LAUSD Candidate DeWayne Davis on PROP-39 Co-Locations
How would he protect students who are negatively affected when public schools are forced to share space with charter schools?
“I believe in the importance and necessity of transparency.”
– BD1 Candidate DeWayne Davis
DeWayne Davis is running for the seat currently occupied by the retiring George McKenna in LAUSD’s Board District 1. As part of my ongoing Candidate Forum series, Davis was asked five questions about PROP-39 co-locations. For the introduction to this subject along with answers from other candidates, please see the article LAUSD Candidate Forum: PROP-39 Co-Locations.
It should be noted that these responses were received after the Board meeting on September 26, 2023, where the resolution proposed by Goldberg and Rivas was passed by the LAUSD School Board by a vote of four to two (Kelly Gonez did not record a vote). At this meeting, the Director of the Charter School Division, José Cole-Gutiérrez, revealed that, despite what has been told to public school parents for years, state law does not state that a room without a certificated teacher is considered empty. This means that it has been the District’s choice to force some students with special education needs into closets or stairwells to receive needed services.
The following are the candidate's responses, printed exactly how he provided them with the exception of some minor formatting edits:
Question 1: Do you support the "Creating a Charter Schools Co-Location Policy to Mitigate Impacts Caused by Proposition 39" authored by Board President Jackie Goldberg and Dr. Rocio Rivas?
I believe that all schools will benefit from the added clarity and defined processes the proposed Policy addresses.
Question 2: Under The way that PROP-39 is currently implemented, rooms used to provide Special Education Services are considered to be "empty" and must be turned over to a charter school to satisfy its demand for space. As a Board member would you work to end this discriminatory practice?
As a principal who had a colocation on campus, I believe that the implementation of Prop 39 has disadvantages for both co-located schools with respect to the allocation of space for the provision of Special Education Services. There are instances on co-located sites where both schools are using less than ideal space to work with students. I see the question around how available space is identified and determined to be a broader issue on process and unintended negative impact. As a Board Member I would work to implement a clear and consistent District policy that ensures all students receiving Special Education Services are receiving those services in adequate and resourced spaces that parallels a students least restrictive environment (LRE) designation.
Question 3: The text of PROP-39 specifies that charter schools that base their space requests on inflated enrollment must pay an over-allocation fee. Currently, charter schools have a past-due balance of $3,708,006. As a Board Member would you revoke the charter of any school that refused to pay these fees when a bill is presented?
There may be a variety of reasons why a school’s enrollment projections are not met. Further, as a Board member with a Chief Business Official (CBO) background, I want to know more on why the funds have NOT been collected to date—What are the fiscal oversights, internal controls, accountabilities etc (or lack thereof) that make this possible. We would need to follow the provisions of the Charter Schools Act (Ed Code Section 47607) for guidance on revocation otherwise the entire process becomes litigious— and that is something we can not afford.
Question 4: In April of last year $7,678,022 of over-allocation debt was suddenly wiped off of the balance sheet without any explanation to the public. As a Board Member would you demand an investigation to determine whether this write-off was legal and proper?
I believe in the importance and necessity of transparency. Matters concerning the District finances, specifically the presentation of the balance sheet, including write-offs or other off-sets should come with an explanation for the public which accounts for the use and determination of those funds.
Question 5: The North Valley Military Institute (NVMI) was co-located on the campus of Sun Valley High School / Valley Oaks Center For Enriched Studies (VOCES) when one of its administrators was accused of “abhorrent child sex abuse” against a student. It does not appear that parents of students on the public school campus were ever notified about these accusations. As a Board Member would you terminate the PROP-39 lease agreement for any charter school that put LAUSD students at a district campus in danger?
Safety of our students is our top priority. When you say “ does not appear parents…. were notified” I would need to know more. In instances involving children and the careers of staffs, we MUST ensure all parties are provided their due process. If any school puts our students in danger, then we have strict guidelines and processes to handle such matters up to and including separation from the district and state licensing sanction.
For more information on our campaign please visit www.drdavis4lausdkids.com
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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
About the Creator
Carl J. Petersen
Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with SpEd needs and public education. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Opinions are his own.
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What is happening inside your brain when you die
What is the actual experience of death? How does it feel when it occurs? What are the final sensations that we physically encounter as we approach our inevitable dying moments? It is not uncommon to hear stories of individuals who have had near-death experiences and have encountered a range of vivid sensations and experiences when they believed their lives were about to end. Survivors often describe hallucinatory states where they see loved ones, recall specific memories, or feel as if they are floating outside their bodies. While the validity of these claims may be questionable, firsthand accounts of near-death experiences provide some insight into what could happen subjectively in our final moments. This raises the question: what happens after death? How much sensation remains after we pass away? Does brain death signify the complete cessation of brain function? And what is the significance of the bright light at the end of the tunnel? Before addressing these questions, we must first understand what death truly is. Death, as a concept, may appear simple to define, but it represents a complex intersection of biology, medicine, philosophy, and religion. In the past, a patient's time of death was recorded as the moment their heart stopped beating, as cells and organs cannot function without a blood supply. This is known as Clinical Death. However, advancements in resuscitation techniques, such as CPR and defibrillation, have enabled medical professionals to potentially revive patients by restarting their breathing or heartbeat after they have stopped. Furthermore, an individual lacking functioning lungs or a heart can be sustained with the help of life support equipment or could potentially undergo an organ transplant or receive a pacemaker. This is why there are accounts of patients being revived from the brink of death. These sensational stories often refer to clinical death, not some mystical or gruesome act of necromancy. Given that a person can be revived from this definition of death, a more definitive explanation is required. Therefore, medical professionals and coroners have established another criterion commonly used to pinpoint the moment of death, known as brain death. Unlike the efforts to pinpoint the exact moment of death based on breathing or heartbeats, brain death, also known as biological death, is the stage at which a deceased individual's brain ceases to exhibit any signs of electrical activity. This is significant because the human brain sends electrical signals to different parts of the body through the nervous system, including organs responsible for internal functions and muscles necessary for movement. However, defining death as brain death implies that the absence of electrical activity in the brain indicates the absence of consciousness in the individual. In other words, Elvis has truly left the building. Nevertheless, advocates of brain death as the most logical way to differentiate between life and death face some challenges. Just like the debate over defining death as the absence of a heartbeat or respiration, there are lingering electrical signals in the brain after biological death. In certain instances, individuals declared brain dead may exhibit signs of ongoing biological processes, such as functioning circulatory and respiratory systems, active immune responses, and normal temperature regulation post-brain death. The widespread acceptance of brain death as the primary definition of death stems from the brain's crucial role in shaping our identity as unique individuals. Assuming brain death signifies the complete, irreversible cessation of all cognitive functions, the aftermath may involve limited or no bodily functions. The possibility of recovering a person's thoughts or personality diminishes significantly, given the current limitations of medical technology. This raises a crucial question: what is the subjective experience of a person undergoing brain death? If the brain, responsible for our thoughts, bodily functions, and perception of the world, ceases to function, what sensations or perceptions might accompany death? The concise response is that we have very limited knowledge about what dying truly entails, as no one can provide a firsthand account of the experience. Our only references are near-death survivors. When it comes to the complete and irreversible process of transitioning from life to death, it is impossible for anyone to return and describe the subjective sensations of death. However, delving into a more detailed explanation, although understanding death from the perspective of the brain may seem unattainable, there are certain avenues we can explore that may offer intriguing insights into the nature of death. By examining these sources, we may gain a better understanding of what occurs in our brains during the process of dying. One individual who could potentially shed light on this matter is an 87-year-old man who developed epilepsy due to a head injury sustained from a fall. Unfortunately, this led to a series of epileptic seizures, during which doctors administered continuous electroencephalography (EEG) to monitor his brain activity. Tragically, the man experienced a heart attack during this procedure and passed away. However, this unforeseen event provided doctors with a unique opportunity to record the electrical activity of a human brain as it ceased functioning. During the 15-minute period of brain activity that was recorded at the time of the man's death, doctors specifically focused on the 30 seconds before his heartbeat stopped and the 30 seconds that followed. What they discovered was that there were changes in different bands of neural oscillations, namely gamma, delta, theta, alpha, and beta, just before and after the man's heart stopped. Now, if all of this sounds like technical jargon you would hear in a poorly written episode of a science fiction show like Doctor Who, then don't worry. Allow me to explain. Neural oscillations, which are commonly referred to as brain waves, are the scientific term for the rhythmic patterns of activity present in a normally functioning brain. Gamma oscillations, in particular, are involved in higher cognitive functions such as dreaming, memory retrieval, information processing, concentration, and conscious perception. Interestingly, these gamma oscillations were present both before and immediately after the man's death. So, what does this mean for what the brain experiences as we die? Well, based on the fact that this man's brain was generating oscillations associated with memory retrieval, similar to what a storyteller might call flashbacks, it led to speculation that in its final moments, the brain may recall and replay significant moments from a person's life. You've probably heard the cliché of someone's life "flashing before their eyes" before they pass away, and you may have even been encouraged to ensure that your own life is exciting and worth watching when that time comes. It seems that, if we're being optimistic, there may be some truth to that notion. The primary discovery of this specific study was that the brain appears to coordinate a biological reaction to the process of death. This phenomenon has also been observed in rats; under controlled conditions, they exhibit similar changes in their gamma brain waves just before and after death. This research was conducted by scientists who euthanized a large number of rats. As predicted, this topic is quite grim. Additionally, these findings appear to align with the firsthand reports of many near-death survivors, as a significant number of them describe very similar instances of recollecting important memories. If we are to believe that our brains replay some of our happiest memories, it does provide a sense of optimism and comfort when faced with the finality and ominous nature of death. However, it must be noted that there is no definitive evidence to support the idea that this is precisely what occurs in our brains at the moment of death. While it may be comforting to envision death as a compilation of our fondest moments, the brain wave data supporting this theory is derived from a single case. It is important to remember that the individual in question was eighty-seven years old and had also suffered a severe head injury, resulting in seizures and brain swelling, all of which could have impacted his neural activity and complicated the interpretation of his brain wave recordings. Furthermore, the practical and ethical challenges associated with conducting similar experiments on other terminally ill patients make it difficult to ascertain with certainty what transpires in our brains at the time of death. That said, there have been similar experiments conducted, although not extensively enough to provide a conclusive answer. Nevertheless, when analyzing the brain activity of four patients who passed away while under EEG monitoring, doctors discovered comparable results. Each patient exhibited electrical activity in the TPJ region of their brains at the moment of death. The TPJ is located at the junction of the temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes at the posterior of the brain. This particular area has been associated with dreams, hallucinations, and other altered states of consciousness. While it is impossible to determine what these patients experienced during their final surges of neural activity, the fact that it occurred in the brain region linked to dreaming and hallucinating is intriguing. In fact, this could potentially provide an alternative explanation for the processes that occur in our brains during death. Although the question of whether our brains recall memories when we die remains debatable, it is entirely possible that experiences described by some near-death survivors, such as the sensation of floating outside their own bodies, seeing or hearing loved ones, or vivid visions, may be hallucinations created by the brain as it gradually slows down, potentially due to reduced oxygen from the cessation of blood flow when the heart stops beating. This contributes significantly to the explanation of the phenomenon known as the 'light at the end of the tunnel'. Individuals who have survived near-death experiences often report seeing a heavenly light, which could potentially be attributed to hallucinations influenced by their religious beliefs. This could be the reason why such imagery has been prevalent throughout history. It is crucial to acknowledge that the experiences our brains undergo during death may not be the same for everyone. The speed and cause of death vary among individuals, with sudden cardiac arrest resulting in rapid death, while chronic illnesses or natural causes lead to a slower decline. These differences in bodily functions can impact the brain's experience during the dying process. For instance, treatable conditions like heart disease or cancer can prolong the dying process, potentially causing feelings of depression and detachment in individuals aware of their impending death. As bodily functions deteriorate, sensory perceptions may change, making once familiar stimuli appear strange and unsettling. This alteration in perception could be attributed to chemical changes in the brain as death approaches. Ultimately, the dying process itself is a unique event for each individual. Depending on the cause, the process of dying can be a distressing experience for the individual undergoing it. However, this is not always the case. Pain arises from the nerves triggering electrical signals in the brain. 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There have been instances of brief electrical activity in the brain even after death, which could be attributed to the reliving of past memories, hallucinations as a coping mechanism, or simply a rare natural phenomenon. Regardless, the truth will be revealed to all of us in due time.
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