A funny thing happened when Ben Austin was on his way to reforming LAUSD from within -- his paid petitioners to qualify him for the school board ballot for the Westside got screwed up and he didn't get enough signatures.
So Austin did a better thing. He went back to the Parents Union he started as an offshoot of Steve Barr's Green Dot charter school organization and now he's launching not a reform effort but a "Parent Revolution" to take apart the district school by school and put parents and teachers in charge.
"If 51% of the parents at your school sign the petition demanding a better school, we will guarantee your child a great school, in your neighborhood, within three years" -- that's the promise made by the organization.
"The Parent Revolution is about power, plain and simple," Austin says on the group's website www.parentrevolution.org. "It's about taking power from bureaucrats, special interests, and -- yes -- politicians, and giving it to parents. Because parents are the only people without a conflict of interest when it comes to the future of our kids. We will stand with any leader who is willing to embrace -- and be held accountable to -- that agenda."
On Wednesday, Austin will be joined by parents and children for the group's formal launch at 8:30 a.m. at Gertz-Ressler High School and Richard Merkin Middle School, which are both run by Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, a charter operator.
"Together, we call upon all the parents of Los Angeles to sign up, stand up, stand together and speak with one voice - together, we are going to take back our schools for our kids, our communities, and our collective future.," he says in remarks prepared for the Wednesday's news conference.
A lot of different efforts have been undertaken to break the 30-year cycle of failure at LAUSD. Charters have whittled away at the edges despite strong resistance from the vast school bureaucracy and the unions.
The only reforms I believe that can succeed either in the schools or at City Hall involve citizen empowerment.
From Washington, to Sacramento, to LA, the last 50 years should have taught us what happens when the public becomes powerless, given nothing but a choice between tweedledee and tweedledum candidates.
Special interests have taken over our country, bought our politicians and sold out the public interest. Until the people have a seat at the table of power, we will not have a balance of competing interests or be able to fix our schools or our city.
It seems so obvious to me and yet I keep waiting and waiting for even a single prominent politician to step forward and embrace the idea of real democracy
So Austin did a better thing. He went back to the Parents Union he started as an offshoot of Steve Barr's Green Dot charter school organization and now he's launching not a reform effort but a "Parent Revolution" to take apart the district school by school and put parents and teachers in charge.
"If 51% of the parents at your school sign the petition demanding a better school, we will guarantee your child a great school, in your neighborhood, within three years" -- that's the promise made by the organization.
"The Parent Revolution is about power, plain and simple," Austin says on the group's website www.parentrevolution.org. "It's about taking power from bureaucrats, special interests, and -- yes -- politicians, and giving it to parents. Because parents are the only people without a conflict of interest when it comes to the future of our kids. We will stand with any leader who is willing to embrace -- and be held accountable to -- that agenda."
On Wednesday, Austin will be joined by parents and children for the group's formal launch at 8:30 a.m. at Gertz-Ressler High School and Richard Merkin Middle School, which are both run by Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, a charter operator.
"Together, we call upon all the parents of Los Angeles to sign up, stand up, stand together and speak with one voice - together, we are going to take back our schools for our kids, our communities, and our collective future.," he says in remarks prepared for the Wednesday's news conference.
A lot of different efforts have been undertaken to break the 30-year cycle of failure at LAUSD. Charters have whittled away at the edges despite strong resistance from the vast school bureaucracy and the unions.
The only reforms I believe that can succeed either in the schools or at City Hall involve citizen empowerment.
From Washington, to Sacramento, to LA, the last 50 years should have taught us what happens when the public becomes powerless, given nothing but a choice between tweedledee and tweedledum candidates.
Special interests have taken over our country, bought our politicians and sold out the public interest. Until the people have a seat at the table of power, we will not have a balance of competing interests or be able to fix our schools or our city.
It seems so obvious to me and yet I keep waiting and waiting for even a single prominent politician to step forward and embrace the idea of real democracy
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
Whatever happened to the PTA?
11:09a is right. EVERY school has a PTA or support team with parents who are ALREADY involved, interested and empowered. EVERY elementary school has a school site council ALREADY comprised of involved, interested and empowered parents working with teachers and principals. You didn't know this? Or is it easier just to opine your shallow understanding?
Good luck to Mr Austin. he'll need it. For some strange reason, the teachers Union-UTLA-spends way too much of their time and money defending the worst teachers. As the LA Times points out, it is virtually impossible to fire teachers. Its very frustrating to a strong union supporter like myself, to see what UTLA is doing, or has done, to our schools.
If the 'Parent Revolution' fails, then a full scale war against the Teachers Union will be the only recourse. I predict the next mayoral campaign will be fought along these lines. Between the folks who back a failed system, and others ( maybe Steve Barr himself) who will act to save our schools and our kids, since leaders like our current Mayor, have not been up to the task.
If the sanitation department stopped picking up our trash this city would go bananas, so why do we allow LAUSD to fail so miserably at educating our kids? Worse yet, why do we fork up the money to send our kids to private schools???
I applaud the Parent Revolution...where do i sign up?
Typical of Ron Kaye to ignore the fact that Mayor Villaraigosa will be in attendance.
Ron says he wants to the Mayor to give power to the people, and when he does with the Parent Revolution Ron conveniently ignores the fact.
The PTA is nothing but a fundraising group of parents. They're mostly a group of uninterested parents who are only interested in the school while their kids are there,not in education as a whole. I've been involved in 5 schools and none of them have had a strong PTA that anything more than sell cookie dough or gift wrap. So although that seems like the best place to find parents, it's not.
Good idea, 1:41, seek out the parents who aren't even interested in selling cookie dough... Good luck with that!
Anon 1:41pm
When I was involved with the PTA in the sixties
and seventies there was no one organizing us. We went to the meetings in the school auditoriums and volunteered to be room mother,
library worker, lunch time reading mother, teacher assistant, an officer of the group. It was not an IN Group situation, primarily it was
parents who wanted to be involved with the school.
Last year I was able to work with a young man
who was judged to be Attention Deficit Disorder
afflicted. It took me less than the hour to discover he was BORED in the classroom and just wanted to get out. I met with him all school semester and he would choose a book from the stacks and we would read it together. We both learned new things from those books. Parents can do the same thing with their children and their children's friends.
One does not have to be in a school buildiing to improve education. Whose children are they,anyway? You work? Well forget what you were going to do with your friends and get together with your own kids, get them into
after school orgs like scouting. little league.
Most of my kids graduated from the University and now are working with their own children.
This relationship grows until they grow up.
I am veteran LA teacher. I write a column to get the truth out about the wasteful bureaucracy, excess testing, and the hundreds of millions of dollars LAUSD wastes annually. I would hope that Ron would provide a link to my column.
http://www.examiner.com/x-3311-LA-Public-Education-Examiner~y2009m5d23-LAUSD-is-one-of-states-worst-urban-districts
I didn't say the parents were uninterested in selling cookie dough. I said that is ALL they do. I said they are uninterested in anything else BUT fundraising. If they are interested, the schools don't let them do much. They pay people to monitor the playground, work in the library and assist teachers. You can still be a room mother and help with the occasional party but the reality is that neither the teachers or the principals really want parents around. Those are the facts.
To anonymous 2:03 - I don't know what you're trying to infer about me. I am not a working mother. I've been a stay at home since the day my first child was born. My last is starting high school in the fall. I would say I'm the most involved parent at the school where my youngest attends. I know everything that is going on. That's how I know what I'm talking about. I am with my kids day and night and monitor all of their activities and friends. I was elected to the SLC for several years in a row. I'm just not interested in fundraising and I don't think that the PTA is the place to find involved parents. It sounds good in theory, but this isn't the 50's and 60's anymore.
1:41, the reason "neither the teachers or the principals really want parents around" is because parents don't really know much about education -- you see, if they did, they'd be IN education. Parents are not required by law to continually upgrade their skills/credentials like principals and teachers must. California teachers have standards to meet far beyond many other states, yet this blog keeps singing the same old tired ill-informed tune. Parents that fundraise are a really, really good thing.
that last comment -- that teachers know more than parents do about what's good for their own kids -- represents the kind of arrogance that got us into this mess in the first place.
Oh, dry up, 9:54 -- you completely missed 8:51's point and then you arrogantly twisted it to serve your own ignorant point of view. California teachers are trained in educating children through four years of college, Masters and Doctorate programs. Parents aren't required to do that in order to have kids. I bet you don't even know where to find the California Standards for grades one through eight. Take a look and then get back to us. Dazzle us with your brilliance.
Where have we gotten with your brilliant "California Standards for grades one through eight"? We've gotten 50% of our kids dropping out and 90% of our kids not going to college. Thanks but no thanks, I don't need your "brilliance." I agree with you that parents are not qualified to run a school. But are you really so arrogant to say that a parent is not qualified to make an informed choice between competing public school options for their child? Do you really think that parents are too stupid to choose a good school for their own child? Do you also think parents are too stupid to choose a doctor for their child because they don't have a medical degree? You are defending a status quo that has failed all of us -- from parents to kids to good teachers.
Good luck, Ben. As these comments indicate, you're going to need it.
5:30a is yet another prime example of this blog; manufacture an argument and then debate yourself.
I've watched Ben's campaign, and I'm still not entirely sold.
We'd be throwing one monopoly out for another, with no track record and with no guarantee that anything we do like about our school situation staying the same (principal or the good teachers).
I wish rather than asking us to recruit 51% of parents without any firm understanding of what we're recruiting for, we could be given something concrete. For instance when we get the 51%, are we likely to stay on the same campus? What's the likelihood that any current teachers would remain? Do parents get a say in hiring, or in policy (school year/uniforms/curriculum)?
We really need to know our options before we jump ship.
I'm a Venice mom and got got back from the revolution launch event. so inspiring and empowering. we can do this. we have to do this. this is our time!
I agree with Angel: what's the plan here? I know, we don't trust LAUSD so let's trust these folks, they sound good... besides, how much worse could it be than the kool aid we've been drinking? What is Ben Austin's public school pedigree? How many of the people who have signed the petitions supporting this 3 year notion expect someone else to do all the heavy lifting for them? (Bonus points if your guess is 95%). How many even realize what that work will look like - can't just drop Johnny off at school in the morning and pick him up after work...there is little accountability in LAUSD and after June 30, there will be less. And unless the Parent Revolution is intending on eliminating the collective bargaining agreements in LAUSD (over 80% of the revenue goes to salaries and benefits) and the "negotiated" rights of employees, parents still need to know how to work with teachers and administrators to create accountability and success for students. Even parents who have started independent charter schools (no, not operators like the Parent Union's parent, Green Dot- or Alliance but true PARENTS) understand this - they know that quality leadership and powerful relationships change schools.
The revolution sounds good until you mentioned the Mayor leave him out of our kids life he has destroyed his family's life due his infidelity and selfishness and no one should even begin to think that our kids are more important than his. go figure!!!! he will support the parents until he gets the edge hes seeking then he will betray them for his own selfish gain. "THAT'S WHO HE IS"
C'mon folks-use some logic here. Any qualifed group or individual can start a charter school. And no one can make you or your kids participate- so no monopoly there.
Down the line if any or all of the new charter schools are crappy- Guess what? You could still charter an alternative to that. Charters do not grant a school any exclusive rights to a neighborhood or population.
The existing charter schools are well aware of this point and serve their families accordingly.
Think this through- It is a bit of a paradigm shift.
I just looked up all the charter operators that 338 mentioned and all three are non profits with huge track records of sending kids to college. green dot is involved with major changes at locke high school in watts, changing the whole school into a much better school through new accountability measures. these guys all at least have a track record. the lausd is a bunch of morons who care more about child molesters than they do about children. i am a mom with two kids. sure, any kind of revolution is a risk or a leap of faith. but i sure like the odds with that crowd better than with the existing merry band of morons.
It was a very interesting event yesterday. I was one of 200 or 300 parents. I was there with two friends partly because we were curious, but mostly because we're frightened and scared about what to do for our kids. But everyone there was hopeful. At least this is a serious plan. It's certainly an interesting idea that seems somewhat real. That's more than I can say about the people running my lausd school in Venice.
These school operators have track records of doing better than awful (at this point anyone could run LAUSD better than they do). They demand a little parent involvement, and throw uniforms on the kids. Big deal.
What about schools with 900 API and parents who are used to being partners? What about classes that can't exist in a school of only 500 kids? The kids needing Italian 4 or Calc BC will suffer because with 125 kids per grade, there won't be the students or staff to fund those types of "electives."
Valley parents (and Westside parents too) want autonomy, but we don't want to hear about non-Title I schools getting less than 1/4 the funding of poorer schools. I think it's really time we talk about breaking up the district into manageable parts and look to the smaller districts that CAN survive without Title I as our model. Simi Valley, Conejo Valley, Burbank, Glendale, etc.
"major changes at Locke" ? "a serious plan"?
Read May 28th LA Times editorial on Locke - I think it is way too soon to be coming to conclusions about Locke. Charter schools appear to be a part of the solution but they are not a panacea - especially for parents of children with special needs (Special Ed takes a HUGE bite of LAUSD's budget) and for children who are English language learners. Both of these populations are routinely "counseled out" of charter schools.
Say what you will, those 900 API scores come from non-charter schools run by the same "band of morons".
I attended yesterdays event and had a great time.
As someone who has been fighting the system, for many, many years, not only for my own children but for the entire community, this is the first
time I have felt that "The light at the end of the tunnel", isn't another incoming train!
Every school isn't broken, but it's about time the Parents were mobilized, as one unit to make things happen. Schools that are working well don't need a Revolution, but there are many that do.
I appreciate the hard work of these parents,just like us, that want better for their kids.
This Revolution is not about "Making all Schools Charter," as many claim.
This is about Accountabilty.
We want the Politicians to stand with us also.
Not for the Photo Opportunity, but for the support of our students. If they want to come along for the ride, then that's great, and when they make poor choices, they will be held accountable .Remember we don't need them anymore,
together "We" have the power, They need "Us."
"major changes at Locke" ? "a serious plan"?
Read May 28th LA Times editorial on Locke - I think it is way too soon to be coming to conclusions about Locke. Charter schools appear to be a part of the solution but they are not a panacea - especially for parents of children with special needs (Special Ed takes a HUGE bite of LAUSD's budget) and for children who are English language learners. Both of these populations are routinely "counseled out" of charter schools.
Say what you will, those 900 API scores come from non-charter schools run by the same "band of morons".
"major changes at Locke" ? "a serious plan"?
Read May 28th LA Times editorial on Locke - I think it is way too soon to be coming to conclusions about Locke. Charter schools appear to be a part of the solution but they are not a panacea - especially for parents of children with special needs (Special Ed takes a HUGE bite of LAUSD's budget) and for children who are English language learners. Both of these populations are routinely "counseled out" of charter schools.
Say what you will, those 900 API scores come from non-charter schools run by the same "band of morons".
Fifty percent drop out rate, 90% not going to college, and child molesters in the classroom. keep trying to defend that as great for kids and parents.
We need radical change and we need it now because our kids only get one shot at a great education.
This is a tale of more than one issue masquerading as a single district. There are obviously schools with 50% drop outs, 90% not going to college, and what have you.
And there are kids who go to great schools--either magnets or whole campuses--who are expected from day one to graduate, go to college, and do.
There's no way we can address all their needs with one broad brush. I wouldn't assume that I know what the families at Locke want, anymore than I'd expect them to know what I want to see at my kids' schools.
We can all agree that most LAUSD schools are not performing well enough. So why do some schools perform better than others? Parents. Teachers in middle and high school only have our kids for 50 minutes per day, 5 days a week. Parents are the single most important influence on their child's decisions. We need to stop deferring responsibility. We parents need to roll up our sleeves, pool our resources and get to work making our schools better. You can complain, blame or make excuses all you want but that is not going to fix the problem.
The Los Angeles Parents Union is offering us help. They want to give us resources, get us organized, and help us navigate through the bureaucracy. This is a wonderful opportunity for all parents to band together and in the process gain real bargaining power with the district. The goals of the Parent Revolution are the same as mine: more accountability, parent choice and less bureaucracy resulting in higher graduation rates, more students attending college or trade school, more degrees, more options, and brighter futures for our kids. I'll sign up for that!
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
"Why do some schools perform better than others?" Parents ARE the most important influence on their children, we agree - yet many parents of children in LAUSD aren't a great influence on their children. They put the parenting responsibility on the school, they need help learning HOW to parent - they don't take an interest in a child's school or life, often don't have the ability to help their child academically, sometimes are intimidated by their own teenager's behaviors - you get the idea. THAT is the reality here. The great majority of these students in LAUSD schools come from families of poverty - 460 schools are at 65% poverty level or greater - and over 73% of the schools in LAUSD receive Title One funding (ostensibly) to compensate for that. Do we agree that children from many of those families (including the homeless and foster children) have the same out-of-classroom educational opportunities and/or role models from their parents? I hope we'd agree that they don't - and add to that the very high English language learner and special ed population with unmet needs and the challenges of finding good principals for our schools and a reasonable system of evaluating teachers, a lopsided collective bargaining environment with unfunded pension and health benefit commitments and you have many of the elements contributing to the current state of affairs. The state budget - and California's per pupil allocation only exacerbates the situation. Oh, and parents are not the only reason some schools perform better than others - school leadership is the single biggest challenge facing LAUSD. A good principal can turn a failing school around in 3 years.
8:56, please don't blame parents for the state of our schools. low income students at many charter schools do very well. At the school I was at this week for the Parent Revolution launch, the principal said that 95% of the kids were on free and reduced lunch, and 97% are going to college. The problem is not the parents, the problem is that LAUSD schools don't think our kids can learn.
As for a good principal being able to turn around a school, that is a myth, at least as it applies to the LAUSD because they have no authority. A principal has no hire and fire authority, they have no budget authority, they have very little curriculium authority. But if you want to build a garden at the school, the principal can probably help with that.
I don't mean to say there aren't good principals (or lots and lots of good and great teachers). The problem is the system itself that makes no sense to me as a parent.
9:27, the Alliance charter schools ARE making a difference, as you say... and smaller, safer schools may be part of the solution but making a statement that LAUSD schools don't think our kids can learn is just too broad, particularly without examining/comparing the academic records of the rest of the charter schools in LA before coming to such a conclusion. I agree that LAUSD is basically a jobs factory with no accountability and no consequences for failure and that the federal system seems to reward failing schools ALL OVER the country with more money - as if there is a connection between increased spending and increased learning.
Maybe the link below will shed some light on this for us.
The Schott Foundation for Public Education has released a new 50-state report on the
opportunity to learn in America. "Lost Opportunity" is a state-by-state analysis of student
performance data reported by state departments of education that determines the
opportunity to learn in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Schott Foundation
used resource models to identify the four core minimum resources that are necessary if a
child -- regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status -- is to have a fair and
substantive opportunity to learn: high-quality early childhood education; highly qualified
teachers and instructors in grades K-12; college preparatory curricula that will prepare all
youth for college, work, and community; and equitable instructional resources. As the
nation observes the 55th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education U.S.
Supreme Court decision, the study shows that minority and low-income students have
half the opportunity to learn in public schools than their white, non-Latino peers do. The
report also gives a state-by-state comparison of both academic proficiency (percentage of
students scoring at or above proficient on eighth grade NAEP reading measures) and
equity (as measured by a tool created by the Schott Foundation, called the Opportunity to
Learn Index).
See the report: http://blackboysreport.org/otlwebsite/
I think this Parent Revolution is just another political ploy. You just watch. Their leader will gather a group for himself or herself, then he or she will ask them for money to fuel his campaign for political office.
Ask these questions of the Parent Revolution:
How many parents have degrees in education?
How many parents have teaching credentials (which really do teach you how to be a better teacher)?
How many parents know how to balance a school budget when the state and local district keep taking money away from it?
How many parents are willing to spend their weekends painting the classrooms and doing basic repairs on them after they sign waivers stating they will never sue the district if a paint can falls on their head, plus wait for approval from the district, which is beholding to OSHA, for the approved kind of paint they can buy? Truly, how many parents will spend their weekends painting the schools? Some will, but how many? And will those who help get burned out quickly?
Finally, how many parents will stay with a school to help it after their child leaves it?
How is the Parent Revolution going to address that problem of those great years when great parents come in and do a lot verses those years when the parents won't come to help and won't even show up at Back-to-School Night?
You just watch----someone is gathering an army for himself to fund his political career!
Funny you should say that... Austin is suing a political consultant for allegedly botching his signature-gathering campaign during his run for Marlene Canter's school board seat....
Spiffy-
Your logic confounds us. Are you talking about George Washington? I mean "army" "political career" etc.
If you're relly paying attention- you'd realize that the top players in this revolution already HAVE political careers- no need to raise an army for that.
And PS- ONLY trained, credentialed teachers can teach at charters schools- that's the law.
And as far as parents having degrees in education, neither do teachers with a BA and credential- The Ryan Act prohibits education majors except after they get a credential.
How many current school bureaucrats know how to balance a school budget?
And charter schools cannot have parents waive liability claims.
You have been brainwashed, but I think it's not too late for you.
You're just scared.
it's amazing to watch the rhetorical contortions of someone trying to defend and indefensible status quo.
Maybe someone can share light on this---
but I understand the only way to dismantle LAUSD is a move by the governor. Or by the state congress.
Is this accurate?
The LAUSD cannot stop a coordinating group of parents and high quality non profit charters from draining the district of kids. The only sure-fire way to stop it is to learn how to run great schools. And fast.
WHY ARE WE BULDING SCHOOLS AND LAYING OFF TEACHERS WHY ARE WE BUILDING SCHOOLS AND LAYING OFF TEACHERS WHY WHY WHY
WE ARE TAKING HOMES WHERE THE KIDS LIVE THEN BUILDING A SCHOOL AFTER YOU HAVE DISPLACED/ RELOCATED THE POTENTIAL STUDENTS THEN YOU REMOVE THE TEACHERS. SOMEBODY NEEDS TO ANSWER.
"Why are we building schools and laying off teachers"?
We're building schools because voters in Los Angeles have repeatedly voted to support billions in school construction bonds, that's why - remember Prop BB, Measure R, Y, Q... it has nothing to do with Prop 98 or any of the state or federal funding allocated to operating the schools.
The school construction bond program is separate from the funding provided to actually staff and operate the schools. What is really tragic is that I'll bet only 65% of every bond dollar actually gets to the new schools -
"Accountability?" "Because parents are the only people without a conflict of interest when it comes to the future of our kids."
Wait a minute, highly paid executive Ben Austin doesn't have a conflict of interest in the hostile takeovers of public schools? Really? The Beverly Hills Barrister, Ben Austin, isn't a community volunteer, and his parent corporation Green Dot (non-profit status notwithstanding, they're a corporation nonetheless) stands to gain financially from taking over more schools. In fact, the more schools Ben Austin can coerce to privatized charters, the more money he makes! By definition that is a conflict of interest.
Who writes the trash above... wait a minute, we know: the paid staff of the astroturf organizations like the woefully misnamed "Parent Revolution" née Los Angeles Parent Union, front groups for the private corporation Green Dot. Really think these rich white guys are going to be more accountable than the status quo? Try the following: call Green Dot or any of their phony front groups and ask them how much Steve Barr, Marco Petruzzi, or Ben Austin makes a year. Wont tell you? Yet Ben Austin claims there is total accountability and transparency! What gives?
No conflict of interest? Try this, using a paid for chartered busses to pick up parents, give them free t-shirts and lunches on the way to pack a Green Dot Public Schools Board of Directors meeting the way Ben Austin arranges his "grass roots cum astroturf" parent organization to pack LAUSD meetings. Would Steve Barr and his band of elite board members welcome them like the subservient kowtowing Monica Garcia does when Petruzzi, Barr, and Austin's "volunteers" show up.
Ben Austin's career reads as a seedy list of working for and with the most unsavory characters in Los Angeles politics. His latest pay for gig as a parent advocate is more of the same. While real activists are actually struggling to change things in our school district, Ben Austin and his astrotuf wrecking crew are insuring the mortgage notes on his Beverly Hills bungalow, and Steve Barr's lavish Silver Lake estate are being paid by their charter cash cow.
While Ben Austin is endorsing fat checks from William Gates and Eli Broad, we are out in the communities working with parents and teachers to effect real change from below. A "parent advocate" and "revolutionary" indeed. If there is a more disingenuous person in Los Angeles than Mr. Austin, I'd love to know. To all the anonymous (read LAPU staffers), my name is Robert D. Skeels and I live in District 2. We will be working to recall your crony the LAUSD Board President from office soon. You're no Parent Revolution, just a reactionary corporate money grab, and given your funders listed above you are more a "Billionaires Revolution."