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Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy with City Year Los Angeles corps members on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall on October 1st, 2010

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy recently announced an “historic” contract with United Teachers Los Angeles – an unprecedented agreement that Deasy called “groundbreaking work,” aimed at providing more freedom for teachers, school administrators and parents to manage their respective schools.

In terms of “value added” teacher assessments, L.A. Unified will continue to provide the media with teachers’ scores but will do so without identifying the instructors. The district got caught in a firestorm of controversy last year when assessments were made public by the L.A.Times and teachers could be singled out based on job performance.

On top of this, California Governor Jerry Brown recently announced $1 billion in state budget cuts – plus additional “trigger cuts” that will affect the district’s finances. The governor warns that additional cuts are on the horizon and LAUSD will have to find more places to cut. And high on the student body’s priorities is the district’s new healthful menu. Students have been crying foul that the new items on the cafeteria menu are less than appetizing – prompting the creation of a junk food "black market” where students are now eating more potato chips and soda than they did before the changes.

What does John Deasy think LAUSD can do to deal with the budget crisis? What other changes might we see from LAUSD in 2012?

Guest:

John Deasy, LAUSD Superintendent