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Friday, January 14, 2011

Frustrated Los Angeles teachers now have a progressive voice, NewTLA | Thoughts on Public Education

Frustrated Los Angeles teachers now have a progressive voice, NewTLA | Thoughts on Public Education

Frustrated Los Angeles teachers now have a progressive voice, NewTLA

By Mike Stryer

Like parents and our community, teachers in Los Angeles are frustrated with the current state of education. Frustrated by budget cuts, furloughs, large class sizes, excessive standardized testing, shifting priorities of Los Angeles Unified, and large numbers of layoffs/displacements at virtually every school site. We are also frustrated by something well within our control: our union, UTLA. The positive side of this frustration has been the birth of a fresh, clear voice of Los Angeles teachers both committed to quality education and open to desperately needed reform.

Despite the paramount importance of having a strong teachers’ union committed to excellence in education, most teachers in Los Angeles remain uninvolved in the union and broader educational issues, choosing to focus on their classrooms. Perhaps this is because much of the UTLA leadership appears stuck in a narrowly-focused, oppositional type o