Today on AirTalk, we examine how charter schools play into the dynamic of the LAUSD. We also discuss YouTube's announcement to strengthen its community guidelines enforcement to include a ban on “dangerous and challenging pranks”; analyze what the future holds for the UK and EU after the Brexit deal fell short; and more.
The controversy behind charter schools, and their role in the LAUSD teachers strike
Charter schools in L.A.-Unified have been a source of controversy, and not just leading up to the United Teacher’s Los Angeles strike.
Depending on who you talk to, charter schools, which are which are publicly funded and privately managed, have sucked resources out of the L.A. Unified School District and lowered public school enrollment. And last month, UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl proposed a cap on charters in the district--a decision that would ultimately have to be made by the state, not LAUSD. Though that cap was not part of union negotiations, charters have been mentioned in the strike’s dialogue, and not just because they’ve given choice to sometimes wealthier parents on where to send their children to school.
Caputo-Pearl has also accused the growth of local charters as a step towards school privatization, and says charters are in direct competition with public schools. There are currently 224 charters in the LAUSD. That’s a number which has grown 250 percent over the past decade. And since many of those schools are not union, they could cut into UTLA’s power when it comes to a strike, especially if charters keep cropping up in the district. But charter schools have beefs of their own with their respective administration. Some charter school teachers had a strike on Tuesday, to protest against The Accelerated Schools, a group of public K-12 charters in South L.A.
This is the first protest by charter school teachers in California, though Accelerated School teachers are represented by UTLA. This was a separate strike than the more than 30,000 LAUSD educators who walked out on Monday. To talk more about how charter schools play into the dynamic of the LAUSD, Myrna Castrejon joins Larry today. Castrejon is the CEO of the California Charter Schools Association.
Guest:
Myrna Castrejon, CEO of the California Charter Schools Association
What the future holds for the UK and EU after Brexit deal falls well short of passing mark in Tuesday vote
In the biggest defeat for a sitting government in history, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal fell well short of passing on Tuesday, suffering a 432-202 vote defeat, including 119 members of her own Conservative Party voting against the deal.
To add to the bad news for the embattled prime minister, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has offered a motion of no confidence, which could trigger a general election if May loses. That will be heard on Wednesday evening in the House of Commons. May is expected to win that vote, which will give her another chance to hammer out a deal.
While the deal, which May has spent nearly her entire tenure as prime minister negotiating, was ultimately torpedoed, it does not necessarily mean that the U.K. won’t be leaving the European Union on the March 29th deadline it originally set. However, it does raise a lot of questions about exactly how Britain will exit the EU. Prime Minister May could still negotiate a deal, but some lawmakers would prefer to see Britain leave the E.U. with no deal at all, which some worry would lead to economic downturn. And yet other MPs want a second referendum that they hope would overturn the first one, meaning Britain would remain in the E.U.
What happens now for the U.K. as a country? And what about Theresa May’s future as prime minister? What are the chances that she loses the no-confidence vote, and what would happen if she did?
Guest:
Gary O’Donoghue, Washington correspondent and former chief political correspondent in London for the BBC; he tweets
The ethics of filtering out ‘harmful’ YouTube pranks and challenges
YouTube announced Tuesday that the company would be strengthening its community guideline enforcement--including a ban on “dangerous challenges and pranks.” And that could mean a Tide Pod challenge video won’t be as easy to find on the site.
According to YouTube’s statement on its website, the broad definition of “dangerous” and “challenging” has been defined as “challenges presenting a risk of serious danger or death.” Where to draw the line on social media content has always been full of tough ethical choices. This particular YouTube announcement comes on the heels of a car crash sustained by a Birdbox challenge participant in Utah. The challenge, modeled after the suspense film on Netflix involves the doing certain activities while blindfolded. The person who accepted the challenge was a teenager with her hat over her eyes, as the BBC reported. Larry speaks with two tech experts to dig into the considerations that YouTube is taking with its new guidelines.
Guests:
S. Shyam Sundar, professor of media studies at Penn State and co-director of the university’s Media Effects Research Laboratory
Tarleton Gillespie, researcher at Microsoft Research in New England focusing on controversies surrounding digital media; associate professor of communications at Cornell University and author of the book, “Custodians of the Internet” (Yale University Press, 2018).
The ABC’s of surviving an active shooter: What to do and how to stay safe
What would you do in the event of a shooting?
A common response might be to duck under a table or follow the widely recommended “run, hide, fight” protocol. But that alone might not be enough to increase chances of survival. As mass shootings continue to occur in unpredictable locations, companies have started to invest in active-survival training.
These programs go beyond traditional approaches and educate participants on how to navigate and react when there’s an active shooter on location. Some active-shooter trainings now involve the acronym ABCS, which stands for Avoid, Barricade, Counter and Survive and teaches participants what to do if they find themselves face-to-face with a shooter, bleeding control techniques and more. Other approaches include high-skill, role-playing drills that place participants in a realistic scenario. Some argue the lifelike strategy is potentially traumatizing.
Do you know what to do when there’s an active shooter? What would you like to know about the protocol? Call in to share your questions and comments at 866-893-5722.
Guest:
Chris Kopp, owner of Lockdown International and creator of the active survival program, a course designed to provide individuals with survival skills during violent incidents; he previously served two tours on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps (1999-2007)
To book lovers: In the war against clutter, how do you decide what stays in your library?
According to Japanese author Marie Kondo, books could be taking up unnecessary space in your house.
That notion was addressed in the first episode Netflix anti-clutter reality series, "Tidying Up With Marie Kondo," where Kondo urges couples to do away with items that don’t “spark joy.” But as reported by the Los Angeles times, literary enthusiasts are pushing back against the idea that books fall into the “get rid of” category.
Something caught our eyes in an episode of #TidyingUp with @MarieKondo on @netflix! We're sure "This is @AirTalk" sparked joy 😉 #kpcclove pic.twitter.com/EUEizdpec1
— KPCCinsider (@KPCCinsider) January 9, 2019
Case in-point: Irish Canadian author Anakana Schofield recently tweeted, "Do NOT listen to Marie Kondo or Konmari in relation to books. Fill your apartment & world with them. ... Every human needs a v extensive library not clean, boring shelves."
That got us at AirTalk here thinking. What is the criteria for throwing books away? Should books be discarded at all? For listeners who can’t part with their books, what makes you keep them? And if you have to purge your library, how do you decide which literature stays and goes?