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New L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy is seemingly a man of contradictions
- 01-12-2011
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By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times
In John Deasy, the Los Angeles Board of Education selected a new superintendent who is seemingly a man of contradictions. He was raised in a strong union household yet challenges work rules fiercely defended by unions. He supports making it easier to dismiss teachers but also insists that a school system cannot fire its way to success. He's going to be accused of being a tool of the Gates Foundation, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — he has associations with them all — but his career also encompasses a quirky independent streak. The city's new schools leader, announced Tuesday, is well known in education circles: He's written and spoken widely, led three school districts in more than 12 years as a superintendent and worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also completed an executive training program funded by Broad. But nothing he's done defines exactly how he will run the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest, which has been hammered by budget cuts, increasing class sizes and layoffs, and which remains beset by low student achievement and community schisms. (more…)
Also: KPCC, Los Angeles Daily News
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