Los Angeles Times - 29.08.2019

CALIFORNIA

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/CALIFORNIA

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SACRAMENTO — War-

ring factions of California’s

K-12 education system have

reached an agreement on

legislation that would place

new restrictions on charter

schools and pause a long-

standing battle at the state

Capitol between politically

powerful teachers unions

and deep-pocketed charter

advocates.

The deal, announced

Wednesday, gives public

school districts more au-

thority to reject petitions for

new charter campuses, pha-

ses in stricter credentialing

requirements for charter

school teachers and places a

two-year moratorium on

new virtual charter schools.

The accord marks a rare

compromise between

groups that have poured

millions into local and state-

wide campaigns to gain lev-

erage in a fight over public

education dollars.

Aides to Gov. Gavin New-

som held separate meetings

with each side and acted as

an intermediary in intense

negotiations over Assembly

Bill 1505 that they said began

in late spring. The governor,

who was publicly optimistic

about striking an agreement

ahead of a looming legisla-

tive deadline, said talks con-

tinued throughout the week-

end and late into the night

this week.

“A lot of hard work has

gone into this, and all that

matters to me is the result,”

Newsom told reporters

Tuesday. “If we can pull

something off, it’s a signifi-

cant thing and it’s not easy.

A lot of people have strong

opinions on both sides.”

The agreement could al-

low the Newsom administra-

tion to move past a complex

political issue that has

splintered the Capitol and

threatened to dominate the

education policy debate

during his tenure.

Newsom’s office said the

bill, the biggest revision of

state charter school law in

more than 25 years, settles

critical points of contention

between charters and tradi-

tional public schools and

lays a foundation for the

groups to work together on

efforts that are in the best in-

terest of children.

Some education advo-

cates are hopeful that char-

ter backers and teachers

unions will team up on 2020

ballot measures to increase

school funding, instead of

fighting over reform.

Charter schools in Cali-

fornia are publicly funded

and independently op-

erated. Originally author-

ized in 1992 legislation to

promote educational inno-

Rare compromise bill

would give districts

more power and

impose a moratorium

on virtual programs.

By Taryn Luna

[SeeCharters,B4]

STATE

BROKERS

DEAL ON

CHARTER

SCHOOLS

Even after years spent bounc-
ing in and out of apartments and
back into homelessness, Dwayne
Fields always found solace in his
six-string, friends said.
The beloved musician and men-
tor could often be seen with an
acoustic or electric guitar in hand
near 6th and San Pedro streets in
downtown Los Angeles’ skid row,
strumming blues riffs that one
friend swore sounded identical to
those of Fields’ idol, Jimi Hendrix.
“Through arts and culture,
through his music making,
through his guitar playing, he was
bringing the community together,”
said Pete White, executive director
of the Los Angeles Community Ac-
tion Network, a skid row advocacy
group.
The skid row community has
spent this week mourning the loss
of its soundtrack, however, after
police say Fields became the victim

of a grisly crime late Monday night.

Fields, 62, was in his tent about

11:30 p.m. when, prosecutors allege,

another man set his living quarters

ablaze. Responding officers found

Fields walking down 6th street, his

body still burning, according to two

law enforcement officials who

spoke on condition of anonymity to

discuss the case candidly.

The officers tried to extinguish

the flames, but Fields died of his in-

juries Tuesday morning.

“Our community has lost a

great spirit, a great individual,”

said General Jeff Page, an activist

and fixture in the skid row commu-

nity.

Jonathan Early, 38, was charged

Wednesday with capital murder in

connection with Fields’ death. In-

vestigators have not offered a mo-

tive in the slaying or explained how

the fire was set. It remains unclear

whether Early and Fields knew

each other, but one law enforce-

ment official said Early was also

homeless.

FRIENDS OF homeless guitarist Dwayne Fields gather Wednesday night to sing in his honor near the intersection of San Pedro and
6th streets in downtown’s skid row. “Our community has lost a great spirit, a great individual,” said one community activist.

Luis SincoLos Angeles Times

His music won’t go silent

Friends recall a homeless guitarist who died when his tent was set afire

By James Queally
and Matthew Ormseth

DWAYNE FIELDSdied Tuesday morning of injuries suffered

after his tent was set on fire on skid row the previous night.

Los Angeles Community Action Network

[SeeFields,B4]

A sheriff ’s deputy who al-

legedly faked being shot by a

sniper and had previously

been investigated for dis-

honesty by Los Angeles

County Sheriff ’s Depart-

ment officials has been fired.

Angel Reinosa, a proba-

tionary employee who had

been with the Sheriff ’s De-

partment for about a year,

became the subject of a

criminal investigation last

week after he said he was

shot by a sniper outside the

sheriff ’s Lancaster station

— a claim officials said he

later admitted was untrue.

Saying he had taken

“swift administrative action

in the matter,” Sheriff Alex

Villanueva announced at a

news conference Wednesday

that Reinosa was no longer

employed by the depart-

ment or the county. Vil-

lanueva declined to elabo-

rate on the deputy’s depar-

ture.

“I am disappointed that

this incident occurred and

upset that one member’s ac-

tions has reflected nega-

tively on a department that

has a history of service and

heroism,” he said.

Reinosa, 21, initially told

investigators that he had

been on his way to his car in

the station’s parking lot Aug.

21 when he was hit by rifle

fire from a nearby apart-

ment building. He claimed

the protective vest he was

SAYINGhe had taken “swift administrative action in the matter,” L.A. County

Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced that Deputy Angel Reinosa had been fired.

Gary CoronadoLos Angeles Times

Deputy in ‘sniping’ fired

The department will

submit evidence to

the district attorney

for possible charges.

By Richard Winton,

Maya Lau

and Hannah Fry

[SeeDeputy,B4]

There’s a legis-
lative move to
require all high
school stu-
dents to take
an ethnic stud-
ies course or
they can’t
graduate. And
that raises three serious
questions:
8 Should ethnic studies
be forced on every California
student or remain an elec-
tive as it has been in hun-
dreds of public schools?
8 If it’s to be required —
ranked up there with Eng-
lish, algebra and U.S. his-
tory — what current course
requirement should be
waived to make room?
There are only so many
class periods in a school day.
8 Should ethnic studies
continue to be a separate
course, or folded into regu-
lar history classes?
There’s also a more
prominent question that
has aroused heated contro-
versy: What should Sacra-
mento do with a recently
created draft ethnic studies
curriculum meant to help
schools shape their

courses?

That’s an easy answer:

Tear the thing apart and

substantially rewrite it.

That’s the least that should

be done and will be, officials

have announced. Even

better, it should be trashed

and an entirely new, less

contentious and more dis-

passionate curriculum

written that’s simpler to

comprehend.

You’ve probably read

about this. A committee of

academics wrote the so-

called model curriculum

after it was ordered up by

2016 legislation. The project

was overseen by the State

Board of Education and

state Superintendent of

Public Instruction Tony

Thurmond. You’ve got to

wonder what the overseers

were thinking.

The draft curriculum

doesn’t meet the project’s

original goals of being “ac-

curate, free of bias, appro-

priate for all learners in our

diverse state and aligned

with Gov. [Gavin] Newsom’s

vision of a California for all,”

state Board of Education

President Linda Darling-

Hammond said in a state-

ment after the proposal

CAPITOL JOURNAL

Ethnic studies?

Yes, but rewrite

the curriculum

GEORGE SKELTON

in sacramento

[SeeSkelton,B6]

Death penalty

sought in boy’s

torture death

Prosecutors will

pursue capital

punishment for

Anthony Avalos’

mother and her

boyfriend in their

murder trial. B

Pedro Bell, 69,

Funkadelic

album artist

The illustrator, whose

wild, psychedelic

imagery defined the

Detroit band’s cosmic

aesthetic, has died. B

Lottery......................B