Schools

Huff, Educators Take on Seniority, Reforms at Summit

Senator Bob Huff moderates the forum at Citrus College as budget cuts, seniority and other education reforms dominate the discussion.

Reforms in the face of severe cuts, challenges to seniority as a basis for determining layoffs, and strategies for efficient, yet effective education were rallying points during Thursday’s Education Summit at Citrus College.

In a time when California schools are facing , southern California superintendents spoke on education reform. The summit followed failed budget negotiations between the legislature and Governor Jerry Brown over his proposal to put tax extensions before voters in June.

Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), fresh from stalled budget negotiations in the state capital earlier this week, had tried to keep the evening’s discussions away from recent state budget developments, but it was difficult to ignore the elephant in the room.

Find out what's happening in Glendorawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Brown’s plan to spare K-12 education from massive cuts was contingent on voter passage of the tax extensions in a special election. Without the initiatives, schools are poised to lose about $2.1 billion.

For local school districts – Glendora Unified and Charter Oak Unified – that results in more than $2 million in annual losses.

Find out what's happening in Glendorawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It was not as simple as let the people vote,” said Huff.  “We’re willing to let them have that vote, but let’s give them other choices in some of the reforms the people are clamoring for.”

The reforms, which according to Huff were not as lengthy as the 53-item list Brown suggested, included pension reforms, caps on state spending and eliminating seniority as a determinant for layoff guidelines.

“The governor’s budget, if it was adopted as presented, grows the general fund by 31 percent over the next three years. That’s unsupportable and that’s why we are where we are now,” said Huff.  “It’s not just increasing taxes that’s going to solve anything and that’s why we had these reforms to add onto the ballot.

It’s politics,” Huff said. “If we believe we need reform, we just can’t say we need reform because we need the votes to get it. They need us for something, we need them for something.”

System of “Quality-Blind”

Dr. John E. Deasy, superintendent-elect for Los Angeles Unified Public Schools lashed out at the practice of handing out pink slips to teachers based solely on the number of years of experience, calling it a “system of quality-blind.”

“I take tax dollars off of kitchen tables in Los Angeles, from people –most of whom can’t afford to give me a penny – and I convert it to salary,” said Deasy. “And the quid pro quo for that kind of sacred trust in the taxpayer in the institution is that we will make good on the promise that you will come through our system and you will graduate college workforce-ready and have a piece of this thing we call the American Dream. That is deal. And anything that stands in the way of students –that is not for the students – needs a serious examination.”

LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the nation, serving 700,000 students in over 1,000 schools.

With the pending state cuts, Deasy said his district stands to lose 5,700 teachers.

He argued that laying off teachers without regard to their performance raises the possibility of eliminating the best and brightest teachers.

“Who a student has as a teacher is the single greatest factor in how a student learns,” said Deasy. “If we want to use seniority as a determinant, then we actually increase the number of layoffs.”

Deasy proposed a “robust” multi-measure approach in determining a performance-based evaluation of a teacher. He called for evaluations performed by “well-trained” adults who observe a classroom against “a high standard of quality education.” The process would also include student and parent surveys, evaluations of how the teacher contributes to the school environment, and a measured result of the student’s progress.

Deasy said he was not in favor of standardized tests, but proposed measuring students’ trajectory growth over a minimum of three years.

Deasy said he would present this performance-based evaluation within the next three weeks.

“The focus on teacher effectiveness is not designed to be a silver bullet by any means,” said Deasy. “But it absolutely should not be ignored.”

The conversation on teacher performance eventually turned to the issue of teacher tenureship, with educators calling the system “flawed.”

Deasy acknowledged that LAUSD has long struggled with its own version of “The Dance of the Lemons,” a term made famous by the documentary “Waiting For Superman.” In a segment of the film, which was shown during the summit, consistently bad teachers are passed around between campuses, but rarely fired.

Dr. Rick Miller, superintendent for Riverside Unified School District, said terminating a tenured teacher can take textbook-length documentation and thousands of dollars.

“We have to do everything to get to that point, but it’s not impossible,” said Miller. “I’m going to do everything to motivate my administrators to deal with those issues, but I would agree that the system is badly flawed.”

However, Deasy said his argument should not be construed as anti-teacher or anti-labor unions.

“One of the main problems of our system…We don’t have a way to celebrate our best performers, which frankly in Los Angeles outnumber our low performers,” said Deasy. “But I am far more worried about how we celebrate and retain our best and brightest.”

Efficient But Effective Education

With schools having to run on skeletal budgets, educators at the summit discussed ways to monitor sustainable budgets without compromising quality education for their students. 

Dr. Geraldine Perri, Superintendent of , spoke about the challenges facing California community colleges and Citrus College. With community colleges facing $400 million in cuts, and low support from federal state local revenues, Perri called on the public to recognize the value and contributions of community colleges.

She discussed “re-conceptualizing” the classroom and turning to campus community input in creating reforms.

Riverside Unified, which has lost $100 million in its school operations, is moving toward maximizing digital technology, said Miller.

“We’re looking to create a digital presence because that is how much our community operates on a daily basis,” said Miller.

About 10,000 of the district’s 43,000 students are using digital textbooks, third graders are using iPods to improve literacy and the district is working on making wireless Internet available to all students 24 hours a day.

“We don’t think we need to change the system, we think we need to redesign the system, “ said Miller. “Bottom line, we need to focus on outcomes rather than inputs, and that’s a fundamental shift of the system itself.”

See more photos from the event on our Facebook page.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here