May 4, 2011
Location, Location, Location. DFER Office in Downtown L.A. Sits On A Gold Mine of Insider CA Education Stories
From Robert Kennedy to Rubber Rooms: Sign up Now For Your Own Personal TourBy Gloria Romero, DFER CA State Director
In the world of real estate we've all learned this one phrase: Location, location, location. (Unfortunately, most of us know this same phrase matters all too much in the world of education where zip codes reign supreme in a dysfunctional public education system.)
So, you can imagine my shock when I learned that DFER's first office in California is actually located in a "Bermuda-type Triangle" of education right on Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles. All of the contours of education reform - the successes and challenges - are evident in what realtors showcasing this neighborhood would call a 360-degree tour.
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On the very first floor, at the entrance to the building in which DFER opened our very first office in California, in an unmarked Room simply labeled 100-A, is none other than one of LAUSD's notorious "teacher jails"!!!
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Check this out:
*Immediately across the street from us is Leighty Middle School: one of three schools in CA that made education civil rights history by being one of the three original schools in the now-historic Reed lawsuit challenging last in, first out policies in LAUSD.
*Immediately down the street from us is the headquarters of UTLA--the union that somehow feels it is representing teachers by being, according to the Mayor of LA, the largest obstructionist force blocking change in public education. And, you'll never guess who holds its monthly meeting in this same building - the LA Democratic Party.
*Speaking of the Mayor, three floors down from us are the offices of the Mayor's Partnership Schools--a bold reform movement launched in LA.
*Down the street a little bit further is the most expensive high school ever built in America (complete with talking benches). Never mind that children's minds are being starved--the school contractors, vendor, and consultants made out just fine. I strongly support a school in honor of the late and beloved Senator Robert Kennedy, but I kind of think that even he would have expressed some outrage at the price tag. In fact, Robert Kennedy himself said in 1965:
"I do not think money in and of itself is necessarily
the answer. I have seen enough school districts
where there has been a lack of imagination, lack
of initiative and lack of interest in the problems.
. . My feeling is that even if we put money into
those school districts, then it will be wasted"
*Travel just a couple of blocks more and you'll find the headquarters of Parent Revolution which helped launch the historic Parent Trigger law in California and the nation. Today, the organization's Executive Director, Ben Austin--sacked by newly elected Democratic Governor Jerry Brown from the reform-minded State Board of Education at the behest of CTA--still fights on...
*But my favorite of all these Bermuda Triangle points of education is this one: on the very first floor, at the entrance to the building in which DFER opened our very first office in California, in an unmarked Room simply labeled 100-A, is none other than one of LAUSD's notorious "teacher jails"!!! Yes--right at the entrance of the building into which I enter on a daily basis.
Called "rubber rooms" in other parts of the nation, these teacher jails house teachers who have been sent to the equivalent of an LAUSD education-purgatory to await settlement, which can be as long as seven years and cost as much as six figures for taxpayers thinking they are paying taxes to support classrooms marked 100-A, not education jail cells marked 100-A.
I had absolutely no idea about the location of this teachers jail right here in LA. Ironically, some years ago when I had first learned about them, I requested to visit one of them and was summarily denied access. What irony to now find one right on the very first floor of our new DFER building. And on any given Monday-Friday, between the hours of 9-2, I can see teachers awaiting Judgment Day in this room as they work on their laptops, curl up on chairs or on the floor reading books.
They've been hidden away by LAUSD. I only found out about their existence because a couple of them "escaped" temporarily and dared to ride the elevator to the fifth floor to seek our help....lamenting that even their own union had abandoned them. They've been recaptured and have not made the daring ride from the first floor to the fifth floor and possible freedom....
Indeed: Location, location, location! And to boot, from my own office I can clearly see LAUSD headquarters towering over all these amazing education points right here in downtown LA.
Although I had no idea of all these key and meaningful location points when I signed the lease at 1541 Wilshire Blvd in downtown LA, I think we at CA DFER might start offering the equivalent of those highly popular "foodie" tours to the public. I think we'll call it an "eddie" tour--and offer the public a real education about sights, symbols, and the continued fight for highlighting education as the civil rights issue of our time.
With all these locations ("stars") aligned, there just might be a message being sent from somewhere deep in this CA "Bermuda Triangle" about the urgency for us to get down to business and get this education reform rolling in California!
Any takers for this tour? I'm taking reservations now.
Cost of the tour: a hearty contribution to our DFER PAC.
The potential dividends of this investment: Priceless!
Gloria Romero is the CA State Director of DFER. She was elected to the 24th Senate District in 2001, representing East Los Angeles and the greater San Gabriel Valley. She was elected by her peers to serve as Senate Democratic Caucus Chair and as Senate Majority Leader--the first woman to ever hold that leadership position in the history of the California State Senate. Read more about Gloria here.