Readers React: Education should be the priority of LAUSD’s next leader

To the editor: The Times gives a good rundown of the malfeasance of the L.A. Unified School District Board of Education and ex-Supt. John Deasy leading to the current meltdown, but it does not focus on the people most at risk: students and teachers. (“A new superintendent won’t cure all that ails L.A. Unified,� Editorial, Oct. 27)

In 30 years of teaching for the LAUSD, I have never seen such demoralization. Nothing works. Ask for a tour of your local LAUSD schools; you will see ceiling tiles dropping, bulletin boards without cork, filthy walls and floors, students running wild after two months in the wrong class and despairing teachers.

We need more than a new, flashy superintendent. We need governance that looks where it is supposed to look: at education itself.

Doug Lasken, Woodland Hills

..

To the editor: The Times calls for better-trained teachers — fair enough.

The LAUSD long ago established with United Teachers Los Angeles programs to train and help teachers.

The LAUSD/UTLA Peer Assistance and Review program helps teachers who have lost a step in educating their students to regain their edge. The LAUSD/UTLA National Board Certification Support Network has helped thousands of L.A. teachers become National Board Certified teachers.

Finally, the UTLA’s Institute for Standards, Curricula and Assessments is a professional development vendor that trains L.A. teachers in lesson design study, a methodology that is used worldwide to help teachers make better lessons and tests for their students.

John Perez, North Hollywood

The writer is a former UTLA president.

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