Education

A nothing in thought.

What I like best about L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is his ability to bring people together. Just today in downtown L.A., I spent a good twenty minutes with a 19-year veteran teacher from Jordan high school- a woman with whom I'm sure I'd disagree with over many issues- laughing at the mayor.

She told me how Villaraigosa went to Jordan and artfully dodged any substantive questions (He must have picked that up from campaigning with Hillary Clinton), a good strategy on his part considering that his plan to take over LAUSD schools is idiotic.

Villaraigosa wants to take over schools from LAUSD. To do what? Nobody knows- not even him:

Specifics of how schools will operate under Villaraigosa's partnership will be worked out on individual campuses, the mayor said. Responding to numerous questions from teachers, he said repeatedly that he wants schools to come up with their own solutions and make decisions on curriculum and budgets independent of the central bureaucracy.

Sorry to cut in, but isn't it weird how the people who want to expand federal funding for education are the same ones who deride a "central bureaucracy?"

"The specific plan," Villaraigosa said to parents at Roosevelt, "is going to be developed and created by you in the schools."

Huh?

"I want to take over the schools at great expense and with considerable disruption so that you can come up with a plan."

Or, maybe he has a secret strategy: A television reporting magnet? Perhaps he thinks that statues of him in the cafeteria will inspire students to achieve.

Walk with me a little: Let's say he succeeds and places Jordan under his thumb. What does he want to do that hasn't already been tried a gazillion times before or that requires his unique, sage, guidance: Fire teachers? Fat chance. School uniforms? Whoopee!

Besides its sheer folly, Villaraigosa's fool's errand is profoundly insulting. He assumes that nobody else: parents, school board members, teachers, principals, etc. cares about education quite as much as he does- that only he can save the children. Does your mayor care more about your kids than you do?