LAUSD Criteria for Hiring

I am outraged again! Los Angeles Unified School District veteran teachers who know how to teach and control a classroom of 20 children (we’ve been controlling classes of 34 to 40 children) are not the top candidates [for hiring].

LAUSD is looking for teachers who are Band 1, which means they are low on the salary scale, in order to comply with the rules of the Rodriguez Consent Decree. LAUSD is looking for four-year graduates with a BA or BS degree and no fifth year.

These people will teach all day, hopefully with guidance from a mentor teacher, then attend Thursday evening classes and all-day Saturday classes. Also, although schools were to have elected mentor teachers in case a crisis like this came up, I know of many instances where mentor teachers (earning additional salary) do not help these people who are overwhelmed with teaching content and trying to manage the logistics in a classroom.

It is absolutely not true that LAUSD is looking to hire veteran teachers. At the school where I teach, there has been an [experienced] substitute who holds California and New York State teaching credentials and has a master’s degree. This substitute cannot get hired there because she would be a Band 3 teacher, near the top of the salary schedule. This is what the Rodriguez Consent Decree has done to children.

LINDA POLLON

Tarzana