Cortines sounds off on LAUSD

Ramon C. Cortines, the new No. 2 at the Los Angeles Unified School District, dropped by The Times yesterday for an interesting, and revealing, talk with the Editorial Board. Cortines sounded very much like the guy in charge at 333 S. Beaudry, the district's headquarters. He described his job as handling "the day-to-day operations of the school district, in all areas." Supt. David Brewer? He's the "voice and face of the school district," Cortines said. And what does that mean? He said Brewer's job is to "interface" with the Legislature, governor, federal government and the community. (Doesn't the district pay lobbyists to do that?)

Cortines said he's taken a look at the $480-million in budget cuts that Brewer has prepared in response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state budget cuts--and found an additional $15 million or so to cut. And he seemed to foreshadow a battle with the teachers union, among others, when he said: "I’ve tackled some of the sacred cows in my recommendations, such as the issues of contracts, how much money we could receive from that. Such as the issue of health benefits, and how much money we could receive by capping that. And increasing the co-pay."

Cortines was at times unsparing of LAUSD's failures, saying that the district is organized for the benefit of the adults who work there, not the children they are hired to serve. He said the school board passes too many resolutions that "aren't worth the paper [they're] printed on." And he said the district had "abdicated our responsibility" for Locke High School, which is about to be turned over to Green Dot Public Schools, the big charter operator. Students didn't get a pass, though: He said the district needs to enforce "a code of behavior"  based on the idea that they don't just have rights -- they also have responsibilities.

While he talked a lot about budget cuts, Cortines said he wants to put more resources into campus security, and also wants to launch an International Baccalaureate program in some schools in 2009.

In one interesting moment, Cortines, 75, appeared to choke up when he was asked about his decision to leave the district after serving as interim superintendent for six months in 2000, before Roy Romer came on board. He hadn't sought the permanent appointment. "I made a mistake," he said, then paused to regain composure.

You can read excerpts from the interview at the Times' Opinion section site here. And see what Steve Lopez has to say about Cortines and Brewer here.

--Mitchell Landsberg

File photo by Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Ellen]

Great! So now Cortines is going to financially stress already financially strapped teachers! That's a great way to keep qualified staff. Hey Cortines, Why don't you make cuts at the Beaudry building and by the way, I am still dealing with payroll issues! I have received four letters in the past 5 months telling me I owe a different amount of money.
Yet the payroll "consultants" were paid huge sums of money to "fix" the problem! And you want to cut from teachers??? We aren't as stupid or passive as you think.

[Kim]

The teachers did not throw away millions of dollars on a defective payroll system that was known to be ineffectual, nor did they okay the millions of dollars paid to that same company to fix the defective merchandise they sold us. The teachers did not authorize credit cards for "special" LAUSD employees or the move to that marble and brass palace that is 333 Beaudry. So why is it that now that LAUSD is facing budget cuts, it is the TEACHERS who have to pay the piper with the loss of our jobs and benefits? That's like beating the cat when the dog pees on the carpet!

[Bob]

Marble and brass palace? Are you smoking crack? Have you ever even spent a day in Beaudry? Waiting 10 minutes for an elevator ride that's so hot sweat runs down the small of your back. Why is that? Oh, because we cut the budget for building maintenance to give teachers a 10% pay raise. The stains on the carpet everywhere? That's because we cut carpet cleaning out of the budget for the same reason. Why is it that we have bathroom facilities that don't even meet building code regulations? Oh, is that because we have no money to upgrade them?

Teachers deserve a lot, but when you make ignorant comments like that you only alienate the very people who might be in a position to help you.

[ellen]

Bob? Teachers got a 6% raise and the Beaudry building is beautiful. I have been in it many times. The elevators don't work right because it was a poor design, not because teachers were given a raise.
And by the way, aren't teachers after students, more important than beauracrats at Beaudry? Beaudry is a palace compared to our school.

Alienate those who would help us? You mean like the four letters with four different amounts of money I supposedly owe the district? I don't need any more "help" from the district, but thanks for the suggestion. What should be done is that the staff should be pared down to about 150 at Beaudry: human resources and payroll clerks, 1 curriculum specialist for each subject and type of school- elementary, middle and so on, library media specialists, tech support and building maintenance people and a couple of full time grant writers. That's it. Let schools do their own purchasing and manage their own budgets and stop taking 50% off the top.
Then pay teachers what we deserve and stop harrassing us to pay back money when you can't even tell us how much we really owe.

[Dr. Mahmood Anwar]

It is strange that when we apply for admission to American Universities after doing a Masters degree from Indian Subcontinent, the American universities immediately consider our degrees equivalent to B.Sc. degree of an American university. What these students learnt, what was their syllabus and how hard it was to remember what they studied for 2 years (instead of 1 month till the next exam as common in American universities) before their exam where the paper was set by a different professor, made no sense to the Academic Deans of the American universities. All they want to count, how many years (the time period) were involved between the B.Sc. and M.Sc. If the years made such a difference, the American graduates should have been brilliant. Why then American Students perform so miserably in the international student comparison. I am a graduate of an American University with B. Sc and M. Sc from University of Punjab and that exactly happened with me even though I was a gold medalist in Zoology from University of Punjab, Lahore. During my 35 years in the United States, I find that all presidential candidates promised to improve education, each congress members canvassed to improve education but no one really worked to improve education. Every one of them supports the activities of all businesses which are going to make money from their promises and no one looks after the students interest. Right now, you can see Bill Gates giving millions of dollars to the famous universities which have done nada in the past to improve education. They will have many seminars, conventions in verbal achievement. I feel sorry for American Students for all the hardships they have to go through in the world’s inferior education system. It is not the motivation of the students, it is all the new material which is being thrust into their throats without letting them understand the basic principles. The whole United States, the President and presidential candidates congressional smart cats consider CO2 as the agent for global warming without knowing the importance of this gas which provides ATP (the molecular energy of each organism of the world). What a biology or science background of the graduates of USA? A link between it and global warming similar to Cl and Ozone has not been established by any scientist of EPA whose recommendations are basis of all these ludicrous laws

[straightpath]

The solutions are known and in place. Read the recommendations of the Josephson Ethics Institute, and the Office of Inspector General Recommendations.
To improve the organization:
1. Sanction actions and people that violate ethics and procurement codes. Hold management responsible for firing those in violation.
2. The Board should focus on only strategic issues, and hold management responsible for results.
3. Remove the overwhelming influence of the teachers unions.
4. Provide better support and security for the teachers.
5. Eliminate the Central Bureaucracy.
6. Have an outside audiitng firm monotor the books and make the results public.

Simple, ethical governement.