The just supplanted President of Pasadena City College, Rajen Vurdien bragged that PCC had won some kind of recognition for its small class sizes. The award/recognition failed to take into account that numerous classes are doubled-up, even tripled-up; where one teacher instructs multiple classes at the same time, like the Little Red Schoolhouse. I was in such a doubled-up class and my course was totally ignored by the teacher.
Thank you for link to the WSJ article regarding PG&E. I've been waiting for the Sacramento Bee to provide such investigative findings...Mmmm.
So, California liberalism is just a cover for the same old class warfare. The rich won’t pay to educate the children of their hired hands. Prop. 13 will never be overturned. Deprived children grow into ignorant adults. That’s a bigger threat than global warming.
@JGSD
And why should Prop.13 be overturned; so old people can be booted from their homes by engorged taxes, when all of a sudden either waves of rich immigrants or yuppies decide their neighborhood is the next place to be?
California underfunds public schools. The teachers deserve to be supported. Class size is important. If you have 40 kids in a class and they write a three page paper, how long do you think it would take to grade that one class? 15 minutes per paper Ten hours? One class?....private schools 15 kids in a class. Our children, rich or poor all deserve a great education.
As a retired teacher and UTLA member, I support the current teacher's strike, even though I believe the changes teachers are fighting for do not dig deep enough into the dysfunctional structure of the LAUSD and other school districts. The hidden cancer within our education system is the disparity between the pay classroom teachers get versus other certificated employees who work outside the classroom. We should provide a pay incentive for good teachers to apply for jobs and to remain in the classroom. Instead, by paying out-of-classroom teachers and administrators more than classroom teachers, we are encouraging experienced teachers to leave the classroom. When I was a teacher trainee, one of our trainers, a low-level administrator, told us we were "stupid" if we were still in the classroom in five years. He meant, of course, if we wanted to make more money, we should aspire to a position like his. This attitude permeates public education. People pay lip service to the noble work of teachers, but it's time to check the praise and put it in the paycheck. One school board member said in a meeting I attended that it would be an insult to administrators to require them to teach a class. Let that sink in. Classroom teachers with equal or superior education and seniority to administrators should be paid as much or more. I say let no district employee be paid more than the highest paid classroom teacher!
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No facts; what are salaries, salaries with masters, current class size, how much of a raise?
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Los Angeles City has also opened "safe places" at which to send children to show solidarity with the Teacher's Union. Certain public parks and libraries will be accepting students during the strike.
I've had two children go to LAUSD schools. The experience has been heart-wrenching for one and fairly rewarding for the other. How can this be? We even lived in a part of LA that had a highly rated elementary school.
First, my daughter had ADHD. None of the teachers she had at Third St. School were equipped to help her. When we finally had her tested and were given a diagnosis, the school still did not help. The third grade teacher she had was terrible to her - putting her in a corner facing the wall or at the back of the classroom. Ignoring her and outright dismissing her. The principal sloughed off the problem to the assistant principal, who changed twice and was unaware of the issues. Finally, I took my daughter out of there and put her in another school after discovering she'd been pulling her hair out in class and the fourth grade teacher didn't tell me.
My son, who got into a great Magnet school, has made great progress. He was lucky to have teachers who cared, but none of his schools ever had enough resources. Parents always had to fundraise and support the schools. In the meantime, the classrooms have deteriorated - the furniture looks like what I had when I went to school in the 70s.
I ended up suing LAUSD over their treatment of my daughter, and I won. The school system is broken. Teachers need better pay and working conditions, but the district also needs to revamp or break up into smaller, better managed districts.
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They are planning on hiring 400 substitutes and having 2000 administrators with credentials teach. With 34000 students that's a ratio of about 500:1. If I were an LA parent, I'd have my kid stay home for safety reasons alone.
@Tired . 2400 ("teachers") x 15 students per teacher = 36000 total students ; 2400 x 14 = 33,600.
Could you explain the 500:1? 2400 x 500 = 1,200,000.
I'm not praising either side, just can't see how you got an estimate of 500 students per teacher. For example, is it 200 administrators, not 2000?
Correction... Its 34000 teachers with a student body ratio of 40:1. So every substitute is acting as 14 teachers... Which leads to a ratio of 560:1. Did I not warn you I was tired?
The LA teachers strike is about a lot more than money - but that is what Superintendent Austin Beutner , a former investment banker with no background in education, would like the public to believe. It is about the future of public education.
He is a staunch supporter of charter schools, which siphon money from regular classrooms, about having adequate support services for the teachers to help deal with challenging students who have either psychological or developmental problems, and also about money. Money for classroom supplies, money for pensions since teachers are not part of the Social Security system and thus have to rely on their school district pension in retirement, money for raises that reflect the true cost of living increases since their last raise.
They have been working without a contract for the last two years while negotiations went nowhere. That shows good faith and concern about children’s welfare. The teachers deserve our support.
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