Incoming L.A. schools chief did not lie about teaching at Loyola Marymount, dean confirms [Updated]

Contrary to reports circulating on the Internet, incoming L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy did not lie about teaching courses at Loyola Marymount University, a top college official told the Los Angeles Times.

Deasy was a part-time faculty member in the doctorate program when he also served full time as the superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, said Shane Martin, dean of the School of Education at Loyola. 

“John was a very successful professor,” Martin said.

The allegation apparently originated with a call to confirm Deasy’s employment, and the caller was told incorrectly there was no record of him having worked there. From there, the allegation went viral.

Martin did not dispute what the caller was told. The school has been changing its recordkeeping system, and complete employment records were not available to everyone who might have performed such a check, he said.

Loyola has one of the region’s leading education and teacher training programs.

Other Deasy critics have noted his résumé once listed the wrong year he received his master’s degree, citing 1987 instead of 1989. The current version has been corrected.

Deasy’s career has come under intense scrutiny for two reasons: He is associated with some controversial reform ideask and his former academic mentor was convicted of defrauding universities and tax evasion -- charges that have nothing to do with Deasy.

Separately, the disgraced academic Robert Felner granted Deasy an unusual waiver that allowed him to finish his doctorate coursework in one semester by transferring credits earned elsewhere. The University of Louisville in Kentucky later investigated and reaffirmed the validity of Deasy’s doctorate.

While completing his doctorate, Deasy recommended a center run by Felner for a $375,000 contract with Santa Monica-Malibu. No issues have arisen with the work performed, but Felner later was accused of defrauding his own center by not turning over money earned through such work.

RELATED:

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L.A. Unified selects Deasy as superintendent of schools

-- Howard Blume

[For the record, 11:12 a.m.: An earlier version of this post version incorrectly stated Loyola is in Del Rey. The campus is in Westchester.]

Comments

[LA Woman]

I have my Masters in Psychology from Loyola Marymount. Recently, I applied for a job and asked that a copy of the background report being run being sent to me. To my surprise, when LMU was contacted for verification of dates of attendance and a MA degree, it was documented that a LMU official stated I had attended school there for a 6 month period (when it was in fact about 2 years) and that they didn't have a record of me obtaining a MA. Thankfully, the potential employer knew this was a clear mistake on their part (I have a diploma stating my degree), but my experience and the one above begs some serious questions about their records system and department. For starters, I'd suggest LMU take some of the money they put into their very fancy printed quarterly books and solicitations for funds I receive regularly and put it into updating/correcting whatever is at the root of this problem. If a graduate ends up confirming they've lost a job because of record keeping problems LMU is aware of, they will be held liabel.

[L.A. Unified is a Joke!!!]

Where does L.A. Unified come up with these questionable candidates??? Of all of the qualified edcators in California available this is your "Best" candidate? Wow, our tax dollars are continuing to be wasted on super- intendents and especially on a worthless school "Board".
No wonder L.A.'s scores are so low.
We have low expectations in selecting our school leadership.

[Cypress1]

The entire situation with respect to the University of Louisville and Dr. Deasy calls for what's known as "investigative reporting." Otherwise, we are trusting someone who is potentially morally culpable with our school district's future.

Also, giving credibility to that University in question to verify the rectitude of its own awarding of a degree is insufficient in this situation. Wouldn't that university, if it, or its representatives, participated in such a quid pro quo, have a self-interest in protecting its reputation?

Therefore, and particularly in light of the importance of Dr. Deasy's appointment to the future of our children, the Los Angeles Times needs to behave like less than the PR org it has seemed and more like the fourth estate that it should be and conduct a full and independent investigation into what has been typical of the University of Louisville awarding such degrees and also, perhaps, what is typical of other major universities awarding doctorates in education. In this way only will Dr. Deasy be cleared of such an appearance of impropriety.

Furthermore, should such an investigation indicate that Dr. Deasy's doctorate was awarded under suspect circumstances, it might be advisable to invite some independent experts in education to review Dr. Deasy's 178-page dissertation. This is because if shortcuts were taken in awarding him a degree based in part upon that dissertation, then Dr. Deasy could very well have taken shortcuts in writing it. This is something that only experts in the field of education would be capable of evaluating.

[gravytrain]

DEASY AP MATERIAL?

U.S. News Graduate School of Education Rankings

UCLA overall Rank 6

University of Louisville overall Rank 74

So of course, give the the girls, boys, and parents of Los Angeles someone from the 74th ranked school. Bravo!

[Larry Braxton]

"Deasy was a part-time faculty member in the doctorate program when he also served full time as the superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, said Shane Martin, dean of the School of Education at Loyola."

I was unaware that Loyola Marymount granted PhD. degrees - or does the reporters poor sentence structure create a question?

[Duke]

The last time the district hand picked a superintendent, they chose Admiral Brewer. We all know how that turned out. They paid Brewer this huge sum of money to be their puppet. Now, I read they are paying Deasey $330,000 a year. Are you kidding me? At a time where the district has been laying off thousands of workers, we have enough money to fatten this guys pockets like this? What a crime.

[Bill]

for Larry Braxton, LMU grants Ed.D. degrees -- educational doctorate.