COUNCIL PUSHES FOR IMMEDIATE LAUSD REFORM MAYORAL CONTROL IS ONLY ONE OPTION, CITY OFFICIALS POINT OUT.Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer Even as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. pushes for mayoral control of Los Angeles' public schools, the City Council called Tuesday for immediate reform of how the system operates rather than risk delays. The call came as the council received a report from the Presidents' Joint Commission on LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) Governance that said reform of the nation's second-largest school district cannot rest solely on whether the mayor takes over. ``Let's not Let's Not is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in Boston University Graduate Journal in December 1954. It was written for no payment as a favour to the journal, and later appeared in the collection Buy Jupiter. confuse mayoral control with intelligent control,'' said Councilman Alex Padilla Alex Padilla is a politician in California. He was elected as the State Senator for the 20th District of California in November 2006 and was inaugurated in early December. In order to enter the Senate he had to resign as Councilman for the 7th District on the Los Angeles City , who created the commission with fellow Councilman Jose Huizar when he was president of the Board of Education. ``One of the frustrations of this process has been that the issue of education reform seems to have been captured through the lens of mayoral reform. But that is subject to a vote, and the people will say either yes or no. We need to look at what we can do to make changes if mayoral control is rejected.'' The panel's report - with recommendations scheduled to be submitted in June - came as Villaraigosa completed a two-day trip to New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. where he visited an inner-city school to learn about changes since Mayor Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born 14 February 1942) is an American businessman, and the founder of Bloomberg L.P., currently serving as the Mayor of New York City. He was a general partner at Salomon Brothers before founding the financial software service company in 1981. took over the New York school New York school Painters who participated in the development of contemporary art, particularly Abstract Expressionism, in or around New York City in the 1940s and '50s. system. ``More than ever before, the mayor is convinced that you need strong accountability if you are going to make changes to the Los Angeles school The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. system,'' spokeswoman Janelle Erickson said. Among his stops Tuesday, the mayor visited with leaders of a nonprofit corporation nonprofit corporation n. an organization incorporated under state laws and approved by both the state's Secretary of State and its taxing authority as operating for educational, charitable, social, religious, civic or humanitarian purposes. that has worked to recruit and keep some of its best teachers and administrators. Erickson said Villaraigosa hopes to see a similar program developed in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . But Padilla cautioned Tuesday that most polls show voters are wary of mayoral control. ``People might like this mayor and agree to give him this power, but what if it were a Mayor (James) Hahn or a Mayor (Richard) Riordan? We have to look at all aspects of this and how we can improve the schools,'' Padilla said. The council also was cautioned that any change at the district also will need the approval of the 27 other cities that send their children to LAUSD schools. Villaraigosa is scheduled to meet with officials from those cities this week to discuss his plans. The only details the mayor has provided so far is that he would like the authority to appoint a superintendent of schools with an elected school board having limited power. Huizar, who served on the school board for more than four years, said change is being demanded. ``I know there needs to be some drastic changes there to create an environment to develop better policy,'' he said. ``That's what this is about. If you don't have a governance structure that allows for good people to make the best decisions, then we have done nothing. ``There is no accountability at the board the way it operates at this time.'' David Cunningham David Cunningham may refer to:
``This is a system long overdue for change,'' Cunningham said. ``Just as you wouldn't drive a Model T on today's freeways, the school district needs to be improved.'' One of the biggest problems, Councilman Tony Cardenas said, is state law that prohibits paying school board members more than $24,000 a year, forcing them to be part-time officials while representing districts with 650,000 people. Councilman Bernard Parks said his concerns go beyond the education system to the greater implications for the city and society. ``In my district, there is not one school that is above the state average in test scores,'' Parks said. ``I have one high school that is on probation. And all the studies show there is a direct link between illiteracy and crime. Sixty percent of those in state prison are illiterate. ``We will not succeed until we see more students graduate. Whether it's 25 percent or 50 percent, we have a problem - a problem we cannot ignore.'' Maria Casillas, a former LAUSD administrator who served as co-chair of the panel, said she believes a lot can be done - such as decentralizing de·cen·tral·ize v. de·cen·tral·ized, de·cen·tral·iz·ing, de·cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. the district - without legislative changes. ``There are a lot of politics around this issue of governance,'' Casillas said. ``Some see the glass as half full. But for our families, it is a story of misery and pain if they do not get an education.'' Rick Orlov, (213) 978-0390 rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com |
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