For a whole year, LAUSD teachers have worked a few hours a day, no extracurricular activities, almost no meetings—no need to commute to work and back. No gifts for birthdays or births of fellow staff people—and almost no supervision or accountability. Now, after receiving pay raises and child car money as bribes, the teachers are refusing to spend two extra weeks trying to get their students caught up, educationally. Thanks to the refusal to educate for a year young people have had a rise in drug use, drug over doses, suicides, feelings of loss and need for therapy—but the “educators” do not care—only, what is in it for them.
“A proposal by Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner to extend the 2021-22 school year by 10 days to address learning losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic is proving to be unpopular with teachers, according to the head of the teachers union.
Seventy-five percent of United Teachers Los Angeles members who responded to a survey the union conducted said they don’t want the work year extended, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said during her weekly update on Friday, April 30.
Any extension of the school year would need to be negotiated with the teachers union.
In other words, after a lazy year—which will actually be a year and a half od non-school, teachers want more money to do their jobs. Another reason to get education choice—we need education not union ideology for our kids.
LAUSD teachers oppose adding 10 days to school year, union says
75% of United Teachers Los Angeles members who responded to a survey the union conducted said they don’t want the work year extended, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said
By Linh Tat, Daily News, 5/1/21
A proposal by Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner to extend the 2021-22 school year by 10 days to address learning losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic is proving to be unpopular with teachers, according to the head of the teachers union.
Seventy-five percent of United Teachers Los Angeles members who responded to a survey the union conducted said they don’t want the work year extended, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said during her weekly update on Friday, April 30.
Any extension of the school year would need to be negotiated with the teachers union.
LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and State Senator Henry Stern talk to employees at Hale Charter Academy, Friday, April, 30, 2021. Middle and high school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District returned to the classroom for the first time in more than a year this week. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
“There is good intent behind the school-year extension, but without sufficient planning — that’s key — the district would be spending money inefficiently without having a measurable impact on student learning or social-emotional wellbeing,” she said. “We all want support for our students in real and impactful ways as we emerge from this pandemic, but a mandated extension of the year is a one-size-fits-all solution that does not work with the new realities we face. Our families need options and flexibility.”
Beutner had proposed tacking on 10 days to next school year as a mix of professional development days for teachers and instructional days for students.
But the idea hasn’t been well received by everyone. School board member Scott Schmerelson said during a meeting this month that most parents who have contacted him have opposed the extension.
Board member Jackie Goldberg also said she was worried that piling on extra days to the school year would be too taxing on students who are already battling exhaustion after more than a year of dealing with the pandemic, particularly if the district is also encouraging students to attend summer school.
Special education assistant Arusiak Savicheva takes the temperature of students entering Hale Charter Academy, Friday, April, 30, 2021. Middle and high school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District returned to the classroom for the first time in more than a year this week. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
“COVID has been a draining experience. … I’m nervous about asking too much of them,” she said.
Rather than implement a mandatory extended school year, Myart-Cruz suggested the district invest in voluntary enrichment programs, after school learning opportunities and community schools.
“Here is what I keep hearing from parents and educators alike: We cannot follow the most stressful and emotionally traumatic year our learning communities has ever had with the longest school year we’ve ever had,” she said. “Families need time to be together, recuperate and prepare for our new normal in the fall.”
The district did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment from Beutner about the union’s survey results.
The superintendent visited three more schools on Friday as part of his school-reopening campus tours. This included a stop at Hale Charter Academy in Woodland Hills, where he was joined by state Sen. Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park.
The nation’s second-largest district, which serves nearly 580,000 K-12 pupils, began welcoming back students in mid-April, after 13 months of campus closures due to the coronavirus pandemic. It reopened elementary schools and early education centers first, then welcomed back middle and high school students this week.
