Friday, December 18, 2009

Your help needed. Your presence wanted.

Mr. Fritch put out an e-mail this week detailing several items of interest with respect to our work completing the Garfield Plan and submitting it in January, including a six-point outline of areas in the plan needing immediate faculty input, and contact information for the UTLA point person for preparing the final draft. Here are links to the pertinent elements.
We will hope to see as many of you as can possibly be there, wearing your red, in front of the school on Monday, December 21, at 12:15 p.m. for the Garfield UTLA rally and demonstration. (Be sure to confirm with Clare Martinet in advance if you want lunch!) As this morning's LA Times story demonstrates to this writer, the district continues its attacks and scapegoating of teachers. Our unity is our defense.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Bell Schedule Decision Time

The Design Team is working to complete the Garfield Plan for submission to the superintendent's office in January. At present, they are deciding on a bell schedule that will promote intervention programs while best serving the needs of Garfield High School as a whole institution.

Faculty are asked to select a bell schedule for the Design Team to adopt by voting in the online survey at http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/21D98CBEA035E116/. The revised deadline is Friday.

Here are the three bell schedule options currently on the table for the Design Team.
Additionally, Mr. Rico on Track B, supported by Mr. Gonzalez, the Athletic Director, suggested that Garfield look at the 6-period-day intervention schedule in use at La Serna High School in the Whittier Union school district (along with several other California high schools holding the Distinguished Schools designation). He included a link to their PowerPoint in his LAUSD Webmail to the faculty, Dec. 11. Here are some of the main items he located on the La Serna website (www.wuhsd.k12.ca.us/whittierlshs/):
Finally, some of the discussions and arguments that have been raised about the various options can be reviewed at the links here:
Please continue to follow and participate in the discussion that has been taking place via LAUSD Webmail.

Voting will be open through Friday, December 18. Again, faculty members can access the poll online to vote directly on the survey website:

http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/21D98CBEA035E116/

Questions about the process should be directed to Brian Fritch at brian.fritch@lausd.net.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Application Rubric

The application template from the district:

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Letter of Intent approaching completion

Here is the most recent draft of the Letter of Intent. Current changes focus on enhancing the profile of the instructional plan, along with other changes suggested to the Design Team.
Again, the deadline is November 16, not November 15 as the draft still gives.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Current Letter of Intent draft

Here is the most recent draft of the Letter of Intent, along with Brian's Nov. 10 e-mail to the faculty. Most members may already have seen these items.
Be advised again that the superintendent's timeline, per his November 6 e-mail, marks the deadline at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 16. Brian and Roberta are confirming this to update the date given on our Letter of Intent draft, which currently still says November 15. Happy reading.

Monday, November 9, 2009

There has been a very great deal of activity tonight! Brian put out an important update on the progress of the unified proposal, and his own perspective on the prospects we have before us. You may have received his e-mail already, but just in case, here it is:
Also, Brian distributed copies of the School Choice brochure and the district's comparison chart of the various models. For the record, the deadline for Letters of Intent is Monday, November 16, at 5:00 p.m. per the superintendent's timeline, not November 15 as Brian writes, a discrepancy he acknowledges! Here are the documents he asked to be placed on the blog, along with the current draft of the Garfield unified Letter of Intent:
Finally, in the spirit of fair-mindedness, here are two e-mails: one that Inner-City Struggle distributed to their supporters about the press conference they are attending tomorrow, November 10, in front of UTLA headquarters, and a second from another group, as you will see.

ICS says that their position is "pro-union," and we take them at their word, but the same event is being promoted by that second group (ABC, the Alliance for a Better Community, as they call themselves), that is telling their members in their own e-mail that they will be there (along with their featured speakers, board president Monica Garcia and board member Yolie Flores-Aguilar) to "denounce" what they present as intimidating tactics by unnamed persons (could they mean teachers?) to "deter parents and community members" from taking part in the present process.

For the record, Garfield Unites supports students, parents, teachers, and the larger community in their combined efforts to improve our school in every sense of the word. Here's the text of what both ICS and ABC are saying. You get to be the judge:
Students deserve better than this sideshow. We all have real work to do.
On October 29, the SLC leads, the administration, and the Garfield UTLA rep created the Design Team for the unified proposal. Here is the link for the memo.
All interested parties need to remember that, per the superintendent's letter of November 6, Letters of Intent are due to LAUSD at psc@lausd.net by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 16.