To framing inside the wall or blocking. This isthis is precisely what we want to see. Jessica what Mark Quattrocchi doesnt want to see is what he found inside napa schools after a 6. 0 earthquake struck in the middle of the night. Female i know its very scary, okay . I know, i know. Jessica bookshelves blocked exits. A file cabinet toppled onto a desk. A drill press fell to the floor. Mark and then also things that you really wouldnt expect, light fixtures. In a number of schools, they had light fixtures fail, and some fall. Jessica; we were the first to show you the chaos inside classrooms. Structural engineer Maryann Phipps saw our story. Maryann phipps if it had been another time of day, it would have been a completely different story, and we would have been mourning the loss of students. Jessica a report she wrote for fema doesnt mince words, noting, at least three Public Schools experienced potentially lifethreatening damage to classroom furnishings. Prompted by what we saw, we reviewed more than five decades of seismic activity across the state, and uncovered a pattern of failures. Equipment on the floor in a shop class, blocked classroom exits, more fallen lights, in calexico in 2010, northridge in 1994, coalinga in 83, even kern county back in 1952. Each time, earthquakes struck outside school hours, when the classrooms were empty, just like in napa. Bill we just should thank our lucky stars that it was during the middle of the night. Jessica Assembly Member bill dodd represents napa. Hes now proposing new seismic legislation in sacramento, prompted by our reporting. Bill that, frankly, was the impetus for our bill idea because we werei dont think the word is outraged, but we were very concerned. Jessica dodds bill would, for the first time, require School Districts to inspect the contents of classrooms, inspect school equipment, and fix seismic hazards. Bill once this inspection is done, then they would be required to report it. And then the law will make sure that theyre done and compliant with the law. And now no longer guidelines, but requirements. Jessica and this would be every school in the state . Bill every school in the state. Jessica superintendents would be charged with certifying school contents as safe. Darren drake obviously, it comes with a price tag. Jessica darren drake is the fire marshal in napa, and one of the first people we talked to after the napa quake. He backs the legislation. Darren School Districts all have to look at that and base the corrections, the degree of corrections, on their capability, and triaging those schools that need most work or that are in dire need sooner than later. Jessica more than a year after the earth rumbled in napa, dangers persist in other districts. Just last week, we found an unsecured television sitting on an upper shelf in a classroom in the south bay. Mark who in the world wouldnt support this . You know, who wouldnt see this as a good thing, and a great probability of saving injury, or worse yet, death in a school the next time a major earthquake comes . Who wouldnt support that . Jessica as sacramento begins to debate the proposed legislation, one thing is for sure. Another earthquake will happen, and its only a matter of time. Now, if the dodd bill passes, schools would have until 2019 to complete seismic inspections. Thats for Public Schools. As we reported before in class action, private schools arent held to the same seismic standards as Public Schools. Now, that doesnt necessarily mean that a private school is any less safe, but it does mean we know less about their earthquake readiness. San francisco, however, is taking steps to change that. The city has put in place the first law of its kind in california. Private schools in San Francisco have to evaluate seismic safety. Heres an excerpt from our class action report. Jessica there are an estimated 113 private schools in San Francisco, many in older buildings. Schools occupy a movie theater, a victorian mansion, a former mayonnaise factory, a wide variety of campuses facing the same deadline. They have 2 years to complete the earthquake review. Patrick otellini the schools are going to do these evaluations, and theyre probably not going to want to sit on them. Jessica thats exactly what happened at the archdiocese of San Francisco, which operates more private schools than any other school group, 34 total. David finn we got a call one day that an engineer had identified one of the sites as being in immediate risk based on the configuration of the building and the initial review. Jessica the classroom was a kindergarten located on the bottom floor of a building used for other parish purposes. Its permanently closed. David the school was closed by the end of the day, that particular site, and the children removed. Jessica the archdiocese evaluated all of its schools ahead of the deadline. And its not the only private School Entity already correcting deficiencies. The fixes are voluntary. Schools are not required to retrofit. The law simply doesnt go that far. Patrick to come up with a uniform standard, a way to retrofit this, its not fair because some schools would be very cheap to retrofit given their construction type, other ones might be very expensive. Jessica now, well continue to examine earthquake safety in schools, public and private, and well continue to bring you our stories. Well, coming up, the golden state, grading it. A new report doles out letter grades in education for california. [music] ell, california may be the golden state, but a new report says were missing out on a golden opportunity, that we should be doing more to intervene in the lives of children born into poverty. Their health, brain development, and chances of success in school are on the line. And our programs just arent keeping up. Now, that is the basis of a new report card from children now, here it is. Its what it looks like, a National Research and Advocacy Organization based in oakland. And ted lempert is the president of children now, and he joins me now to talk about these findings. So, you point out in this report card that california really is a very, very wealthy state, but that what were providing for kids doesnt at all resemble the kind of economy that we have. Ted lempert absolutely. And it makes no sense for today or our future. And you know, one stat there is not only are we a wealthy state, were a relatively high tax state, and yet our expenditures for kids, including education, are well below the national average. So, it really makes no sense that were not doing more for really what should be the most important investment. Jessica and you say thats veryits even more particularly important because it affects a class of vulnerable children, children that not only socioeconomically may be not be up to par, but theyre children that may have other disadvantages as well. Ted absolutely. I mean, theres so many kids with special needs, and kids in poverty, you know, need that extra support. And you know, whats really important is we as a society, you know, unlike 30, 40, 50 years ago, we need to make sure that every single kid gets a good education, or were not going to have the economy and society that we need. You know, years ago, you know, some kids didnt get a great education, you know, we were fine. You know, our economy was fine. Thats not the case today. Jessica right, so the longterm impact of that is not just on those children, but its on the state as a whole. Ted absolutely. Jessica okay, lets check out the report card. I want to bring it up. Now, the report card does cover health and child welfare, but were going to focus on education. So, lets look at some of these grades. Preschool in california gets a bminus. Transitional kindergarten and what you call kinder transition gets a bminus. K12 outcomes gets a d. School climate and discipline, a c. So, the best that california does is a b in linked learning. And linked learning im guessing is what we used to call, like, education, career education, or a lot call that rop, those type of things, right . Ted yeah. And actually, what linked learning especially, though, it does a better job of really integrating classroom instruction with that technical and career instruction. Jessica okay. The bottom line, no as. Ted right. Jessica at all, not one single a. And we were discussing this. If one of our kids brought home this report card, youd be like, whats going on . You need to buckle down. Somethings got to change. Ted not a passable report card. Jessica so, why is it that weve gotten such mediocre scores overall . Ted well, i mean, one of the things this report does is do a quick national scan, and then look at the statistics, and then also look for progress. So, you know, some of those b grades you referenced, why were still a ways from that a level and where we should be, were recognizing the progress we made in this report. So, you know, preschools are an example where the state is making a commitment, saying all lowincome kids should have access to preschool. And the state last year actually made some steps to really getting close to that reality. That said, you know, theres still a very small percentage of lowincome kids who are in quality preschool programs in the state. Jessica and then the transitional kindergarten, that only got a bminus. What was the issue there . Ted yeah, what were highlighting there is thats a relatively new program in california, the tk program, and the fact that weve put in this new program that would allow for a big chunk of our 5yearolds to have that extra support before they start kindergarten. You know, that step by the state should be recognized. Again, though, you know, not close to that a level because theres so many kids who dont have access to that. Jessica okay, lets talk about that d because the d would really stand out to me. The d is in k through 12 outcomes. Outcomes meaning preparation for college, preparation for after you leave high school . Ted yeah, and the most fair way to measure right now, apples to apples, is a lot of student achievement tests, or what that is really looking at is the test that kids took last year in math and english. Jessica okay, and why a d . Ted because their results are frightening, that twothirds of our kids dont meet basic standards in math, twothirds. Jessica and that was especially visible with africanamerican and latino students. Ted absolutely. In fact, we fortunately have made a focus on the achievement gap, and how our latino kids, africanamerican kids are not doing as well as caucasian and asianamerican kids, that its gettingthat gaps actually getting a little worse now. Jessica worse . Ted yeah, with the news, tests and scores that were done, where its measuring more college, career ready skills, and its less memorization, so now the assessments actually do a better job measuring whats important. And when those scores came out, the achievement gap actually expanded a little bit. Jessica so, lets talk about the issue of accountability because a lot of those testsa lot of the tests that were used to as parents are going away. And theyre going to have to lookwere going to have to figure out a different way of looking at whether schools are doing a good job for our children. Its a very political conversation about the way theyre going to do it to whats your take on that . Ted yeah, theres a lot of misunderstanding out there. One, theres fewer tests now than there were, and i think that makes sense. We dont want to be overtesting. So, part of it is the quantity, and were getting fewer tests. But the most important point thats gotten lost is, for the last 15 years, that we were testing the wrong thing. We were testing memorization, those bubble tests, exactly. And people had a right to complain about that, teachers, parents, students. Weve actually made a big step forward, that the tests now, theyre computeradaptive, theyre really measuring kids thinking skills and be able to reason, explain a problem. So, now those tests are much better indicators of how well prepared kids are. And so, you know, are they perfect . No. Are they a lot better . Yes. And so, when you see so many kids not even making the basic standard, you know, that should be a wakeup call to all of us. And math is the worst, but in english language skills, less than half the kids are meeting the basic standards. What are we doing . Jessica right. Lets transition to School Climate and discipline. That got a c. Theres a lot of focus now, people talking about what kinds of discipline there should be in school because theres an issue of whether race may play a role in discipline. Ted yeah, and just to be very clear here, you know, a kid threatens someone, brings a weapon, i mean, thats a different story and, you know, should be expelled and suspended. What were talking about is an issue where a huge number of mostly africanamerican and latino kids were being expelled or suspended for whats called willful defiance, not threatening. Jessica talking back. Ted exactly. Jessica not showing up. Ted exactly, and thats the kind of thing where the school should come up with other ways of, you know, getting support to that kid, and not having them disruptive, but dont kick them out of school. Jessica right, because that puts them in a worse situation. Ted right. I mean, if the kids not in school, theyre notyou know, theyre not going to learn. Jessica and youre putting a person on a track to eventually maybe end up in prison, which as we know, we spend more money on prison than we do on kids, and you highlight that in your report as well. Ted absolutely. And real major Racial Disparities in how the School Discipline has been conducted. Jessica so, what is your hope for the report . What do you want people to take away from this in terms of what should be an action plan . Ted yeah, well, we urge folks to go online and read it. One, youll see in the report not only the statistics and grades, but we put policy recommendations in each section. So, this is not some report to just look at and put on the shelf. And we deliver this to the governor, to legislators, to local education leaders, and really want a wakeup call. You know, look at some of these stats. You know, how can we be allowing these grades to be so poor for our kids . But then also some very specific steps that can be taken at the state level. Jessica and then what happens next with this report . You said youve given it to the governor, youve given it to some legislators. What can they use to move forward with this . Ted well, a number of things. I mean, one, make sure we have a better accountability system to really make sure we see whats going on in our schools. Investments in preschool, Early Childhood is a big, big topic of debate in sacramento this year, and we really need to increase that access to quality programs. And then overall, its just the point that, you know, if theres a dollar of Government Spending thats available, we need to make priorities. And what were doing in this state is, you know, corrections and other government programs, you know, everything is sort of moving up at the same rate, as opposed to saying, hey, lets really make kids the priority. Because, you know, first of all, thats most of our priority, what we all feel. But its just absolutely essential for our future. And so, it cant just be lip service, that the governor and legislators is there putting the budget together, really, truly making kids the priority. Jessica now, parents can find this online as well to read . Ted yeah, absolutely, childrennow. Org. Theres a lot in there, it covers a lot of ground, but we try to give you some really quick stats so its more readable. Jessica great way for every parent to educate themselves. Thank you, ted, for being with us. Ted my pleasure. Jessica well be right back. [music] every wonder what Nature Valley is made of . Thats what were made of. No artificial colors. No artificial flavors. No artificial sweeteners. Nature valley granola bars. And now introducing delicious biscuits with Almond Butter or peanut butter. Jessica welcome back to class action. Some followups now on stories weve been covering. The new sat is right around the corner. We first told you about the overhaul of the test last spring. The College Board is hoping to make the sat more open and accessible and fair for students of all backgrounds. Among the changes, no more penalties for wrong answers, Vocabulary Words that are actually more relevant, and the essay will be optional. Now, the new sat also returns to the old scoring system based on the 1600point scale. That new test debuts in march. Now to the tussle over teacher tenure. A highprofile lawsuit over teacher job protection is under appeal. You remember this, nine students are suing the state and the california teachers association, which is the largest teachers union. They say that workplace rules like teacher tenure have a negative impact in schools. A superior court judge sided with the plaintiffs in 2014, but in an appeal, the defendants, the unions, are urging that the ruling be reversed. Oral arguments in that case begin thursday, and a decision is expected by the end of may. And this could have farreaching repercussions for teachers all across california. And then finally, Computer Science education may be getting a big boost. For the last couple of years, weve been telling you about code. Org. Its an initiative to get more coding into the classroom. President obama is a big fan. And now, hes calling for a 4 billion investment in Computer Science education. Thats aimed at making sure that every school in america offers cs classes. Now, San Francisco unified is already working on a plan to teach Computer Science to all of its students, starting, believe it or not, in preschool. Back in a moment. [music] jessica local control funding formula, do you know what it is . Do you know how it works . Probably not, despite it being one of the biggest changes in schools in decades. Now, we first told you about it last fall. The landmark change is already underway in schools all across the bay area. [bell ringing] the classroom is outdoors at Fremont High School in oakland. Male today, were making salsa and were going to eat it with chips, i guess. Jessica these young men are part of the latino men and boys program. Miguel salmeron its like a small circle where everybody is, like, pretty much in trust, so likeits like a Family Circle pretty much. Jessica its a circle thats about to get bigger thanks to extra dollars flowing in from the state. Antwan wilson we get targeted funding from the state in order to support our most needy students. Jessica for the first time, oakland unified is investing newly available money, 200,000, in the latino program. Antwan thats the most important piece, that those young men, that they graduate from high school. Jessica the money comes from the local control funding formula, a landmark law now being put into practice across california. Angelica jongco this is a historic change. Its the biggest change to our School Funding system in the last 40 years. Jessica under lcff, many funding decisions shift from sacramento to local School Districts. Angelica california is leading the country in terms of having a formula that provides more support for the students with the greatest need. Jessica districts with high needs kids get more money. The extra dollars are for english learners, foster youth, and lowincome students. Jerry brown equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not justice. Jessica at oakland unified, where 80 of students are high needs, funding incrementally increases from 7,500 to almost 12,000 per student over the next 5 years. However, in more affluent San Ramon Valley unified, where just 8 of kids are highneeds, funding in 2021 tops out at a little more than 9,000. Ryan our biggest concern is that more people dont know about it. Jessica hes right, most voters have never heard of the funding law, even though for the first time ever, it requires Community Input on how that money is spent. Ryan smith in order to get this right, because theres more flexibility in how funds are spent at the local level, people have to get involved and hold districts accountable. Jessica back at fremont high, these students say theyre just happy to see their program expand. Miguel i think its good that its finally getting the recognition that it needs because its a really good program. Male thats good. Male take it. Its like what my mom makes. Jessica so, as you heard, accountability is a big part of this issue. Now, part of the local control funding formula, districts have to show that they are actually gathering input from parents. Its part of that law. So, districts are hosting meetings and surveys to gather that feedback. You should go to your district, ask how you can get involved, and try to understand and get involved so you can be a part of it. Now, you can see all of our class action reports by visiting our website at nbcbayarea. Com. All you need to do is search class action. Thats going to do it for us tonight. Thank you so much for watching this class action news special. We hope well see youto see you next time. [music] [music] [music] is kanye completely out of control . Welcome access hollywood. Taylor swift didnt say kanyes name at the grammys. She didnt have to. We all knew who she was referring to. Coming just days after kanye previewed his song famous. Where he took credit for tayl taylors fame. He has a history of erratic behavior and meltdowns. But lately it seems he has taken it to a whole new level. Saturday night live. Kanyes epic meltdown at snl just the latest salacious kanye headline. Page 6 reporting the hot tempered rapper threw a tantrum and threatened to walk during the live broadcast. Sources claim kanye wasnt happy with set for his musical appearance. Freaked out. Kim in the audience had to intervene. Kim talked to billy about her husbands volatile personality. He has unfiltered moments. Uncensored. I love that about him. I definitely there is times when we are together when we both say okay we need to have a signal for each other. When, you know if were together when to just, you know, cool it a little bit. But, you know i think thats who he is. He loves to express
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