Senior LAUSD officials knew of child abuse claims, lawyers say

Senior LAUSD officials were allegedly aware of parent complaints in 2009 about a Wilmington teacher who was charged in January with abusing children over an extended period of time, say attorneys who represent alleged victims.

The latest allegations concern the case of Robert Pimentel, 57, who has been charged with molesting 12 students at De La Torre Elementary School. Pimentel has pleaded not guilty.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials had previously acknowledged Pimentel’s principal was aware of allegations in 2002 and 2008. The principal’s alleged failure to act was cited as reason for her removal by L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy. Both Pimental and Principal Irene L. Hinojosa resigned as the district was preparing to fire them.

The superintendent said in January that he did not know whether allegations against Pimental went higher than the principal.

On Thursday, attorneys alleged the allegations reached senior officials, namely Holly Priebe-Diaz, a veteran district mediator, and Linda Del Cueto, who oversees instructional programs in the San Fernando Valley. In 2009, she was one of eight top regional administrators across the nation’s second-largest school system.

LAUSD considers allowing students to enter magnets all year long

Officials are working to set up a system that would allow students to enter popular magnet programs all year long in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The revamped admission process, previewed at Tuesday’s school board meeting, would address a long-standing problem: Programs are oversubscribed during the once-a-year admissions process, but underenrolled during the subsequent academic year.

Currently, there are 172 magnet programs in the nation’s second-largest school system. On the whole, they are among the top academic performers in the school system, in large measure because they attract some of the most motivated students and families.

L.A. Unified typically has had to turn away thousands of students — many of whom have migrated to independently operated charter schools instead. And yet, about 12% of magnet seats are vacant.

The vacancies are due to a variety of factors, including students moving or leaving the program. Some magnets also are less popular. And sometimes families apply to magnets but ultimately choose another schooling option.

L.A. Votes: Wendy Greuel faces questions on pensions, labor support

Labor support and pensions for city workers continue to be a key issue in the Los Angeles mayoral contest, as Wendy Greuel faces fresh questions about her backing from public-employee unions and her stance on a City Council vote last year to trim retirement benefits for new workers.

Greuel has long criticized rival Eric Garcetti’s City Council vote to roll back pension benefits for new hires without engaging in collective bargaining with city worker unions. Recent statements that she would push to reopen talks with labor over the decision have raised concerns among some of Greuel’s pro-business backers. The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday called on Greuel, the city controller, to appear personally to explain her position.

Also on Tuesday, Greuel accepted the endorsement of the 600,00-member county Federation of Labor, a union umbrella group that fought the pension changes. The controller also backed off an earlier suggestion that she wanted a new round of negotiations over the pension cuts, saying Tuesday she simply wants to meet with labor leaders to discuss ways of avoiding a lawsuit over the matter.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.'s race for mayor

Columnist Steve Lopez talked to voters in the San Fernando Valley who say Greuel’s labor backing is costing her support in the key, voter-rich region.

Meanwhile, Garcetti and Greuel continued to rack up new endorsements, with Garcetti earning the support of council members Paul Koretz and Paul Krekorian, and Greuel picking up the backing of Los Angeles Unified School District Board President Monica Garcia and newly elected Los Angeles Community College Trustee Mike Eng.

Garcia, who won reelection to the board this month, faces a new challenge as a majority of her board colleagues voted to limit the number of consecutive years a board member can serve as president.

L.A. ELECTIONS 2013: Sign up for our email newsletter   

The first debate of the runoff occurs Wednesday night -- in the city attorney race. Incumbent Carmen Trutanich will face off with Mike Feuer at a downtown meeting hosted by the Italian American Lawyers Assn. and the Metropolitan News-Enterprise. Feuer on Tuesday also picked up the endorsement of the county Federation of Labor.

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L.A. Votes: Wendy Greuel faces questions on pensions, labor support   

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-- Seema Mehta

Comments, questions or tips on city elections? Tweet me at @LATSeema

Photo: Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel speaks to media March 6. Credit: Nick Ut / Associated Press

New school to teach entrepreneurship is approved, location isn't

A new school to teach middle school students about entrepreneurship was approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles Board of Education. But the board stepped back from original plans to place it at Venice High after several parents and students complained that they were told about the campus only last week and that it would siphon off needed space and resources.

Instead, under an amendment by board member Steve Zimmer, the district and Venice community will work together to seek a location.

That didn’t disappoint the school’s founder, Sujata Bhatt, now a teacher at Grand View Boulevard Elementary in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles. She said she felt “relief and joy” about the plan’s approval and would work with the community to find a suitable home.

 “It’s about creating quality schools for kids,” she said. “I want students to be excited about learning.”

The Incubator School marks the latest effort in L.A. Unified to give more freedom and flexibility to principals, teachers and community members to create their own innovative programs. The new campus will be a "pilot" school, which allows educators to control their curriculum, staffing, schedule and other elements. It is seen as a way to give district educators some of the same freedoms to craft their own schools enjoyed by charter campuses, which are publicly financed but independently run.

But pilot campuses also give administrators greater power to transfer out educators than in traditional schools -- one reason United Teachers Los Angeles has looked carefully at each one approved. Teachers who choose to work at pilot schools must sign a one-year contract that does not place seniority as the top factor in job placement.

UTLA President Warren Fletcher said the union would review the board decision before taking a position on it. To control the quality of the educational plan, Fletcher said, the union believes that those proposing it should operate it for a year to “get the kinks out” before seeking pilot status and a shorter contract.

Aside from the Incubator School, the board also approved two other pilot schools, Francis Polytechnic High School and WISH Secondary Media Arts School. The approval brings the number of the district's pilot schools to 49.

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L.A. school board targets Garcia with term-limits vote

A narrow majority of Los Angeles Board of Education members voted Tuesday to set a limit of two consecutive years for the school board presidency. Unless the new rule is rescinded later, the decision would end the six-year run of current President Monica Garcia in July.

The board president has no greater authority than others on the seven-member panel, but runs the meetings and frequently represents the nation’s second-largest school system. Both supporters and critics have said Garcia wields an outsized influence on district policy and the use of district resources.

The school board elects its president every July to serve a one-year term.

A similar run at Garcia narrowly failed last year, but political factors outside the board room have evolved. Last year, the swing vote against term limits and to reelect Garcia came from Steve Zimmer.

Since then, however, close allies of Garcia targeted Zimmer for defeat in his recent reelection bid. Zimmer won regardless, when the teachers union and other employee groups rallied behind him. The teachers union, for its part, has been critical of Garcia. It mounted a low-budget but sharply critical campaign against her; she won reelection earlier this month.

The term-limits vote Tuesday symbolized the waning influence of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as his own eight-year tenure in office ends. Although the mayor has no formal authority over the board, candidates he helped elect make up a board majority. Garcia is the mayor’s closest ally on the board, and yet a member of mayor’s bloc, Richard Vladovic, defected to favor the term-limits proposal.

The motion, which was approved on a 4-3 vote, was put forward by Bennett Kayser and Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte. Supporters noted that since 1985, the board president has come from the downtown area and environs a significantly disproportionate number of times.

California school districts send out far fewer pink slips

Thanks to a boost in money for public education, California school districts have issued just 3,000 pink slips to teachers this year, a dramatic drop from the 20,000 sent out last year, the California Teachers Assn. reported Monday.

The passage last fall of Proposition 30, which will temporarily increase taxes to raise about $6 billion mostly for education, will help schools avoid the massive layoffs that have crippled art, music, science and other programs statewide since 2008.

Los Angeles and San Diego Unified, two of the region’s largest school districts, issued no pink slips this year for the first time in several years. Last year, L.A. Unified sent out 9,500 layoff notices, the state teachers union said. School districts are required to send teachers preliminary layoff notices by the state’s March 15 deadline.

Dean E. Vogel, the teachers union president, called the reduction in pink slips “great news” but added that California schools are still reeling from the enormous cuts of the last five years. In the last four years, more than $20 billion in education funding has been cut or deferred and more than 30,000 teaching jobs have been axed, he said. 

The state now ranks 49th in per-student spending, according to a January analysis by Education Week, a news publication.

“We still have a long way to go to heal our schools from billions in cuts they have suffered in recent years,” Vogel said in a statement.

San Bernardino City School District issued 166 layoff notices this year, a drop from 251 last year. But fewer than 50 teachers actually lost their jobs, a spokeswoman said.  

The teachers union is still collecting data, but 135 school districts had reported at least 3,043 educator pink slips as of Monday. The top 10 districts reporting the most layoff notices were: Los Angeles County Office of Education, 213; San Bernardino City School District, 166; Sacramento City Unified, 118; San Francisco Unified, 118; Pomona Unified School District, 108; Twin Rivers Unified, 100; Mt. Diablo Unified, 95; Stockton Unified, 95; Pasadena Unified, 81; Alum Rock Elementary School District, 80.

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L.A. Now Live: LAUSD's $30-million Miramonte settlement

Attorneys representing parents in 58 legal claims have agreed to a $30-million settlement with the Los Angeles Unified School District over alleged abuse perpetrated at Miramonte Elementary School.

The settlement, part of an effort by LAUSD and the children's parents to move past the case as swiftly as possible without forcing kids to rehash what they experienced, leaves more than 70 claims still unresolved.

FULL COVERAGE: Teacher sex-abuse investigations

The amount equates to about $470,000 per victim, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The claims stem from abuse dozens of children allegedly endured at the hands of Mark Berndt, 61, who had been a teacher at Miramonte since 1979. He faces 23 felony charges of lewd conduct and is being held in lieu of $23-million bail.

Times staff writer Stephen Ceasar will join us at 9 a.m. to discuss the settlements.

 

L.A. Unified settles Miramonte abuse claims for $30 million

The Los Angeles Unified School District will pay about $30 million to settle 58 legal claims filed by students and parents in connection with lewd-conduct charges against a former teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, plaintiffs' lawyers said Tuesday.

Each of the victims will receive about $470,000 under the preliminary deal struck with L.A. Unified, the lawyers said. The settlement covers about half of the identified victims at the school and is designed to avoid long drawn-out litigation that could potentially do more harm to the children, those attorneys said.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge still needs to review and approve the settlements, L.A. Unified officials said.

FULL COVERAGE: Teacher sex-abuse investigations

Ray Boucher, an attorney who represents 13 students and parents, said the desire to protect children from needlessly being subjected to difficult court proceedings was paramount.

“This was the right thing to do for the kids,” he said.

Still, the settlement amount and the mediation process was hard-fought.

PHOTOS: Parent uproar over sex-abuse claims

“The school district came in with incredibly low and unrealistic expectations of what it would take to resolve these cases -– but ultimately they did the right thing,” he said.

L.A. Unified officials would not comment on the settlement amounts. L.A. Unified General Counsel David Holmquist said that the entire process had been very difficult but that it was done to  "promote healing in the community."

David Ring, attorney for seven of the victims who settled, said that “this settlement was reached without putting any child through difficult and intense litigation. We acted in the best interests of these children, with the hope that they move on with their lives and try to put the Miramonte nightmare behind them.”

Teachers union to vote on aggressive stand against Deasy policies

The Los Angeles teachers union has scheduled an April vote for an initiative that would, if passed, call for a more aggressive posture against the leadership of the L.A. Unified School District.

The goal is to get a majority of teachers to push back against policies adopted by Supt. John Deasy and the Board of Education, while also offering an alternative approach to improving academic achievement in the nation’s second-largest school district.

The effort comes in the wake of this month's school board elections, which left unsettled a joust over the path of future school-improvement efforts. Union-backed incumbent Steve Zimmer prevailed, as did incumbent Monica Garcia, a strong Deasy backer. Deasy likely emerged with a sometimes fragile, but workable majority on most issues.  

“The ‘strategy’ of closed-door negotiations around single issues without a broad public campaign to defend and promote public education is failing miserably,” said union activist David Rapkin in a recent online posting to other teachers. “Out-foxing the enemy at the negotiations table is a losing strategy. It ignores the fact that without building real grassroots power around a broad vision for public education, and a vision that includes our power to wage a popular strike, we cannot win in this political and economic climate.”

The union ballot language speaks of “collaborating with parents, students, school communities, and other educational allies and advocates” on a citywide campaign. It also calls for negotiations with district officials on a range of issues — and ending a defensive strategy attempting to block or modify district proposals as they appear one after another.

The goals include reversing budget cuts affecting jobs and classrooms and ending the practice of re-staffing low-performing schools and minimizing the use of standardized tests. Another target is the use of “value-added” formulas in evaluations, which rate instructors based on how much students have learned.

L.A. Votes: Runoff campaigns kick off, City Hall girds for more cuts

The mayoral campaign entered a new phase Wednesday, as Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel began positioning themselves for the May 21 runoff. The fellow Democrats fought over who can best craft an image of fiscal restraint in a cash-strapped city whose voters refused to raise taxes to maintain public services. Check out a map by the Los Angeles Times’ Data Desk to see how various parts of the city voted.

The candidates spent the day after the election moving around the city. Garcetti, a city councilman who finished first in Tuesday's primary with 33% of the vote, sought to use Greuel's broad support among organized labor to portray her as bowing to its demands for scarce public money. He also offloaded a controversial oil lease that Greuel has tried to hammer him over. Greuel, who finished second with 29%, despite more than $2 million spent by union allies on her behalf, argued that she has fostered a coalition of business and labor support, showing that she has the ability to unite disparate interests and deal with the city’s fiscal woes.

FULL COVERAGE: L.A.'s race for mayor

Meanwhile, attention also was focused on the two candidates who effectively tied for third place -- Kevin James and Jan Perry. While Perry was radio silent throughout the day, James spoke to reporters, saying the campaign had been among the most memorable moments of his life and saying he was undecided about whether to endorse a candidate in the runoff. Perry and James will be closely scrutinized in coming weeks, because their supporters could help tilt the election.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales-tax increase proposal, meaning that the next mayor and city council must be prepared to consider a new round of cuts to services, including police.

Labor-backed candidates won four seats in City Council races, ensuring that city unions will retain a strong hand at City Hall. In three of the races that are headed for a runoff, a longtime council aide will face off against a well-financed candidate backed by labor.

The candidates for city attorney and city controller are wasting no time to in trying to win an advantage in the May 21 runoff.

A well-funded campaign to shape the city’s school board and to bolster Supt. John Deasy and his policies  saw mixed results. The Los Angeles Community College District will gain experience with new board members, but the direction of the agency is unlikely to change.

While the Los Angeles races drew the most attention Tuesday, 29 other cities in Los Angeles County held elections.

Despite all the money spent on the race, the blizzard of television advertising and dozens of debates, the Times examines why turnout was dismal, and columnist Steve Lopez describes the situation as “late-night TV joke territory.”

-- Seema Mehta

Comments, questions or tips on city elections? Tweet me at @LATSeema