Results tagged “ramoncortines”

The school year is well underway now, and campuses in the vast LAUSD system are coping with the consequences of this year's massive budget cuts. But in the state as a whole, "the impact of California's budget cuts has varied from school to school. Because of the patchwork of federal and state funding for education, some campuses have felt the pinch far less than others," explains Mitchell Landsberg in yesterday's LA Times.

Leave it to Sacha Baron Cohen to stir things up. The comic entertainer and his upcoming new feature film Bruno is the subject of a few raised eyebrows at the Los Angeles Unified School District when they realized he'd posed for pictures at the Valley's Birmingham High, according to KCOP. In the publicity photos, Cohen is reportedly "wearing not much more than a paper cup as a jockstrap and pretending to sexually abuse a prone football player."

Today marks Day 8 of the Hunger Strike initiated by several LAUSD teachers and community members. In addition to the hunger strike, protesters have held, and will continue to hold, "camp-out" events, bringing supporters and community members together to "celebrate and protect the culture" of area schools; one such evening is planned for tomorrow from 6-8:30 p.m. at Miguel Contreras Learning Center.

       

Plans for a one-day teacher walk out and protest planned for Friday had the kibosh put on them today by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Unionized teachers wanted to protest anticipated layoffs and large class sizes and LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines doesn't want to disrupt school environs, especially in light of state and advance placement testing.

It was as close to a split as a panel of 7 can get: In a 4-3 vote, the LAUSD Board of Education voted late yesterday afternoon to approve layoffs that will affect thousands of teachers and other district staff.

With one day left before the LAUSD Board is due to vote on the postponed motion for thousands of layoffs district-wide at their regularly scheduled meeting, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to meet later this morning with teachers and parents to talk about ways to avoid the ax falling so mightily.

So far, so good? Or maybe not? New Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Ramon Cortines has entered into his job at a tough time while facing a $718 million budget deficit--that's a bigger red number than the city of Los Angeles. Cortines was once the interim superintendent back in 2000 and he drafted up plans he is only getting to implement this time around: "Its central office would be lean; decisions would be made on campus by teachers and principals; communities would play a key role in boosting neighborhood schools," the Daily News lists in a nice profile of him. Of course, that looks good on paper, but the process to get there is not without controversy, especially from the infamous teachers union.

Under pressure from United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing educators working in the LAUSD, the Board of Education agreed on Tuesday during their regular meeting to postpone voting on proposed layoffs. The Board, in a gesture meant to show alignment with Superintendent Ramon Cortines, decided to pursue meetings and discussions of alternatives with bargaining units, and will bring the motion to the table once more on April 14th.

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines is looking for ways to help the beleaguered district function on a budget deficit and in the wake of more state-level cuts. To do so, he is considering laying off "a great many employees," according to abc7.com. "The first wave of possible cuts will likely be made among non-teaching personnel. They include management and staff throughout the district." If approved by the school board by vote on March 10, the pink slips will go out shortly after, although not all those employees notified will immediately lose their jobs. Cortines insists that instruction will continue in the classrooms and that he is focused on doing what he can to minimize how these layoffs will affect the kids.

The United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) is calling for a boycott of periodic assessment tests mandated by the LAUSD, and have "directed teachers to refuse to give them to students on the grounds that the tests are costly and counterproductive," according to the LA Times.

Just a few days after David Brewer's buyout of over a half million dollars, the LA Unified School District voted to give Ramon C. Cortines, the second man down the line, the job on a three-year contract. "We will not do things the same way," he said. "[The district will find] new ways of providing services to parents and working with teachers and working with administrators and working with community. We are the urban sprawl but it is time that we lock arms on behalf of our children. We must put the students first--not special interests. And so there will be change and change will be good for all of us."