School Violence Escalates

(that is, the violence between teachers, teacher unions, LA Unified, and Green Dot Schools)

Tension has been brewing for some time because the hacks that run the LA Unified teachers' union hate charter schools, teachers hate LA Unified, LA Unified just doesn't want to do anything drastic, and Green Dot hates everyone who doesn't want to change.  But the situation escalated last year when Green Dot made an effort to take over Jefferson High, and the parents joined their cause.  In the end the takeover attempt was rejected, but a compromise was made and Green Dot was allowed to set up six new charter schools in close proximity to Jefferson and bleed off any students who wanted to go to their schools instead.

But now Green Dot has really upped the ante, and the school district is responding like a third-world dictatorship.

"Green Dot Public Schools, which has clashed frequently with the board in its aggressive push to expand, has quietly overseen the collection of signatures of support from a majority of the tenured teachers at Locke High School — clearing the major legal hurdle toward converting the campus into a series of charter schools.

Underscoring the anxiety and anger the plan is unleashing within the district, Locke Principal Frank Wells was escorted off campus and relieved of his duties late Tuesday afternoon pending the outcome of a district investigation into allegations that Wells allowed teachers to leave their classrooms to collect and sign petitions.

Wells called the charges 'a total fabrication,' saying no classes were disrupted as teachers signed and collected signatures during non-class time. Teachers who helped collect signatures supported Wells' version of events.

Under Green Dot's proposal, which because of state law the Los Angeles school board would appear to have little choice but to approve, the 2,800-student Watts campus would be divided into 10 small Green Dot schools beginning in fall 2008."

Wow...so the principal and teachers want change and the district responds by making up false accusations and escorting the principal off campus???  It's not hard to see why change was necessary:

Amid dozens of poor-performing middle and high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Locke has long languished as one of the worst. At least one of every two students drops out, while the majority who remain score at or near the bottom on standardized tests.

More than half of the school's 73 tenured teachers signed petitions this week expressing interest in converting Locke into Green Dot charters. Once verified, the petitions — copies of which were obtained by The Times and checked against a roster of the Locke faculty — would legally allow Green Dot to petition the board for control of the school. Many un-tenured teachers also signed the petitions.

I've known teachers from Locke.  They desperately wanted Locke to look like a Green Dot school.  Now they'll get their chance.

For their part, union officials stand to lose more than just the dues-paying members who bolt to Green Dot. Union leaders have been some of the harshest critics of the charter movement in Los Angeles, and of Green Dot in particular. The support for Green Dot by rank-and-file Locke teachers could undermine the authority of union leaders and their position as major power brokers in the district — especially if teachers at other schools follow suit.

"I'm going to urge teachers around the city to rise up and take control of their schools," said English teacher Smith, who plans to speak at today's news conference. "You can cross out Locke and put in Roosevelt High, or Dorsey or Crenshaw."

Of course, we'll still see how everything goes if the district keeps using oppressive policy:

The decision to remove Wells came days after he visited a Green Dot campus and publicly lashed out at the district, saying it would take "revolutionary" change to improve his school.

Brewer and top officials said Wells' contract as principal will not be renewed next year because of "leadership problems" during his three years on campus. The allegations surrounding the signatures forced them to remove him immediately, they said.

And, of course, years and years too late the teachers' union claims that they were going to do something about it all along. 

A.J. Duffy, president of the union, angrily denounced Green Dot's collection of signatures, saying teachers should have been given a chance to first hear other reform ideas from the union and other groups. He said the union is trying to pull together a counter plan to present to Locke teachers in coming weeks.

Because I'm sure the teachers hadn't already called for a need for reform in the last thirty years.  Or that having half the students in a school drop out wouldn't suggest that reform might be a good idea.  Of course, they were too busy using their millions of dollars in teacher dues to fight Arnold's reforms and keep pushing their political agenda.

It's good to see something really throwing LA Unified for a loop though. :)