John Deasy: " A Warrior for our Kids"
October 28, 2013
by Gary Toebben
A warrior for our kids is how Dr. Robert Ross described Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy a month ago when the California Endowment announced a $50 million investment in students of color attending LAUSD.
Under Deasy's leadership, LAUSD has seen important gains across the board in student achievement. The District has improved student test scores and other student success indicators such as the number of students accessing college preparation courses. It has also reduced student drop-out rates and truancy rates.
The District is embarking on a massive roll out of professional development and technology tools that will prepare teachers and students to implement the new, and more rigorous, state education Common Core standards and student assessments. The District is also preparing its Local Control Accountability Plan, as part of the Local Control Funding Formula that was passed by the State Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this year.
We believe that Superintendent Deasy has the unique skills and commitment necessary to move the District forward on each of these topics. The leadership of the business community and the nonprofit community strongly supports Superintendent Deasy and we encourage the School Board to meet with him immediately to work out a plan to continue his tenure as our Superintendent of Schools.
Firing Superintendent Deasy, or making his life so miserable that he has no choice but to leave, is not in the best interests of the students of Los Angeles. It is imperative that the School Board make every effort to retain one of the top superintendents in the country.
And that's The Business Perspective.
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After days of speculation, it was announced today that Superintendent John Deasy will not be resigning from LAUSD.
Despite a 91% vote by teachers and health and human services professionals indicating a lack of confidence in Deasy, despite repeated incidents of gross mismanagement as exemplified by the ongoing iPad debacle, and despite the superintendent's failure to meet even his own benchmarks, the LAUSD School Board has given him a Satisfactory performance evaluation and extended his contract through June 2016.
UTLA President Warren Fletcher called the School Board's decision to keep Deasy on board absolutely unbelievable.
"I am stunned, as any educator working in L.A. must be stunned, that the clear and unarguable deficits in the superintendent's performance as an education leader have not merely been ignored but apparently are being rewarded by the LAUSD School Board." UTLA President Warren Fletcher says.
UTLA members have had a range of major issues with Deasy's performance over the years. He has been one of the nation's biggest cheerleaders for the flawed corporate reform model, pushing policies to undermine seniority, reconstitute schools, increase emphasis on high-stakes standardized tests, and link teacher evaluations directly to test scores.
His tenure has been marked by a lack of collaboration with school-site educators, including the implementation of Breakfast in the Classroom without the input of classroom personnel. Under Deasy's leadership, the number of teachers in so-called teacher jail has soared as LAUSD pursued some cases where there was little or no evidence of any wrongdoing.
"UTLA will continue to stand up against any policies that degrade our students? education, drain resources from schools for downtown priorities, or demean teachers and our profession,?" says Fletcher. "It's a sad day when political maneuvering trumps the needs of students and schools, but UTLA will continue to unapologetically advocate for our children."
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