---
[ ARCHIVE ](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive)
# Atlanta Teacher Convictions are Wake Up Call: Shine the Light on LAUSD Now
April 23 2015
Written by Leonard Isenberg.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
EDUCATION POLITICS-For the last 5 years I have reported about purposeful and endemic corruption of public education motivated by massive profits and the continued dumbing down of predominantly minority students at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and other minority filled innercity school districts like it around the country. Yet no reporter at any major commercial or public media outlet has seen fit to cover this nationwide scandal- that is until now.
Now the problem is that with the recent Atlanta [public school scanda](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/14/399543049/atlanta-teachers-convicted-in-cheating-scandal-await-sentencing) … that has convicted exclusively minority- mostly Black- educators in Georgia … reporters seem oblivious to the fact that the same language of inflated grades, test scores, and teacher coercion to describe what went on in Atlanta is precisely what I have been saying for years to describe what continues unabated at LAUSD with no legal action being taken to stop it.
We are now told it is just some minority educators in Atlanta, Georgia that are the only examples that reporters like Jenny Jarvie or Howard Blume of the LA Times can seem to find. Could it be that they are not looking to hard for fear of losing their own jobs by deviating too far from the acceptable dominant narrative of their bosses and the charter school privatizers like Broad, Gates, and Walton?
[When Jarvie talks about Atlanta "Investigators accused administrators of creating a culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation," it never seems to dawn on her or other reporters like them that this is what honest educators and bloggers have been decrying for years to no avail in getting it recognized in the corporate controlled media.](http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-atlanta-cheating-resentence-20150420-story.html "http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-atlanta-cheating-resentence-20150420-story.html")
The obscenely profitable charter privatization wars that are being carried on relentlessly against any remnants of an egalitarian public education system for all Americans can only be carried on if students' grades and tests continue to be inflated at LAUSD and elsewhere in exactly the same way they were in Atlanta. And yet nobody sees fit to report this or go pursue the perpetrators.
In her article, Reporter Jarvie clearly lays out the administrative practice of using data as an "abusive and cruel weapon to coax employees into crossing ethical lines." And of course it never occurs to her or other reporters to look at LAUSD to see if the same clearly illegal practices are not going on there in the second largest school district in the country- too big to fail or be indicted?
As in Atlanta, if LAUSD administrators cannot "coax employees into crossing ethical lines by fixing grades and standardized tests," then they are "threatened with demotion or even termination if their schools did not meet targets." Could that be why there are approximately 14,000 fewer teachers at LAUSD than there were just a few years ago?
While my own experiences, censure, and punishment for not having gone along with administrative corruption at LAUSD might call my criticism into question as not being objective, the easily verifiable fact is that 75% of all students entering community college … coming from school districts in California like LAUSD … are taking remedial classes in junior college.
No reporter seems willing to pose the obvious question: How can a student pass all their high school classes and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) and then abysmally fail the junior college entrance placement exams based on the exact same criteria? The logical conclusion, which no reporter seems willing to draw or look into further is that LAUSD is at least as corrupt as Atlanta.
Clearly it seems easier to go after some persons of color in the South than a multi-million dollar LAUSD with friends in high places and a lot of vendors feeding at the trough.
It is worth noting with the recent awarding of Pulitzers that they were for reporting on such non-controversial subjects as the drought and cultural criticism. It seems as if the days of real investigative journalism ala Woodward and Bernstein are behind us, much to the detriment of a truly free press or a truly free and well educated American people.
*(Leonard Isenberg is a Los Angeles observer and a contributor to CityWatch. He’s a second generation teacher at LAUSD and blogs at perdaily.com. Leonard can be reached at* * )*
*-cw*
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 34
Pub: Apr 24, 2015
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/116 "USA Radio Museum - Wide")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/107 "LA DWP | Save $4K, Green | Priority Ad")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/82 "LA DWP #2 (Power Savers)")
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/97 "Home - LA DWP #2 (Pay Water Bill Help)")
## Get The News In Your Email Inbox Mondays & Thursdays
Last Name
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/110 "Something You Should Know")
---
## Featured CityWatch Stories
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/election-2024/33710-bass-is-out-raman-is-in-is-los-angeles-trading-failure-for-a-bigger-crisis)
### [Bass Is Out. Raman Is In. Is Los Angeles Trading Failure for a Bigger Crisis?](https://www.citywatchla.com/election-2024/33710-bass-is-out-raman-is-in-is-los-angeles-trading-failure-for-a-bigger-crisis)
THE BOTTOM LINE - Karen Bass lost the confidence of Los Angeles voters. Nithya Raman won their support. But can a new m…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/33687-first-test-of-next-governor-s-leadership-demand-a-full-forensic-audit-of-bullet-train)
### [First Test of Next Governor`s Leadership: Demand a Full Forensic Audit of Bullet Train](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/33687-first-test-of-next-governor-s-leadership-demand-a-full-forensic-audit-of-bullet-train)
NICK’S VIEW - For a case study in lost public trust and squandered taxpayer money, look no further than California’s hi…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33704-nithyas-budget-buzz-saw)
### [Nithya’s Budget Buzz Saw](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33704-nithyas-budget-buzz-saw)
LA WATCHDOG - Nithya Raman, our new mayor, will inherit a budget that is a river of red ink. According to the First Fi…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/33698-a-great-night-for-america-and-a-warning-to-both-parties)
### [A Great Night for America—and a Warning to Both Parties](https://www.citywatchla.com/voices/33698-a-great-night-for-america-and-a-warning-to-both-parties)
FRED TALK - The opinions in this column are solely mine and I stand by them. I did not write yesterday because I wanted…
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33709-progress-not-presto-chango)
### [Progress, Not Presto-Chango](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33709-progress-not-presto-chango)
IN MY VIEW - If We Want People Off the Streets, We Have to Give Them Somewhere to Go. I was about five years old, wa…
---
## [ ARCHIVE ](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive/15339-early-intervention-and-jobs-are-key-to-stemming-chronic-homelessness-in-los-angeles)### [Early Intervention and Jobs are Key to Stemming Chronic Homelessness in Los Angeles](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive/15339-early-intervention-and-jobs-are-key-to-stemming-chronic-homelessness-in-los-angeles)
### [Tucker Carlson and Gay Rightwinger Blame California Wildfires On Hiring LGBTQ People](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive/18755-tucker-carlson-and-gay-rightwinger-blame-california-wildfires-on-hiring-lgbtq-people)
### [Anti-LGBTQ Veep Just Can’t Stop Talking about Mayor Pete](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive/17690-anti-lgbtq-veep-just-can-t-stop-talking-about-mayor-pete)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive/15316-news-pulse-corrupt-system-reason-for-not-voting-in-2018-majority-wants-more-than-two-parties)### [NEWS PULSE: ‘Corrupt System’ Reason for Not Voting in 2018 … Majority Wants More Than Two Parties](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive/15316-news-pulse-corrupt-system-reason-for-not-voting-in-2018-majority-wants-more-than-two-parties)
[  ](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive/10245-dead-dog-set-on-fire-sparks-fears-for-strays-in-los-angeles)### [Dead Dog Set on Fire … Sparks Fears for Strays in Los Angeles](https://www.citywatchla.com/archive/10245-dead-dog-set-on-fire-sparks-fears-for-strays-in-los-angeles)