Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Teachers’ Protest Not a Good Idea
By now, everyone should know that I’ve been an outspoken opponent of nearly $5 billion in proposed budget cuts to public education in California. While I support their frustration, a planned school-time walkout by teachers in Los Angeles is not a good idea.
On Friday, June 6, the teachers plan to demonstrate in front of their local school sites for the first hour of the school day, leaving students in the care of aides and administrators. Los Angeles Unified has gone to court to try to prevent them from doing so, citing the potential danger to students from being able to provide only minimal supervision.
In some schools–particularly those where we’re talking about 2,500+ kids–the teachers are inviting chaos, instead of finding a more responsible time to hold such a protest, such as the numerous after school rallies that have occurred up here in San Francisco.
Superintendent David Brewer III put it simply and clearly.
“We’re trying to send a very strong signal to Sacramento that these cuts are unacceptable,” he said. “We’re not questioning the message. We’re just questioning the method.”
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