A.J. Duffy circled the desks of Room 192 at Palms Middle School with the careful grace of a street fighter, albeit a somewhat portly one. He danced from side to side, kicking his legs out slightly as he walked.
As usual, Duffy was dressed to the nines. A long-sleeved, black-collared shirt was buttoned to the top. Flashy, black-and-white, tasseled patent-leather loafers peeked out from under charcoal pants.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday April 30, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 56 words Type of Material: Correction
UTLA president -- An article in Wednesday's California section about the new president of United Teachers Los Angeles said A.J. Duffy was the first to move from the classroom to the top union job. In fact, he is the fourth. Bob Unruhe, Hank Springer and Wayne Johnson were classroom teachers immediately before they took the post.
Duffy watched his students, slouching in their seats, scribbling essays in beige composition books, then barked out a command laden with Brooklynese. "Siddup! What did I tell you guys about posture in the classroom?
The tone was singsong, but the orders absolute. "Don't forget the date in the upper-right-hand corner. I need a date on everything! Best handwriting!"
He thrust his hands into his pants pockets, then, a moment later, tucked them under arms he restlessly crossed over his chest. He gnawed a disposable ballpoint pen absent-mindedly. "Let's have some nice, short sentences. Simple is best."
The students, all of whom have learning disabilities, have a hard time concentrating. They're up from their seats every few minutes: to grab a tissue, to sharpen a pencil or to study a map.
The former dean of discipline at the Los Angeles middle school, Duffy knows all the moves. "I didn't recall this being a group activity!"
The students scramble to their seats.
Duffy is used to having people jump to order. A longtime union activist, he forged his reputation as a fearless defender of teachers' rights. A dozen principals are out of a job because Duffy sought their ouster.
On July 1, the Brooklyn-raised Duffy will become head of United Teachers Los Angeles, assuming a new mantle of authority.
The biggest difference between him and the present union leader, John Perez?
"I dress."
Besides clothing, there is much about Duffy that will be new for the 35-year-old teachers union. He'll be the first teacher to move directly from the classroom to the head of the union that represents Los Angeles' 46,000 teachers.
That, some say, may give Duffy more rank-and-file credentials than previous union leaders, who had left the classroom long ago.
He has vowed to bring "a completely new look" to the organization. Besides traditional union concerns such as contract issues, the union will focus on social justice and activism. He has vowed to stand up for members on issues such as the federal No Child Left Behind rules, which he says are designed to turn teachers into scapegoats and eradicate public education in favor of vouchers and private schools.
At various times, Duffy, 61, has been known by different versions of his name, including A. James, James, and A.J. But usually, he insists that his peers call him Duffy. And they do.
In Room 192 at Palms, where he teaches two groups of students with a wide range of emotional and physical difficulties, Duffy is the only one who can get away with nicknames. It's strictly Mr. Duffy here.
As he circled, Duffy complimented one student's originality, then worried, in an aside, about whether another has been given his medicine for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Such paternal concern might seem out of character for a man who describes himself as a bulldog. But there is a deeper motivation for the words and the interest. Duffy sees himself in his students.
In the days before Ritalin and Adderall, Duffy said, he was "an ADHD kid." He got some help from a program at Brooklyn College -- but his upper-middle-class parents eventually refused to have him classified as anything other than normal.
Since then, his life and career have been anything but conventional.
Duffy said he did not learn to read until he taught himself, between the ages of 25 and 30. It took him three years to get a two-year degree at New York City Community College. A move to Philadelphia in the late 1960s took him to Powelton Village, a "left-radical community" where Duffy said he lived "sort of communally." There, he began his career in organizing and education, helping to start a community day-care center called All of Us Together.
"Sometimes," he said, "the parents paid us with canned food. It was a growing-up time."
Duffy came to Los Angeles in 1971 because a friend had told him that everyone moves to Los Angeles eventually. He found work at the Venice Community Playgroup, a parent-run day-care center where his son was enrolled. After helping a student with cerebral palsy move into public school, he realized he wanted to focus on special education full time. He borrowed money from his parents to get two teaching credentials: one for K-12 social sciences and the other for special education.
Duffy intended to start in special education right away, but Los Angeles Unified offered only a mainstream position teaching social studies at Charles Drew Middle School in South Los Angeles.
