UTLA teachers expressed a "no confidence" vote in LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, but over a hundred organizations still support his leadership. What does this mean for Deasy and LAUSD students? Also, the director of USC's Center for Robotics is making robots that can teach students, and we'll review the fight between the Dodgers and the Padres. Then, our Filmweek critics review "To The Wonder," "42" and "It’s a Disaster," and author Nat Segaloff talks about the last 50 films of greatest directors.
UTLA teachers express ‘No Confidence’ in Superintendent Deasy
Los Angeles teachers announced a no confidence vote against L.A. schools Superintendent John Deasy on Thursday. The vote was overwhelming with 91 percent of teachers who participated expressing their disapproval of Deasy.
United Teachers Los Angeles president Warren Fletcher said that teachers are unhappy with Deasy’s reliance on standardized testing and other “phony reforms.” Although Deasy did not comment on the vote’s outcome, eight groups including The United Way, Alliance for a Better Community and the Los Angeles Urban League have announced their support for Superintendent Deasy. In response to the vote, LA School Board President Monica Garcia released a survey of over 100 organizations that voiced their support for LAUSD’s leadership.
How does this vote affect LAUSD students? What does this vote mean for Superintendent Deasy? What are UTLA’s priorities for the future? Where does this vote leave Deasy’s initiatives?
Guests:
Adolfo Guzman Lopez, KPCC Senior Education Reporter
Ingrid Villeda, UTLA South Area Chair and fifth grade teacher
Monica Garcia, President, LAUSD Board
Ama Nyamekye, Executive Director, Educators 4 Excellence - Los Angeles
Dodgers’ new ace Greinke breaks collarbone in a scrum with Padres
In the 6th inning of last night’s game between the Dodgers and Padres, Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke threw a pitch that hit Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin in the arm. Quentin, who has been hit 116 times in his career (he’s led the league in this category for 2 straight years) and 3 times by Greinke, exploded towards the mound. The two collided, football-style, and then both teams’ players left the bench and a full-scale melee ensued. It appears most players left the fight unscathed, except for Greinke, who Dodgers trainers later learned suffered a broken collarbone.
The Dodgers, who have likely lost their new $147 million dollar ace for a few months, are understandably upset, especially Matt Kemp, who confronted Quentin after the game. With the season still early and the two teams gearing up to play again on Monday, what can we expect to happen?
Will anyone be suspended? Can the Dodgers take any special legal action against Quentin or the Padres, who injured their star player in a non-game situation. What can the umpires do during the series next week do to make sure the game remains civil?
Guest:
Bill Shaikin, Covering baseball on and off the field for the Los Angeles Times
Robot experiment coming to Los Angeles classrooms
A dragon-like robot will soon grace the classrooms of one Los Angeles elementary school in hopes of helping first-graders adopt healthier eating habits.
"We all know the challenge to get kids to do the right thing. And if the robot is motivating, why not try it?" said Maja Mataric, Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at University of Southern California & Founding Director, of USC's Center for Robotics and Embedded Systems.
Matari and her team at USC have been designing the robot —dubbed "Chili" — over the past year. It’s all part of a series of experiments backed by a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation that will take place in Los Angeles and New York classrooms later this Spring.
Known as "socially assistive robots," these interactive devices like Chili have previously been used in the area of health care: to motivate and correct stroke victims as they perform rehabilitative therapy or to assist caregivers in caring for the sick or the elderly.
Matari said bringing the robots on as teacher's aides will only augment the classroom experience for students: "We are not by any means taking curriculum from schools ... The idea is to have the [robots] enhance what [the teachers] are doing already."
One way the process will work is that students give Chili different foods, and Chili gives feedback after tasting them. "There's a lot of physical contact [with the robot]—[the students] will also touch the food that we are bringing in," said Matari.
The USC group will measure the robot's effectiveness through videos and parent-surveys, said Matari. The end goal is "to create robots that you can stick with and play with for years on end."
Do you think robots are an effective way to teach kids healthy eating habits? Do you worry that these interactive devices could replace teachers?
Guest:
Maja Mataric, Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at University of Southern California & Founding Director, of USC's Center for Robotics and Embedded Systems
FilmWeek: To The Wonder, 42, Upstream Color, and more
Larry is joined by KPCC film critics Andy Klein and Henry Sheehan to review this week’s latest, including To the Wonder, 42, It’s a Disaster, and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
To the Wonder
42
Upstream Color
Guests:
Andy Klein, film critic for KPCC and the L.A. Times Community Papers chain
Henry Sheehan, film critic for KPCC and dearhenrysheehan.com
Charles Solomon, film critic and animation historian for KPCC, author for amazon.com
The last films of 50 great directors
At the end of a long career, a great director may leave behind a large body of work. In his book “Final Cuts” author, critic, and playwright Nat Segaloff examines the last films made by 50 great directors, including John Ford, Robert Altman, Howard Hawks, Arthur Penn, and more.
Final films are notoriously difficult for directors, and some of the end results have been famously sub-par, but is the reputation for a bad final film deserved? Is the film industry ageist? What makes these directors so important, and what goes into their last films?
Guest:
Nat Segaloff, author of “Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors”