John E. Deasy, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said it is “a moral obligation” to deliver quality education to every student in the district. Deasy’s comments were delivered at the inaugural Marlene Canter Lecture at Loyola Marymount University.
Deasy said his administration would “move very quickly” to bring about “a rebirth of opportunity” for students in Los Angeles public schools. “Students get one chance to go through our school system” and it is “a moral obligation” to give every student access to quality instruction. He called access to education that leads to college degree “a civil right” for every student and said highly effective instruction is the “single greatest determinant to learning.”
Deasy, an enthusiastic student advocate, presented an accessible and upbeat vision for an LAUSD rebirth, promising that his administration will ask hard questions about nurturing highly effective teaching methods, enable parent engagement and end educational discrimination by enshrining the belief that “all students can work at high levels.”
The lecture was sponsored by the LMU School of Education and was the first time the future superintendent has publicly discussed his vision for LAUSD. The Board of Education selected Deasy in January. He took office in April, replacing Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, who retired. The speech drew coverage from television, radio and print media. (Please see links below.)
LMU President David W. Burcham introduced Deasy, praising him for taking on the “most important public service job in Los Angeles, if not in the state.” Burcham also thanked Marlene Canter, who was a member of the LAUSD board for eight years and its president for two, for giving her name to the annual lecture series.
Burcham said bringing together educators, academics and policymakers to solve problems “typifies and symbolizes” the best in university missions. “The days of the ivory tower are long gone,” Burcham said, and it is important for universities to be engaged in solving society’s more intractable problems. “At LMU, the School of Education is leading the way,” he said.
Shane P. Martin, dean of SOE, thanked Canter for her “generosity and vision” in establishing and helping fund the lecture series, which will annually “bring visionary education leaders to LMU.” Canter noted that Martin brought the idea to her.
A former special education teacher, Canter dedicated the lecture series to children and especially to Becky, the first child she taught to read. She introduced Deasy, calling him “a leading thinker in education, as well as a leading implementer of cutting-edge ideas that benefit all children.”
Deasy discussed the need for equality of educational opportunity, and said, “It is necessary that every single solitary elementary student have health, vision and dental care that is provided to them gratis.” He called it “an essential component to the way the city treats youth” and “a basic right.”
In an interview, Deasy said he would pursue that goal through retargeting of community redevelopment agency funds, pressing those who already contract with LAUSD to provide these benefits, and soliciting philanthropies. At the very least, he said the district would shine a light on the issue. “Students can’t learn, if they can’t see,” he said. LAUSD spends about $1 billion a year on health and welfare services.
On the difficult issue of teacher tenure and performance, he said “we are not going to be able to hire or fire our way” to good teaching. He said the district will invest in raising the caliber of inadequate teachers, but “poor performers … need to be dismissed” if they cannot improve.
Media Coverage
