Activism Change

ADV-NEWS, Want to protest Bush? It will cost you more than $250 to be truant from High School!

Question:

20 closed preschools scheduled to reopen today By Rachel Uranga, Staff Writer Pressured by angry local politicians, federal Head Start officials planned today to reopen all but six of the 26 preschools temporarily closed earlier this week in the San Fernando (LA County) and Santa Clarita valleys. The six other locations providing day care and preschool for more than 300 low-income children will open "soon," according to a statement released by the Administration for Children, Youth and Families. The administration was forced Tuesday to close all the schools, which serve about 1,400 students, after it bungled the hand-over of the schools from the Latin American Civic Association to a temporary service provider. The administration denied the civic association’s funding request to run the centers, saying it could not show that it could adequately provide services. At Head Start sites across the San Fernando Valley, teachers spent most of the afternoon calling worried parents to let them know some classes would be resuming. "The parents were very scared. They thought the centers were going to close (permanently)," said one teacher at a San Fernando Center who asked not to be identified. "The parents understand there is a transfer. They are all just very happy to get their children back in school." For a month, federal officials assured parents there would be no interruption of services while the federally appointed Community Development Institute, based in Denver, took over operations from the San Fernando-based Latin American Civic Association. The institute has repeatedly refused to comment. Federal officials blamed the disruption in service on LACA, saying it waited until the 11th hour to sign over key lease agreements and a child care licensing agreement. But LACA officials said they were not given enough notice. On Wednesday, City Council President Alex Padilla and Councilman Tony Cardenas blasted the Administration for Children, Youth and Families in a letter. "The failure of your office to plan and avoid a cessation of service is of far greater negative impact to the families and communities we represent than any of the concerns that your office identified and used as a basis to terminate the contract with LACA," they wrote. Federal officials could not be reached to comment on the letter. LACA officials did not return calls Wednesday. The following sites will remain closed until further notice: Lokrantz, 19451 Wyandotte St., Reseda; Lowman, 12829 Saticoy St., North Hollywood; Martin Luther King, 10896 Lehigh Ave., Pacoima; Napa, 19010 Napa St., Northridge; Valley Plaza, 1121 Vanowen St., North Hollywood; and West Valley, 6649 Balboa St., Van Nuys.

Response:

Failing the children Head Start fiasco exposes government indifference to the needs of ordinary people Federal and local officials failed hundreds of working families Monday when their ineptitude caused a gap in the Head Start preschool programs serving the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. Many of the 1,435 children enrolled in the 26 affected Head Start programs come from low-income families who rely on the free child care in order to work. But these families had no idea the programs were going to be shut down Monday until the doors were locked. Undoubtedly, many parents lost work – and a day’s pay – due to the unexpected closure. And no doubt it will hurt. This was not supposed to happen. The transition to a new provider was supposed to occur without a hitch. But clearly the bad feelings between the federal Administration for Children, Youth and Families, which oversees the Head Start programs nationwide, and local preschool officials influenced the outcome. The problems with the preschool provider, the Latin American Civic Association, have been going on for a long time. It was no surprise that the federal officials were planning to end LACA’s contract and move it to another provider temporarily. But the feds promised the community that there would be no interruption in critical services. Federal officials shouldn’t have closed down the programs until LACA had turned over the paperwork to allow an interim provider to take over the preschools’ operation. But LACA messed up too. The local organization supposedly has a strong commitment to the members of its community. Surely that connection to the community should have resulted in an effort to avoid this situation, or at least calling parents to give them some advance warning. This was a spat, pure and simple, between two agencies. And like most senseless battles, it is the innocents who suffered. Both federal and LACA officials ought to be ashamed of the way this turned out. Los Angeles city officials pay a lot of lip service to their concerns about the well-being of working families, but provided no leadership before or after this fiasco. These kind of betrayals of public trust have seriously undermined confidence in government at the local, state and national levels.

Response:

Less heat means pupils must dress more warmly 10/29/2005  BATAVIA, NY – Batavia School District officials are advising parents to make sure their children dress warmly, as the district turns down the thermostat to offset increases in the cost of electricity and natural gas. In a letter to parents made public Friday, Superintendent Richard G. Stutzman Jr. said that effective Monday, thermostats will be set at 68 degrees during school hours – still warmer than the state Department of Education minimum of 65.

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California to ask for extension to meet No Child Left Behind Last Update: 11/3/2005         7:17:59 AM SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Education officials in California say they’ll seek an extension of the deadline for meeting terms of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. A state judge yesterday struck down state action that had declared thousands of teachers working on emergency internship credentials to be "highly qualified" in order to meet terms of the federal law. An advocacy group for poor and minority students sued. A national group called The Education Trust says the ruling, Advocates say the ruling, should serve as a warning to other states that may be thinking about fudging their definitions.

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Middle school students arrested in bomb threats Fernando Diaz Staff writer (November 3, 2005) – PENFIELD, NY-Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn today announced the arrest yesterday of two juveniles in connection with handwritten bomb threats found in boys’ bathrooms at Bay Trails Middle School. The individuals are students at the school and were not identified because of their ages, 12 and 13. They have been charged with juvenile delinquency. The Sheriff’s Office was interviewing two other suspects in connection with threats found at Penfield High School. School officials evacuated students on Oct. 24, 25 and 26. Tuesday, the athletic director at Penfield High School received a threat on his voice mail. A vice principal at Bay Trails Middle School also received a note at his home. O’Flynn said his department is continuing its investigation. The Penfield Central School District said in a printed statement that students have been suspended, and that the district was continuing to identify potential suspects involved with the incidents at the high school. The third threat this week was phoned in about 10 a.m. today.

Response:

High school lockdown linked to Bush protest By Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer VAN NUYS, CA. – Van Nuys High School was temporarily locked down Wednesday after students protested against the Bush administration as part of a national demonstration. Van Nuys High School Principal Herman Clay directed students to remain on campus and at their desks for 1 1/2 hours after he said two dozen students disrupted classes during the protest. Some students said administrators threatened them with expulsion if they left campus and that one student was thrown to the ground as campus police attempted to take their pictures. The lockout occurred as 1,000 Los Angeles students – including about 15 or 20 from Van Nuys High School who were accompanied by an administrator – left class to join a midday rally hosted by The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime. The New York-based group had staged protests in 70 U.S. cities. "We had a few other kids, I suppose in sympathy, they went around campus uttering anti-Bush statements," said Clay, who locked down the campus between 10:45 a.m. and the end of lunch. "They had refused a directive to go to class." "This really wasn’t a big deal. We only went through (the lockdown) because we didn’t want to take the risk of more kids out of class." The Los Angeles protest included a midday march down Wilshire Boulevard and a rally held outside the Federal Building. At Reseda High School, administrators said about 15 to 20 students were poised to leave school until they spotted a Los Angeles police cruiser roll in with truant Reseda High students. Fines for truancy range upward of $250. Reseda High Principal Alfredo Tarin said students were free to leave as long as they signed out and were willing to pay the fine. He said a handful of students chose to attend the Mid-Wilshire rally. Allan Nalvandyan, a freshman at Van Nuys High School, said he believed campus cops and administrators violated the free-speech rights of between 40 and 50 students by threatening to expel any student who joined their fellow students at the protest. He said officials also followed would-be demonstrators around campus to videotape or photograph them, and that at least one scuffle occurred between a student and an administrator. "It’s really messed up," said Nalvandyan. "We weren’t demonstrating – we were trying to leave for the rally." The Los Angeles school police had no report of any injuries during the Van Nuys High School lockdown.

Response:

Filed under: Protest Demonstration

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