Student's video puts school cuts on personal level

Vera recruited a friend to serve as cinematographer, and the friend shot footage of Vera strolling through campus on his way to class. Using a split-screen technique and constant wardrobe changes, the one-minute video covers a two-week span in which Vera is seen struggling with algebra but getting one-on-one help in after-school sessions with Aranaga. Then one day, he finds Aranaga cleaning out his desk after getting canned.

The video ends with this graphic:

"Maybe that one teacher was inspiration and motivation to a desperate student."

"I knew it was a winner when I saw it," said Toto.

"I got goose bumps," said Aranaga. "I'm not kidding."

Aranaga, Toto, Vera and I were talking about the video last Friday, just a few hours before Vera was to graduate. As we chatted, Vera's French teacher appeared in the doorway.

"That's a special student," said Barbara Avery, telling me Vera was a delight to have in class, and his French wasn't bad, either. "Every once in a while, you get a kid like that."

And as a student, Vera said, every once in a while you get a teacher you really connect with. For him, it was Aranaga, who had a knack for getting the best out of him. After school, they frequently played chess or just talked.

Talked about what? I asked.

"About everything," said Vera, who was upset that his little brother, two years behind him, might not have had a chance to take history or social studies with Aranaga.

As it turned out, Aranaga refused to go quietly. He fought his dismissal, arguing that if he were given credit for all the overtime he had worked, he'd have enough seniority to avoid a layoff.

In the end, he won the fight. But he's still seething about the experience and about all the others at Monroe and elsewhere who will lose their jobs for no reason other than lack of seniority.

Avery agreed. "It's just horrible," she said. "Absolutely horrible."

There has to be a way for teachers, administrators, parents and students to fairly evaluate teachers, Avery said, so that when layoffs are necessary, experience is not the only consideration.

She expects to get some heat for advocating that sort of reform. She's Monroe's co-chapter chair of United Teachers Los Angeles, and the union has staunchly defended basing layoffs on seniority, not evaluations.