TIPOFF CHICK TO STICK AROUND AND KEEP UP PRESSURE ON LAUSD.Byline: RICK ORLOV City Controller Laura Chick's decision not to run for statewide office is not good news for 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. officials: It just gives her more time to focus on them. Chick stepped up the pressure on 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. Unified last week when she won the backing of a majority of the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. in
urging the school board to ``invite'' her to oversee an
$800,000 management audit of the district.
School officials have been walking a careful line with Chick, saying they welcome her involvement even as they attempt to head it off with questions over the cost of the audit and who would pay for it. They also question what one more audit would uncover in a district that has had no shortage of study. School officials are scheduled to receive a new report this week from the Council of Great City Schools recommending steps to improve the system. The board also has agreed to a separate administrative audit as part of its contract with the teachers union. In addition, it has been subject to periodic reviews of its operations from its inspector general, the Inspector General, The drama highlighting foibles of petty officialdom. [Russ. Lit.: The Inspector General] See : Bureaucracy Inspector General, The Rand Corp. and the California State Auditor State auditors are executive officers of U.S. states. The office usually is created by the state constitution.
Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez, D-San Fernando, had asked for the audit last August when teacher pay was a hot-button issue. ``At the rate we're going, we'll soon have more auditors than teachers around here,'' one school official complained. Councilman Jack Weiss was one of those who joined with Chick last week in calling for the audit and he thought he had a sure laugh line. ``While we were all standing here, I was thinking we should audit the council's recess schedule,'' Weiss joked, to the appreciation of reporters. Except none of the five other City Council members with him found it particularly funny. The council did not meet last week because several of its members were attending the National League of Cities The National League of Cities is the oldest and largest organization in the United States devoted to strengthening and promoting cities as centers of opportunity, leadership and governance. meeting in North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. . The City Council is scheduled to meet the next two weeks and then will be off for its annual two-week holiday break. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association celebrated its 56th year of business last week with some 400 members on hand to hear Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa deliver his State of the Valley speech. And the state of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. must be pretty good. It was actually the second State of the Valley speech given to the organization this year: Former Mayor James Hahn offered his assessment last April. Item: Actor and activist Rob Reiner announces he will not run for governor next year. Item: The conservative California Republican Assembly The California Republican Assembly is a conservative California Republican activist group. It is the oldest and largest grassroots volunteer organization chartered by the California Republican Party. urges actor Mel Gibson to run for governor. Item: Actor Warren Beatty appears at various events around the state teasing that he might still run for governor. Or senator. Or something. Perhaps it's time to stop having an open casting call for politicians and return to the old-fashioned way of letting them work their way up through the ranks. Rick Orlov, (213) 978-0390 rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com |
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