Red Wednesday
by Cecily Myart-Cruz, West Area Chair & Emerson Middle School
Unbelievable! What an incredible rally we had on December 6. Almost one-quarter of our membership attended one of the two demonstrations. According to LAPD estimates, the total from both rallies was more than 10,000 people. Those who doubted our ability to organize and pull our members together have been proven wrong. The District told everyone we were weak and divided. What they didn’t understand is that UTLA is a democratic union—no, UTLA is a family. And families argue and disagree, but when all is said and done, we close ranks and focus our attention on the real goal: a decent contract with a good pay raise, lower class sizes, and local control of schools. As I stood on the sidelines helping to organize and direct our activities, I couldn’t help but feel a great sense of pride that UTLA is alive, well, and powerful. And our message is clear. We want nothing less than the dismantling of the LAUSD bureaucracy and a meaningful share of decision making at our school sites and across the District. I cannot begin to express the pride I have in our union. When our president, A.J. Duffy, finished his speech and UTLA Elementary Vice President Julie Washington had us shine hundreds of flashlights on LAUSD headquarters, it was a spectacular feeling. I am proud to say I am a teacher; I am proud to say I am a member of United Teachers Los Angeles; I am proud to say that my colleagues and I spoke with one voice when we said: Watch out, LAUSD—UTLA is on the move.
Major Victory at Crenshaw Senior High
LAUSD has finally succumbed to the power of UTLA and its community allies. At a press conference held on the sidewalk outside of Crenshaw SH speaker after speaker echoed the words of UTLA President A. J. Duffy when he said this is a win/win situation for everyone but especially for the Crenshaw High School community. Alex himself stated that this victory is something that we can build on. As of the writing of this article, Alex is now back at Crenshaw SH. Once again Union power in conjunction with community power has prevailed.
It’s The Classroom, Stupid!
By James Arlington Webster Middle School
The district is still out to lunch on the issue of class size. Recently at my school the district closed a special education class because we had fallen below our norm. As a Bridge Coordinator at a PI 6 school, if there is such a thing, I am constantly reminded that our special education test scores are far below basic and that we must improve in the area of special education test scores. In our special day classes we were averaging about eleven students; however, as the year goes on those numbers gradually increase due to initial special education referrals, students moving from the resource specialist program to the special day program because they can’t make it academically in the collaboration model, and students moving into our area. Since the district closed the special day position, our class size has increased and is still increasing. Our class size in our special day classes is now averaging fourteen students per class. And I know Webster’s numbers are amongst the lowest in the district. I recently heard that there are SDC classes that have twenty to twenty-two students. Perhaps if the bureaucrats who allow these numbers came to the classroom for a couple of weeks to see what we go though, then we would have realistic sizes. I was promised by the district that when the average goes above sixteen they will reopen the class. As usual, the district’s logic is flawed. While our class sizes increased, the district bureaucracy has grown out of control. I can also report that our general education classes are the usual thirty to thirty-eight students per class. My Dean of Discipline recently attended an in-service on “Alternatives to Suspension.” He came back and told me how ridiculous it was that at this training there was an over-abundance of so-called “experts.” He said that for every five school-based attendees, there was one expert. He questions, as do I, the need for all these bureaucratic experts, wasting so much valuable money, when the district is cutting teachers at the school site and increasing class size. The real travesty is, of course, after this in-service, neither the dean nor I or the school site will see these experts at the school site. We’ll be back to dealing with the same bad behavior exhibited by those students who fight and disrupt classes. “Beaudry” officials, who either don’t have a clue or know what goes on and are burying their heads in the sand, will continue to schedule more in-services, because, after all, it’s the teachers and school site personnel who are the real problem here…. See my article in the United Teacher in August about opportunity transfers; we’re at it again, already opportunity transferring students around and around. The bottom line is this: The LAUSD bureaucracy has grown out of control at the expense of the school site. From closing classes and increasing class size, to too many so-called experts giving worthless professional development and not truly helping out the school sites, we continue to play the same old game. It’s the classroom, stupid!
