The Culture of Silence

"You appreciate the critics, but you wouldn't get up in the morning if you listened to them." John Deasy

There's a new sheriff in town. John Deasy. He just finished his first year as superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District. The second largest in the nation, the district has a $6 billion budget, 65,000 employees and serves 660,000 students, 80% of them low income. To say the district is troubled is a gross understatement. Just think of everything that's wrong with public education K-12, and you'll find it somewhere at LAUSD.

Deasy has his fans, like the school board members. He has his critics, like the teacher's union. He's done some shaky things to try to get the district back on track, but someone's got to do it. He takes his job very seriously and is definitely hands-on.

I absolutely love something he did. Let me tell you about it. When he learned that one of the elementary school teachers had been playing "sex games" for years in the classroom, Deasy fired the entire staff of the school. Principal the whole way down to the janitor. He said he did it to break the "culture of silence." The message he sent was that every staff member at that school was charged with the kids' safety, and they failed. One person actively perpetrating evil, and everyone else staying quiet when they should have spoken up. Each person guilty.

Now as it turned out, no one but the teacher lost a job permanently. All the other staff members had the option of returning to the school or working elsewhere in the district. It was a huge statement, however. Deasy apparently takes the well-being of his students very seriously.

LAUSD has huge financial issues, so Deasy has established The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education for private donations.

Susan