₦airaland Forum

Observing a moment of silence for Nigeria and Nigerians.
What a nation of living deads.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-compton-school-20101208,0,1038265.story?track=rss

Parents present signatures to take over a Compton school

Using the new 'parent-trigger' law, they take the first step in demanding a charter operation at McKinley By Howard Blume and Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times

December 8, 2010
The Compton Unified School District looked like an ideal target to an organization created to help parents force dramatic reforms at poorly performing schools.

For many years, the troubled school system of 26,000 students south of downtown Los Angeles has had campuses with low test scores, distracted management, a poor reputation and, its critics say, hostility to change. It also has parents dissatisfied enough with their children's education to take on the local bureaucracy.

On Tuesday, those factors came together as 85 adults and children arrived at Compton's district headquarters to present a petition signed by 62% of parents at McKinley Elementary, one of the state's worst-performing schools. The petition requires the district to turn management of McKinley over to a charter school company. Charters are independently operated public schools.

Organizers say the effort is the first to use California's new "parent-trigger" law, under which a majority of parents can force a school to shut down, replace its staff or convert to a charter.

Compton Unified has no recourse under California law, state officials said, even though McKinley's test scores have risen significantly the last two years and steadily over the last six. The school's two-year 77-point rise on the state's Academic Performance Index is among the highest in California.

Critics have characterized the parent trigger as an overly blunt, sometimes counterproductive instrument. But the effect, say supporters, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is to put children and parents ahead of employees and interest groups.

"Giving power to the parents — this is what this is all about," Schwarzenegger said in a conference call Tuesday with reporters. The governor applauded the McKinley effort and described as "unacceptable" the education some children in the state receive. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan also praised the developments in Compton.

At district headquarters, parents chanted "Yes, we can!" as Karen Frison, acting superintendent of Compton schools, accepted the petition. Telling the group she would "do what is required by law," she declined to answer questions. (Her predecessor was recently fired over allegedly improper use of district credit cards.)

"Although we have not been given an opportunity to discuss the concerns of the school's parents, the district looks forward to addressing all concerns," Frison said in a statement released later.

Elizabeth Alvarez was among a number of McKinley parents who said Tuesday that they have waited in vain for the district to answer their complaints.

Alvarez said the school's administration has not responded to her calls — for instance, after a substitute teacher reportedly swore at her first-grade daughter last year — and has never sent home the results of standardized test scores, leaving her in the dark about how her children are performing.

"The system is failing us," said Alvarez's husband, Hebert Hidalgo.

McKinley administrators did not return calls, and the principal declined to step out of his office to answer questions. He cited orders from superiors forbidding media contact.

Parents said repeated unresponsiveness is partly what motivated them to take action. It also helped make the district vulnerable to the politically savvy group behind the effort.

Joining the governor's conference call was Ben Austin, a state Board of Education member and the chief executive of Parent Revolution, a nonprofit that lobbied for the parent-trigger law. His group spun off last year from Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school company, and Green Dot founder Steve Barr heads the Parent Revolution board.

Austin said his goal is not so much to create more charters as to improve public education using the lever of parental power.

He and Barr were key figures behind the one other local example of a school converted to a charter through an outside organization: Locke High in South Los Angeles in 2008.

"The obvious connection between McKinley and Locke is Ben Austin and Green Dot and Steve Barr," said Alexander Russo, an education blogger writing a book about Green Dot's takeover of Locke. "And there's also the sense that both situations involved people from their organizations doing something a school district seemed otherwise unable or unwilling to do."

At Locke, Barr and his then-lieutenant Austin worked behind the scenes with allied teachers to gather signatures on a petition. There, they used an older law that allowed a school's teachers to force a charter conversion. In the end, Green Dot retained few teachers.

At McKinley, with Austin's new group, the goal also was to keep things quiet. Compton school board members and a district spokesperson said they knew little about the petition a day before its delivery.

Give him some credit. He is way toooooo daf.t to be corrupt.
He could not even survive customs for less than 2 years like the master Atiku(over 20 years of active duty in the Nigerian Customs Dept.)
Jonathan has no brains without OBJ.
The most important reason I find him unsuitable for any governmental position in Nigeria.

He has no brains and he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer for sure.
He can't be used to cut tomatos or onions. . .not to mention meat of fish.

A blunt shaving razor at his best.

Twa!

appletango:
best place for her, the loud-mouthed market woman

NL the greatest.

Time to jump ship. . .says Dora the fish.

[b]D[/b]ora [b]N[/b]kem [b]A[/b]kunyili

DNA for senate 2011. . . .

^^^

So why attach importance to age and title taking?
My "Z" will be there of course. . it is the tradition she be named too as a 'chief mrs'.
No, you are not invited.

strangerf
Posts: 149

Online

  Re: Where Do You Intend To Spend Christmas?
« #63 on: Yesterday at 09:04:58 PM »



Re: Where Do You Intend To Spend Christmas?
« #62 on: Yesterday at 08:49:34 PM »   

In Yoruba, we call it 'Abobajeun'

You are not a northerner, and you claim to hate Ibos and Yorubas, so I am left to surmise that you are from the SS.

Going by your name, it makes sense. After all, the former Eagles coach Bazuaye was from the SS.

[b]How come you are getting a chieftancy title in the first place? Are you that old? How influential are you?[/b]Is the Z in Blazay attending as well? Will love tp attend as well, if you can pay for my flight.

So, where you come from. . .only old men and women take titles?
How influential am I?
Irrespective of where I may come from. . .there is no part of Nigeria I respect than the North.
Any where in the South. . .I refuse to identify with. So don't bother yourself with where I may come from.

Abracadabraaaaaaaaaa!!!
If ships and planes can go missing in Nigeria without capsizing or crashing,
What are INEC or NON-INEC machines?

Now you see 'em. . .now you don't.

Mu he he he he

Will they ever be the same? Only God knows.
Na wah for Niggggeria o.

O di kwa risky.

In a statement, Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman,

Why is it that any time there is a 'k' leg in Nigerian affairs. . .a Yoruba man must be involved?
See the other topic with the fight against privatization of electricity. . .a Yoruba man.

Can't Yoruba people do something good for Nigeria for once in their lives? Enemies of Nigeria.

I pity Nigerians.
Slaves of dicators.

Jos agberos. . .they cannot fight
Aba kidnappers. . .for where?
Thank God for JTF.

See British students?
Climb British Prime Minister roof top dey protest.
Nigerians dey for NL dey make noise.
Over-fed cowards.


Serves these Brit paliarmentarians right. Lazy things. No more treaties to sign and no more lands to colonize. . .
How can you cut university funding by 80% and pass the increase in tuition to the students?

God bless Obama. . . im for try am.

Oh boy just go China je je go borrow money take pay the rich and the poor. . . shikena!


God Bles Democracy!

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/11/over_50_000_students_protest_in

Over 50,000 Students Protest in London over Planned Cuts to Education Funding
An estimated 52,000 students took to the streets of London on Tuesday to protest government plans to increase university tuition fees while cutting higher education funding by 40 percent. The demonstration was one of the biggest student protests in decades and the largest turnout against the British government’s austerity measures that were announced last month. We speak with Johann Hari, a columnist for the London Independent. [includes rush transcript]

Up Aboki!
Just when I was thinking IBB was a Yoruba man.
The fear of Aboki is the beginning of Nigerian wisdom.

Kei!

^^^

Okay.

What Nigerian has he moral authority to comment on any thing Nigeria. . .including all your fathers and mothers in the Nigerian government offline?
Hypocrites.

stranger:
^^^

May the devil purnish you!

Punish. . . not purnish.

You go definitely lose.
You nor get money to rig.
You nor get overall  Northern consensus backing.
You be forner military. . . the only way you sabi run contri.
Who want anoda coup as you dey sleep for duty?

Go siddon jare.

Who dash you court case?

You might check your wife too if you are married.
She may have a more interesting past too. You have a way of attracting these kinds of women.
I think you should go ahead and  tell him.
You may not live to see the end of the year any how.
At least, if you do not come back to NL we know how it all ended.

You have 4 potential murderers we can suspect.

^^^

That "mother-in-law" problem is a totally different problem entirely.
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-560407.0.html
*shakes head*

_{I don't think I want to respond to that kind of topic.}


I repeat, no matter how much you love a woman or a man from a different faith/value system from yours, you cannot marry him or her. Or should I say, not advisable. You will regret it down the road after the dust settles.

According to the survey, the institution perceived by respondents to be most affected by corruption is the Nigeria Police where the survey revealed that 56% of the respondents acknowledged to have given bribe to the police.

Most worrying

According to Transparency International, “Bribes to the police have almost doubled since 2006, and more people report paying bribes to the judiciary and for registry and permit services than did so five years ago.” Identifying the poor and young to be the most victimised in paying bribes, the report stated that “the demographics of bribery continue to disadvantage the poor and the young, as lower income earners report paying more bribes than higher income earners. Poorer people are twice as likely to pay bribes for basic services, such as utilities, medical services and education, than wealthier people.” “A third of all people under the age of 30 report paying a bribe in the past 12 months, compared to less than one in five people over 51 years of age.” “Corruption is a regressive tax. This injustice must be addressed. The marginalised and poor remain the most vulnerable to extortion. Governments should do more to identify corruption risks in basic services and to protect their citizens,” the report added.

Any time "Naija" is in the news, it is for something negative.

Disgusting.

^^^
Abi o gbo oyinbo?
Read again. I edited.
I think he paid you a compliment. Hypocritical is an understatement describing your activities on NL.
If I were to describe you. . . I would describe you as Gollum in the the Movie series "Lord of the Rings".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk4Ntcq5uNg&feature=related


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLvIFRNbqOs

You of all people should be talking. You have no business nominating anyone without nominating yourself first and foremost.

strangerf:
I nominate Blazay, for his unadulterated hatred for anything Yoruba

Then, Igbobuigbo, for his ability to spew original hateful comments against Yoruba

I will also nominate Metalgong as well.

Thank you. Please throw in ALL NL Igbos in there too. Did you forget that? Lemme help you a tad.

igbobuigbo:
I see you cannot help yourself. I will leave people to judge your posts against that of any other person here.
You are nothing but a hate-filled, unsurprisingly-hypocritical [size=18pt]MAGGOT.[/size]

That is an understatement.




This NL is a place of all places I tellya. My prayer is that I never have to encounter any of you in my waking moments off the cyber airways. For I would summarily hang myself in ignominy.

DapoBear:
What does corruption have to do with high interest rates?

Are you following this thread at all?
If you want investors in Nigeria, you need reliable transportation and security. In a nutshell, the pre-requisites of investing in your power sector are just not there. You are already dreaming of high interest rates. Young man, you need to learn to crawl before you think of doing the 'leap-frog' jump. With the level of corruption in Nigeria, no serious investors will think of investing in a 'rogue' state unless you want Halliburton revisited. Bribery and short cuts with absolutely nothing done.

What on earth is being outsourced? Foreign investment != outsourcing.

Jobs for your Nigerian graduates. If you can supply Ghana and Benin electricity. . . surely one state. . . just one state in Nigeria could benefit. So what kind of investors do you need in the power sector that Nigerians can not take charge of. If not for corruption and nepotism?

No, not at all. Again, there are just much more lucrative opportunities available in Nigeria. If i have $100 million, the last thing I'd do is invest in electricity production. Too many other things one can do with the money in Nigeria. However, foreigners don't necessarily think in the same way. Again, they are attracted to relatively safe things like power production, roads, etc.

Without security and basic amenities?

Is that right? I was taking you seriously for one minute. Now, I know you are here to kid around.
Keep investing in darkness.
You are beginning to sound like a representative of the government yourself.
Would not be surprised if you stand a lot to gain from such pro-investors' argument.
Only enemies of Nigerian progress would frown against privatization.
At least give the Nigerian private sector a chance.
Not difficult to ask.

A recurring theme on this thread is the obstacle of corruption. If you cannot manage your 1million dollars efficiently, I doubt you can manage 1 trillion in any investment venture in Nigeria. . . .power, transportation or otherwise. I think you need to address that first.

Following the abduction of the wife of one of their members, Mrs Juliana Ogunleye, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ondo State branch, has embarked on a two-day warning strike to demand for her release.

Mu he he he he

Blame Boko Haram.

^^^
God saved you. You did not need to use those out-houses of 'poes' called toilets with frightening-looking, Egba-almajiri land of attendants, with extremely hideous Akintola-brand, facial tribal marks, with half-empty Ragolis water-bottles to wash your hands and ars*es without soap. . . shaking them in the air to air dry like tropical Mangabees, while dripping liquefied poop all over yourself. No toilet tissue/paper towels. If you need some toilet paper, those area fadas and modas at MMA with stinking armpits/crotch/mouth plus or minus palm-oil stained uniforms and all. . . would expect you in dire straights to get something out of your suitcase to 'settle' them.  After all said and done. . .the damnnn toilet does not flush. Come to find out that some 10 peeps have to shell some boulders of human fertilizer in one unpluggable commode and almost over flowing with lava and maggots before the full-grown, buzzing flies alert the authorities like some form of alarm clock or something. . . that some part of the so-called airport needs some attention. One of OBJ's girlfriends was minister of aviation at one point o!

Do not say I told you.

Oh well, that is Lagos county for ya.
Designer pigs wearing Versace!

Useless country.

[quote author=mobbi_06 link=topic=564351.msg7301257#msg7301257 date=1291893765]@ hercules
I seriously do not believe what you are saying because the power sector is one of the very few industries where the principle of competition and effective allocation of resources is applied to the wire, almost as is in economic theory.

@blazay
you have just stated one of the key issues of the Nigerian power sector, which is the extent of infrastructural decay and sabotage. This in itself is one of the major barriers to private investment in the power sector, and given the level it has reached it creates worries when we think of the cost the consumers will bear after the private firms have invested in generating and distributing infrastructure.
We must also note that privatization in other countries also involved the participation of foreign investors like in the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. This however does not justify a hundred percent foreign controlled power sector in Nigeria. I think it is left to Nigerian investors to garner themselves to see how Nigerians can also participate in this.[/quote]I agree. All that investor bizz proposed by the dude in this article is all a smokescreen. Nigerians would fall for that gimmick any day, any time. Nigeria needs to learn an ounce of self-reliance. When one of my flights was diverted to Senegal for some mechanical problem to be checked out over night, I was ashamed to see that the city had electricity through out the night. The hotel we stayed in never switched from deisel to PCHN for one second. Even Mexico. It is really embarassing.

Do we mention Ghana?

[quote author=Aloy+Emeka link=topic=563559.msg7304390#msg7304390 date=1291923158]Unless you are planning to buy them bullet trains for travelling since you got dough that is working pretty well.

P.S. Take out that picture of yours and put the former one. Her Igbo/Ibibio/Efik legs look way better than your fat face.  [/quote]Why the vexation?
You mean almajiri legs?
I say my money is working. You harmattan stock fish from Austria.
My fat face's got enough dough to buy me 'beauty'.
Goodluck with your mobile caskets.
At least, most of you graduated and got married from within those things.

Women are still looking for one. . . not to mention multiple husbands.
I do not advocate polygamy for males or females.
Extremely tacky.