9 L.A. teachers to go on hunger strike to protest layoffs

A group of teachers and community activists plans to start a hunger strike today in protest of the Los Angeles Unified School District's plan to lay off thousands of teachers.

At least nine teachers and two activists will participate in the action, said Sean Leys, a Lincoln High School teacher who will take part in the fast.

Leys says the group is demanding a new budget from the district that will not include layoffs or class-size increases. It also wants the district use part of its federal stimulus money to avoid budget cuts.

Leys said the hunger strike will continue "until the layoffs happen or a new budget is released." The teachers will work in their classrooms this week but "past that, we won't be able to continue," Leys said.

Participants plan to announce the hunger strike at 4:30 today outside Evelyn Thurman Gratts Elementary School near downtown L.A. At least 100 other teachers are considering joining the strike, Leys said.

A rally supporting the hunger strikers is planned for Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Centro Cultural Francisco Villa at 2100 Maple Ave. near downtown.

--Ruben Vives

Comments

[David]

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!

From a CURRENTLY unemployed man who used to make over six figures.

[RZ]

These teachers clearly don't understand just how big the upcoming budget cuts at LAUSD will be.

[NewTV.com]

So, this means they are going to have a late lunch?

[cathy]

hopefully this will bring more attention to the plight of education in los angeles. the situation is appalling and the lausd bureaucrats should be ashamed of themselves. this fight is not about jobs, this fight is about increased class size, increased dropout rates, destabalizing inner-city communties.

go teachers! i'm with you!

From a CURRENTLY employed teacher who will never make over six figures, and yet LOVES going to work every day

[Gladys]

I think that this goes beyond teachers being employed. I think that what the teachers are trying to do is begin a fight for social justice that goes further than just having a job. War is being waged on the poor, and by poor, I don't mean the teachers. Any one who has been to an inner city school can see what children are subjected to. As usual, the cuts affect poor minority children whose parents are ignored by society. Clearly, teachers are not doing this for the money. Some of the newest teachers make a little bit more than what they would get on the unemployment line. I think that their cause is much more noble than just holding down a job. Unlike the person who wrote here that he used to make 6 figures. Reality check: you are the reason why we are in a crisis!

[LATeacher]

I am currently an inner city Elementary School teacher for LAUSD who received a pink slip. This is not about me. This is about the students. I do not make near as much money as people imply. I view this as missionary work and pay out of my own pocket to buy paper and pencils for my classroom. Shame on LAUSD, Cortines, and the school board for placing me and other teachers under mental duress as we try to fight for what is right to help these children who do not have a otherwise have a voice.

[Rickthebrick]

Shame on Arnold for even thinking of cutting from those most vulnerable in our society. It just prooves the realities of the rulling class being an enemy of morality. Cut the most vulnerable of our society and walla you have a hungry working class who would eat from the scraps of those who have the financial resources to manipulate and subjugate the working class. The disparity, hatred and egocentrism, and social irresponsibility shall bring despair, dehumanization and the destruction of our society by a foreigner who is not even as he is even from the most despised ruthless savage people.

[Anne]

If David were really a lausd teacher, he would know how few make 6 figures. I know some (again very few) who make that much and in most cases they don't deserve it.

[EastsideBob]

My opinion.
How dare you! You went to college to take a part time job, and have complained about the pay ever since. I'm not saying that this is not a very improtant job. It is. I'm just saying that I would really like to have a job where I can work only nine months out of the year, and still invent more days off by calling them "professional days", I know teachers, and I know what goes on. It's a personal day. I live in Minnesota, and they have been building homages to the teachers. Thank god that a town near me built one that was not funded, and St. Paul had the guts to say "We told you not to." So it sits empty. Sad for the tax payers in that town who still have to pay for it. My basic thought is do kids need touchscreen blackboards? Or to download their homework? I did well carrying Dickens. It was my book, I read it whenever I got a chance, and I couldn't turn the page to chat with my friends or find out what STD Paris Hilton had contracted today. So bottomline LA teachers stop trying to put yourselves on the same line as Ghandhi, and Bobby Sands. You are not altruistic, you are not fighting for a good cause, you are fighting for your right to not work during the summer. Those of us who work year round and have taken pay cuts to keep it going feel no sympathy for you. The only thing that makes me feel good here is the fact that it's summer, and these people don't want to do anything this time of year so it will all be over soon.

Have some Taco's dude's and dudettes!!

[Robert]

The comment by Anne on the six-figure income reference by David looks as if "teachers" are the ones making six-figures. If you look again, it's David who made that income and is now unemployed. He did not say that he was a teacher.

Teachers salary is available as public information on the Daily News website that can demonstrate precise figures, generally below $100,000 but below $50,000 for early years of teaching, where most of the burnout happens. People can check here for sampling instead of making blanket statements.

There is a satisfaction in teaching that usually outweighs the negatives, and that is not a type matched in many other professions. The "system" is often a negative for this kind of work. The ability to adapt to the many nonsensical processes and styles, presented to you by inidividuals and by "the district" in it's policies helps a lot.

This is my opinion, and I was an LAUSD H.S. teacher.

[Haydee Jara]

All I want to say is that people are quick to judge about the fact that teachers only work 9mos out of the year and that this is what the fight is about. I am a year 2 teacher and this is about the students of our community and their future. Who speaks for them when their parents too are uneducated and limited in many aspects. I also grew up in a single parent home where the odds are against one and to be able to make a difference in my students life is far more important than working all year or part of the year. For your information many teachers start work before their scheduled time and stay as late as 6pm and come in on saturdays to plan, make copies, and prepare to teach. As an educator I have a personal connection with with my students. You get to know them as human beings who long and crave a better future. It saddens me to hear that they too have many environmental issues that everyday effect their ability to just stay focused. So know that this fight is about our students and remember teachers do get paid, but many of us are more than teachers to our students. We do not get an "extra" expense account to buy school supplies and additional resources for our classrooms. So before you judge and make assumptions KNOW THE FACTS!!
Haydee

[jack]

I understand that some people are jealous that they don't have summers off (without pay). But baby sitters earn more that teachers when you add up the numbers of children in each class...plus they are responsible for teaching them all the academic subjects as well as PE, Music, etc...
Get over your jealousy and begin addressing the real causes for our lousy budget:
Republican supported Corporate Tax Loop Holes and Tax Havens...They pay ZERO TAXES so we can pick up the tab.

[ann schaefer]

WHAT can I say? How can I thank the teachers who are currently starving themselves, to bring awareness to the assinine stance of the district?! To each and every one of you, Thank you so much! Your acts of self sacrfice tell just how much the learning of students is to you, as it is to me, and to how truly important our teaching jobs are to us! Gandhi and MLKIng would be so proud! -Ann Schaefer Westchester High

[John: retired teacher Minnesota]

If the local teachers union can't negotiate, nor write a strategic plan to maintain teachers jobs, than teachers need to take a visual public-politcal stand. And start with voting out all Republicans...