A Through G Curriculum At LA Unified; How To Govern The LAUSD?; "Sanitizing” Films; Inside A Dangerous Motorcycle Gang
A Through G Curriculum At LA Unified
Yesterday Roy Romer, LA Unified School Board President Jose Huizar, and a coalition of parents, educators and education activists unveiled an ambitious plan aimed at preparing more L.A. students to attend four-year universities. The group presented the LAUSD School Board with a plan to integrate so-called “A through G classes” into LA high schools by 2008. If passed by the school board, 15 college preparatory classes will be a graduation requirement of every high school student in LAUSD. The reform plan is ambitious, expensive, and some say unrealistic for a school district of this size and complexity. Larry Mantle talks with Jon Lauritzen, Los Angeles Unified School District Board member, John Perez, President of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor in Education at UCLA, and Jim Stone III, Director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education.
How To Govern The LAUSD?
The LA Unified School District is currently run by the School Superintendent and the school board. Both of Los Angeles’ mayoral candidates say that the city’s mayor should have some control of the LAUSD, though the City Charter would have to be changed in order for the mayor to take part in governing the school district. Larry is joined by Adolfo Guzman Lopez, KPCC’s education reporter, Tom Timar, Professor of Education Policy at UC Davis, Gary Chico, served as President of the Chicago Board of Education from 1995 – 2001, Scott Plotkin, Executive Director of the California School Board Association, Bill Mabie, Communications and Policy Director for City Council President Alex Padilla, and Richard Riordan, Secretary of Education for California to discuss the options for running a large, urban school district.
"Sanitizing” Films
Larry Mantle discusses the topic of “sanitizing” films, or re-editing them for family consumption. This issue has become controversial in the film industry because companies like CleanFlix and FamilyFlix are profiting from this practice through the rental of these re-edited films. There is also technology available from a company named ClearPlay, Inc. that which markets electronics and software that allows parents to skip over objectionable material. Larry talks with the CEO of ClearPlay, Bill Aho about his company’s technology, and takes listener calls.
Inside A Dangerous Motorcycle Gang
Larry Mantle talks with federal undercover agent William Queen, who for two years infiltrated a Southern California chapter of the Mongol Nation, a motorcycle gang more violent that the Hell’s Angels. Queen became a full-fledged member of the gang, becoming friends with men who engaged in drug and gun trafficking, gang rapes, and cop killings. Queen’s new book is Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America’s Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.