I couldn't get enough of the many different cultures, peoples, and traditions that I was exposed to. I loved getting to visit different cultures without ever leaving home.

When I became a mother, I wanted my kids to experience the rich diversity that Los Angeles had to offer, via the public school system. So I sent my kids to the neighborhood school, in their own community. I didn't want to send them across town to a private school where they could be insulated and set apart, with "their own kind". Having my kids attend public school in LA means that they get to make friends with children from many different countries. They get to learn about different cultures, values, histories, and traditions. They have been exposed to different languages, customs and religions. I consider that to be part of their public school education - to befriend children from around the world. My daughter's best friends in her classrooms for the past three years have parents who have come here from Mexico, Iran, the Philippines, and India. Which means that I have made new friends from Mexico, Iran, the Philippines, and India. I love learning about their cultures and what led them to America. In getting to know them, my life is enriched and I become more open, receptive, and well, educated.

I send my kids to the neighborhood school and I become educated. Hmmm. Imagine that.