As I wind up my 24th year of teaching in Los
Angeles classrooms , I pause to think of my past lives in different
schools and neighborhoods. While presenting to students in Finland I always
included a slide of past eras of my life such as growing up in the Eastside, college and adulthood
in the Westside, teaching on the Southside, and married life in the Valley.
Apart from being a native Angeleno, significant years of my life have been
spent living in many parts of town, and teaching in many communities. I love
all of them.
Which is why I have no doubt in my mind that what students all
over L.A. need more than anything is an ally on the school board. My South
Central students need a warrior who recognizes that our teachers’ strike was more
than just a salary dispute, but a movement to reclaim our rightful place as
agents of change in the profession we love. One that will help us do our jobs
serving students. My West Valley students need a fighter who will challenge our
legislators to …
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A Message From a Teacher in South Central
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Dear Superintendent Cortines and LAUSD Board Members,
In the next week, you will be voting on important budget decisions that I am sure have taken their toll on your personal and professional lives. I have no doubt as to the integrity and thoroughness of your decision making process, but as leaders, I'm sure you will agree that the best decisions are made when the greatest amount of data are available to help you decide the most viable course of action.
As CCSS California Teacher of the Year 2009, I wish to share the data from my school, Los Angeles Academy Middle School, located in South Central Los Angeles.
Three years ago, the Jefferson family of schools was plagued by race-riots, student walkouts, and disturbingly low academic performance. Our school experienced the impact of the turmoil in the local high school, but made significant efforts to distinguish ourselves as academic leaders in our community. We targeted the issue of teacher turnover that peaked at a high of 35 teachers three years ago, and reduced it to less than 5 in the last academic year by instituting a comprehensive new teacher support program. In a community where students had to suffer the consequences of a non-stable faculty, we reached a point where we could offer students the knowledge and security that their teachers would be there to support them in their three year journey at our school. That is, until now.
L.A. Academy has developed a successful GATE/Advanced Studies Program that has doubled its participants to 580, almost 30% of the school population. Over 150 students attend our school on an Advanced Studies permit. These are students we might have otherwise lost to charter schools, but who made an educated decision to stay with LAUSD because of the quality of our program. This program could not have reached this level of quality without the dedication, and countless volunteer hours of our 42 GATE teachers. 18 of these teachers received Reduction in Force Notices, with more at risk. If these teachers are terminated, the quality of one of the few prosperous middle school GATE programs in South L.A. will be significantly diminished.
The talent and quality of our teachers can be seen in their biographies, located at:
One of our young and talented teachers, who is a positive role model for African-American boys, is at risk for being terminated. Lamar Queen's instructional rap videos are a hit in the educational community and have made mathematics instruction much easier to grasp and enjoy for his students, thanks to his creative videos. They can be seen at:
As a school, and as a community, our teachers are overwhelmingly new. As a result, 42 of our staff of 112 teachers received a RIF. This is 37% of our faculty. The actual number of terminated teachers might be higher, because provisional teachers are not sent RIF's. Most schools in West L.A. and the Valley received RIF's in the single digits. It is unconscionable that South L.A. is scheduled to bear the brunt of the proposed layoffs.
Because South Central has been disproportionately hit with 40% of the entire district's RIF's, our students will be left to wonder what they did to deserve this. No amount of explaining will help erase the feeling that once again, they are the forgotten children, the ones whose dedicated and caring teachers will be entirely gone from their lives within three months. As a point of consideration, most of these teachers choose to work in South L.A., as do I, and are not here because of demotions or forced service.
If you vote to pass the proposed reduction in force without any provisions to mitigate the destructive effect it will have on South Central Los Angeles, then let there be no doubt as to the wholesale devastation this will cause for our school, our community, and the academic and emotional well-being of all of our students. Please, do not forget South Central.
Leticia (Martha) Infante NBC Teacher/GATE Coordinator CCSS California Teacher of the Year 2009 Los Angeles Academy Middle School 323-238-1844
As my Fulbright journey becomes a reality, I am one part excitement and anticipation, another part forlorn about what I am leaving behind. So each day, leading up to my departure this time next week, I will post what I am most looking forward to learning and what I will seriously miss from my life in Los Angeles.
Looking Forward To
Discussing Education
In our August orientation, I met some of the world's most intelligent and passionate educators. It feeds the soul! These are people for whom teaching is not just a job, but a calling. In just the few days we spent together, I knew that the ideas produced could actually make a difference in improving educational practices in the U.S. Now, I will have the opportunity to have these same type of discussions with educators in Finland while visiting their schools.
Here is some more information about the Finnish education system, from the Fulbright Center in Finland.
Who is AvalonSensei? A teacher dedicated to her students,
devoted 100%.
In 2009 I joined Twitter as a way to call attention to the
disproportionate affect that the teacher layoffs would have on communities in
South Central L.A. By connecting with other teachers and the public I hoped to
somehow shield my school and others from the tragedy to come. I implored the
school board to “Don’t Forget South Central” and began to write in earnest
about what it means to be a teacher in a hard to staff school.
Avalon Boulevard is where my school, Los Angeles Academy, was located and because
teaching is my identity, I called myself AvalonSensei.
I suppose before that I was BroadwaySensei when I worked at
Bethune Middle School, and BaldwinHillsSensei before that. But now, I have ended
my tenure at L.A. Academy. Am I still AvalonSensei?
Students and parents of mine know when I teach at a school,
it is more than just a job. It is a profession in which I embrace with zeal and
affection. Those are MY…
February marked a number of school visits ranging from
elementary (primary) to middle school (lower secondary) and high school (upper
secondary.) As the Fulbrighters get their feet wet, mastering public
transportation, integrating in schools, and networking in the education world,
the question that keeps arising in lunch rooms and private conversations is why
do we have so much violence in schools?
I was trying to explain my school environment both to the
History department at the University of Jyvaskyla Teacher Training School (the
Finnish version of a lab school) and to seniors at Schildt school, both mature
audiences who can handle a nuanced discussion. It never occurred to me just how
much I’ve internalized and to an extent, normalized the violence in our
society.
How does one explain the dramatic rise in poverty we have
experienced over the last few years, and the vast wealth inequality that has
existed for much longer? How do I explain that our society values the
protection of …
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