I voted for Bennet Kayser because he has been in the classroom and knows what the students' needs are. Luis Sanchez is probably a nice guy but he doesn't really know what matters in the classroom.

We voted for Kayser! I hope he wins!

I voted against Sanchez in the primary because I thought he'd be a rubber stamp for Villaraigosa, but I voted against Kayser yesterday strictly because of the despicable nature and tone of his campaign's endlessly negative and smeary campaign flyers. Perhaps Kayser and the teachers union can be proud of his victory, but not the manner in which it was achieved.

You guys must be joking. This was neither a substantive election nor a mandate. This election simply proves that you cannot overcome a 3,000 teacher initial vote deficit in a low-turnout election. It's an indictment of the process itself, not the candidate.

Please read about it here:

http://edobserver.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-sham-school-board-election.html

The smear campaign is just a footnote in the annals of teacher union abuse of power. Their sense of entitlement and presumed moral authority is wrong.

Discussion of the issues in this election was especially light. The teacher unions have been salting the fields for years and it seems that attacking them directly doesn't win in the polls today, at least not in California. It should and it must if we're ever to retake the schools from the teacher union stewards.

"But, according to Amelia Velazquez, an El Sereno Middle School teacher and key organizer for Kayser, phone-banking, precinct walking and community meetings all helped in the victory."

I pity the parents who fell for Kayser's love song and who will see the LAUSD continue to stagnate under UTLA duress.

Reporting on this race was virtually non-existent which played into the UTLA vote suppression scheme. How many mothers from East LA were voting absentee ballot do you think? How many of Kayser's 4,358 absentee votes (out of 8,854) came from the 5,000 teachers and administrators employed in schools in SB5? The conflict of interest and clear effect on the outcome of this election is scandalous.

Kathleen, this system is rotten to the core and I hope that we don't forget this election.

The UTLA supplied absentee ballot request forms in the April 22 edition of United Teacher. Sanchez probably got a few absentee votes from school SEIU employees who supported his campaign but he started with a an 1,874 vote deficit after counting absentee voters. With 7.5% turn-out, Sanchez needed to win 42% more votes than Kayser to win after absentees (6,370 vs. 4,496). By getting 6,098 at-poll votes to Kayser's 4,490, he won 36% more votes at-poll, closing the gap to 272 votes. Let's repeat that. Sanchez needed 41% more votes than Kayser to win after teachers voted. See my calculations here.

http://edobserver.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-sham-school-board-election.html

This is clearly not a fair process when the reform candidate needs 42% more votes to win after the teachers get finished voting.

Teachers are not the enemy! History has shown time and time again that societies lacking respect for teachers tend to be corrupt.

I am curious as to what "education reform" actually means to people who use it as ammunition to bash public school teachers. What I see being done in the name of reform is a corporate takeover of the schools. The mayor, his cronies, and the new superintendent are all in the pockets of billionaire "philanthropists". Do you really think Broad, Gates, Walden, etc. are looking out for the interests of our poor, urban youth? Really?!?! Time will show you the folly of believing that educators should be thrown under the bus while corporations take the tax dollars you spend to educate the underserved of our nation.

Kathleen, thank you. If you or anyone else can save some of those UTLA mailers and other evidence of this rail-roading of a very good man (Luis Sanchez), please do and email me at "stoputla at gmail.com". Thank you for your sensible replies to the increasingly common characterization of common-sense reform as being some right-wing conspiracy. Frankly, on education issues, the left has been complicit and conservative in this debate for a half-century now, with tragic consequences. Also pickup a copy of "Special Interest" by Terry Moe of you get a chance. It's a serious book worth a serious read. He's a serious Democrat also, for what it's worth. Keep speaking out, we need you. The kids need you.

"History has shown time and time again that societies lacking respect for teachers tend to be corrupt."

And this is really the crux of the overall debate today.

As a society we have all of this ritual pity for teachers. Specifically the great teachers give the underperformers a free ride because as a society, we do not differentiate well enough.

But more than this, the enemies of reform use our altruism toward teachers against us. It's a calculated strategy to mislead and to prevent there from ever being the kinds of changes we need to make every school effective.

If the teacher unions were policing the profession, there would be no need to fight them. But they hold us hostage when we fall for the siren song that all teachers are worthy of our love and that teacher unions are the good guys. They're ripping us off.

One day someone is going to tally up the socio-economic effects of tenure and teacher unionism and what they will find is quite simply that these folks have destroyed and bankrupted America. When you invest as we have, more than $8 trillion to improve public education since 1960 (which would be $20 or $30 trillion with interest) and have received no improvements in the outcomes for kids, that's it. There's no redo for the tens of millions of kids we fail every year and we can't reinvest that money more productively. It's gone.

It may be too late for America but it's never too late for justice. I'm outraged.

Kathleen,
I also think there needs to be massive change in our public school system. Students need to be taught how to think critically, question thoughtfully, and they deserve to have the best teachers we can provide. We should be able to get rid of teachers who do not perform well in their jobs.
I did not say I am against charters. I am wary of corporate charters run by non-educators. I am wary of the fact that there is very little oversight of how charters are run. I am afraid of the effect of the high-stakes testing climate that prevails in our system. We teach children to memorize discreet bits of information and that problems have only one answer. The kids in LAUSD are being left behind not by their teachers or the union, but by scripted programs and teaching to the test. THAT is what needs to change. Why do so many of our kids drop out? Because we fail to give them any chance to be responsible. We give them no opportunity to be intrinsically motivated.
They are burned out by outdated rote learning. They see no way to apply their knowledge. They see no connection to their lives.
I urge you to take a look at what really needs to change. I can tell you that it is not the test scores in third grade.

" I am wary of corporate charters run by non-educators"

Be wary of bad schools that don't teach kids.

There are plenty of charters run by educators who do a rotten job.

Results are results. The rest is just a thinly veiled excuse to preserve the status quo. I'm sorry, but it is, explicitly and implicitly. All of these carefully nuanced objections to change result in... dada! No change!

This situation sickens me as it should every caring and thoughtful American.

Where is discussion regarding the parents' role in ensuring educational success? Teachers are a tool. We are foolish if we believe that a teacher, no matter how talented, can create a classroom of kids that excel. It is the parents that do this. I was raised in East L.A. and am a product of LAUSD. I went on to achieve success not because of a teacher, but because of the lessons and examples of my janitor father and sweat shop employee mother. Yes, my teachers supplied the tools to learn, but my parents created the environment that made it happen. Sure, some teachers are better than others. But the break down in inner cities is not due to a lack of talented and motivated teachers. It is due to parents that do not know how to raise an academically successful child because they were not raised in that environment. If the candidates and their supporters put the same energy into working with parents as they do bashing each other, the results will come. And the beauty of it is that you don't have to spend tons of money getting elected to make this happen. Just go out and do it. So let's be honest, this race is not about what is best for the kids. It is about a beauty pageant. If you are serious about change then just go out and get it down. Work with parents and teach them how to work with their kids. Work on providing them the guidance and tools to ensure that they know that THEY are responsible for success - not the teachers.

There are many problems to fix in LAUSD and much blame to go around. UTLA teachers and LAUSD administrators share some of the responsibility with parents and to some small extent with the students themselves. However a lot of the blame goes also to the socio-economic factors that leave many of our population disadvantaged and disenfranchised. A good portion of blame can go to our living in a society that pretends to value education and learning while at the same time obsessing over athlete's tweets, celebrity sex tapes, the newest gadgets and the gaining of more material prosperity in general. Tough for English, History and Algebra to compete with all of that, especially when there are smartphones in the room.

I do find it interesting that while many have expressed being buried under UTLA campaign flyers, we got just the opposite. 4 or 5 Luis Sanchez glossy pamphlets, all with little kids staring adoringly up at him, greeted us every day upon our return home. Maybe it's our Latino last names but I don't think so. Sanchez outspent Kayser 3 to 1. Check out this LA City link if you don't believe me: http://ethics.lacity.org/disclosure/campaign/totals/public_election.cfm?election_id=42#S168
It adds up to about $3million which is disgusting when you're talking about just 17,000 votes and a local School Board race.

Sanchez paid about $235 per vote while Kayser paid out about $80 per vote. Sanchez obviously had the superior war chest in this one. Who funded him and why?

here is a little happy:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/california-gov-brown-takes-step-toward-testing-sanity/2011/05/18/AFpGOc6G_blog.html#pagebreak

Did Kayser win? Woo hoo! Finally, the community gets a voice, for a change.

The City Clerk's office is still counting some outstanding ballots that were submitted by hand or by mail as well as those damaged in the process. The count could affect the outcome in LAUSD district 5, since it is so close. I just posted the Elections Divison's statement about this, including the mandated handcount that's coming Monday, on this article.

the attack by the USUAL SUSPECTS and the MACHINE is pretty amazing. The UNIONS are grasping at all costs to maintain status quo and mediocrity for the weakest voices of our community.

Public education needs people who will have the courage to use their vote for the effective change that is needed. I believe that many in the community want the power to be wrestled away from THE MACHINE. This MACHINE is the one that cries out for more money and then uses the lack of as the excuse for not educating certain kids. Don't be fooled about

The people in the Machine disguise themselves as being for the kids.... and an attack on them is played out to look as an attack on kids. They're sort of like the terrorists that hide in schools so no one will shoot at them.

IN THE FUTURE.... VOTE AGAINST ANYONE THE UNION SUPPORTS.
KIDS ARE NOT FIRST FOR THEM.
THE TEACHER'S UNION IS THE BIGGEST FRAUD OF OUR TIME!!!

let's see....48th in the nation in per student funding....
BUT #1 in the NATION in AVG TEACHER SALARIES!! 
Go California TEACHER"S UNION!!

http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fr/sa/cefavgsalaries.asp

Every school district should post the salaries & benefits of its employees to show how great OUR UNIONS ARE DOING FOR OUR TEACHERS! See SGUSD's link:

http://www.sgusd.k12.ca.us/www/sangabrielusd/site/hosting/1.%20BUDGET/SGUSD%20-%202010-11%20District%20Paid%20All%20Employee%20Costs_041211.pdf

I am a LAUSD teacher. I do not live in District 5, so I was not able to vote in this runoff and I did not see any flyers. I hope Kayser is declared the final winner because the teachers need a stronger voice on the board and I think his experience in the classroom will benefit board decisions.

Many people who shout for reform see teachers unions as an impediment to change and seem to think that charter schools will be a panacea. Although there are some teachers that have great difficulty teaching (and should consider a different occupation), the union still serves a purpose. Principals have a tremendous amount of power and ability to get rid of teachers. I have seen a principal at a middle school I used to work at displace a popular (and effective) history teacher (during the year!) and make other teachers miserable if they disagreed with her or crossed her. Detractors may decry that CA has a high avg. teacher salary, but they need to remember that CA also has a high cost of living. Recent studies of charter schools show "on average, charter schools do no better than public schools" (but do have more impact in urban areas...Christian Science Monitor, June 29, 2010).

What affects student success?
Teacher's experience with the curriculum
[changing the teacher into a new subject or grade level can
drastically affect effectiveness; displacement took me from
a middle school to an elementary school...big change!]
Teacher's ability to engage, motivate and implement "best practices"
Teacher's ability to provide project-based learning and use creative
strategies that are not reflected by the CST
Teacher's ability to manage classroom behavior
The principal's ability to lead and support teachers to teach
The number of standards that the teacher is given to teach
Quality and quantity of resources for intervention to help struggling students
Parent support of their children - make sure that homework gets done!
Students with difficult family situations (I have students whose fathers are in prison...a few have not seen their fathers for many years....there are plenty of divorces and anger issues)
Students with behavioral issues that disrupt class
Students who come far below grade level (and find it easier to disrupt than to learn)
Many teachers comment how they get a different group each year
Whole groups of students affect effectiveness!
Students with special education needs
English Learners (try teaching 8th grade Physics to students who have been in the US for a few months and have never spoken English before)
Students who aren't eating enough (despite the meal programs)
And there's more!

My point is (sorry for being so long-winded), improving student achievement requires us to address many issues. It is not as simple as "destroy the unions" or "tax the rich". Teachers play an important role, but there are many other factors.

On top of this, schools and teachers are starting to be publicly rated by their students' CST scores.
This is highly controversial because No Child Left Behind's 2014 goal is a recipe for disaster when used to rate schools. A school gets dinged if one sub-category of children does not sufficiently score (could be one out of 23 categories, but one is enough to tarnish the whole school's reputation). A LAUSD public elementary school with an API over 800 (pretty high!) missed one category and is classified as "2011-12 Schools At Risk" (KIPP and many other charter schools in that same category).

NCLB is also controversial because the CST is a limited assessment of what a teacher brings to his/her students.

California is ranked low in achievement and we have terrible drop-out rates, but I think you will see other states go lower as federal standards become more unified.

The system needs money so we can keep great teachers (many of whom just got RIFed), but throwing money at the problem will not be sufficient in itself. LAUSD needs to focus more of their funds on the classroom (less on consultants and construction) and allow more transparency.

There are many issues that we need to address with care!

1. Why don't Teacher Union leaders put their own kids and grand kids in the classes of the teachers they protect that are shuffled around? ....Why are the poor, the minorities stuck with mediocrity?

2. Why does the Teacher's Union contract keep us from placing and rewarding our best teachers according to need?

3. Where would additional monies go.... if California already has the highest Avg. Teacher Salary in the nation? Would it go for appropriate support in the classroom?

4. What are we doing about all the kids whose needs are not being met.... and eventually are pushed out or drop out?

5. Why have our education leaders been more about PROTECTING JOBS and maintaining power then EDUCATING KIDS?

UTLA is not as great and powerful as people make it out to be.
UTLA last negotiated a raise 10 years ago.
UTLA negotiated a pay cut last year in the form of furlough days.
UTLA tried to advance lesson study, where teachers collaborate on lessons, the district did not accept it.
UTLA worked on a committee with LAUSD upper administration to revise teacher evaluations.
UTLA has no input to curriculum that teachers are forced to teach that produce the dismal results, that will be used to determine teacher effectiveness, not the curriculum's effectiveness.

When you've got attacks on unions, nationwide, its sort of undeniable that the attacks are orchestrated.

the truth is.... people are finally 'waking up'!...
Teacher's Unions are the elephant in the room and (if you're paying attention) IN THE WAY OF NEARLY EVERY REFORM EFFORT. THEY FIGHT ANYTHING THAT APPEARS TO MAKE TEACHERS ACCOUNTABLE.

If UNIONS would instead promote the qualities of good teachers (AND NOT PROTECT THE BAD)..... we wouldn't be facing the UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES that are and will eventually be forced onto the public education realm by aggressive government regulation. If the greedy leaders can't self regulate.... they will get hit with a tsunami!... just watch!

Let me share something i read recently that contains many of the qualities that are needed....

A good teacher:

the most important one is the ability to inspire students to want to learn more about what has been taught in class, whether that is math, writing, science, or civility.

*Is aware, as far as possible, of each students’ academic strengths and weaknesses

*Plans lessons that cover the range of students’ instructional needs and connect to their interests

*Adjusts lessons while teaching in response to students’ questions and actions

*Demonstrates respect and trust for students that they, in turn, give back to her/him and their classmates

*Establishes a system of small group and independent learning that allows students to experience the roles of leader, follower, partner, and innovator

*Discusses behavior or work problems with the offenders privately, out of respect for their dignity.

*Makes an effort to include an encouraging comment or two when critiquing student work

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-real-qualities-of-teacher-excellence/2011/03/16/ABqodRh_blog.html

School reformers tend to be over-confident; teacher unions prefer to win. The UTLA is not required to disclose how much money they had on-tap for this election. My sources told me that they allocated $5 million last year. So they finished with multiple millions left over. They figured that they didn't need to spend the money to get Kayser elected.

Reformers are continually baraged by requests to conduct all deliberations in public. Why don't we ask the same of the teacher unions? I'd love to see the UTLA battle plans for this election. The decision to not mention the election at all at the 5/13 rally in Pershing Square is most interesting. They could have put Kayser on the front page of the LA Times very easily. Instead, they chose to make the election a non-issue to make sure that the 3,000+ "educator" members who voted would not have their votes dilluted.

As spending from the Sanchez campaign shows, mailers didn't get voters out to the polls -- it was money wasted. Had the election been sensationalized, Sanchez would have done better. But the UTLA wasn't going to do it and the union-backed initiative that prevented large dollar contributions to candidates made it much harder for Sanchez to do something big himself.

Short of having Sanchez and the Mayor drive through District 5 in a Pope-mobile, I know what Sanchez could have done to improve his odds. These races exist so that the teacher unions win when they want.

@Windy, A NY Times editorial worth reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/education/07winerip.html
@Anthony, it sounds as if you were condemning all non-charter public school teachers as "crap." I hope I read your words incorrectly. UTLA has a right to SOME input regarding new forms of teacher assessment. I don't think that its position has been to hold this up indefinitely but to assure some level of fairness within a system that of late has placed 100% of the burdens upon the shoulders of the teachers,rather than on administrators, politicians, socio-economic realities, and educational lobbyists. Windy's mother sounds like a great teacher. In fact, there are many caring, committed teachers in the district, all of whom are UTLA members, and many of whom have reservations regarding proposed models of evaluation that focus solely on test scores. Your views are tremendously simplistic, highly emotionally charged and border on fanaticism.

LOL, I have no relationship to the UTLA except respect for teachers and an interest in civil rights. I taught at a private school and I have no union support in my life, but I support them completely. I see a bigger picture and a complicated world. You my dear are the bully and I believe that we all have work to do, to improve and to support all the teachers and schools for all the children. Not so simple.

Lili, that article is, heart breaking and absolutely worth reading. Thank you

Ugh, Mr.Anthony Krinsky, you are not reasonable and I have waisted my time. please rethink, because all this energy you spout, could do something good somewhere. I know a soup kitchen that need volunteers, join me. Now I have to go and raise my children and be present in the truth.

And please have respect for those who can not defend themselves. God bless.

change is coming one way or another folks.... with all due respect to the old guard... don't let the "more-money-or-else" people distract us from the REAL issues. More money will NEVER solve our education crisis until we honestly confront the REAL obstacles.
listen to the following conversation 
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/KevinJ

Yay, Bennett Won! He has lives and works in the community all these years he should represent the community! An educator should be working with education. YAY!
May all good decisions be made not because there is a political machine but because the the decisions should be made. Bennett is beholden to no one and hopes to become nothing else but a good representative. YAY

Most people love teachers.... and are not aware that unions, on the other hand, don't really care for kids.... as many elite union leaders have proven. The fuming we now see from the former monopoly holders of public education makes evident that a nerve has been touched... and their days are numbered.

The bottom line is if you care about kids....it should be irrelevant if it is a charter school that is educating them. The Unions have been the main culprit to the demise of our public educational system that they, ironically, helped build. The sad reality is the current generation of Union leaders have so much power that they have lost sight of the adjustments that are needed. Instead, they use their political clout and extraordinary capital to put people (90% Democrats) in office. Because progressive political leaders usually get into power with the support of the Unions, they usually don't speak against the hand that's feeding them.

The teachers union have dug their heals so deep... they couldn't dance if they wanted. They are masters at lame excuses for not educating our kids and justify their failure mainly to lack of money. The leadership is antiquated, misguided AND irresponsible. Instead of self correcting.... they'll come out attacking the brightest minds of our time to "spin" and deflect the reality. Just watch them here! It is one of the biggest frauds of our time!!!

Seniority and tenure hurts kids because teachers cannot be placed according to need. During this budget crisis.... there was never the thought that maybe the teachers could take a small pay cut during this time. As it is... California has the highest average Teacher salaries in the nation.... and because we are the bottom in per student spending.... teachers absorb most of the budget.

It saddens me that the teacher's Unions have tarnished the teaching profession to the extent that the Charter School movement was forced as an alternative to the monopoly the Union has strangled. Because Charter schools are free public schools.... Union people have been trained to bad mouth a system most know little about.

IF YOU CARE ABOUT KIDS.... from now on...VOTE FOR SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES THAT ARE PARENTS OF STUDENTS.... and campaign against anyone the TEACHERS UNION SUPPORTS OR ENDORSES.

I am pro-charter and what ever that works. I spoke to Bennett about all this, he is pro-what works too. It's not black and white. Stop trying to divide. L. Sanchez never ever answered to the neighborhoods, he didn't show up or care. L Sanchez is not from us or for us, Charter or or regular Public school we need someone who knows us all and cares for us all.