Parents are not happy with new LAUSD Parent and Community Services Branch (PCSB) administrator Maria Casillas. At Thursday’s June 30th LAUSD School Board Meeting, over 10 parent leaders spoke regarding what they feel is the dis-respectful and unprofessional treatment towards them by the new PCSB administrator. Yolande Beckles, 1stVice-President of the District Advisory Council (DAC) said that she believes Superintendent Deasy has allowed the new PCSB administrator to threaten parents because they (parents) won’t allow her to control their parent run group. Ms. Beckles also said that decisions to suspend operation of the DAC, restrict parents travel to conferences and reduce their food/refreshments for meetings is also not taken as being equal partners – while district administrators conference attendance and meals have not been restricted as the parents have.
Mr. Walter Richardson-Waddle said that he would like for parents to have meaningful input into critical decisions that affect parent involvement policy. Another DAC officer Secretary Jennifer Clark said that parents are a major key to bringing students and schools out of program improvement status. However she feels that parents are not being respected under the new administration. Paul Robak a DAC officer said that many parents may not have the level of higher education training that many educators have – but they (parents) still are intelligent and have much to offer to schools in helping educate their children. Other parents spoke on the issue of how parents are feeling regarding their treatment from Ms. Casillas and the LAUSD administration in general. Some spoke in English and some spoke in Spanish with the help of a translator. But the thing they all had in common was their dissatisfaction with the current treatment of parent leaders especially at the central district level.
I know that parents can be a tough stakeholder group to work with at times. But when parents across the board (majority of the DAC) are complaining about something, one must think – can they all be wrong? As stated by a Spanish speaking parent during the board meeting there needs to be an investigation into the allegations by central office administrators that the DAC parents have violated certain rules, policies and/or laws that govern the DAC. For more information on the DAC contact the President, Roberto Fonesca at 213-446-3835.
One thing is certain. The current adversarial relationship that exists between the DAC and the LAUSD administration is harmful to student success and to the success of the community at large. What do you think? To provide your feedback use the comment box below or email the author at: tonyhicks32@yahoo.com.
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