Students Aren’t the Only Source of Stress in the Schools

“The Breaking Point,” by Shari Roan (June 5), seems to attribute most of teacher stress to the students. Though her examples are well-founded, she neglects an important source of teacher burnout--stress from the district itself. To give two current examples from my own experience at Los Angeles Unified:

With tacit consent from the teachers union, the district has ordained that all veteran teachers take up to 200 hours of nonsensical classes in bilingual education. I have taken 20 of these hours, and have picked up such gems as that parents of Spanish-speaking children should not speak English at home. Experienced teachers have to pay for these classes (with a cashier’s check) or risk losing their jobs. Stressful? You bet.

Second, another round of “At Last We Have Educational Standards” is about to be played. We’ve had standards since 1990 (“The Course of Study”), as most teachers know. But the public has forgotten, so teachers have to sit through interminable “staff developments” where their “input” is demanded so that high district officials can claim they did something about poor test scores before they collect their retirement and accumulated vacation pay. It’s stressful to sit through meetings designed to make higher-ups look good.

There’s no doubt kids these days are taxing, but they are, after all, kids. What’s the adults’ excuse?

DOUGLAS LASKEN

Woodland Hills

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“The Breaking Point” does an excellent job of outlining the demands that today’s educators are forced to contend with.

However, as an experienced LAUSD school site principal, I feel it is important to point out that school administrators as well as other school staff--clerical, custodial, psychologists, nurses, etc.--equally share in the frustrations of trying to educate in the midst of all the current societal and urban woes. We all face increased psychological and emotional demands whether we are teachers or other school staff. We are working together to overcome the obstacles.

STEVEN SIRY

Los Angeles

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The article about stressed-out teachers was excellent, but at least 30 years too late.

DON CLARK

Retired LAUSD teacher

Woodland Hills