Lausd

As a co-leader of the L.A. breakup movement, I have watched closely the waste of time and resources by LAUSD, obviously at the direction of its board, to thwart the democratic will of the voters and their legislators. District lawyers and representatives have been regularly attending meetings in Sacramento, attempting to needlessly complicate the proposed procedures for even bringing forth the simplest of reorganization proposals. They have further added the requirement that any new district must comply with not only the long list of guarantees required by Sen. Tom Hayden's legislation but any other agreements that they should make in the interim.

As a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, I wish to protest Michael Ramirez's Dec. 5 cartoon. Ramirez chose to depict all students who attend LAUSD as "doomed," able only to work in a fast-food restaurant, while those who can afford private school are a "success," drive a Mercedes, smoke big cigars and have the "doomed" folks as their waiters and servants. I looked around my fourth-grade classroom today, to see who was "doomed." Nobody seemed to be. All I saw was bright, capable students.

Rosemarie Bernier, the librarian at Hamilton High School, sees hundreds of students every day. She knows them by their study habits, the questions they ask and the books they read. Joelle and Johanna love to run their fingers through old books. We find them in the stacks, admiring the beautiful, old binding of a Jules Verne novel. Another group of "regulars" gathers at a table. Nahum and Livingston leaf through sheets of sample calculus problems, while Antonio reads the final chapters of Toni Morrison's great novel "Song of Solomon.

I was floored when I read about L.A. Unified School District board President Caprice Young's proposal to break up the LAUSD (Feb. 7). I believe that she is absolutely correct. As a parent of a freshman and a senior at John Marshall High Magnet School, I have found there is a complete disconnect between the LAUSD administration, middle management and the community of students and parents that it serves. Not at the school sites, but downtown. It takes years to make small improvements at school sites, and it is always due to LAUSD bureaucracy.

Re "We Must Think of Each Child in the LAUSD as Our Own," Commentary, Oct. 31: Howard Miller has left out one vital element that will "change the culture of public education"--parents! They must be held accountable for their child's achievement. I am a fifth-grade teacher for LAUSD near the mid-Wilshire area. I have many students who were eligible for reading intervention during our recent seven-week break. Many of these "at-risk" students, who happen to have second-grade-level language arts skills, failed to attend the three-week course.

Of the 33,378 teachers represented in "Teachers' Absenteeism Troubles L.A. District" (May 9), 20,839, or 62.4%, missed seven to nine days, or less. That's less than one day per month. And 5,364 missed no days. Zero! I've been a public schoolteacher since 1969 (in LAUSD since 1973). This year, I've been absent three days. I love my work, but I've seen everything in the classroom change. Students and teachers are now subjected to the most extraordinary distractions imaginable. An occasional "mental health" day can serve everyone.

Re "L.A. Schools to Poll Public on Bond," March 5: I can't understand why four members of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education want to spend $3.2 million on a LAUSD bond campaign. Other school districts turn to their business communities for private campaign funds. Good schools mean a better local economy. But LAUSD, the district without sufficient funds for textbooks, supplies, clean campuses and one that not only hasn't given employees a raise in five years but also cut employees' pay, can spend $3.2 million on a campaign that may or may not be winnable.

Re "L.A. District Weighs Furloughs to Save Jobs," May 24: Rather than propose to place the burden of budget shortfalls upon those who work and care directly for our children, here are a few suggestions to help the LAUSD save money: (1) Return all literacy and math coaches to the classroom, where they can work directly with students. (2) Reduce all after-school staff development meetings. The vast majority of these meetings mainly "develop" the staff's ability to sit and turn their brains off instead of providing any useful ideas that can be used in the classroom.

The Los Angeles School Police Department has issued new rules aimed at reducing the number of truancy tickets written to students and focusing efforts instead on helping these students get to and remain in school. The new policy in the Los Angeles Unified School District, announced Thursday, is the latest change from a campaign to reform traditional school discipline that, advocates of the new policy say, results in ethnic and racial profiling and hardships for students and families.

Re "Shake-Ups Launched at 4 Schools," Jan. 11: As a 40-year English teacher with the LAUSD, I have to agree with [union representative] Sharon Noland of Sun Valley when she says, "I've done nothing wrong." When I retire, I will have noted only two things that improved my workplace: the reduced class size in ninth- and 11th-grade English classes and the introduction of the photocopy machine. There are a lot of good teachers in badly performing schools who would shine more brightly if they were provided with the class size and teaching conditions that allowed them to do their jobs.