Jason Felch Of The Los Angeles Times Is The New Snooki

I am taking a break from watching Wrestlemania XXVII to blog. Yes, I missing Stone Cold Steve Austin to share my two cents about another hit piece against Los Angeles teachers in today's LA Times by everyone's most biased reporter, Jason Felch.

In fact I think this is a excellent juxtaposition due to the fact that perennial attention whore, Snooki of Jersey Shore is wrestling in a special 3 on 3 Diva tag team tonight. Jason Felch, I have come to the conclusion is the male reporter version of Snooki. An attention whore that has no morals, no values, and will do, say, or manipulate any and all information as long as he is at the forefront of the story.

Today's headline, and subsequent biased reporting by Jason Felch is about a teacher, Miguel Aguilar, who was rated very effective by the convoluted algorithm by Dr Richard Budin of the Rand Corporation, and blindly followed by Jason and the LA Times.

Apparently Miguel Aguilar has received a pink slip, he is being layed off, and another teacher in his school, Broadous Elementary School, John Smith, who has been rated least effective, is not being laid off. Mr Aguilar has 8 years of experience, versus Mr Smith's 15 years. In fact Mr Aguilar and Mr Smith were featured in the original story about Value Added Assessment in the Los Angeles Time last August.

No we here at SBSB applaud Mr Aguilar's method for not teaching to the test, for teaching through the test and finding an effective method for reaching these students. We are also saddened to learn of Mr Aguilar's being laid off and wish that this is just a temporary blip in his career and hope he returns to the classroom at Broadhaus soon. But sadly, Jason Felch is once again playing loose with the facts.

Jason starts off with quoting a teacher that, "A teacher coming forward … that hadn't happened before" But if you read further down in the article Principal Stannis Steinbeck came up to Mr Aguilar and asked Aguilar, "if he'd be willing to lead a school-wide training session."

So Jason couches it as if Mr Aguilar came forward on his own to give professional development, yet further reading shows that it was requested by his principal. In fact this is quite disingenuous of Jason Felch. He is attempting to show a divide amongst teachers at the school, that there is no collaboration, that teacher do not support one another.

Especially when at the beginning of the article Felch writes; "It was the first time anyone at Broadous Elementary School in Pacoima could remember a teacher there being singled out for his skill and called upon to share his secrets school-wide."

Hey, it's not the teacher's fault. It is the administrator's fault that this never happened in the past. A good principal should always look at their teachers to give professional development, to turnkey good practices to the staff. I have given PD, as well as turnkeyed what I have learned. This is called collaboration and does not happen as often as it should. I know at my school, and in fact all teachers I have come in contact with in my career are always sharing ideas and best practices. What Felch has flaunted is not reinventing the wheel.

Felch continues to flail away on his keyboard; "The article contrasted Aguilar's performance with that of the teacher next door, John Smith, who ranked among the district's least effective teachers. Pupils in both classes faced similar challenges in the poor, predominantly Latino community."

Similar does not mean the same. The same does not mean similar. Case in point: A parent and I once had a conversation about the projects. She made explained to me that not all people who live in the projects are poor. There are college grads, city workers, bankers, business people, candlestick makers, etc... who live there. There are also drug addicts, drug dealers, gang bangers, criminals, ex-cons, mentally ill, etc... Even though these people live in the same place, there is a wide array of families, people, etc.... Another case in point: Growing up, there was a family across the street that seemed right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The classic All-American family. However, I learned many years later that the father was an alcoholic and there was such fear inside that house.

The point I am making here Jason Felch, is that you never knows what happens behind closed doors. Just like your closed doors.

Aguilar in the article claimed, "There's a lot of jealousy and hate out there.... People said things like, 'There's this guy who thinks he's all good just because he's Latino and he's friends with the kids. How do you know he's not cheating?'"

Nice of you to play the Latino card Mr Aguilar. See, now I am starting to lose some respect for you. Maybe you did cheat? How can we be sure? How can Felch be sure? Could it be that no one trusted you because you spoke to the press? There are still many questions that I have asked, and still need to be asked.

Aguilar forced students to slow down and think before answering questions. Without dumbing down lessons, he broke down key concepts in a way that his fifth-graders, among the grade's least fluent in English, could readily understand.

Let's see. Aguilar probably speaks Spanish. How much of his day does he speak in Spanish to his students? Smith, mmmm, I doubt he speaks Spanish. Is it possible that perhaps Aguilar's students feel more of a connection to him? Is it a personality thing? I really don't see what Aguilar is so special. It's common sense.

How come Felch didn't bother to speak to the parents of Mr Smith's students? Why didn't Mr Felch bother to speak to Mr Smith's students? Why is Mr Aguilar so eager to speak with Jason Felch? He claims embarrassment, he whines about about being singled out, but again, Aguilar has no problem making himself the center of attention.

Jason Felch clearly has an agenda. He is a failed teacher, and definitely has an axe to grind. Let's hope and pray that there are no more suicides caused by Jason Felch's irresponsible reporting. Yes, I know, Jason has no conscious. It wouldn't surprise me for Jason Felch to be rooting to see Mr Smith take matters into his own hands.