The LAUSD school board race is heating up and making national headlines. Plus, what makes a good or bad Oscar speech? Patt Morrison weighs in. Then, Kevin Ferguson profiles an Academy Awards orchestra member and a musician struggling to find work in the movies, and much more.
Could a single school board race determine LAUSD's future?
School board races don’t usually garner much attention from the general public. But the races for three seats on LA Unified’s school board are making national headlines. None, more so than the race for District 4 between incumbent Steve Zimmer and lawyer, Kate Anderson.
That’s because people believe the winner of this seat will determine the future of LA’s public schools, and the rest of the country is watching.
Zimmer, 42, calls it a "pitched battle between the Humanists versus the Darwinists" and the "market-based competition over student enrollment."
What Zimmer is talking about, slouched over a plate of Kosher pasta on Valentine’s night, is the great schism among LAUSD’s seven sitting board members; At any given school board meeting the "Reformists", who vociferously support Superintendent John Deasy and an aggressively pro-charter agenda, are pitted against the pro-teacher and organized labor faction.
They’re evenly split and Zimmer, a former Teach for America teacher and school counselor has been the swing vote since he won the seat in 2009. But if he loses to challenger Kate Anderson, both sides agree, that will permanently tip the scales 4 to 3 in favor of a board that pushes for more charter expansion and data based teacher evaluations.
Ultimately, Zimmer said, losing that check and balance is detrimental.
"Respectful disagreement and give and take between the Superintendent and the school board is actually the healthy relationship and dynamic that needs to exist to have the right type of balanced approach to creating transformational change." Holding his head in his hands he adds, "If I’m taken out, that’s gone. Absolutely gone."
But his opponent, Anderson, 40, has no qualms about aligning herself with Supt. Deasy's vision. "I support the reforms that Supt. Deasy has put in place," she said on a recent afternoon in one of the tiny offices at her campaign headquarters in West LA.
"I support his work to improve our teacher evaluation system, I support his work to bring and support more innovative models to the school system," she said.
She’s a mother and the LA director of Children Now, an advocacy group for early childhood education and health. With twin girls in public school she said she’s seen enough to know “not every teacher is good.” And neither the district nor students should be saddled with sub-par teachers. Instead, she said, “lets find something else for you to do."
Anderson is not coming at this from the classroom experience. Before she became an advocate most of her career was in the world of politics. She’s a former Congressional staffer for Henry Waxman and Jane Hartman, and a former corporate lawyer. In 2010 she ran for the state assembly now held by Betsey Butler.
Anderson said those experiences give her an advantage at crucial moment for LA schools.
“It’s a political position and I’m good in those worlds.”
Canvassing for signatures to get on the ballot she took the pulse of her district, a stretch that covers the Westside, east to Hollywood and north into the San Fernando Valley. Going door to door she became convinced parents would pull their kids from private schools if they had more choices. She argues the greatest demand from parents in the area is for more charter schools.
And this is perhaps the place where Zimmer disagrees with her the most. He thinks that the charter movement is moving entirely too fast. In the last board meeting alone more than a dozen were approved.
And he’s also come out against tying teacher evaluations too closely to student performance. He thinks teaches are being villainized and that long term, that will hurt kids.
“It’s a loss for the concept that we really can have people who are educators serve as decision makers about education, and that’s a real loss,” he said.
On the other hand, what makes him a swing vote is that he’s completely behind keeping staunch reformer Supt. Deasy who is constantly at odds with Zimmer’s backer – UTLA.
“Taking difficult stands, that were sometimes contrary to labor has softened my support.”
Like any political race who wins may come down to who spends the most. And that’s why it’s drawn the national spotlight and why it’s drawn money from as far away as New York. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, just last week, pumped $1 million into the reform candidate’s coffers, ensuring that they’ll maintain much bigger war chest than anyone on the labor slate.
So far spending on behalf of Zimmer and Anderson has been pretty even – about a half a million dollars on each - but with two weeks to go, Anderson has the bigger piggy bank to draw from.
Unlike other races that have multiple candidates the District 4 seat will be decided on Tuesday March 5.
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David Dreier heads to LA for new nonprofit post with Annenberg Group
This week, David Dreier, the recently retired Republican congressman from the 26th district in the foothills east of LA, announced his next gig. He'll be leading a new commission focused on trade as part of the nonprofit Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands.
For more on this and what other California lawmakers are doing since retiring from a life on Capitol Hill, we're joined now by National Journal reporter Shane Goldmacher.
Friday Flashback: Sequestration, the state of the GOP, and more
We'll talk about the week that was with our regular political roundtables. On tap this week, Sophia Nelson of NBC's The Grio, The Daily Beast and Essence Magazine, and James Rainey of the L.A. Times.
Oscars 2013: Striking up the band at the Academy Awards
Before the first acceptance speech, before any winners are announced even before the opening number, during this Sunday's Oscars, the very first thing you'll likely hear will be the musicians of the Academy Awards.
They lead the ceremony into and out of commercial breaks, back up the live performances, play samples from the nominated soundtracks, serenade the presenters on and off stage, and cue the award recipients that it's time to wrap it up.
But who are they? And what do these musicians do when it's not awards season? KPCC's Kevin Ferguson has the answer.
It's Wednesday morning — just four days out from the Academy Awards — and amid a row of pristine homes in Porter Ranch, French Horn player Steve Becknell is warming up.
In about an hour, Becknell will head to the Capitol Records building in Hollywood for rehearsals and a few recording sessions. Yes, you heard right. Some of the ceremony's 'live' music is pre-recorded. This is Hollywood, after all.
For Becknell, this is all pretty routine. He's principal French horn for the L.A. Opera, a 40-year veteran of the instrument, and this Sunday won't be his first time playing the Oscars:
"I was trying to remember exactly but at least my 7th or 8th Academy Awards I’ve gotten to do over the years," said Becknell. "First year was really exciting. We got to be on stage, so we were on camera; it was 1998 … That’s the only time that’s ever really happened."
The ceremony Becknell first played in was the same year that "Titanic" sank the competition with 11 awards, including nod for Best Original Dramatic Score. A score Becknell performed on. He says it's really common that many of the people in the orchestra pit can also be heard performing in the films nominated.
But while Becknell has made a really good living off of music, many other musicians aren’t as fortunate.
Like Steve, Robert Matsuda is also a professional musician. The two have even worked together on some of the same films, but their careers could not be more different. After losing his day job at a museum, he's been on and off unemployment since 2002.
While Steve had a rehearsal to get to that afternoon, Robert had a very different agenda for the day.
"I’m gonna go to the credit union and take money out of my savings to live off of, a bit terrifying," said Matsuda. "And actually this afternoon I’m showing the downstairs of this house to somebody. So maybe I’ll get some rental income."
For musicians like Matsuda, work is few and far between. He’s never played the Oscars and it’s unlikely that’ll change, as the Academy’s orchestra doesn’t hold auditions. Matsuda hasn't scored a film since last fall. The last time he worked, it was a music video last month. That was just four days on the job.
These days, you hear more and more stories like Matsuda's. Major motion picture studios have begun recording in places like London and Prague, where the you can score a movie at two-thirds the cost. TV shows have all but abandoned live musicians for their soundtracks. Lots of local, orchestral sound stages have either shuttered or been demolished.
That means fewer jobs, and more musicians.
"It’s sort of like a watering hole, the amount of available work for people in town. And before there used to be a number of watering holes, I was at one particular watering hole," said Matsuda. "And these other ones started drying up and the animals came over to my watering hole! And that’s where the politics of the business come into play. Because you might get muscled out. If you’re relying on that for a great deal of your work, then it’s a major blow."
But the place the orchestra comes from has little bearing on whether or not a film gets an Oscar. Last year, for example, "The Artist" took home five awards, among them Best Picture and Best Original Score.
Even though it was filmed entirely in Los Angeles, the composer went to Belgium to tape the score.
Steve and Robert both belong to Union of Professional Musicians, Local 47. The union says this is growing problem for their members: budgets tighten, composers are forced to cut costs and go abroad. But there isn’t a lot they can do about it.
Musicians are forced to work day jobs, but John Acosta, the union’s Vice President is careful to point out that a little under half of their members have never been able to play music full time.
"But that harkens back to the days, I mean Mozart was teaching in addition to his composition work. So musicians have always been kind of a versatile group," said Acosta.
Oscars 2013: What makes a good or bad Oscar speech?
Another place in the show that we'll hear the orchestra play is before, during and after the winners' speeches. Every year you have a couple of moving speeches, a few awful speeches, but mostly OK speeches that no one remembers.
So, what does it take to make a memorable speech? KPCC's Patt Morrison joins us to explain.
Memorable Oscar Speeches:
Film students to replace models as Oscar statue presenters
One thing that will be different about this year's award show is the person handing the Oscar statue to the presenter. The tall model will be replaced by film students.
Six college students from across the country won a contest to help present the Oscar statuettes this year. We'll speak to Tatenda Mbudzi, a UCLA Film student who’ll be presenting the statues.
Prop 8 challengers gear up as issue heads back to Supreme Court
President Obama has until the end of next week to weigh in on Prop 8, which goes before the Supreme Court next month. Gay rights groups want the administration to file a "friend of the court" brief urging the justices to declare California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.
Douglas Nejaime, a professor at Loyola Law School, joins the show.
Amid priest abuse scandal, should Cardinal Mahony be allowed to vote for next pope?
Tomorrow, Cardinal Roger Mahony is scheduled to be questioned in a lawsuit about a Mexican priest accused of molesting more than two dozen children in the late 1980s. Reverend Nicolas Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico after parents complained about him. He remains a fugitive there.
This is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga of sexual abuse within the church.
A few weeks ago, the Los Angeles Archdiocese released thousands of documents showing that Cardinal Mahony had protected accused priests and did nothing to warn parishioners about them.
Given those circumstances, should Cardinal Mahony be allowed to vote on the next pope? That's been a hot topic of conversation in Rome this week.
Barbie Latza Nadeau of The Daily Beast is a reporter there and she joins us now.
Streetlights likely to go dark in unincorporated Central Valley community
About two million Californians live in unincorporated areas, outside the sheltering arms of a city governance plan - and budget. Many of these communities are so poor, they lack basic infrastructure, like sewers or sidewalks. One of these places, a tiny town in Fresno County, has locals expecting the streetlights will be turned off next week. The California Report's Sasha Khokha has the story.
A white van selling Mexican pastries blares its horn as it rolls slowly through the streets of the community of Calwa. It has to swerve to avoid potholes. Big puddles of water pool up here after it rains. There are no gutters. But there are plenty of chickens and loose dogs.
Calwa got its name from the California Wine Association which used to anchor this community. But now most of its vineyards have been paved over, and Calwa has become an industrial pocket just 10 minutes from downtown Fresno. The people who live here are mostly Latino - they work in the fields, or nearby factories.
Sandra Celedon-Castro is watching her niece and nephew play basketball under the streetlight in front of her house. It's the only light on her block.
"If you start to look around, you'll see light posts, but not all of them have lights," she says.
And now Fresno County plans to pull the plug on all 36 street lights here.
"We already have very limited resources, and the fact that we're going to be left completely in the darkness, it's just a scary thought," Celedon-Castro says. "This is the result of really poor planning."
She puts the blame on Fresno County. Much of Calwa is unincorporated, and its lights are paid for by a special county-run utility district. Once upon a time, Calwa residents paid a tax to fund that district. But nearly 30 years ago, the county inexplicably stopped collecting that tax. Ever since, the county has paid the light bill from the district's reserves. At the end of this month, that account will run dry.
Now it's time for residents to step in and pay again, says the county's resources manager, John Thompson.
"We always give the residents of the area, or that community, the final say," Thompson says. "They have the ability to say, 'Yes, we'll pay for that,' or 'No we won't.'"
Thompson's department sent out ballots to the 400 property owners in Calwa, asking them to vote on a yearly $25 tax to keep the street lights on. Only about a quarter of the ballots came back, and most of them were "no" votes.
Residents like Dennis Chavez say $25 a year is a hefty price tag for people in Calwa, where the annual median family income is about $28,000.
"I got a dog, and I got sensor lights," says Chavez, leaning on the chain link fence in his front yard. "If they want to pay extra, go buy yourself some sensor lights. I'll install 'em for you."
But the Fresno County Sheriff's Department is worried crime will escalate once the neighborhood goes dark. It doesn't have the resources to dispatch additional patrols.
Sandra Celedon-Castro walks up and down her block, talking to neighbors about the street lights. Many of them are Spanish-speaking renters. And since the $25 tax would come from property owners, renters didn't get to vote.
What frustrates Celedon-Castro is that her neighbors just a few blocks away have plenty of street lights. That's because portions of Calwa have been annexed into the city of Fresno. But residents in the unincorporated parts have to navigate the complex county bureaucracy to keep their few lights on.
"It's really a metaphor for the way that we're governed," Castro says. "We're often left in the dark about how our government system is actually run."
Most people who live in cities don't even think about who keeps the streetlights on. Renters and owners both benefit from basic services provided by city government. If thousands, or millions, of people in a city share the cost of a service, they usually pay less than if only a few hundred households foot the bill.
"Should government be accountable only to larger areas where there's an economy of scale, or should government be accountable to all of us?" Veronica Garibay asks.
She works with California Rural Legal Assistance's Community Equity Initiative, which advocates for the state's unincorporated communities. She counts about 550 of them in the San Joaquin Valley alone.
"It's not like residents from these communities are asking for some sort of luxury to go into their communities," Garibay says. "They're asking for something as basic as street lights, or safe drinking water, or sewer."
But Fresno County can't afford to pay Calwa's light bill. Right now, the cash-strapped county has closed courthouses and is scrambling to keep libraries open.
Back in Calwa, a fleet of PG&E service trucks rumbles past the neighborhood where the street lights will turn off next week. Ironically, the utility giant maintains two service yards here.
PG&E says it's looking for a way to keep the lights on before the county stops paying its bill.
CA House Democrats not completely united on citizenship for undocumented immigrants
It's often said that trying to keep Democrats together is like herding cats. That's proven to be true with the California Congressional delegation as they wrestle with immigration issues. KPCC's Washington Correspondent Kitty Felde reports.
It’s often said that trying to keep Democrats together is like herding cats. That’s true with California's Congressional delegation — at least on some immigration issues.
Democrats sometimes sound like they’re reading off the same page. Literally. Henry Waxman of Los Angeles says a comprehensive immigration bill "should give people a pathway to citizenship." Judy Chu of Monterey Park says "immigration reform must have a roadmap to citizenship." Adam Schiff of Burbank: "There has to be some pathway to citizenship for them."
Democrats have made a path to citizenship the centerpiece of comprehensive immigration reform. But two of the newest California Democrats on Capitol Hill aren’t ready to walk that path just yet.
Congresswoman Gloria Negrete McLeod, who represents the Ontario area, says she has to give "some thought" to granting citizenship rather than legal status to the undocumented. She reflects about people in the U.S. who have green cards.
"They’re here legally, but they don’t vote," McLeod notes. She suspects GOP opposition to citizenship is largely driven by the likely political leanings of potential new voters. McLeod says it may be a concern "to the other side of the aisle" if all those new citizens suddenly vote Democrat. "I mean, that would be really something."
San Diego Freshman Congressman Scott Peters says there must be a “rational way” to deal with the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States, but he doesn't think it's the time to draw "really hard lines. It’s the time to listen about how to make this better."
Peters and McLeod may be cautious because they’re likely to face tough re-election campaigns in 2014. Peters' district is only a third Democratic — the rest are Republicans or voters who decline to state a party preference. McLeod made a late surge to beat incumbent and fellow Democrat Joe Baca with a boost from Michael Bloomberg's political action committee. She says Baca plans a rematch.
Two California Democrats — Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles and Zoe Lofgren of San Jose — are on the informal bi-partisan House task force trying to craft an immigration compromise. Both are strong supporters of full citizenship, not just some sort of legal status. Lofgren says even conservative evangelicals are saying it would be a mistake to take citizenship off the table.
"With the exception of slavery and the Chinese Exclusion Act," Lofgren says, "we’ve never said that people who come here, live here all their lives, cannot become Americans."
Lofgren says the task force is trying to craft a proposal that can pass in the GOP-led House. But the minority Democrats are going to have to convince their own members that citizenship for undocumented immigrants should remain part of the package.
Oscar Pistorious case garnering comparisons to OJ Simpson trial
After nearly 2 hours this morning, a South African magistrate announced his decision in the bail hearing of double-amputee track star Oscar Pistorious.
Pistorious is accused of murdering his girlfriend, who he claims he mistook for an intruder before shooting her multiple times through a bathroom door. Only months ago, it seemed the world was his oyster.
He was regarded as a national hero after he broke barriers as the first amputee runner to compete at an Olympic games and he was deeply respected by his peers. The superstar athlete, the dead girlfriend and police detectives who may have bungled the investigation have many comparing the Pistorious case to that of OJ Simpson.
Joining us to consider that comparison are Judy Muller, a veteran journalist who covered the OJ Simpson trial, and former defense attorney Stan Goldman.
Calculating what BP owes for the 2010 Gulf oil spill
Nearly three years ago an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP is one of the companies being held responsible, and on Monday they head to court as a defendant in what could be one of the biggest civil trials ever.
At question is whether the company was "grossly negligent." If it is, BP could face billions in fines and claims by plaintiffs.
And when we say "billions," Louisiana alone could be seeking $10 billion for the damage done to its natural resources. But how does that state, or any one affected by the spill, assign a price tag to what they've lost?
Ken Feinberg is the man who's had to calculate these hard numbers.
He's the former administrator of the BP Oil Spill Fund and the author of "Who Gets What: Fair Compensation after Tragedy and Financial Upheaval."