United Teachers Los Angeles. (Photo: utla.net)
L.A. Teachers Union: Schools Can’t Reopen Unless Charter Schools Shut Down, Police Defunded
UTLA claims until vaccine available, starting school without policies to mitigate viral spread will compound trauma on students
By Katy Grimes, July 13, 2020 2:10 am
In what appears to be a labor union power play, the United Teachers Los Angeles union announced Friday that Los Angeles Unified District schools effectively cannot reopen unless certain conditions are met: privately operated publicly funded charter schools are shut down, police are defunded, Medicare-for-All government-run health care is passed, a statewide wealth tax is implemented, housing for homeless is fully funded, “financial Support for Undocumented Students and Families,” and they want a federal bailout because “the CARES and HEROES Acts provided funding for K-12, both fell far short of what would be needed to rescue districts and state and local governments.” The source cited for this claim is the National Education Association, the largest labor union and special interest group in the United States.
Ironically, many private schools and charter schools didn’t miss a beat when Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered schools across the state to close down due to coronavirus. Within one week, most were already up and running with online learning programs, while public schools took as long as 6 weeks to even start to prepare online learning. And private and charter schools have been preparing to reopen for in-class teaching once again.
The UTLA just published a research paper, “The Same Storm, but Different Boats: The Safe and Equitable Conditions for Starting LAUSD in 2020-21,” explaining their demands, most of which have little to do with educating students. UTLA wants local authorities to “keep school campuses closed when the semester begins on Aug. 18.”
“UTLA educators are eager to get back to classrooms where they can care for, laugh with, and most importantly, teach our students,” the UTLA said in a press statement. “The eventual restarting of schools should be primarily about learning, not merely about the economy. Unlike other countries that recognize protecting lives is the key to protecting livelihoods, the United States has chosen to prioritize profits over people. The Trump administration’s attempt to force people to return to work on a large scale depends on restarting schools so parents have childcare.”
“Educators know better than most the critical role that schools play in children’s lives, supporting not just their educational lives but their social and physical development,” the UTLA says in the research paper. “But until a vaccine or cure is available, starting school without policies in place to mitigate viral spread and provide additional student supports will almost certainly compound the pandemic’s outsize trauma on those students and their families.”
The UTLA claims privately operated, publicly funded charter schools drain resources from all other district schools. But this misnomer has been proved false time and time again, as California Globe has reported.
“Unfortunately, instead of flattening the curve, politicians and the billionaires they serve have instead flattened school budgets and our capacity to safely restart schools,” the UTLA said in the research paper. “California’s public schools were severely underfunded even before the Great Recession and have only recently seen a return to non-inflation-adjusted pre-recession funding.” However, the source they cite for this claim of “underfunding” of public schools is a paper by the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teacher’s labor union in America.
The UTLA also claims that “because of structural racism, minorities are at higher risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of white residents.”
In its research paper, the UTLA said, “This is a highly contagious, deadly disease and the role of children in the transmission of COVID-19 is currently unknown.” However, according to Lisa M. Krieger, the science writer at The San Jose Mercury News, “kids aren’t the germbags, and grownups are.” Krieger found “as school districts sweat over reopening plans, a growing body of research suggests young children are unlikely to transmit COVID-19 virus. They get it from us.”
“This is good news for teachers, whose classrooms can feel like big Petri dishes. It’s a relief for parents, weary of juggling work and childcare. Best of all, it’s good for kids, who aren’t learning or playing with friends,” Krieger said.
Science Magazine concurs: “Continued closures risk ‘scarring the life chances of a generation of young people,’ according to an open letter published last month and signed by more than 1500 members of the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH),” Science Mag reported. “Science looked at reopening strategies from South Africa to Finland to Israel, some encouraging patterns emerged. Together, they suggest a combination of keeping student groups small and requiring masks and some social distancing helps keep schools and communities safe, and that younger children rarely spread the virus to one another or bring it home.”
The UTLA’s “science” and sourcing for its research paper are largely other articles by Vox, The Washington Post, Texas Tribune, Los Angeles Times, CNN, CBS LA, and the Center for Disease Control, which has been criticized for being all over the place, often contradicting its own recommendations.
“The boundless greed of the for-profit health industry, combined with this country’s deeply ingrained racism, has led to race-based health disparities that have resulted in excess deaths especially among Black communities long before the pandemic further widened the health gap,” the UTLA says is justification for Medicare-for-All.
The UTLA says a wealth tax and billionaire’s tax will pay down LAUSD’s deficit spending:
“With the state’s rainy day fund projected to be depleted within three years, Californians must make a choice: continue deficit spending that will take years to pay down at the expense of communities, or demand that California’s record number of millionaires and billionaires finally pay their fair share.”
The UTLA is also promoting:
1. The Proposition 13 split roll ballot measure – The California Schools and Local Communities Funding Act of 2020, aka Schools and Communities First: “This proposition on the November 2020 ballot will increase funding to education and local government by reassessing property tax of commercial and industrial properties valued at $3 million or more from 1978 assessments to current assessment values. Projected to add $7.5 billion to $12 billion a year with 40% allocated to schools and 60% added to local governments.”
2. Wealth Tax: “A new tax on unrealized capital gains to California billionaires only, 1% a year until capital gains taxes are met. This would generate an estimated $10 billion a year initially. 3. Millionaire Tax: Add a 1% surtax on incomes over $1 million a year, and 3% for over $3 million a year. This would generate an estimated $4.5 billion-plus a year.”
UTLA’s justification for defunding the police is, “Police violence is a leading cause of death and trauma for Black people, and is a serious public health and moral issue.” The source cited for this is American Public Health Association document titled “Addressing Law Enforcement Violence as a Public Health Issue,” November 13, 2018, however, there is no page for this alleged document on the American Public Health Association website as the screen shot shows.
As for “Housing Security” for the homeless, the UTLA says, “There is no ‘safer at home’ for those who do not have a home. Students need stability, and cities have the power to pass ordinances to prevent evictions and provide rental relief funds. Instead of just one-time relief, as was passed by the LA City Council in June 2020, housing can be a human right assisted by the state. Additionally, as Project Roomkey has demonstrated, sheltering the homeless community is a matter of political will, not scarce resources. Over 15,000 homeless students in LAUSD need permanent shelter.”
The “sources” for “Housing Security” demand are the Los Angeles Times in an article about implementing eviction-bans, Los Angeles County government’s own Project Roomkey, and Student Support Programs in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The UTLA concludes its study with this: “As politicians have gutted public goods, the burden on schools to be safe havens for learning has become more substantial.”
“When politicians exhort educators and other workers to ‘reignite the economy,’ UTLA educators ask: who are you planning to use as kindling?“
- California’s Election ‘Anomalies’ Are Not New: Have They Been Fixed? - November 5, 2024
- New Policy Brief Proves California’s $20 Fast Food Wage is Costing Jobs, Raising Prices - November 4, 2024
- California’s Corrupt Air Board and The Great California Shakedown - November 4, 2024
RELATED ARTICLES
-
-
-
November 22, 2019
I won’t send my children back to school with out Police Services. Whose going to protect them? School shootings, drug dealing, fights, and bullying, there’s too much of it in schools.
With your grammar, I can see why you devalue school. The Oxford comma is in even-worse company up there.
I got his point very well, thank you. I missed what your point was, though. Also he didn’t say he devalued school. He said he was concerned about his children’s safety while they were in school.
Time to fire these teachers for cause, if they don’t show up for class when they finally do open, fire them and hire others. The new teachers can’t be worse than the left leaning feminatzi they currently have.
Agreed! And I used to be a teacher.
These LAUSD teachers are a sack of lazy, mediocre at best, leeches who think they are entitled to more than their already over-the-top average pay of $80,000 per year plus benefits for them & their families – NOT to mention the 3 months off a year that MOST people don’t get, ALONG w/ every single holiday. So, PLEASE, they need to GO cry a river somewhere else because WE DON’T CARE! Get back to work like the rest of the world, you shiny sacks of shit.
I agree. Time to fire these terrorists. There are plenty of really good teachers out there looking for jobs. Apparently these terrorists don’t need jobs. I hope they are all fired.
They’re not schools – they’re indoctrination camps taught by partially literate ideologues with liberal arts degrees who value themselves, not children. Your lot has much to answer for grammar police. Your grammar defects pale in comparison to your cognition of the facts and the ability to critically analyze.
Stop it Al. He’s voicing his opinion. And I agree with him.
That was, is, and will always be truly petty.
What an asshole.
Omission of the Oxford comma is expected in journalism. The Associated Press Stylebook (the standard guide for news writing) guidelines suggest it ONLY when necessary to avoid ambiguity.
Distract with insults. Very impressive.
They’re not schools – they’re indoctrination camps taught by partially literate ideologues with liberal arts degrees who value themselves, not children. Your lot has much to answer for grammar police. Your grammar defects pale in comparison to your cognition of the facts and the ability to critically analyze.
Haven’t you heard? Volunteers and social workers are standing by.
Are these social workers skilled in defending students against guns, knives and on campus gangs
with their clipboards & IPADS?
YEAH – LIKE THOSE VOLUNTEERS AND SOCIAL WORKERS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING RIGHT IN THERE WITH THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ETC. UH HUH.
Officers Had No Duty to Protect Students in Parkland Massacre, Judge Rules
I mean for the Parkland Massacre the judge ruled “the officers had no duty to protect students” but go ahead and keep believing they’re here to protect your kids
Its true! They are false flags used to empower BOLSHEVIK Jew Bloomberg and his revolutionary gang who are trying to destroy the constitution especially the 2nd amendment so they can make the American peoplr VULNERABLE and ripe for genocide as was done to the Russians.
NOAHIDE LAW REQUIRING THE BEHEADING of those they deem as their enemu were PASSED IM 1991 by ME
NWO BUSH SR.
Their relatives didnthis is very same thing to RUSSIA, creating their USSR! Their REVOLUTIONARY REPUTATION FOLLOWS THEM!
Keep reading……Theres more!
Gun free zones seem to always be the targets. Maybe its a really good idea to ban silly gun free zones. Its an invitation for criminals and CORRUPT GOV OFFICIALS used to destroy our constitution like a flower is to the bees.
People have become non thinking idiots. DRONES and that allow media Owned and operated by one tribe of people known as communists, enemies of America, to lead them.
HERE IT IS!!! THE TRUTH!!!
A bunch of us on the internet worked together and studied ALL THE OBAMA ERA FALSE FLAGS and the evidence we saw found the bombings and shootings to be hoaxes.
Out of each event, a little Jew emerged and joined with Bloomberg, also a Jew and attacked the 2nd amendment. GUNS.
Suspicious dont cha think?
Yep, crisis actors like greiving Jewess Veronique Pozner is shown in a Popular Newspaper as a REPORTER IN THE AURORA Colorado theater shooting.
Little Sandy Hook Noah Pozner
DIED AND WAS RESURRECTED AGAIN IN PAKISTAN AND AMAZINGLY SUFFERED THE VERY SAME TYPE OF DEATH AGAIN!!!!
(( Is he Jesus))
NOAHS 2nd TIME TO BE “”KILLED DEAD “ yet again IN A PAKISTAN SCHOOL SHOOTING!!!!
BOSTON BOMBING:
Photos of Bomb site With the little old man jogger falling down IN FRONT OF A FENCED OFF AREA where there were NO PEOPLE INSIDE THE FENCE. BUT there were MANY PEOPLE many people all LEANING against the FENCE WATCHING THE DEMONSTRATION.
Come on now. If a man had BOTH LEGS BLOWN OFF …no mass blood loss, and WHERE DID HIS LIMBS GO?????? They were no where in site.
Why WOULD HE BE THE LAST MAN TENDED TO AND LED OUT IN A WHEEL CHAIR INSTEAD OF GURNEY receiving medical attention.???
PEOPLE. You gotta wake up.
The bombs were supposedly planted outside in a backpack.
AND YET, the WINDOWS ARE BLOW OUTWARD from the BUILDING.
HOW MUCH LONG WILL AMERICANS OUT UP WITH THIS DISHONEST ANTI-AMERICAN CORRUPT MEDIA, RAN BY DUAL CITIZENS OF A FOREIGN NATION, SPEWING LIES?????
They just destroyed our economy and put our government in TOTAL DISASTER, JUST LIKE THEIR BOLSHEVIK ANCESTORS DID IN THEIR BOLSHEVIK RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.
DID YOU KNOW THAY IT WAS USSR BOLSHEVIKS THE BEGAN FAUX ISRAEL. Better known as ISRA-HELL.
DO YOU THINK YOUR TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WORLD WE LIVE IN??????
DO YOU THINK YOUR THOUGHTS ARE YOUR OWN??
The Tribe are are MASTERS OF DECEPTION led and taught by their real god, The Holy Serpent.
LAPD responds to any call that requires police services. All LAUSD police do is the same thing that community service officers could be doing – at a significant reduction in cost.
That’s right! Most of the high schools have a police officer assigned to them. And the fact that they want to DEFUND the Charter Schools???? WHY???? You DARE defund or take away my kids’ charter school and you will have a big Republican kind of problem on your hands! And my kid will be home-schooled so your district gets ZERO of the money!!!!!
Well, I don’t know when that picture was taken, but they don’t seem to be afraid of spreading the virus among themselves.
Curious, do you think they wore RED to make people think they are republican? Their demands are offensive to the rest of the state of California. Hard working Americans should not be forced to meet them. WAKE UP CALIFORNIA!
The actions of UTLA are egregious. They only polled their teachers just last week about returning to school and not about the other ‘demands’. I am a teacher and I am outraged about this article. We were not told or made aware about these outlandish demands. CA teachers are being misrepresented by UTLA.
The UTLA is a parasitic organization. It does not function primarily to support teachers and it certainly doesn’t benefit children. It is an organized group that operates under the guise of advocacy for public educators to gain power and political influence and money, money, money.
Public education in the United States is inexcusably poor and failing. If schools were ALL privately operated and every parent could choose to use the allotted public education funds per child to send their child to the school of their choice (and, therefore, demand a minimum standard of education for their children) schools would compete to provide the best possible education. As it is, we continue to dump millions and millions into a system that has no incentive to improve and no consequences for schools continuously failing our children. Increased spending, demands for more money, using the threat that our children will not be adequately educated or have what they need if we don’t continue to dump more money into this POS nationwide train wreck that has been created and is preserved by the teachers unions. Defund the police, shut down publicly funded charter schools, (they are seen as competition/make them look bad) medicare for all, wealth tax, billionaire tax… none of this is about children and education. By the way, the decision to keep schools closed is contrary to “the science” (i.e., CDC) that they claim to follow in decision making.
Children are the ones who need a UNION to represent their educational interests!
I agree ☝️ with all you said. This is becoming so ridiculous now. My kids want to go to school ???? to see their friends to play sports to have freedom. To stay healthy mentally and physically The children need to go back to the interaction they had at school. The variety of activities that they have so many choices to do. Why do they say schools are poor. That’s not true our schools have a lot of classes and sports and uniforms and facilities. Now all of those things are gathering dust and no one is using them. Our kids need a place to be. Our teenagers have no places to go. We really need to focus more on our new generation. What are we going to give them? They need education and freedom to do other things. As it is right now they can’t go anywhere. All of our children’s need Schools ????
ABsolutely Agreed! And I used to be a teacher.
These LAUSD teachers are a sack of lazy, mediocre at best, leeches who think they are entitled to more than their already over-the-top average pay of $80,000 per year plus benefits for them & their families – NOT to mention the 3 months off a year that MOST people don’t get, ALONG w/ every single holiday. So, PLEASE, they need to GO cry a river somewhere else because WE DON’T CARE! Get back to work like the rest of the world, you shiny sacks of shit.
Agreed! These “teachers” obviously don’t care about kids. I wish real teachers could leave this union without ramifications. They’re a bunch of hypocrites. They’re fine getting together in a huge crowd. Defund the Teachers’ Union!!!!
I am absolutely outraged by the demands of UTLA. I am a teacher in LAUSD. This is the final straw for me! I called the UTLA president, Alex Caputo-Pearl, of course no one answered and told him if these demands are true I am done with this union! No more monthly payments of 168 dollars a month for these policies I disagree with. Guess what UTLA and California, guess who is running the state, DEMOCRATS. Yet they blame the President because they run out of money, constantly. BTW, what a great policy to chase billionaires and jobs out of California.
Good for you. Well said
$168??!! Are you freaking kidding me?! WOW! I used to teach about a decade ago and those fees were under $50, I believe. They have more than tripled! I remember, they even used to take it from the poor substitute teachers & then never help them when/if they needed it. Assholes.
As a retired LAUSD teacher,I agree with you. Too many educators lean to the “left”, and I fear for our country.
Please go to the UTLA website, these aren’t the real demands this is a skewed and fake news article trying to stir up unneeded drama. It has even been proven that children do spread the virus to others and can bring it home even if they don’t get sick themselves. This entire article is complete bull crap and not the last bit factual or true. Shame on the writer!
try reading the wall street journal,or maybe you think they are fake news!
Earth to Taylor……Wake up!
I did as you asked Taylor. You are in error. They are asking to defund police to their schools and putting a “moratorium” on Charter Schools. It’s put oh so reasonably, but it means defund the police and stop some of the best schools in the state-Charter Schools.
My sister and her husband both tested positive for covid July 14th. Their sons ages 11 and 14 did not get sick.
Last week my friend told me that her neighbor tested positive. She was babysitting her grandchildren while unknowingly having the virus. Thankfully, not one of the 4 children ages 2.5 -9 got sick. Children are at a much lower risk of catching and spreading this particular novel virus strain.
Yes, children have gotten sick from covid, but the odds are very low. Hence the reason other countries have opened back up their schools, even China. Yes, look it up! They know the importance of education.
We didn’t close the economy down in 2017-2018 when we lost 70,000 + people to H1N1.
And that number was concluded with major lack of testing! And H1N1 causes more fatalities in younger people. If we can all go to the grocery store, Walmart, liquor stores, gas stations etc, we can safely find a way to send children and teachers back to school.
We know from contact tracing, and “scientific” data, that the majority of new cases and spikes is being caused by social gatherings in the home where people don’t wear a mask. I’ve been going to the same grocery store by my home for 11 years. I’ve continued to go every week since the start of the pandemic. Not a single cashier or deli employee has caught the virus. Not one! I see the same faces week after week. And I’ll bet you do too at your local stores. How is that possible? Because when we all wear a mask, coupled with social distancing, we can get manage just fine.
If the grocery stores can manage to stay open, and employees aren’t dropping like flies, then common sense and logic clearly shows that schools can manage just as well.
We can’t continue to cherry pick who’s essentially expendable and who’s not.
Either it’s safe to work or it’s not.
THINK!!! If this is truly a public health crisis of the magnitude we are being told, then why are all grocery stores open for walk in service? Why is it not mandatory that all stores exclusively offer drive up pick up only? Why are we all allowed to walk down the isles, take our sweet time, chit chat with anyone we meet, possibly infect employees and each other, with only a face mask being enforced? Remember, this virus is supposedly so contagious & lethal that kids have to remain closed up in their homes despite the scientific date showing how incredibly detrimental it is for our youth to not go back to school for a slew of reasons.
How can you not see the hypocrisy behind this incredibly bias, polarizing, politicized pandemic? Remove the media fear mongering, trigger headlines and hyperbole, and use your common sense and logic. It’s not adding up.
No, they wore red because it stands out. Also #RedForEd. Their demands are for the safety of both students and teachers/staff.
They wear RED because they’re communists. Openly communist, actually.
The point of view of the teachers unions is repulsive. Nothing good comes from their demands and it appears they aren’t even trying to dress them up or hide what they are up to anymore. They are openly Marxist bullies. I actually felt sick reading their crap this time around to think that any young person is stuck in one of the schools where the teachers union hacks can’t help but poison the atmosphere and every single thing they touch.
For years now it hasn’t been about the students and what benefits them, we know that. I guess now all bets are off and it isn’t about the rank-and-file teachers anymore either. Many of these teachers are just doing the best they can under the extremely adverse conditions that have been created by teachers unions; we know that too.
My fingers are itching to line-item edit OUT the obscenely large chunk of property tax money that goes to help fund these destructive creeps.
Wholeheartedly agree. I have kids, and we are now permanently doing homeschooling. I don’t want them anywhere near these commie nutjobs, and their constant use of “the good of the children” to justify their own selfish desires. I don’t want police defunded, I don’t want Medicare-for-all, I don’t want charter schools closed, and I don’t want a wealth tax. These people are crazy.
Very glad to hear you are doing that. Starve the beast.
Send your kid to a charter or private school, then, showandtell. The teachers there are all untrained grunt workers who are each rotated out after 2 years because they don’t have a union to protect them from predatory admin and owners like Betsy DeVos (our own secretary of education) looking to increase profits at the detriment of the children. As an obvious result, the overall teaching quality is garbage; great opportunities for your youngster! Truly a vision of donald’s America — excuse me: ‘Murrca.
The very worst charter schools can not be as bad as most public schools. 35 years ago a black teacher in a public school told me he thought the goal of the education system is to keep the kids illiterate and therefore controllable.
I teach at one of “those” private schools you make fun of. I have taught at the same school for 25 years. I obviously missed the memo that said I was supposed to be gone in two years. Perhaps it is because I am an untrained grunt and couldn’t understand. I do find it odd that the kids we teach go to Universities at three times the rate as the ones coming from LAUSD. But then again our kids study science, math, English and history. We don’t teach Communism 101 or Advanced Victim Skills. You can take your boorish and extremely ignorant comments and put them where the sun doesn’t shine. Maybe with a little more effort and less whining you might be able to get California’s public schools a little higher rated than 43rd out of 50 states. You are a prime reason for our schools decline. Good Day.
What a crock! You might want to look at statistics for Charter Schools. I know there are bad ones out there, but they send more kids to college than your UTLA gang. They stopped caring about kids a long time ago.
we have been taken hostage by the teacher unions, police unions and public worker unions for too long. if you look at when our cities budgets started to deteriorate, when homelessness shut up, poor health for our kids increased, it is all linked to the pension funds that were set forth during the dot.com boom.
Now the same teacher union wants more money, for what? charter school will enable parents to take control over the education of their kids, put an end to the failing inner city school systems and ask accountability from our schools.
privately operated publicly funded charter schools are shut down = yes!
police are defunded = yes please!
Medicare-for-All government-run health care is passed = yes please!
a statewide wealth tax is implemented (to fund schools?) = yes! housing for homeless is fully funded = yes!
financial Support for Undocumented Students and Families = yes please!
These demand are exactly what we need. It’s humane.
Megan, I hope that you never have a child that will be forced to attend public school in Calif. I see you have no idea of what your saying.. Stay away from being a parent. Save a kid the problems for having such a dumb mother.
You people have no idea what humane is. Your disgusting communist and marxist agendas will be squashed. The American people have had enough of you. Keep your filthy paws off our children and our freedoms.
It’s OK that you think these measures are humane. Why is it the battle cry of a TEACHER’s union?
Police are a leading cause of death for black people? Maybe do a little research before you agree with this bull$hit. https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/lcod/men/2017/nonhispanic-black/index.htm
Time after time these teacher unions go after the charter schools and private school with the same mantra, “it takes away from the regular public schools”. That is all they ever come up with. Now they have the issue of Defund the Police and the Wuhan Virus to hide behind.
Again I will state, if you have such a great system and are producing great results then why UTLA and CTA are you so threatened by charter schools within your own districts?
Should not the goal be to provide a safe, well rounded education for students to achieve the best they can be? It is clear that these unions do not have the best interests of the hardworking teachers or students!
At this point, maybe a reduction in funding would force these unions to teach the 4R’s and cut the social justice crap out of their curriculums!
And Show and Tell, I agree get out the red pen!
OH yes, Cali Girl, you are so right: The first clue that the public schools, controlled by the unions, are not producing even a “good-enough” education for most is that they despise charter schools and will do almost anything to keep them from interfering with their monopoly.
Again, it appears that most teachers themselves are a casualty of the unions’ quest for power, whether they will admit it openly or not. Most are afraid to, I think. And I have personally seen at least two teachers in my district who were OUTSTANDING, and beloved by students, by the way — I’m sure that means there were more — but I’ve also seen that they were the most embattled teachers of all.
The Red Pen Movement! 🙂
Dear One Fed Up Cali Girl,
It’s really sad that people like you don’t understand that charter/private schools are allowed to block ANY child from enrolling – mostly students of color, impoverished students, and students with physical/cognitive disabilities sometimes stemming from abuse or neglect – then champion their “high test scores” as compared to the public schools that are federally mandated to serve these disadvantaged, disenfranchised, politically exploited student populations.
You must be very proud of championing institutionalized bigotry. Go, Publicans!
What a crock. I live in a heavily Lationo neighborhood with quite a few charter and Catholic schools. Latinos are not “blocked” and love their schools. They would fight tooth and nail if their schools were threatened with closure. Charter schools are a threat only to garbage teachers teaching garbage curriculum. Glad to see parents are starting to wise up to the BS the teachers union has been trying to shove down their throats. “Woke” goes both ways you know. “Publicans” – what Communist Day Care did you learn that from? Go, Parents!
THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! ❤️
????????
Again, this is absolutely false. Charter Schools have great tests scores because of better education!
Sorry Nonny but you are wrong any school that receives federal or state funding (which the Union apparently wanted to end) is required to adhere to those state and federal guidelines for admittance. I don’t know about California but in Georgia most charter or private schools will adjust tuition based on family income to allow for students that may otherwise be relegated to an under-performing public school. Also, charters and private schools are COMPETITIVE which is why high-achieving students and their parents want them to be there so yes, you may have to have a certain aptitude, GPA or skill to enroll but that does not always lead to a stacked deck for test scores. The real bonus with these schools are the smaller classrooms and the ability to actually teach and explore all information rather than spending time teaching the “tests” that are required of public schools.
LAUSD and Union have a lot of Nerve asking for anything ! Why do their students rank 37th in the Nation ? Here’s their report card F ! They don’t deserve another dime for their failing methods .
First off as a husband to a educator from the East Coast, I have to say that their request are laughable at best. Our kids go to a charter school and they get exactly what they need and more. We still have issues like other schools but they are far better than the public schools here. I do say teachers deserve more money for what they. They almost need hazard pay. The sad part is the state we live in has not passed a budget for the state let alone the schools. So I am all for teacher pay and charter schools. Defund the Police……well I am a police officer and have served several departments for 17 years. I am all for defunding if that money is going to help the mental health system . I have seen time and time again how mental health affects people and how they are not getting the proper help they need. So take money from our budgets to help them.
I really hope a school shooting doesn’t happen and they expect the police to show up since they now want to take their money away.
Is UTLA lobbying for big pharma now? Their list of demands sound similar to CHAZ.
These people are toxic. They are harmful to children and society.
Let’s Defund them and flush their Union down the toilet.
Defund and abolish teachers unions! They are there to provide a tax payer service. If they refuse to work, citizens must get a refund for services not rendered! They are suppose to be educating our youth, not making political statements! If parents don’t want to send their kids to school, that’s their choice to make. Teachers unions have for too long been used to protect bad teachers. When bad teachers are fired, the u ions just rehire them and have them transferred to another school. This exact thing happened to teacher we got fired for preaching to her class that all the males are rapists, murders, and drug dealers!
“OK, so we won’t open the schools then. And by the way, you’re now all fired. And when and if we do re-open the public schools, maybe you can reapply for the openings. And maybe we’ll hire you.
“Or maybe not.
“Have a good day!”
Just a thought.
VicB3
Kathy Grimes is a hack and I’m not sure where you nuts get your facts:
LAUSD Superintendent made decision to keep schools closed not the teachers union
Charter schools and defunding police not within purview of teachers union or their contract so again, not a real thing.
Dead LA teachers mob, have you people ever been tested for cognitivness???
Where did the Information come from that public schools took 6 weeks to begin distance learning? Completely false. My school was doing it the same week we went out. Many public schools were providing quality instruction almost immediately.
I think it’s time to defund the teachers and “reimagine” a new school system!
Stop it Al. He’s voicing his opinion. And I agree with him.
Hello homeschooling! Until they outlaw that too. Then, hello conservative bastion state!
I would say “nobody will put up with this baloney” but look what so many have put up with already. Many many people have no problem with the infringement on our God-given liberties.
And there it is, pushing that vaccine again. Bill Gate’s vaccine/microchip patent # 060606 I’m sure.
Kris, it depends on the schools. My son’s best friend is in 8th grade, and he has been done with school since Newsom shut down our schools months ago. Whatever grade he had at the time they closed down is the grade he gets for the year. They did give him the option to turn in extra work, if he wanted a higher grade. I’m guessing most of the kids at that school didn’t choose to do that.
When the government unions became empowered to strike, we started the downhill run. Working for the government used to be something to be proud of, just like serving in the Military. Can you imagine what our defense would be like if our military could strike. The first move would be by the leftists, who would join the military and exercise the new prerogative, and a small vitriolic group would take over the ‘military unions , as has happened in most unions, and take military members on a strike they knew nothing about. How many teachers really endorse the Union positions? All the teachers I know, including my 82 year old wife, are very unhappy with the union representation. Defund the public school system and put the money in the charter school system. Properly done, the public school facilities would be available to the Charter [and parochial] school systems at a bargain price. We currently have a movement to destroy institutions. Wouldn’t it be interesting if the teachers unions were included.
YES! Appreciate your post.
UTLA is cancerous. UTLA continually fails to deliver educational excellence to our children. The UTLA is frighten to allow any charter school alternative as it will expose UTLA ineptness and corruption. People, invoke change by change who you vote for.
Is this true? I don’t doubt it at all but I have many friends who do. Source?
Defund the police…. who ya gonna call Ghost Busters?? Next time you need help with any number of things the police would handle don’t call them !!!!!
And you’re telling me that opening schools isn’t political?? With these demands?
Seriously, what does defunding the police and Medicare for all have to do with improving education for children? If anything, lack of police in schools makes children more UNSAFE.
They’re using the children as pawns for their own political agendas. Very sad. But I can’t say I’m surprised.
Fire all the teachers and administrators. When schools open up, everyone has to reapply. Do it with the understanding NO UNION. It worked when President Reagan did it with the airport Traffic Controllers.
I don’t understand why we didn’t close schools in 2017. There were approximately 600 pediatric deaths (children under 18 years) due to influenza. Once it became clear influenza was killing so many children, one would think masks and school closings would have been mandated. The U.S. now has 48 total pediatric deaths with lab confirmed SARS-CoV-2. This doesn’t mean all 48 deaths were caused by Covid, just that all 48 tested positive. But let’s assume the number is still 48. It’s certainly a far cry from 600 when we did absolutely nothing to try to prevent those deaths. Where was the outrage then?
UTLA:
“At the local level, the union called for the Los Angeles police to be defunded, saying “police violence is a leading cause of death and trauma for Black people, and is a serious public health and moral issue.””
“Shootings by Los Angeles police officers reached a 30-year low in 2019, with fatal shootings declining for the fourth year in a row, according to a new report on police use of force. 21 shot, 12 killed.” Gang deaths, nearly 500. So according to the brain trust at UTLA, disbanding the police will result in 12 less deaths, but have no impact on gang member to gang member deaths.
The union needs to go back to school. Lying with unfounded hyperbole to make a point NOT on topic is criminal.
Fun Fact: No one ever died from Corona exclusively, as it cannot be proven. Also fun fact, humans have lived for 10’s of thousands of years – even many of the UTLA goons, via standard herd immunity which took hold months go. In fact, UTLA goons survived Covid’s 1-18 already. Yes, 1-18 already.
Eff utla!!! Tyranny in the teachers union. Can anyone say quid quo pro?!?!!!
Mr Gomez is right, open up the school’s and California too and Recall this Governor, Now! Have you seen the demands that Los Angeles teachers union wants? They have nothing to do with the Wuhan, China, Coronavirus at all! Well, if dont want to work, well others will take thier place and continue to educate our children. Also, students with special needs are lagging behind too. Parents need to go back to work so they can provide for their children and love one’s. During the H1N1 period, nobody closed down the Schools or the economy! Also, nobody had to wear a mask that doesn’t work! No, School age children will wear a mask all day in schools, especially Special Need children! We all know that as will, if teachers dont want to teach, then we should demand our school tax money back so we can send to a private school or a Charter School? Why, are we paying teachers and administrators their salaries? Oh, let’s not forget the School Board Members too. I will be contacting the ACLJ.org for help on this matter. They stated that they will do it for free for the children of school age! We need School Choice if they’re willing to open up the Schools, Now!
I’m a Retired Military Service Member and a Combat Veteran too and I have 21 Grandchildren and must of them need to return to school! This has nothing to do with the President, it happens to do with the Tyrannical Governor’s and Mayor’s who are willing to destroy the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights too, out the window. Without jobs, U.S. Citizens will be losing their jobs and their homes too. FornAre children, a parent wants to provide a better opportunity for their child. The parent should still have the opportunity to make sure that our children get the education they deserve, School Choice!
Santiago Nieves Jr
sounds more like a POLITICAL agenda than SCHOOL TEACHERS bargining at the table. THIS is full of crap. My Grandchildren go to charter schools and are excelling. Well prepared for college and standard public school are failing at that. Defunding the POLICE ? what does have to do with childrens education? No there are more BLACK ON BLACK crimes(murders) than WHITE ON BLACK. Start there! Stop this non sense. I think that any teacher bulling for this criteria should not be teaching children. I hope there is no bargin agreement and these teachers will not return back to work. RETIRE ALREADY, YOU are worthless!!
Putting the children’s education at risk to push a political agenda is disgraceful and it affects children of all race, sex, orientation, religion, and kids with disabilities. I am appalled because of you doing this on the other side of the country my kids teachers are forced to return wheather or not it’s safe, or they can’t teach at all. This is selfish and abusing an already difficult situation. I’m disappointed in you and all the teachers doing this.
Fire them all and provide vouchers for everyone. Proven better education for less.
#defundtheunions
These people are bottom feeders who care nothing about the children they are supposed to be looking out for. Can them all immediately.
#DefundUTLA and #Defundallunions. as they had their place in the 40’s and 50’s when there were no labor laws. As for today, they have no place in an open market. There are alot of good teachers out there, but there are plenty that are terrible at their job and hate kids, but it is impossible to get rid of them because they have tenure. If the majority of these mediocre teachers did not have a union to back them up, they would all be able to be terminated based upon performance, which is SHOCKER, how the rest of the private market is judged. I refer to this article which validates my point that these teachers don’t care about the children, they just care about their agenda. My point is that they will not come back until the “police is defunded” and Medicare for all public sector is passes. Can you tell me how the you know what the students have to do with that and what that has to do with educating our children?
One other note and this is for all of the citizens of California so you know where your money goes. Every school that is built requires every person on that project to be paid prevailing wage labor which is roughly $60.00 per hour. The guy pushing the broom around the parking lot is making that much money too. I work for a non-union contractor and we won a school job and our contract was for 1.5 million. If I bid that same job in the private sector, I could’ve saved the taxpayers $300,000,00 dollars. That is one trade in one school and there are thousands of school jobs as well as government and city jobs that go on each and every year. I could have the state with such a CASH surplus it would be ridiculous. for all of those people that are shouting defund the police, I pray and hope that your child is not going to be the one that is shot and killed on campus because I can tell you kids are bringing guns and weapons to school each and every day. This country needs to get back to what it was built on. Good luck LAand I pray everyone stays safe and God Bless.
This union needs to be shut down for EXTORTION!
I teach at one of “those” private schools you make fun of. I have taught at the same school for 25 years. I obviously missed the memo that said I was supposed to be gone in two years. Perhaps it is because I am an untrained grunt and couldn’t understand. I do find it odd that the kids we teach go to Universities at three times the rate as the ones coming from LAUSD. But then again our kids study science, math, English and history. We don’t teach Communism 101 or Advanced Victim Skills. You can take your boorish and extremely ignorant comments and put them where the sun doesn’t shine. Maybe with a little more effort and less whining you might be able to get California’s public schools a little higher rated than 43rd out of 50 states. You are a prime reason for our schools decline. Good Day.
And all the CA politicians can just go sit in their recliners and retire. The teachers say “they got this”. After all this is taken care of then what’s left for them to do?
Do the California teachers seriously think they are worth all this? Wow, they must be a very prestigious, important and exceptional bunch.
The worst thing about this is that the teachers union know’s that they can make any demands they want to make and there is nothing school administarators or members of the school board can say about it. The law in California prohibits them from making any comments that may negatively impact a teachers decision to to join a union. This law needs to be changed. It is clearly one sided.. unions can say whatever they like and make crazy demands . While, free speech rights of school district administrators are basically against the law.
Dude this is a blatant lie.
Fake news. Please do some research as this article is bias as hell. She should instead do focus her energy on all those corrupted charter school administration. Plenty of sources for that one.
Thanks to people like this is the reason why we are in such dire situation. Spreading falsehoods is dangerous Karen.
What I am reading is that the LA teachers union wants money, no competition from possibly more successful charter schools, no police protection for the general public, Easy for politicians who have tax funded security and Hollywood types who have the funds and their own security as do other well connected individuals with no skin in the game as their children go to private schools. But the union also wants to hold children hostage to their political demands including medicare for all as well. Teachers and teacher’s union are too different things. Most teachers hold their students dear and do their best. Teacher’s unions on the other hand see only a big opportunity to get political advantage and a lot of benefits. What is the reason behind getting rid of charter schools? If a child has a need not addressed by a public school or a parent wishes more input into their child’s education, what is the problem. I have never seen such selfish and irresponsible behavior using our precious children as their shields.
I totally agree with you.
I don’t understand why the teachers want Charters Schools to shut down. They help and provide a lot of resources to low-income students.