●● smf notes:
- These stories should be read in reverse order, from bottom to top.
- The correct name for the unopened high school is “Augustus F. Hawkins High School”, (not ‘Augusta’) named for the longtime congressman and civil rights leader.
By Tami Abdollah | KPCC Pass/Fail | http://bit.ly/w0MlFb – [click on headlines for direct links]
Miramonte teacher removed from classroom also gets preliminary pink slip
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Miramonte Elementary School teachers speak about their removal from their classrooms after two teachers were arrested on charges of misconduct with students. (May 2, 2012)
May 3, 2012 :: As the crowd dissipated today after an emotional march and press conference, one Miramonte Elementary School teacher stood along 60th Street in South L.A. and spoke nervously about what it was like to not only be removed from the classroom but to receive a preliminary pink slip during that time.
The teacher, who instructed a fifth grade intervention class, has taught at L.A. Unified for eight years. The last time she was in the classroom with her students was in December, when the track went off for their break. When the students returned in February, they found an entirely new staff.
"It hurts, it's awful," she said. "...What hurts the most [is] this special class of students needed consistency, routine, someone they can trust. They took that away from them and that's the hardest part."
Along with more than a 100 other staff members from Miramonte Elementary, she now spends her days at Augusta Hawkins High School. And she said district officials told her not to answer students' calls and to avoid talking to their parents during the course of the investigation into the staff members.
When she first arrived at Hawkins High, she said there had been a gate along the front of the still-under-construction school and parents showed up to support the teachers.
She remembers holding hands with them through the holes in the fence.
On Thursday, dressed in a blue Miramonte student t-shirt, she saw parents she had not seen in months and she had to tell one she might not be returning next year.
The parent started to cry when they learned that the teacher might not be able to return to the school. As the teacher related the story, her voice grew heavy with emotion.
In March, the fifth grade teacher received a preliminary pink slip notice. Statewide districts are required by law to notify teachers that they might be laid off by March 15; LAUSD sent out roughly 9,500 preliminary pink slips to teachers and health and human services professionals this year to help offset a $390 million shortfall.
"It's scarier again," the teacher said. "I've been riffed on top of all this. It's just very uncertain and uncertainty is hard. It's stressful."
She is even more concerned because union officials have said only a little more than half of the staff will be able to return to a smaller Miramonte Elementary School in the fall because of a separate district effort to eliminate year-round schools in conjunction with a new building program.
"I spent eight years at Miramonte. I started there. It's the only school I've ever taught at," she said. "That's why I'm so worried. For my resume, that's my only school. 'Oh you're from Miramonte? Good luck.' That's how I feel."
The teacher said the hardest part of the last few months has been feeling like they were forgotten. Teachers would visit the LAUSD website and find updates that indicated all was back to normal at Miramonte.
She received her "cleared" letter from the district earlier this week. She said it tells her that she is "cleared of any wrongdoing" and to "be assured that your time at Augusta Hawkins won't reflect negatively with LAUSD."
"But if you're a principal at another school..." she trailed off.
The teacher now faces another seven weeks of whiling away time at August Hawkins High before the school year ends. Because she just had a baby boy and was on maternity leave she cannot take any sick days but is having a hard time bearing the thought of spending nearly another two months not teaching. She looked back at the officially unopened high school building Thursday with dread.
"If they said I could go back Monday, I'm there. I'll co-teach, yeah, in a heartbeat," she said with a broad smile.
"I want to get our story out there, and I'm glad we finally did," she said. "We don't want to be here...we want to go back."
Miramonte Elementary parents and students rally for their teachers
By Tami Abdollah | KPCC Pass/Fail
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Miramonte Elementary School teacher (center with sunglasses) is surrounded by parents and students who came out to show support for the kindergarten teacher. (May 2, 2012)
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Parents and their kids show support for their Miramonte Elementary School teachers who were removed from campus at a march outside Augusta Hawkins High School. (May 2, 2012).
May 3, 2012 :: As Miramonte Elementary School staff members rallied today in front of the unopened South L.A. campus where they have been placed for the last few months, parents and their kids came out to support their teachers Thursday.
Maria Guzman, a mother of second and fourth grade girls at Miramonte School, stood along 60th Street. She and her daughters all sported white t-shirts to symbolize the innocence of the staff. Guzman's t-shirt had writing in black marker that said, "We are here to support the innocent teachers and staff from Miramonte Elementary".
On the back it read, "They're not prisoners they're workers."
"It's not right what they did with them," Guzman said today after she heard the teachers give their first public statements in three months. "Just because two teachers did something bad, the rest of them shouldn't have to pay for it."
She said both of her daughters found strangers instructing them at the school when they went to class in February. Her 10-year-old daughter has behavior problems and Guzman said the problems became worse after her teacher was removed. Guzman said she spent many days in the classroom to make sure they are doing OK in school.
Guzman said the teachers shouldn't be at the unopened Augusta Hawkins High School, where they currently spend their days.
"They've got the credential to teach," Guzman said, "not to be in a school with no students."
Another parent showed up with her brood of four kids today to support their kindergarten teacher. The kids had made a sign, "We want are [sic] teachers back". They shyly stood amid the media horde after teachers delivered their statement.
"It's made me want to go back" to the school, said the Miramonte Elementary School kindergarten teacher, who declined to give her name out of fear it would prevent her return to the classroom. She has taught at the school for 17 years, nearly the entirety of her 18 years with L.A. Unified.
The teacher wore a bright yellow Miramonte Elementary student t-shirt and was continuously surrounded by a different former student or parent who gave her a big hug. "I miss my students," she said.
She returned to the South L.A. elementary school Wednesday because the track D school year had ended. "They jumped out of thier seats and ran to me," she said. "They were upset, and asked what took me so long to come back to talk to them. They were telling me they missed me, and I told them I missed them more.
"I told them to come back and visit me."
The kindergarten teacher had some of the kids' parents in her class years earlier, and had been excited to teach their children this year.
"I hope that whatever comes out of this is the best for our students..." she said. The teacher said she heared from a lot of parents and that "a lot of my children did not do well, they had a lot of emotional issues. Some parents remained with their kids in the classroom because the kids didn't want to go to school to complete strangers."
As for herself, she'd received her letter telling her she was "cleared" Tuesday and was hoping to find out when she could return to her "home" at Miramonte Elementary.
As she discussed returning home, she hugged her daughter who was holding her nephew, and said a few words to her sister who had joined her while providing her with support through the last few months.
More students and parents approached for hugs.
In the background, music started to play as people cleared out.
"I can see clearly now, the rain has come..."
Miramonte Elementary teachers tell their story after nearly three months of silence
By Tami Abdollah | KPCC Pass/Fail
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Miramonte Elementary School teachers speak about their removal from their classrooms after two teachers were arrested on charges of misconduct with students. (May 2, 2012)
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Miramonte Elementary School teachers speak about their removal from their classrooms after two teachers were arrested on charges of misconduct with students. (May 2, 2012)
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Miramonte Elementary School teachers rally outside a South L.A. high school to demand their return to their classrooms. (May 2, 2012)
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Parents and their kids show support for their Miramonte Elementary School teachers who were removed from campus at a march outside Augusta Hawkins High School. (May 2, 2012).
May 3, 2012 :: Miramonte Elementary School teachers made their first public comments today during a march and press conference in front of a South L.A. high school where they have been placed for the last three months as officials conducted an investigation into two teachers arrested on charges of misconduct with students.
The staff members, fearful that giving their personal accounts would jeopardize their ability to return to their classrooms, collectively voted on three statements written among them to present anonymously.
One teacher related feeling "shocked and numb" at having to leave the school in early February during two pupil free days they had to relocate. "I was expected to pack up 10 years in two days," the teacher said. "I was overwhelmed with so many emotions, sadness, anger...anxiety fear."
"At several meetings we were told we were innocent, but in the same breath they told us we couldn't work at any of the LAUSD campuses because were were part of an investigation," the teacher continued.
Roughly 120 staff members, among them about 85 teachers, have spent their days in second-floor classrooms at Augusta Hawkins High School waiting for the district and sheriff's deputies to finish up their investigation. Teachers said they were asked to identify students in photos by deputies. Over the last couple weeks teachers have begun to receive "cleared" notices.
But union officials and teachers criticized how long it took to finish up the investigation. The teacher said staff spent "six weeks in the dark" with no news on their status or interviews. The teacher described dressing up to go to the high school campus to lift their spirits and "feel like I'm going to work."
Teachers said students had been hurt by the abrupt removal of their entire school staff including nine cafeteria workers, four custodial staffers, six special education teachers, 76 general education teachers, three longterm substitues, two counselors, one psychologist, one nurse and one principal, among others.
Ingrid Villeda, the South Area chair for United Teachers Los Angeles, said teachers wanted to know when they could return to the school and how staffing will be determined.
Miramonte Elementary will close at the end of this school year and reopen up slightly smaller as part of a separate, district effort to reduce year-round schools in conjunction with its building program. Villeda said that means only 45 of the roughly 85 teachers would have a spot at Miramonte Elementary.
L.A. Unified Superintedent John Deasy said Wednesday staff members, once cleared, will be able to return to the school of their choice as is typically done in such a scenario and according to seniority. Deasy said the district will work with those teachers who are currently at Miramonte Elementary School and who are continuing on their contract, to find a new spot for them.
Villeda said teachers were worried that those who might have to interview for jobs at other schools will not be treated the same if they are one of the Miramonte 85.
"That process will not be the same for these people," Villeda said. "They carry a certain connotation."
Villeda said some of the Miramonte staffers had students in the schools. Roughly 15 kids had their parents, who worked at the school, removed from campus in February. Like all staffers, they were told not to have any contact with the school, Villeda said. But these staff members were told they could not attend parent-teacher conferences or pick up their kids from school. "The treatment has been unjust," Villeda said.
A spokesman with L.A. Unified declined to comment today about the Miramonte teachers' rally.
But Deasy said it was necessary to take drastic measures to ensure there were no more surprises at Miramonte and investigate how no one knew what was going on, even if it would cost the district $5.7 million to do so.
"Absolutely it was the right move," Deasy said in an interview Wednesday. "You don't put a price on safety."
Miramonte Elementary School teachers march to demand return to classroom
By Tami Abdollah | KPCC Pass/Fail
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Miramonte Elementary School teachers march to demand their return to their school. (May 2, 2012)
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Andrea Shaffer, a sixth grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, holds the sign "Due Process is a Constitutional Right!" as she marches outside Augusta Hawkins High School where she has been placed since Feb. 9. (May 2, 2012)
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Miramonte Elementary School teachers march to demand their return to their school. (May 2, 2012)
-
Tami Abdollah/KPCC | Miramonte Elementary School teachers have been placed at Augusta Hawkins High School campus, which remains unopened and under construction, since Feb. 9 after two teachers were arrested for alleged misconduct with students.
May 3, 2012 :: Nearly 100 people including dozens of Miramonte Elementary School teachers, marched alongside parents and students outside an unopened South L.A. high school where the educators have been exiled for months, to demand their return to their classrooms.
Wearing the blue and yellow tee-shirts of Miramonte school students, and white ribbons to symbolize their innocence, the teachers chanted "Hey hey, ho ho, where should all the teachers go? Miramonte's where we need to go." They held signs that said "Miramonte is our home" and "Bring back our innocent Miramonte staff" as cars honked in support as they drove down Hoover Street.
Roughly 120 staffers including about 85 teachers were removed from their classrooms Feb. 9 as part of an investigation into two teachers arrested for lewd acts on children and placed at Augusta Hawkins High School. L.A. Unified Superintendent John Deasy said it was a necessary and drastic step to ensure the safety to children. But union officials say the superintendent went too far.
For nearly three months neither the district nor United Teachers Los Angeles has provided details about the teachers' status or the ongoing investigation into staffers. Union officials said a grievance it filed Feb. 8 to protest the unlawful removal of an entire school staff required them to honor a "confidentiality clause" that, if broken, could possibly prevent teachers' return to their classrooms.
"We got caught in the crossfire, that's how I feel," said Andrea Shaffer, a sixth grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School who was relocated. "The actions of one person really messed it up for a lot of other people."
Shaffer said she felt like the teachers had been treated like "political pawns" over the last few months. Over the last weeks teachers have received letters telling them they are "cleared" of any wrongdoing in the investigation. She received her letter from the district last week.
"I'm cleared, but I didn't do anything wrong in the first place," Shaffer said. "I'm cleared of what? That's what we say."
Shaffer was marching today with a sign that read "Due process is a constitutional right." She said the district needed to have looked at other options, such as improving how it screens teachers. Shaffer said she felt bad about how much the transition of the school — replacing staff and placing staff elsewhere — had cost the district and how it affected students.
The cost of the entire action was estimated by the district to be about $5.7 million, said LAUSD spokesman Thomas Waldman.
"The cost for this transition, that's what makes me feel guilty," Shaffer said. "And I have done nothing wrong."
As a teacher on "track D" at the school, Shaffer's students had finished classes Wednesday, and she attended the culmination service for her sixth graders. "All you can tell them is come see me next year," Shaffer said.
Today was her first day off, and Shaffer was thankful to be outdoors. As she walked along 60th Street a fifth grader found her and beamed. For many teachers the event was like a reunion as parents and their kids greeted them with hugs and sometimes tears.
Shaffer said teachers spent most of their days from 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. or so inside the unopened high school. She said teachers would read, try and keep themselves productive and try to pass the time.
"There's not enough PD [professional development] to fill five days a week," Shaffer said. "...We work together to try to keep it together. You get stir crazy after a while."
Tami Abdollah can be reached via email and on Twitter (@latams).
No comments:
Post a Comment