Tag: Angeles

  • In Los Angeles, 45 Elementary Schools Beat the Odds in Teaching Kids to Read – The 74

    In Los Angeles, 45 Elementary Schools Beat the Odds in Teaching Kids to Read – The 74

    This article is part of Bright Spots, a series highlighting schools where every child learns to read, no matter their zip code. Explore the Bright Spots map to find out which schools are beating the odds in terms of literacy versus poverty rates.

    This story is part of The 74’s special coverage marking the 65th anniversary of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Read all our stories here.

    When The 74 started looking for schools that were doing a good job teaching kids to read, we began with the data. We crunched the numbers for nearly 42,000 schools across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and identified 2,158 that were beating the odds by significantly outperforming what would be expected given their student demographics. 

    Seeing all that data was interesting. But they were just numbers in a spreadsheet until we decided to map out the results. And that geographic analysis revealed some surprising findings. 

    For example, we found that, based on our metrics, two of the three highest-performing schools in California happened to be less than 5 miles apart from each other in Los Angeles. 

    The PUC Milagro Charter School came out No. 1 in the state of California. With 91% of its students in poverty, our calculations projected it would have a third grade reading rate of 27%. Instead, 92% of its students scored proficient or above. Despite serving a high-poverty student population, the school’s literacy scores were practically off the charts.  

    PUC Milagro is a charter school, and charters tended to do well in our rankings. Nationally, they made up 7% of all schools in our sample but 11% of those that we identified as exceptional. 

    But some district schools are also beating the odds. Just miles away from PUC Milagro is our No. 3-rated school in California, Hoover Street Elementary. It is a traditional public school run by the Los Angeles Unified School District. With 92% of its students qualifying for free- or reduced-price lunch, our calculations suggest that only 23% of its third graders would likely be proficient in reading. Instead, its actual score was 78%. 

    For this project, we used data from 2024, and Hoover Street didn’t do quite as well in 2025. (Milagro continued to perform admirably.)

    Still, as Linda Jacobson reported last month, the district as a whole has been making impressive gains in reading and math over the last few years. In 2025, it reported its highest-ever performance on California’s state test. Moreover, those gains were broadly shared across the district’s most challenging, high-poverty schools. 

    Our data showed that the district as a whole slightly overperformed expectations, based purely on the economic challenges of its students. We also found that, while Los Angeles is a large, high-poverty school district, it had a disproportionately large share of what we identified as the state’s “bright spot” schools. L.A. accounted for 8% of all California schools in our sample but 16% of those that are the most exceptional. 

    All told, we found 45 L.A. district schools that were beating the odds and helping low-income students read proficiently. Some of these were selective magnet schools, but many were not. 

    INTERACTIVE

    Map of Los Angeles Area Bright Spots

    

    Some of the schools on the map may not meet most people’s definition of a good school, let alone a great one. For example, at Stanford Avenue Elementary, 47% of its third graders scored proficient in reading in 2024. That may not sound like very many, but 97% of its students are low-income, and yet it still managed to outperform the rest of the state by 4 percentage points. (It did even a bit better in 2025.)
    

    Schools like Stanford Avenue Elementary don’t have the highest scores in California. On the surface, they don’t look like they’re doing anything special. But that’s why it’s important for analyses like ours to consider a school’s demographics. High-poverty elementary schools that are doing a good job of helping their students learn to read deserve to be celebrated for their results.
    

                    
    
                                    
    

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  • Addressing Student-Centered Transfer Reform in Los Angeles

    Addressing Student-Centered Transfer Reform in Los Angeles

    California’s community college–to–four-year university transfer pipeline has not delivered the outcomes students need. While 80 percent of community college students intend to transfer, just 19 percent reach a California State University campus within four years. The gap is stark. While there have been numerous statewide efforts to define clear pathways to California State University and the University of California, time and time again it’s taken local innovation and collaboration between sending and receiving colleges to make a real difference.

    In Los Angeles, which enrolls a quarter of the state’s students, educators and partners have spent nearly a decade working to support student-centered transfer innovations by focusing attention on implementation of the associate degree for transfer (A.D.T.), a 2+2 pathway intended to offer community college students guaranteed admission to the CSU and an efficient path to graduation. Cross-sector education and workforce collaboratives like the L.A. Compact and the L.A. Region K–16 Collaborative, both convened by UNITE-LA—a nonprofit advancing equitable education and career pathways—have stewarded this work.

    In 2017, UNITE-LA brought together leaders from California State University, Northridge; the L.A. Community College District; and other local public and private universities to attempt to solve a common challenge: re-engaging students who stopped out. Recognizing that institutions had a shared responsibility to support this student population, California’s first reverse-transfer program was born.

    CSUN Connections went further than traditional reverse-transfer models by helping disengaged students seamlessly transfer their credits to a partnering community college, apply them to an A.D.T. when available and then transfer back to CSUN to complete their bachelor’s with all the benefits of an associate degree. This work required us to take stock of the student data and identify where institutional and systemwide policy barriers, including degree offerings, residency requirements and program misalignments, were costing students additional time and money

    Concurrently, campus partners wanted to better understand A.D.T. pathway availability and student outcomes from a regional perspective. Recognizing that the benefits of the A.D.T. unravel when such degrees are not locally available or, when available, rendered inaccessible by enrollment impaction, 16 community colleges and four CSUs engaged in historic data sharing to assemble a clearer picture.

    The findings were clear: The A.D.T. was not yielding the desired results. Students who earn the A.D.T. transfer to CSU at half the rate of non-A.D.T. earners. A.D.T. earners often did not complete their degree in two years, and many did not enter CSU in the same field of study. This is due, in part, to the fact that A.D.T.s are not offered locally in many high-paying fields in popular majors like STEM and health. Students of color, especially L.A.’s African American student population, were even less likely to earn the degree, transfer or enter high-demand fields.

    In response, UNITE-LA convened a 2021 community of practice focused on improving transfer pathways in the region, asking, to what extent do our educational systems yield inequities in transfer, and for whom? Why is this happening? And how might we bring change? The group surfaced systemic challenges and also revealed that meaningful solutions must be developed at the campus level.

    From 2022 to 2024, UNITE-LA piloted a new approach: the Student-Centered Transfer Redesign Process. In partnership with California State University, Dominguez Hills; Cal Poly Pomona; and their feeder community colleges, campus administrators and staff in academic affairs, student services and enrollment management worked together alongside faculty to diagnose barriers and design strategies to improve transfer and bachelor’s attainment.

    The process went beyond policy change—it built campus capacity. Participants gained deeper understanding of equity gaps, stronger cross-campus relationships and hands-on tools for problem solving. Empathy interviews with transfer students shifted the focus from what students did or didn’t do to what they experienced, learned and overcame. This perspective is critical to making a student-ready system instead of making students conform to existing policies that don’t serve them.

    For example, through the Transfer Redesign Process, CSUDH looked at data-backed recommendations of the statewide AB 928 Committee and assessed the viability of expanding its campus emergency aid program for prematriculated transfer students. Such aid could help incoming transfer students navigate unexpected expenses associated with transfer, such as moving costs, childcare costs and additional transportation expenses like up-front parking or transit pass fees.

    In another example, Cal Poly Pomona sought to partner with a feeder community college to implement eTranscript in order to create faster and more consistent transcript and data-sharing processes to support transfer student success. As noted in a recent study of five public institutions in California, despite improvements in available technology, transcript sharing remains a highly manual process that can delay transfer students in receiving final credit-evaluation decisions that are needed for accurate advisement and on-time course registration.

    These efforts underscore a core lesson: Localized collaboration is essential for effective implementation of state policy, to diagnose new challenges as they arise, to develop responsive solutions from the ground up and then to advocate for the scaling of innovations that work. The size of California’s higher education systems and complexity of degree pathways require more robust investments to support this type of cross-campus work. State-funded initiatives like the K–16 Collaboratives have provided flexible funding to make it possible in places like Los Angeles. But sustained, dedicated funding is key to turning localized innovation into statewide reforms that reach all Californians. With the state’s Cradle-to-Career Data System, the new Master Plan for Career Education and proposed Education Interagency Council, California has an opportunity to embed these lessons statewide.

    Los Angeles is fortunate in that it has a coalition of education leaders willing to cut through the bureaucracy and advance change for the well-being of students. It’s taken data sharing, relationship building, intermediaries and a creative blend of funding, but our students deserve systems that work. Campuses deserve resources to improve them. By aligning funding, policy, practice and partnership, we can ensure their success—and, in turn, the prosperity of our communities and our state.

    Adam Gottlieb is the director of postsecondary strategy and policy at UNITE-LA. 

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  • Los Angeles Community College District Claims to Be Facing State Takeover Amid Allegations of Fraud and Censorship in LAVC Media Arts Department (LACCD Whistleblower)

    Los Angeles Community College District Claims to Be Facing State Takeover Amid Allegations of Fraud and Censorship in LAVC Media Arts Department (LACCD Whistleblower)

    The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) may be facing state takeover within two years due to overextended hiring and budget mismanagement, as discussed during a May 2025 meeting of the Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) Academic Senate. Faculty warned that the looming financial crisis could result in mass layoffs—including tenured staff—and sweeping program cuts.

    Start Minutes LAVC Academic Senate

    “R. Christian-Brougham: other campuses have brand new presidents doing strange things. If we don’t do things differently as a district, from the mouth of the president in two years we’ll be bankrupt and go into negative.
     Chancellor has responsibility
    C. Sustin  asks for confirmation that it is the Chancellor that can and should step in to curb campus budgets and hirings.
    R. Christian-Brougham: the Chancellor bears responsibility, but in the takeover scenario, the Board of Trustees – all of them – would get fired
    E. Perez: which happened in San Francisco
    C. Sustin: hiring is in the purview of campuses, so they can’t directly determine job positions that move forward?
    R. Christian-Brougham: Chancellor and BoT could step in and fire the Campus Presidents, though.
    E. Perez: in next consultation with Chancellor, bringing this up.
    C. Maddren: Gribbons is not sitting back; he’s acting laterally and going upward
    E. Thornton: looping back to the example of City College of San Francisco: when the takeover happened there the reductions in force extended to multiple long-since-tenured members of a number of disciplines, including English. For this and so many other reasons, it was a reign of terror sort of situation. So we really need to push the Chancellor.”

    End Minutes Academic Senate

    https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/laccd/Board.nsf/vpublic?open#

    The dire financial outlook comes as new scrutiny falls on LAVC’s Media Arts Department, already under fire for years of alleged fraud, resume fabrication, and manipulation of public perception. Central to these concerns is the department’s chair, Eric Swelstad, who also oversees a $40,000 Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globe) grant for LAVC students—a role now drawing sharp criticism in light of mounting questions about his credentials and conduct.

    Over the past two months, a troubling wave of digital censorship has quietly erased years of documented allegations. In May 2025, nearly two years’ worth of investigative reporting—comprising emails, legal filings, and accreditation complaints—were scrubbed from the independent news site IndyBay. The removed content accused Swelstad of deceiving students and the public for over two decades about the quality and viability of the Media Arts program, as well as about his own professional qualifications.

    In June 2025, a negative student review about Swelstad—posted by a disabled student—disappeared from Rate My Professor. These incidents form part of what appears to be a years-long campaign of online reputation management and public deception.

    An AI-driven analysis of Rate My Professor entries for long-serving Media Arts faculty—including Swelstad, Arantxa Rodriguez, Chad Sustin, Dan Watanabe, and Jason Beaton—suggests that the majority of positive reviews were written by a single individual or a small group. The analysis cited “Identical Phrasing Across Profiles,” “Unusually Consistent Tag Patterns,” and a “Homogeneous Tone and Style” as evidence:

    “It is very likely that many (possibly a majority) of the positive reviews across these faculty pages were written by one person or a small group using similar templates, tone, and strategy… The presence of clearly distinct voices, especially in the negative reviews, shows that not all content comes from the same source.”

    A now-deleted IndyBay article also revealed emails dating back to 2016 between LAVC students and Los Angeles Daily News journalist Dana Bartholomew, who reportedly received detailed complaints from at least a dozen students—but failed to publish the story. Instead, Bartholomew later authored two glowing articles featuring Swelstad and celebrating the approval of LAVC’s $78.5 million Valley Academic and Cultural Center:

    * *”L.A. Valley College’s new performing arts center may be put on hold as costs rise,”* Dana Bartholomew, August 28, 2017.

      [https://www.dailynews.com/2016/08/09/la-valley-colleges-new-performing-arts-center-may-be-put-on-hold-as-costs-rise/amp/](https://www.dailynews.com/2016/08/09/la-valley-colleges-new-performing-arts-center-may-be-put-on-hold-as-costs-rise/amp/)

    * *”L.A. Valley College’s $78.5-million arts complex approved in dramatic downtown vote,”* Dana Bartholomew, August 11, 2016.
      [https://www.dailynews.com/2016/08/11/la-valley-colleges-785-million-arts-complex-approved-in-dramatic-downtown-vote/](https://www.dailynews.com/2016/08/11/la-valley-colleges-785-million-arts-complex-approved-in-dramatic-downtown-vote/)

    Among the most explosive allegations is that Swelstad misrepresented himself as a member of the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), a claim contradicted by official WGA-West membership records, according to another redacted IndyBay report.

    This appears to be the tip of the iceberg according to other also scrubbed IndyBay articles

    Other questionable appointments, payments, and student ‘success stories’ in the Los Angeles Valley College Media Arts Department include:

    * **Jo Ann Rivas**, a YouTube personality and former Building Oversight Committee member, was paid as a trainer and presenter despite reportedly only working as a casting assistant on the LAVC student-produced film *Canaan Land*.

    (https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2018/los-angeles-district/jo-ann-rivas/)

    * **Robert Reber**, a student filmmaker, was paid as a cinematography expert.

    (https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2017/los-angeles-district/robert-reber/)

    * **Diana Deville**, a radio host and LAVC alumna with media credits, served as Unit Production Manager on *Canaan Land*, but her resume claims high-profile studio affiliations including DreamWorks, MGM, and OWN.

    (https://www.tnentertainment.com/directory/view/diana-deville-13338)

    The film *Canaan Land*, made by LAVC Media Arts students, has itself raised eyebrows. Filmmaker Richard Rossi claimed that both it and his earlier student film *Clemente* had received personal endorsements from the late Pope Francis. These assertions were echoed on *Canaan Land*’s GoFundMe page, prompting public denials and clarifications from the Vatican in *The Washington Post* and *New York Post*:

    [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/08/17/after-july-miracle-pope-francis-reportedly-moves-roberto-clemente-closer-to-sainthood/]
    * [https://nypost.com/2017/08/17/the-complicated-battle-over-roberto-clementes-sainthood/]

    Censorship efforts appear to have intensified following the publication of a now-removed article advising students how to apply for student loan discharge based on misleading or fraudulent education at LAVC’s Media Arts Department. If successful, such filings could expose the department—and the district—to financial liability.

    But the highest-profile financial concern is the 2020 establishment of the **Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s $40,000 grant** for LAVC Media Arts students, administered by Swelstad:

    * [HFPA Endowed Scholarship Announcement (PDF)](https://www.lavc.edu/sites/lavc.edu/files/2022-08/lavc_press_release-hfpa-endowed-scholarship-for-lavc-film-tv-students.pdf)
    * [LAVC Grant History Document](https://services.laccd.edu/districtsite/Accreditation/lavc/Standard%20IVA/IVA1-02_Grants_History.pdf)

    As a disreputable academic administrator with a documented history of professional fraud spanning two decades and multiple student success stories that aren’t, future grant donors may reconsider supporting the Department programs – further pushing the Los Angeles Valley College and by extension the district as a whole towards financial insolvency. 

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  • Corruption, Fraud and Scandal at Los Angeles Community College District, Part 2 (LACCD Whistleblower)

    Corruption, Fraud and Scandal at Los Angeles Community College District, Part 2 (LACCD Whistleblower)

    [Editor’s note: The first installment of Corruption, Fraud and Scandal at Los Angeles Community College District is here.]

    “HR has been weaponized against our faculty for speaking out and complaining about
    discrimination.” This was a public comment made by Los Angeles Community College District
    Academic Senate President Angela Echeverri at the March 2025 Meeting of the LACCD Board
    of Trustees.

    Echeverri’s remarks were not isolated either and were echoed by Deborah Harrington (California
    Community Colleges’ Success Network Executive Director), “Our HR leadership is not living up
    to the standards that we deserve. Our members remain quite frustrated.” More reporting can be
    read in Pierce College student newspaper ‘The RoundUp’ and LACCD Youtube Live-Streamed
    meetings.

    These accusations come three years after longtime administrator Annie G. Reed (Annie Goldman
    Reed) left her position as Omsbudsman/Associate Dean of Students at Los Angeles Valley
    College was promoted to Interim Dean of Employee and Labor Relations collecting an annual
    salary of $284,935.00 in pay and benefits in 2022 according to Transparent California last year of
    reporting.

    A survey of public records including news articles, lawsuits, accreditation complaints, and emails
    to show that Annie G. Reed has a long history of this sort of behavior across multiple LACCD
    campuses – going back to the 2000s. 

    In an October 27, 2010 article ‘Grade Grievances Give Students Voice’ by Lucas Thompson in
    ‘The Los Angeles Valley Star’ Annie G. Reed is quoted as cautioning students against using their
    rights to challenge unfair grades stating, “It’s worthwhile if a student really thinks they have the
    proof to forward with the process . . . It’s their right to, [but] we don’t encourage frivolous
    [cases], because that’s a waste of college resources.” 

    The article further quoted disgraced ex-College President Sue Carleo who left the institution in
    2013, with the College finances in the red and on Warning Status with the Accreditation
    Commission of Junior and Community Colleges. Carleo warned that students should simply
    view mis-grading as “Human Error.” (https://archive.org/details/cavgchm_002210/mode/2up?
    q=Annie+Reed+LAVC)

    When the ACJCC placed Los Angeles Valley College on Accreditation Warning it cited multiple
    standards violations and specifically;

    College Recommendation 5:

    To fully meet the Standards, the college should ensure that records of complaints are
    routinely maintained as required by the Policy on Student and Public Complaints Against
    Institutions
    (Standards II.B.2, II.B.2.c, II.B.3.a, II.B.4)

    This came after Annie G. Reed failed to have student records or complaints available for
    inspection to the visiting Accreditation Team.

     Three years later Reed was again in hot water when a student filed an Accreditation Complaint in
    June 2016, specifically documenting multiple faculty members in the Los Angeles Valley
    College Media Arts Department engaging in fraud and deceptive practices – supported by sixty
    pages of documentation.

    The complaint further stated that Reed refused to facilitate student complaints as was her role
    and threatened action for ‘disrupting the peace of the campus’ by making complaints. This was
    followed by a second accreditation complaint by another student regarding the same issues and a
    student Facebook Group discussing issues.

    Reed’s response was to suspend the first student running a smear campaign that he was potential
    active shooter citing the complaints he brought, suspend a thirty-year old single mother in the
    Facebook Group for Academic dishonesty after she forgot to have a college transcript from when
    she was eighteen-years old sent to LAVC, and then threatened the second student who brought an
    Accreditation Complaint for vandalizing school property.

    [Below: Text exchange between LACCD students alleging that administrator Annie Reed created a smear campaign against them.]

    Student 1 was suspended for a year (though not expelled by the Board of Trustees after
    investigation) a semester short of graduating. Student 1 would have earned six associate degrees
    and eight occupational certificates. Student 2, was ordered to pay a substantial amount of
    financial aid back to the college as “restitution.” Several months later, she was subjected to a
    reversal of hours by LAVC Grant Director Dan Watanabe in the Media Arts Department, for a
    campus job she worked and ordered to pay back several thousand dollars. Student 3 ended up
    going to Los Angeles City College to take final classes needed to graduate and was nearly
    refused graduation by Department Chair Eric Swelstad.

    These actions also happened right before and after LAVC Media Arts Faculty Eric Swelstad,
    Chad Sustin, Adrian Castillo, Dan Watanabe, and LAVC President Erika Endrijonas lobbied the
    LACCD Board of Trustees to approve construction of a new Media Arts Building that was later
    reported by The Los Angeles Times to be a massive racketeering scheme – Aug 4, 2022, Teresa
    Watanabe, ‘Corruption and fraud beset long-delayed L.A. Valley college theater project, lawsuit
    alleges.’ (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-04/corruption-alleged-in-long
    delayed-la-valley-college-theater-project) 

    These actions mirrored the treatment of a student who sued LAVC’s Media Arts Department in
    2009, alleging the same type of fraud and misconduct by nearly all the same Department Faculty.

    Enrique Caraveo vs Los Angeles Valley College, Eric Swelstad, Joseph D’Accurso, Arantxia
    Rodriguez, Dennis J. Reed among others. Filing Date: 05/18/2009 (https://unicourt.com/case/ca
    la2-enrique-caraveo-vs-los-angeles-valley-college-et-al-621337)

    In that case, Caraveo stated:

    46. When plaintiff complained about the above referenced matters, Swelstad and other Valley
    College officials retaliated against plaintiff by refusing to grant him a Certificate and creating a
    hostile learning environment for him in class.

    47. On or around June 2007 plaintiff satisfied the requirements to get a Cinema Arts Production
    Certificate (“Certificate”) at Valley College.

    54. On or about October 2008, Swelstad denied plaintiff the certificate via a letter even though
    plaintiff has fulfilled the requirements to get the Certificate.

    55. On or about October 13, 2008, plaintiff notified Delahoussaye and Reed that plaintiff had
    fulfilled all requirements for the Certificate and that they should take care of the matter as soon
    as possible. On or about October 13, 2008, Yasmin Delahoussaye and Dennis Reed denied
    request.”

    Dennis Reed, was at the time the Dean over the Media Arts Department and the husband of
    Annie G. Reed. Dennis Reed was later profiled in LAist Magazine on April 27, 2016 article ‘Jerk
    Driver Who Ran Cyclists Off Glendale Road Charged With Assault, Lying To Police’ (https://
    laist.com/news/justice-delivered-almost)

     More to the point – Dennis Reed also oversaw a grant program at Los Angeles Valley College
    Media Arts Department known as IDEAS – Institute for Developing Entertainment Arts and
    Studies at LAVC. The Grant was run by Dan Watanabe. (https://archive.org/details/
    cavgchm_002241/mode/2up?q=Annie+Reed+LAVC)

     Watanabe was also named in the Accreditation Complaint for Wage Theft, Improper use of funds
    and fraud in the successor grant ICT Doing What Matters, due to the college receiving Grant
    Money but immediately eliminating the curriculum the grant application said they would provide
    and like Caraveo’s complaint not providing in class training or labs. The complaints to
    Accreditation and the LACCD Personnel Commission by students also questioned the legitimacy
    of a number of professional experts, including Robert Reber – who was listed as both a ‘student
    worker’ and ‘professional expert’ in 2008. Student 1 further provided evidence to both that Dan
    Watanabe had asked him to falsify his resume claiming fictitious jobs and cited an employee in
    the LAVC Payroll office as being behind it (that employee immediately denied it and Student 1
    refused).

    Dennis Reed had also spent years lobbying for the approval of the VACC building –
    unsuccessfully.

    In short, Annie G. Reed’s retaliation and cover-up in 2016, may have been to help realize her
    husband’s failed building project as well as preemptively shutdown any investigations or audits
    that might trigger further scrutiny regarding how the IDEAS Grant was administered under his
    time as area Dean.

    Reed’s behavior of covering up abusive behavior towards members of the LACCD Community
    was also not limited to retaliation against students.

    In 2017, then LACCD Board President Andra Hoffman accused former Board President Scott
    Svonkin of abusive behavior and demanded sanctions. According to an article in the Los Angeles
    Daily News, ‘LA Community College board postpones sanction hearing vote against former
    4
    president’ August 28, 2017, Annie G. Reed again inserted herself into the matter to cover-up for
    Svonkin.

    “The allegations do not strike me as related to governing and seem best suited for mediation,”
    said Annie Reed, a district employee for 22 years and a representative of Teamsters Local 911. “I
    don’t ever recall a time, or a place, where he has treated his colleagues poorly.”

    Others disagreed, including two former women board members who did not speak at the
    downtown meeting.

    They said Hoffman’s critics — who they said weren’t present during the abuse — had a tendency
    to blame the victim, while ignoring Svonkin’s allegedly brusque treatment of employees.”
    (https://www.dailynews.com/2017/07/13/la-community-college-board-postpones-sanction
    hearing-vote-against-former-president/)

    Her behavior is further documented in a series of lawsuits against the LACCD District. 

    Filed October 03, 2024 Dr. Christiana Baskaran (Plaintiff), Linda Silva; Dr. Ruth Dela Cruz,
    Dr. Adriana Portugal, vs LACCD (including defendant Annie Reed). (https://trellis.law/doc/
    219882998/complaint-filed-by-dr-christiana-baskaran-plaintiff-linda-silva-plaintiff-dr-ruth-dela
    cruz-plaintiff-et-al-as-to-los-angeles-community-college-district-defendant-board-trustees-los
    angeles-community-college-district-defendant-los-angeles-c)

    “[other defendants] Annie Reed to discriminate against female faculty and staff, refused to
    investigate immediately or to take preventative action. Then Defendants and EMPLOYER
    DEFENDANTS retaliated against PLAINTIFFS and others to try and prevent them from
    complaining to authorities. When PLAINTIFFS opposed these illegal practices, they continued
    to retaliate against them.”

    24. As set forth herein, ALL Defendants were officers, agents. Defendants and directly or
    indirectly used or attempt to use their official authority or influence for the purpose of
    intimidating, threatening, coercing, commanding, or attempting to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or
    command PLAINTIFF and others for the purpose of interfering with the right of that person to
    disclose to an official agent matters within the scope of this article. EMPLOYER
    DEFENDANTS aided and abetted MARY GALLAGHER, ARMANDO RIVERA-FIGUEROA,
    ANN HAMILTON, JAMES LANCASTER, JOCELYN SIMPSON, JIM LANCASTER, ANNIE
    REED and Victoria Friedman District Complaince Officer, Genie-Sarceda-Magruder Interim
    Director Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Rick Von Kolen to violate this statute.

    28. . . .Dr Hamilton admitted to other illegal activity such as planting drugs on employees to
    destroy their reputation and get them fired. Dr Silva filed a grievance against Dean Hamilton to
    try and get her to stop the illegal activity, the union did nothing. 

    32. Ms. Silva complained to Human Resources filed a title IX complaint, made a report to the
    police and was retaliated against.

    Filed October 19, 2023 Sara Adams, An Individual VS California Institute of Technology,
    California Corporation. (https://trellis.law/case/23stcv25556/sara-adams-an-individual-vs
    california-institute-technology-california-corporation)

    “21. On April 7, 2023, Mr. Wu continued to report the pay disparity to Annie Reed, Upon
    information and belief, Annie Reed is Caltech’s Employee and Organizational Development
    Consultant (Human Resources Department). 

    22. Annie Reed spoke about the report of pay disparity to Ofelia Velazquez-Perez, Caltech’s
    Senior Director, Total Rewards and Director of Employee and Organizational Development
    (Employee Relations).”

    Filed March 08, 2021, Mitra Hoshiar, an individual, Plaintiff, v. Los Angeles Community
    College District, (https://trellis.law/case/21stcv08950/mitra-hoshiar-vs-los-angeles-community
    college-district-an-unknown-entity)

    “28. On December 3, 2015, PLAINTIFF then filed a discrimination complaint against Sheri
    Berger (“Berger”), VP of Academic Affairs, and Fernando Oleas (“Oleas”), Pierce Union
    President. During PLAINTIFF meeting with Dean Barbara Anderson (“Anderson”) at
    Anderson’s office on June 10, 2015, Berger and Oleas stopped by and started making remarks of
    PLAINTIFF’s accent for reading the graduates’ names on the ceremony with a non-American
    accent.

    29. Thereafter, On December 11, 2015, in meeting with Dean Annie Reed in conjunction with the
    non-collegiality investigation Walsh, Union Grievance Rep and Oleas stopped by at
    PLAINTIFF’s office in order to prevent PLAINTIFF from Union Representation. They made
    PLAINTIFF to Barbara Anderson, whom was PLANTIFF’s chosen union rep and request for
    Anderson to not join the meeting because Walsh and Oleas had to choose who could be the union
    representation in the meeting.

    30. Based on what had transpired on December 11, 2015, on December 14, 2015, Plaintiff filed a
    Whistleblower/Retaliation Complaint at the District’s Complaint at the District’s Compliance
    Office against Walsh, Oleas, and McKeever (department and union delegate), and other members
    of her department. No action was taken by the Compliance Office.

    Annie G. Reed’s, current interim Dean of Labor and Employee Relations, has been involved in
    covering up wrongdoing in the Los Angeles Community College District for decades. Her targets
    have involved employees, students, faculty, and even a trustee. And so far has never been held
    accountable.

    Multiple stories were published on newswire IndyBay, the news outlet branch of the San
    Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center between 2023 and 2024. They were then
    scrubbed (along with other stories) over the weekend of May 18, 2025.

    Recently, newly appointed Chancellor, Dr. Alberto J. Roman has been alerted to Ms. Reed’s
    disturbing history – it remains to be seen whether he will take corrective action, or continue to
    6
    keep around the same problematic individuals that resulted in his predecessor’s resignation after
    a vote of no-confidence by the LACCD Academic Senate.

    (To be continued…) 

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  • 700 US Marines in California ordered to assist in Los Angeles during protests (ABC News)

    700 US Marines in California ordered to assist in Los Angeles during protests (ABC News)

     

    Seven-hundred Marines in California have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles and they’re expected to arrive over the next 24 hours, a U.S. official confirmed. The Marines are from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, whom U.S. Northern Command had said Sunday were on a “prepared to deploy status” if the Defense Department needed them.

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  • Trump deploys National Guard amid Los Angeles immigration protests (CNN)

    Trump deploys National Guard amid Los Angeles immigration protests (CNN)

    In a stunning escalation that has drawn comparisons to authoritarian crackdowns, former President Donald Trump has ordered 2,000 California National Guard troops into Los Angeles to quell protests sparked by ICE raids across the region. Despite opposition from California Governor Gavin Newsom and local officials, Trump bypassed state authority by invoking federal powers under Title 10 of the U.S. Code—stopping short of the more drastic Insurrection Act but still raising serious constitutional questions.

    The protests began after ICE agents detained dozens of individuals in workplace raids across South L.A. County. The response from the public was immediate and fierce, with large demonstrations erupting near ICE facilities and federal buildings. As tensions grew, federal officers deployed tear gas and non-lethal weapons against demonstrators, while arrests mounted and reports of detainee mistreatment surfaced.

    What makes this moment particularly alarming is the way Trump has redefined protest as “rebellion,” authorizing military support for federal law enforcement without a state request. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has even threatened to deploy active-duty Marines from Camp Pendleton—a move unseen since the 1992 Rodney King unrest. Legal experts and civil rights advocates have sounded the alarm, calling the federal takeover of California’s National Guard unprecedented and chilling.

    The implications for higher education, especially for undocumented and mixed-status students, are profound. Campuses in Southern California are already on edge, with many students fearing ICE presence and military escalation. Faculty and staff in sanctuary campuses and immigrant advocacy networks warn that the militarization of civil immigration enforcement could further chill free speech, academic freedom, and student organizing.

    Law professors like Erwin Chemerinsky have warned that Trump’s actions bypass both precedent and constitutional norms: “It is using the military domestically to stop dissent.” Georgetown’s Steve Vladeck noted that the National Guard’s role may technically be limited to support functions, but the symbolism and real-world consequences of armed troops on city streets are undeniable.

    Trump’s invocation of rebellion in response to protest mirrors earlier moments of U.S. history where power was used to silence dissent. But this time, it is playing out amid a polarized political landscape, weakened democratic institutions, and a rising authoritarian movement—with the academy, once again, caught in the crossfire.

    As protests continue, California’s colleges and universities—long sites of political activism—face renewed pressure. The presence of federal troops, surveillance, and threats of repression may signal a dangerous new phase in the government’s approach to dissent. What was once unthinkable is becoming reality: a nation where protesting immigration raids can be construed as rebellion, and soldiers patrol streets not in a time of war, but in a time of political theater.

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  • Corruption, Fraud and Scandal at Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD Whistleblower)

    Corruption, Fraud and Scandal at Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD Whistleblower)

    During the weekend of May 16-19, 2025, the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center – IndyBay which operates as open platform news source against injustice, scrubbed two years of news articles ranging from May 2023 – May 2025.

    The focus of these articles was corruption, fraud and scandal in the Los Angeles Community College District, primarily at Los Angeles Valley College’s Media Arts Department.

    A few of these articles summarized.

    Erika Endrijonas faces new questions in LACCD fraud | May 2, 2023 |

    Pasadena City College President-Superintendent Erika Endrijonas being fired from the institution and trying to get a job at Santa Barbara City College, Mt. SAC, and Los Angeles City College. Endrijonas had been subjected to a vote of no confidence by the Pasadena Academic Senate, Pasadena Full-Time Faculty Union, protests by Part-Time Faculty, and finally the vote to reduce her contract by the newly elected board of trustees.

    The article dived into Endrijonas’s tenure at her previous institution – Los Angeles Valley College. Endrijonas was announced in her new role at PCC in December 2018, the same week that a jury in Van Nuys awarded a former LAVC employee $2.9 million jury award for illegal retaliation and abuse. A few months earlier, the Los Angeles Times published a major story about the Valley Academic and Cultural Center – a project meant to be Endrijonas’s crowning achievement – being an alleged massive racketeering scheme.

    Further it documented the Media Arts Department the VACC would house had a lengthy history of lawsuits and accreditation complaints against the faculty for not providing the education and training advertised – negating the need for the new building. The building’s approval vote happened in August 2016, the lawsuit happened in 2009, and the Accreditation Complaints happened in June 2016.

    Dozen LAVC Cinema Students Narratives challenge Erika Endrijonas’s LACCD Success Story | May 5, 2023 |

    This article covered a release of an email thread from a dozen students in 2016 that was ultimately sent to the Accreditation Commission for Junior and Community Colleges in 2016, substantiating that there was widespread fraud in the department. Classes were not scheduled by Department Chair Eric Swelstad, training was not provided, labs were not held, etc . . .

    Van Nuys/Los Angeles College Screenwriting Professor Faked Writer’s Guild Membership | May 17, 2023 |

    Revealed that LAVC Media Arts Department Chair Eric Swelstad faked his membership in the Writer’s Guild of America – West, and then used it in multiple professional bios.

    Los Angeles Valley College perpetuated wage theft against students on Julie Su’s watch | May 19, 2023 |

    Documented how Grant Director Dan Watanabe engaged in wage theft against students for two years from 2013 – 2016.

    Two Los Angeles Film Professors Bilked Taxpayers Over $3.5 Million Dollars | May 21, 2023 |

    Described how LAVC Media Arts Department Founder Joseph Dacursso’s retirement first as Department Chair, then as a full-time faculty in 2012, left Department Chair Eric Swelstad and Arantxa Rodriguez to engage in petty infighting and squabbling that spilled over into scheduling decisions. In short, two faculty members collected six-figure-salaries while putting students in the middle of department in-fighting.

    LAVC Omsbudsman Stalked Whistleblowers | August 8, 2023 |

    Described how LAVC’s Dean of Students, Annie G. Reed (Goldman) retaliated and stalked students that went to Accreditation, going as far as running a smear campaign that one of them was a potential school shooter. Worse, she began stalking him after he left school – including on social media.

    [Image: Annie G. Reed Goldman, Dean of Labor and HR at LACCD]

    Further articles questioned where Academic Degrees were given out to students who had not completed Academic classes and criteria, the role of Jo Ann Rivas turned YouTube Personality ‘AuditLA’ who was on the Los Angeles Valley College Citizen’s Building Oversight Committee, whether a number of students with falsified resumes received payments from a Grant as ‘Professional Experts’ etc . . .

    The scrubbing of these articles coincided with the formal appointment of Alberto J. Roman as the new Chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, following the retirement of disgraced administrator Francisco Rodriguez.

    It also came with the publication of two final articles. One about Annie G. Reed’s being named as a Defendant in a lawsuit by former faculty at Los Angeles City College, who came to her about an administrator engaging in illegal behavior – including planting drugs on employees to get them fired.

    The second article, probed Los Angeles Valley College Department Chair, Eric Swelstad’s professional bio again and provided evidence that he repeatedly lied and engaged in deceptive advertising and practices for two decades. It provided students who held loans with information about student borrower defenses.

    The censorship also came months after Jo Ann Rivas aka AuditLA, herself probed by the articles, launched a barrage of attacks for about a week in January about a former student who had grievance’s against the school. Rivas had previously engaged in a similar barrage in July 2020.

    This was not the first time that an attempt was made to censor this news stream.

    In 2020, an attempt was made to hack the community news feed account on Twitter/X.com @LACCDW. Then a week before the LACCD Board of Trustees election in November 2020, Twitter suspended the community newsfeed altogether. It was only restored two years later after Twitter’s sale and the re-evaluation of previous suspended accounts.

    In a final update – The Valley Academic and Cultural Center, despite having a 2018 completion date, remains unfinished. According to minutes of the LAVC Work Environment Committee Minutes from 2025-05-08;

    “The Valley Academic and Cultural Center (VACC) is as of Friday, May 8th, about 80% complete. They are still patching the roof. There are still some critical items like stage protection net.”

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  • After the Los Angeles fires, Beverly Hills shut out students whose school burned

    After the Los Angeles fires, Beverly Hills shut out students whose school burned

    LOS ANGELES — After the Palisades Fire destroyed her son’s high school, Shoshanha Essakhar found herself among the thousands of Los Angeles County parents wondering what to do.

    “I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to be doing Zoom for the next God knows how long,’” said Essakhar. “It was a lot of fear, a lot of uncertainty.”

    The fire devastated Palisades Charter High School, where Essakhar’s son was a ninth grader, as well as two elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Eaton Fire, which broke out around the same time in early January, severely damaged or destroyed six school facilities in Pasadena Unified School District. Together, the fires disrupted learning for more than 725,000 kids and displaced thousands of students from their schools, their homes or both.

    For Essakhar, a potential solution came by way of an executive order California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Jan. 14. For students in Los Angeles County schools affected by the fires, the order paused, through the remainder of the school year, the requirement that a student live within their school district’s boundaries. That meant she could enroll her son at nearby Beverly Hills High School, where another parent she shared carpool duties with was also enrolling her child. She quickly completed the necessary paperwork.

    But roughly a week later, Beverly Hills Unified School District abruptly stopped accepting students displaced by the fires, closing the door on Essakhar’s son and dozens of other students who expected to spend the semester at Beverly Hills High.

    “As a mom, you try to do your best for your child, but it got so unpleasant,” Essakhar said. Beverly Hills school leadership said it could not afford to accept additional students, nor did it need to: Students who lost their school but whose homes were still intact did not need their help.

    Related: Become a lifelong learner. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter featuring the most important stories in education.

    The dispute between Beverly Hills Unified School District and some Palisades parents raises questions that school districts across the U.S. increasingly must grapple with as wildfires and other extreme weather events become more common because of climate change: What does a school district owe its neighbors after a major disaster?

    For Beverly Hills Unified, the answer was admitting 47 students before pausing enrollment over concerns that a surge of newcomers midyear would siphon resources from the district’s 3,000-plus existing students.

    “You’ve got a community where a lot of those folks lost their homes, and half lost their school but their homes weren’t impacted,” said Los Angeles Unified School District board member Nick Melvoin, whose district includes Palisades Charter High School. Like Beverly Hills, its students are predominantly from affluent backgrounds.

    Newsom’s order was an attempt at a fix: It urged districts to “extend every effort to support and facilitate the enrollment of students displaced by the fires.” Lori Peek, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, which focuses on the societal effects of disasters, said it “provided the necessary flexibility that disaster survivors really need, because their circumstances are so diverse.”

    In Beverly Hills, school board members resisted the order. Beverly Hills is one of the few “basic aid” districts in the state, meaning it collects more in local property tax revenue than an annual funding target set by the state, which is based on average daily attendance and other factors. Most districts fall short of the target, and the state makes up the difference.

     The January fires in Southern California disrupted learning for more than 725,000 students. Credit: Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    At a series of meetings in January and February, Beverly Hills school board members argued that the district couldn’t absorb additional students without harming those already enrolled. While other school districts see increased funding from increased attendance, that’s not true for basic aid districts like Beverly Hills.

    Board members also questioned whether students who lost their schools, but not their homes, such as Essakhar’s son, should be considered affected by the fire and able to enroll. Board members told district administration that they believed only students whose homes were destroyed should qualify.

    Not so, said Melissa Schoonmaker with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which provided guidance to the county’s school districts on implementing the order. “It’s not that they had to lose their home or be evacuated, it could be a broad range of impacts,” she said.

    Eighty-seven families were left in limbo: They had completed all of their pre-enrollment steps and were just awaiting class assignments, Assistant Superintendent Laura Collins-Williams told the board on Feb. 3. Dozens more were interested in enrolling.

    Related: 109 degrees on the first day of school? In some districts, extreme heat is delaying when students go back

    Board members supported making this pause permanent.

    “Going forward we are closed to any enrollment that comes right now as a result of a student going to Pali who has not been displaced from their home but would like to come to Beverly Hills because they don’t want to go on Zoom,” board President Rachelle Marcus said at the meeting, referring to Palisades Charter.

    Essakhar, who lives in Brentwood, a Los Angeles neighborhood roughly halfway between Beverly Hills and the Pacific Palisades, called the entire process traumatic.

    She gave up on finding an in-person school option for her son, settling instead for Zoom through Palisades Charter. “Honestly, I didn’t want to go through the experience again,” she said. Plus, most of his friends who left Palisades Charter had enrolled at Beverly High. “Being with your group of friends is different than sending my kid alone to some other school to transition in the middle of the year after the fires on his own,” said Essakhar. 

    Another Palisades Charter parent, Negeen Ben-Cohen, was initially optimistic that the school would quickly secure a temporary campus. But as the weeks went by, she started considering other options for her ninth grader.

    “It was mostly about keeping my son in a healthy social environment, and not isolated at home,” said Ben-Cohen. “Covid already showed that with the amount of learning loss and how much kids fell behind during Zoom.”

    Like Essakhar, Ben-Cohen filled out all the necessary paperwork to enroll her son and was told she would hear soon about his class placements. Then enrollment was paused.

    “They shut the door in our faces. And that was after the kids got their hopes up, they think that they’re going to be able to go in-person, they think they’re going to be able to start with their friends,” said Ben-Cohen. 

    Related: Want to learn more about how climate change is affecting education? Sign up for our newsletter.

    At board meetings, parents and students expressed similar outrage.

    “Beverly had the opportunity to extend a hand when we needed it the most but instead they turned around and slammed the door in our faces,” said Kylie Abdi, a senior at Palisades Charter, at a Feb. 11 meeting.

    “We do not even want to get an education in a school that kicks others while they are down, you have lost the opportunity to teach your students how to be there for each other,” said another Palisades student, junior Rosha Sinai, calling the board “selfish.”

    Jason Hasty, the interim superintendent of Beverly Hills Unified School District, said in an interview that enrolling any more than 47 students would have strained the district’s resources and required hiring more teachers — although he acknowledged that his district is better funded than most.

    “We get more money than the state formula because of the way we’re funded. That is a fact. Also what is a fact is on July 1 of every year, we set a budget … based on the students we are projecting to have,” Hasty said.

    State Sen. Ben Allen, who represents both the Pacific Palisades and Beverly Hills areas, said that Beverly Hills would be compensated for taking in displaced students, although the details are still being worked out. 

    “We’re going to have their backs and that they’re going to be fully compensated for any students that they take in,” he said.

    Hasty said the district has been “in direct discussion” with Allen’s office, but “until we are sure that those funds are materializing and will be provided,” the pause on enrollment under the executive order (which expires at the end of the school year) remains in place. The district continues to enroll students who move to Beverly Hills or who are eligible under the McKinney-Vento Act, said Hasty. That legislation provides protections for students who are homeless, which is defined as “individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate, nighttime residence.”

    Related: Universal prekindergarten is coming to California — bumpy rollout and all

    Nearby Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is also a basic aid district, but it interpreted the order “to mean that any student who wants to come here can come here right now,” said Gail Pinsker, the district’s chief communications officer. So far, the district has enrolled more than 140 students, with about 200 enrollment requests still being processed. The influx of students prompted the district to combine some elementary classes and hire a new high school teacher, Pinsker said.

    Three months after Palisades Charter High School burned, students remain on Zoom. The school just finalized plans to use an old department store building in downtown Santa Monica about 20 minutes southeast of the high school as its temporary campus. In-person instruction should resume sometime after the school’s spring break in mid-April, according to Palisades Charter High School.

     Palisades Elementary Charter School, which was devastated by the wildfires in January. Credit: Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    Allen, the state senator, said the episode shows the need for a policy for compensating basic aid districts that take in displaced students to make the process smoother after future disasters.

    Also helpful would be a website listing districts accepting affected students, said Peek, the University of Colorado researcher.

    Lessons from the Los Angeles fires could inform policymaking elsewhere, she added. “They’re going to need it sooner rather than later, as other disasters continue to unfold across the country.”

    Contact editor Caroline Preston at 212-870-8965, on Signal at CarolineP.83 or via email at [email protected].

    This story about the Los Angeles fires was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

    The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

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  • California colleges confront loss as Los Angeles burns

    California colleges confront loss as Los Angeles burns

    The past week has been a blur for Fred Farina, the California Institute of Technology’s chief innovation officer, who lost his home in the fires still tearing through Los Angeles.

    “Things turned on a dime. One evening we were sitting in our living room and within 10 minutes we had to evacuate,” said Farina, who lived in Altadena, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the Eaton fire. “The loss of everything you have is hard to deal with.”

    Farina is one of hundreds of faculty, staff and students from colleges and universities across Los Angeles who have been displaced by the wildfires.

    While most institutions were spared burn damage to their physical plants, many spent the last week entrenched in immediate recovery efforts. Numerous colleges are raising money to help students and staff secure housing and other basic needs.

    Others are opening shelters and food pantries. Pepperdine University’s law school is hosting free remote legal clinics to educate homeowners and lawyers about federal emergency assistance and related issues such as insurance, leases and mortgages. And the University of California, Los Angeles, opened space at its research park for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to use as a disaster recovery center for fire victims living on the city’s Westside.

    Flexibility and Compassion

    But beyond efforts to meet their communities’ most pressing needs, colleges in Los Angeles are also figuring out how to move forward and get through a semester already scarred by more than one of the most destructive fires in California history. The priority emerging for most college leaders is moving forward with flexibility and compassion.

    “Words seem inadequate to capture the scale of the devastation,” said Thomas F. Rosenbaum, president of Caltech in Pasadena, near where the Eaton fire destroyed 1,400 homes. “The Caltech community has responded with compassion and generosity, seeking to help each other and working heroically to permit Caltech and [the Jet Propulsion Laboratory] to resume their fundamental missions of learning and discovery. We are in this for the long term, and the closeness of our community gives us hope for the future.”

    The blaze didn’t reach the Caltech campus itself, but the institute estimates that more than 1,000 students and employees live in an evacuation zone. Of those, more than 90 employees have lost their homes, along with at least 200 employees—many of whom live in the decimated nearby enclave of Altadena—of the Caltech-managed Jet Propulsion Lab.

    Caltech was one of the many colleges in Southern California that closed down last week—in addition to Santa Monica College, Pasadena City College and Glendale Community College—as strong winds accelerated the Palisades and Eaton fires and displaced scores of people affiliated with those campuses.

    Caltech resumed in-person classes Monday, and most other local colleges have done the same or are planning to in the coming days as the air quality continues to improve. But hundreds of students, staff and faculty are far from resuming life as it was before the fire.

    “It’s pretty overwhelming, the things that have to be done to get back to a good situation,” said Farina, who is in the throes of dealing with insurance and disaster relief logistics after losing his home. “There’s so many decisions that have to be made so quickly.”

    Although Farina is uncertain about when he’ll find permanent new housing for his family—apartments are scarce and rents have skyrocketed in the past week—Caltech helped him and many other employees secure a temporary place to live. So far, the Caltech and JPL Disaster Relief Fund has raised about $2 million, and the fund is giving that money to help displaced people meet their basic needs in the aftermath of the fires.

    Numerous other L.A.-area colleges are also helping their students and employees get access to cash and safe housing, which have emerged as two of the most needed resources more than a week after the fires started.

     At California State University at Los Angeles, at least 60 faculty, staff and students lost their homes, and college officials expects that number to grow. The university is raising money and offering basic needs support for those most affected, which includes grants for housing and food as well as adjustments to teaching and learning, as needed. Cal State LA President Berenecea Johnson Eanes said in a memo Wednesday that the institution “will continue to harness the healing power of our university for the long road to recovery.” (This paragraph was updated with information provided after publication.)

    The L.A. Foundation for Los Angeles Community Colleges launched the L.A. Strong: Disaster Response Fund, which is raising money to give people financial assistance for housing, transportation, clothing, food and other basic needs.

    “What’s most important right now is financial support,” said Alberto J. Román, chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, who expected the first round of assistance to be distributed by the end of the week. “We consider these really unprecedented times with an impact, and that’s why we are compassionate and empathetic of individual situations.”

    None of LACCD’s nine campuses sustained fire damage, and Román said he doesn’t believe any of the district’s more than 200,000 students and 9,000 employees were injured as a result of the disaster, either.

    “The impact that we’ve had has been on folks who’ve been evacuated or lost their homes, road closures preventing people from coming to work or power outages and being without internet,” he said, noting that the colleges transitioned to remote work last week.

    Although LACCD resumed in-person operations this week, Román said the district wants to be flexible with students and staff whose lives have been upended by the fires.

    “It is important for us to continue instruction,” he said. “It’s a balance between health and safety and ensuring that students can finish their courses.”

    Glendale Community College reopened for in-person classes Wednesday, though at least a dozen employees and 20 students lost their homes and dozens more had to evacuate. While officials continue to try and make contact with the 600 students who live in evacuation ZIP codes, the college is also offering extra paid leave for some employees, raising money, supplying students with laptops and helping people connect with other resources.

    Smoke and fire could be seen from the Glendale Community College’s Verdugo campus last week.

    Glendale Community College

    Tzoler Oukayan, dean of student affairs at Glendale CC, said the college is allowing students to withdraw from their classes without facing a penalty.

    “The challenge is that a lot of our students in these areas didn’t—and some still don’t—have power. Access to the internet and their classes has been very challenging,” she said. “It was important for us to open up campus and give people a place to just be.”

    Empathy and compassion will also be a priority for Mount St. Mary’s University president Ann McElaney-Johnson when her campus reopens. As of Thursday, the university’s Chalon campus—which is about three miles from the burn path of the Palisades fire—was still under evacuation orders and four faculty members so far have lost their homes.

    “The impact of the fire—once we’ve ascertained what it is—is going to be tremendous. So, we really want to make sure we’re caring for our community as we move forward,” McElaney-Johnson said, adding that the university is using money from its operations budget to provide staff and students with financial assistance. “We’ll pick up where we need to, but there will be special attention. Some of the plans for different projects can get put on hold. Right now, the only thing that really matters is the safety and well-being of this community.”

    ‘Healing More Than Academics’

    That’s the approach California State University, Chico, took in 2018, when it reopened two weeks after the Camp fire destroyed the homes of more than 300 faculty, staff and students.

    “We made sure that we had all of the exceptions and support systems in place to prioritize the people who were part of our community, to make sure our eye was on their long-term success,” said Ashley Gebb, executive director of communications at Chico State. “We were focused on healing more than academics. It was about how we could get students to the end of semester with their well-being as a priority.”

    While Gebb said Chico State was “one of the first to have a community leveled by a fire like this,” the fires in Southern California this month have proven that catastrophes of this scale are becoming more common.

    Meredith Leigh, climate programs manager for Second Nature, a nonprofit focused on higher education’s role in climate action, said it’s a signal that higher education institutions across the country should be prepared to navigate increasingly drastic events.

    “While campuses across our network have taken steps to increase climate resilience and adaptation, the scale and impact of the current fires (as well as recent floods in the East) is novel in its intensity,” she said. “In this way, the biggest lesson for campuses across the nation is to shift the mental model for resiliency and emergency management—away from planning and implementation based on what has happened in the past, toward what are certain to be more frequent and intense events that previously seemed ‘unimaginable.’”

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  • The Harsh Truth Behind the Los Angeles Wildfires (Stephanie Pincetl)

    The Harsh Truth Behind the Los Angeles Wildfires (Stephanie Pincetl)

    UCLA Professor Stephanie Pincetl is calling the wildfires in Los Angeles a biblical catastrophe that was at least a century in the making. Pincell teaches at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and is director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities, specializing in land use and the interaction between urban development and wildfire risks,

     


     

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