You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Kf I Am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Tiffany Hobbs here with you until seven o'clock. And if you missed any of my conversation with doctor Frederick Nisstrom, who's the professor at Linkoping University and senior physician and internal medicine in Sweden, nonetheless, you can listen back on the iHeartRadio app. Just go to KFI and search for featured segments. It was a wonderful conversation and it will give you license. It will give you permission to enjoy
your life. And that extra glass of wine I can hear mine from my refrigerator as I speak. All right, let's get into our Deeper Dives segment.
Deeper Dives, Deeper Dives, Deeper Dives.
We're gonna figure out a song or some sort of sounder, right, Kaylee k I kind of like when.
You do that Deepeper Dives Deeper Dives.
I'm going like hard rock with it. I would you bash your head a little bit there? Well, let's talk about something that's making a lot of people scratch their heads.
It has to do with education.
Education is at the forefront of a lot of conversations. With the recent complete obliteration of the Department of Education by this current administration, a lot of people are left asking what now. And if you have school aged children K through twelve, and even those of you who are continuing your education after that, then you might be wondering what's next for you. For the children who are in school,
there are quite a few options. There's your regular public school your public district LAUSD is the second largest school district in the country behind New York Public Schools. That's what we have. Whatever you have your public schools, that's your option. Addition to public schools, you have private schools if you can afford them.
You have parochial schools.
Those will be your Catholic schools or your special Christian schools or Jewish Days schools.
And then you have home study.
A lot of individuals have taken to home study as a viable option, especially during the COVID pandemic when schools were shut down. A lot of students just haven't returned to conventional schooling.
They're at home. And furthermore, you have the.
Charter school system, and when people hear charter they wonder, many wonder what exactly is that? Is it private? Is it public? Is it a mixture of the two? What the heck is a charter school? And that is what our deeper dive segment will be about today. What a charter school is? Is it a viable option? Is it better than your public school system? And charter schools be affected by the cuts to the Department of Education, Let
me get into it. The US Department of Education also operates dozens of discretionary grant programs, and with the cut of the DOE, a lot of those grant programs have since also been reallocated or discontinued completely. The Trump administration just issued a demand to California public schools just last week to do away with their DEI programs or they would lose their Title one funding.
That's the newest news.
Coming out of the Trump administration as it pertains to education. This insistence that California schools do away with anything that happens to be DEI or else or else you lose your money, and that money again comes under some thing called Title IE. A loss of funding means that grants
would be given to states. This is a little confusing follow me the grants, the money would be given directly to states rather than to local education agencies such as school districts and charter schools as it is now, so states would be in charge of how they allocate the funding. That is complicated, especially given how disenfranchised some of our states are. California is doing really well, Mississippi not so much.
And when it comes to these out the reallocation of funding, having money go directly to states other than school districts and charter schools as it is now, the accountability for making sure that money is being spent in ways to help all students, especially those who are disenfranchised and income
it is not necessarily dispersed evenly or at all. The Department of Education being cut also affects the expansion of something called school choice, which funds the growth and creation of magnet schools and charter schools, which is what we're talking about.
You might remember school choice.
In President Trump's first term, he appointed Betsy de vas to Secretary of the US Department of Education. The choice in that appointment signaled the president's then intention to put the expansion of taxpayer funded charter schools and vouchers for private and religious schools at the center of his national agenda on education. At the time, there were lots of critics for this move. They called it a move to
undermine public education. They said, why would you put money in these alternative forms of education and not in the public schools. It also brought the complicated nature of charter schools onto the national stage.
That was in twenty twenty.
Fast forward to twenty twenty five, seventy plus days into President Trump's second term, the Department of Education is again undergoing massive changes, a full on obliteration to be honest at this point, and President Trump's once beloved charter school model under Betsy Devas's helm is at risk of being removed completely from places like California. Why funding cuts The
money is not there for these charter schools. In addition to the money not necessarily being as accessible as it once was, there are larger issues looming within charter school systems, and I'll tell you about what those are shortly. But the question is how does that change? How does this change in the Department of Education affect those of us in California and specifically in Southern California with school aged children, where there seem to be as many charter schools on
every corner as there are Starbucks. We'll look at the history of charter schools, and we'll also find out whether or not charter schools are in fact a better option than public schools, and look into some of the things some of the news coming out of the charter school system in recent months and as recently as last month, when it pertains to whether or not you should choose a charter school, if they are even still in existence
by this time, say next year. We'll do all of that, and we'll continue with our history lesson, our deeper dive on charter schools. When we come back, It's Saturdays with Tiffany. I'm Tiffany Hobbs here with you until seven.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Okay if I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Tifany Hobbs here with you, and we are getting your talkbacks. Thank you for them. You can continue to send them. Hit that talk back button in the middle of the iHeart app. It's right there down there's like a little microphone.
Push it.
You have about fifteen seconds to voice, however you feel about anything you've heard, or if you just want to say hi. I would love to say hi to you back. Thank you for listening. Whether you like it or you don't, you're still listening, and I appreciate that we were just talking. We've been talking about the charter school system. Lots of people have misconceptions, have questions, confusion about the difference between the charters school and the public school or the private school.
And charters have been in the news a lot more in recent years because of the changes to the Department of Education, first in twenty twenty with the appointment of Betsy d Vas as Secretary of Education. She loved charter schools. She was a huge proponent of school.
Choice and charter schools.
To now in twenty twenty five with the Department of Education being all but completely obliterated and now charter schools potentially being on the chopping block when it comes to funding. So we're getting ready to jump into some history. Let me tell you how charter schools have affected and been
impacted in Los Angeles specifically. Well, there's La Unified again, the biggest district in all of California, the second largest district in the nation, and LA was one of the first in the country to allow charter schools, converting its first school to charter status in the city of Westchester over thirty years ago. According to California Charter Schools Association, California's charter schools are and here you are. Here's the difference.
They are tuition free, public and open to all students. California charter public schools have rigorous curriculum programs and unique educational approaches in exchange for operational freedom and flexibility. Charter schools are subject to higher levels of accountability than traditional public schools, and charter schools offer high quality education options
to communities. That is from the California Charter Schools Association. Now, charter schools had a period of rapid growth in the city of Los Angeles in southern California, and it peaked during the pandemic people were looking for other options. There are still quite a number of charter schools in Los Angeles hundreds. In fact, they now account for about twenty percent of the district's overall enrollment, serving more than one hundred and fifty thousand students and K through T twelve schools.
There are two or K through twelve grade. There are two.
Hundred and seventy five charter schools in Los Angeles. Enrollment peaked in twenty twenty one when they had again a response to what was going on with the pandemic and LAUSD was really trying to keep up. However, as recent news has indicated as you might be experiencing, enrollment in LAUSD has dropped dramatically, especially given the pandemic period. Many of those schools have not recovered when it comes to attendance. Many students decided to seek other forms and other environments
for education. LAUSD once had an enthusiasm for charters, but that's ebbed and flowed in recent years. There's been a shrinking pool of students and charters and the district schools have been pit against each other. Both charters and district schools are funded on a per pupil basis that means one student equals a certain amount of money. The argument is that charters siphon resources and students from the larger district.
So if students are leaving LAUSD and going into a charter district, LAUSD cannot count those pupils as income, so to speak, Charters can if the student does infect transfer there the board. The school board in September issued a new resolution for LAUSD Superintendent Carvallo to create a policy banning charter schools from something called co locations. What that is is there might be four schools on one campus.
You have your public school, and then you have a charter school that's in elementary, a charter school that's maybe a middle school, and a charter school that might even be a high school, all co located on one public school campus. Well, the district decided they didn't want that anymore, so they issued that resolution to Superintendent Carvallo to ban
co locations at hundreds of these school buildings. That disrupted a lot of enrollment and later this year, in fact, Los Angeles is bringing its charter renewal process back online after a three year suspension. So in the years since the pandemic, charters have struggled greatly. They've struggled at the board level, they've struggled at the attendance level, and they've struggled at the retention level. Board President Jackie Goldberg has said that the point about.
Charter schools is that as soon as you make.
It a competition between the district and charter schools all has been lost. The point should be to improve the public schools, not to replace the public schools. Fewer kids are signing up. Applications for opening new charter schools in the city of Los Angeles, which once arrived annually by the dozen to LA Unified, have also completely dried up. That's according to the California Charter Schools Association. So charters may be fading out, no new ones and less renewals
are occurring. And whether you love or hate them, they were an alternative to the very obvious and sad failure at many levels that is the Los Angeles Unified School District. If you have kids in southern California, if you have kids in the greater Los Angeles area, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what a better option is. And that to me is the one of
the biggest issues that isn't discussed enough about. The basis about the core of Los Angeles as the city is what to do with our school aged children, how to improve schools truly, not just say that you're throwing money at these perceived or actual problems, but really get in there, getting in there and issuing these modifications to improve the education system in southern California. If our public schools, if our charter schools are not improved, you might in fact
have something like this. Kanye West, you've heard of him, while he started a school back in twenty twenty one as well. It was called the Donda Academy. It was a private Christian school, unaccredited K through twelve, and it closed within two years due to gross mismanagement and honestly being run by Kanye West. So if we don't figure out how to best serve the needs of our school children, you might have these pop up schools.
You'll have these schools.
That are still facing and dealing with lots of degradation and the core of our city, our children, our education, and how those two converge will continue to fall by the wayside and place California amongst the lowest of achievers in the on the basis of education.
That's been our deeper dive. Thanks for hanging out.
We're gonna talk to Amy King on the other side of the break and we're gonna get into this wiggle waggle walk. What it is the Pasadena Humane Society and why you should get out there with your pups or even just yourself and support this wonderful, wonderful fundraiser.
Right on the other side of the break.
KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio apps.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app with Tiffany here until seven, and then Michael Monks will come aboard and share with us the findings that will comprise his wonderful show, So stay tuned for that next I'm so delighted, so thrilled to talk to this young lady. I've been wanting to speak to her for quite a while, and I'm glad that our paths are finally crossing. And what better cause than to talk about Pasadena Humane Society and tomorrow's Wiggle Waggle Walk.
Welcome Amy King, Well, Tiffany, we could talk more often if you call me every once in a while.
I think I might have to do that, my dear. I'm so happy you could give us some of your time. I'm sure you're preparing for your big day tomorrow, are you excited?
Absolutely?
We are so excited because I mean Honestly, it's a day that you get to go out and walk around the Rose Bowl. It's going to be a beautiful day, but we're raising money for a cause that's near and dear to my heart. I got my cat, Alexander the Great from Pasadena Humane and we've had a great relationship with them for so long and know what they're doing and how important their work is because they're you know, they're rescuing animals, taking care of them, giving them homes
until they're ready to go to their forever home. And then this year, because of the Eaten fires, it's been you know, they've really stepped up to help the community. They rescued more than twelve hundred animals in the days after the fires. Yes, they were out in the neighborhoods
looking for and finding animals who were still there. I mean they were finding animals up to a week later or even past that, and then bringing them back to Pasadena Humane and nursing them back to help because some of them, you know, they were burned and how their little paws burned, and their faces and their whiskers and their ears. And they have an ICU at Pasadena Humane and they've treated them and nurse them back to help so they can be reunited with their families.
And it's angelic.
It is you know, they did it. They get a special place in heaven for all the great work that they're doing. And all of that, of course costs money, and they stay open from donations from people like you, and that's the reason we do Wiggle Waggle Walk and so we're thrilled to be part of that, and so we would love for you to come out and join us. There's still times to join our team. We have the wake up Call Wigglers, if you'd like to join our team.
We're fifty plus strong and I'm thrilled that that many people are coming out. And of course I know right and you know if you can't come out, that's okay too. We would love to have you donate and it's super easy to do. We know that I've mentioned this a couple of times. We know that there's a lot of people asking for your donations right now and your money might be stretched a little thin, but so anything you
can do, we would appreciate it. It's kfiam six forty dot com slash Wiggle that's where you can go to donate, and that's where you can go to join the team, whether you have a dog or not.
Of course we'd love to see you and your pops.
But if you don't have a dog, come on out walk with us anyway, because there's gonna be a ton of dogs out there. And along with the walk, we've got vendors and dog demonstrations and there's the costume contest, which amazing how many people dress up their dogs and it's adorable.
So are you taking your cat out there?
No?
I think he would be completely traumatized, and I think that would not be good. So he's staying at home. But we're trying to work on a one of the adoptable dogs. I might get to walk tomorrow morning, so if yeah. So last year, in fact, Tiffany, we I got to walk this beautiful brown Doberman pincher.
Oh my good, and she was she was just a joy.
And I was talking to somebody along the way and that dog ended up going home with somebody that day.
You know, that's always the hope that you know. Of course, the money is so integral, it's so important, but for an organization or an organization like Passing the Humane to actually bring out the adoptable dogs and allow people to interact, to see how they socialize, and to take a dog home that day or the next day or whatnot.
It's just that's what that's what we need.
We need these shelters to be relieved of the crush of so many homeless animals.
And this is great work.
Yes, they do great work, and like I said, they couldn't do it without the generous support of people in the community. And that's why we're asking for your help. So the event tomorrow starts at eight o'clock. The walk and run is at nine. You can do a five k or you can do a one mile walk and it's at Brookside Park and it's right there at the Rose Bowl. And the weather's going to be absolutely perfect tomorrow.
It's going to be like seventy five eighty degrees, so it'll be nice and cool in the morning when we walk. And we would love to have you come and join us.
And for signing up, Amy, what does that require?
Your name? So easy?
Very easy, pretty much.
It's very easy again. If you just go to kfi am sick forty dot com slash wiggle, it'll take you right to the Wiggle wiggle page.
You've said it so much.
At this point, right, I know, I've said it so much, and I figure one of these times I'll get it right. And then of course the team that we have is the wake up called Wigglers, and we would love to have you join that too.
It's super easy to do. It's like click, click, click.
Enter your name and or your phone number and you're off and you get a T shirt. And then we've got the KFI booths out there, and we've got swag bags for the first three hundred to come by. And oh and we're also doing a raffle at the KFI booth for Doctor Marty Pets. They've got gift baskets. They've generously donated a bunch of gift baskets, so we're doing raffles for those. So again, it's going to be a
fun day. You don't have to get up at break it dawn because the event doesn't start till eight o'clock. And again the walk is at nine, and then you're out of there by like eleven.
Easy.
You got your dog walk out the way for the morning, you know you can go home. Your dog will be just completely pooped out in many different ways and you can just go home and relax for a good cost.
Exactly exactly, we would love to have you join us. So, Tiffany, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to come talk. We're doing kind of our our last push yes to hit our goals, so.
You know, thank you.
And I want to tell you Amy quickly that you really have done a spectacular job in inheriting this event and the publicity for the station and just your your how you are involved in the Wiggle Waggle Walk from Jennifer Jones who did such a wonderful job as well for years. It's it's been great to hear you. It's awesome that you are involved. And I can see and i've I've watched you for years just how much of an animal lover you are. So you're a great spokesperson
for this event. Congratulations in advance, it's going to be great.
Well, thank you so much, Tiffany, and again, thank you for letting me come on. And if you, like I said, if you can donate, we would appreciate anything. Five bucks, fifty bucks, five hundred bucks, it doesn't matter. Everything goes to healthy animals and that's what we're working on.
Got it and you can donate at KFI AM six forty dot com, backslash wiggle. Thank you, Amy King, and have fun tomorrow.
Thank you so much, Tiffany.
Alrighty, take care.
KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Tiffany Hobbs here with you.
Until seven you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand KFI.
AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Tiffany Hobbs here with you for one final segment. We just spoke to Amy King of the Wiggle Waggle Walkers. Wiggle Walkers, Waggle Walkers. There we go and they will be tomorrow at Brookside Park at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for the Pasadena Humane Society's annual Wiggle Waggle walk You can go to KFI AM six forty dot com backslash wiggle to donate anything helps. Pasadena Humane has been in the
news a lot since early January and the fires. They were amongst the first on the ground out there doing fire recovery of pets, trying to help reunite families, and they have continued their work ever since with housing these unhoused animals, these displaced animals and also rehoming them. And this is an addition to the daily work that they do. They really took on all of this extra responsibility, have done it with grace and compassion, and they deserve every
good thing that comes their way. Led in part by Amy King and the wake up Call Wigglers join them tomorrow at the Wiggle wagglewalk starts at eight am, goes into about eleven Sign up again kfiam six forty dot com, backslash wiggle anything helps, or get your dogs out there, get a little early morning walk in. There's another popular La restaurant that's closing down. Which one is it?
Now?
Ra?
Will you ready? Here we go?
One of that ways most beloved Greek restaurants is closing its doors after serving the community for decades. Papa Cristo's is head at the corner of Pico and Normandy for seventy seven years, offering authentic Greek dishes and a market. The family run business we'll shut its doors next month. Owner Chris Chris is thanking as customers and staff, saying they are closing this chapter with hearts full of gratitude.
But is this really the end of the business, Chris teases, saying that they are good at saying goodbye for now.
Goodbye for now.
Such is the case for so many beloved institutions, first and most recently, not first, but most recently the pantry in downtown LA after something like I don't know what was it, sixty to fifty years and now this started in nineteen forty eight. I pass Papa Cristo's three four times a week in my commute. I see the beautiful mural on side of the of the business, on that big wall along Normandy. I've never actually stopped in Papa Cristo's. I've wanted to, and I thought I had more time.
I'm bummed that it may be going by the wayside. Have you ever visited Michael Monks.
I'm afraid that I haven't. And this is what happens. You know, you'll wait too long and suddenly it's gone.
It's gone.
This is yet another one, and people say that this is an institution. People come far and wide from all over to visit Papa Crystals. They say the food there is authentically Greek, that you can't get better food outside of Greece than with Papa.
Crysto's seventy seven years. That's a good len n seven seventy seven years. It's a good long run.
Congratulations to them.
Sad to see it go.
Hopefully it is just goodbye for now. We saw that restaurant in on sunset that said they were closing a couple of weeks ago, and then people rallied and it's stayed open.
That's the one.
Yes, So you know, there's always a little bit of hope maybe, but it's tough out there.
It's tough out there.
And Michael Monks, you bring a lot of hope and a lot of honesty to your program.
What are you talking about tonight.
Well, let's hope that the homeless situation is going to get better, because there's been more news this week on homelessness in LA and La County than I have ever seen, between the new tax going into a fact, the La County deciding to start its own department, crippling LASA, lasa's CEO resigning yesterday, city council members putting the kai bosh on millions of dollars for Mayor Bass's Inside Save Fund.
We're going to talk a little bit about that. I've got a marine biologist coming on to talk about the sick sea lions and dolphins out on the beaches. Really, yeah, they're doing a lot of work. They're doing their best, but it's hard work. And then, of course in the eight o'clock hour, we'll turn back towards politics.
Senator Adam Schiff is going to join us.
He's going to talk about the impact of tariffs on California as he sees it, and then we'll have Republican state Senator Tony Strickland to give us his assessment of California's financial state. He doesn't think it's good spoil alert as they begin their new budget.
Sounds like a very informative, honest, and maybe even hopeful show, at least hopeful for the information that will be shared so people won't be in the dark.
It smells like barbecue in here.
I need that out because I'm gonna be hungry the whole show and unfocused, and I worked hard on the show.
I'll leave you a rib. I think I have enough.
I piled the plate very very high for leftovers. You know, tariffs wanted to make sure I had enough food to last for a while. Michael Monks, it sounds like you're gonna have a great show. I wish you great air. Thank you, you're most welcome. Oh really quick, did you get an update about that whale trapped in the harbor?
Do you know anything about that?
Oh?
No, there's there's a whale trapped in the I think it's the Long Beach Harbor or it's I believe so, and it's it's been there and they're trying to get it out. So I was trying to see if there's any updates on that. Haven't heard anything. It's just kind of in the shallow water. It got over there somehow, and all the marine biologists you can ask your marine biologist's friend about what they've been looking into how to get the animals safely back to the open ocean.
So I hope they do free willly. If it's not the eagles, it's the whales.
Always something with the wildlife race, something with these I'm waiting to see one of these crazy sea lions poke their head up above that nest. Yeah, and then let's have like a what do they call that? When you have two different worlds collide and creative culture, it's a crossover?
Is it a crossover? Cohabitation?
Yeah?
The crossover of the century.
It would or I see an ego, go down and try and swoop up a whale.
Let's do it. That might not work as well, Hollywood. We can do anything.
You know.
Anything can happen here on KFI when Michael Monks is in the studio.
I'll talk to you soon. You got it. It's been a blast.
If you missed any part of tonight's show, please go to the iHeartRadio app, go online to KFI AM six forty dot com, look for the featured Segments tab along the left side of your screen and you'll be able
to find my show. There both both parts of the show that's divided into two for two hours, and you'll be able to hear the wonderful interview we had with doctor Newstrom, Nice Strom out of sweet and he joined us at the three am his time to tell us it's okay to drink wine and that we're not really as fat as we think we are, and that if you're the fatter you are, the healthier you are. He just really came with dispelling lots of myths, and we gave him a standing ovation for making us feel better
about ourselves. We talked to Amy King about the Wiggle Waggle Walk. That's tomorrow and we've had a wonderful show as well. Deeper dives. We looked at charter school so if you have any questions about charter schools, the six o'clock hour will hopefully clear that up. I will be with you next week next Saturday from five to seven as always, Four Saturdays with Tiffany and four KFI AM six forty have a wonderful, wonderful evening
KFI AM six forty on demand