Magnet schools are the only school format that has been shown to significantly improve student performance. Therefore, if both sides truly care about the students in the LAUSD, expanding this choice is something that they should both be able to get behind. Unfortunately, they cannot.
In the "facts" document, the District states that "UTLA wants to veto the creation of Magnet schools and to stop the best teachers from being selected for Magnet schools." This is a statement that is blatantly untrue. In fact, a District spokesman has stated that the union's proposals would "effectively limit the number of new magnet schools". Since the proposal only applies to entire schools that convert into magnet schools, "limit" is a more accurate description. Schools that add a magnet program or entirely new magnet schools would not be affected.
L.A. Unified is just like West Virginia.
It is understandable that the LAUSD would want to distance the possibility of a strike after the successful work-actions in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona. While the labor movements in these states "were aimed at state legislatures to increase funding for all statewide public schools", this only tells part of the story. These movements were also about standing up to protect public education, which has been under attack by not only the Republican party but also the corporatists within the Democrat party. Nowhere has this been more evident than on the LAUSD School Board.
By forcing through the hiring of Beutner without any public input, the charter block on the Board purposely put someone with anti-union views at the helm of the District. "Hard Choices" is a constant marketing message of this new Superintendent. It often means that District students will suffer while charter schools are allowed to operate without accountability while draining money from public schools. In this way, L.A. Unified is, indeed, just like West Virginia.
Left unsaid: Special Education
Leaving this off the "fact" sheet was not an oversight. Almost 25 years ago, the LAUSD signed off on the Sandra Smith Consent Decree which mandated a series of steps that the District would have to undertake to ensure that children with special education needs received the services that they were entitled to. A child who entered the LAUSD when this agreement was signed has already graduated and the terms of this agreement have still not been satisfied. Despite this record of failure, Beutner has made it clear that special education programs are destined for cost-cutting.
Instead of giving up on these children, the contract proposed by the union would "reduce the number of students assigned to one special education teacher." Having personally witnessed my docile child get lost in a classroom full of squeaky wheels, I can think of no better way to improve the education that children with moderate to severe special needs receive.
Also left unsaid: standardized testing
As previously stated, Superintendent Beutner has no professional experience or training in the field of education. UTLA leadership is comprised of people who are education professionals. Yet Beutner has stated that deciding "what tests students take" is not something that the LAUSD "would, should or could bargain with labor over." "Under a UTLA proposal, teachers would be required to give only the standardized tests required under state or federal law".
While the union proposal is a step in the right direction, it does not go far enough. Under state law, parents have a right to opt their children out of all standardized testing. Unfortunately, LAUSD teachers are not allowed to inform parents of this right. By instituting an opt-in system, all parents would be informed of their rights before their children were forced to take these tests.
In the end, parents will ultimately decide who wins this fight. If students are sent through picket lines to be taught by unprepared administrators and scabs, UTLA will quickly cave and business as usual will continue in the LAUSD. However, empty classrooms would force the District to look elsewhere in the bloated bureaucracy for the cuts needed to give students the education that they deserve. My two LAUSD students and I will be glad to join their teachers on the picket lines. I hope that the union stays true to its word as negotiations continue. My daughters are depending on it.
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Carl Petersen is a parent and special education advocate, elected member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and was a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race. During the campaign, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action and Dr. Diane Ravitch called him a "strong supporter of public schools." His past blogs can be found at www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
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