L.A. schools chief critical of unfit teachers 'milking the system'

The top administrator for L.A.’s schools said this morning he was frustrated by unfit teachers “milking the system” by contesting justified dismissals for years.

Supt. Ramon C. Cortines was reacting this morning to an article in the Los Angeles Times on how difficult it is to fire teachers for gross misconduct. Today’s article, part of an investigative series by reporter Jason Song, detailed how 160 instructors and others remain on the payroll, without any job duties, while their fitness is being evaluated or their dismissals move through due process, which can stretch for years. The in-limbo employees cost the district about $10 million a year.

“If I had my way, I would fire all 150, and they would not get another damned penny,” Cortines said in response to a question at the end of a news conference at Fairfax High School. 

“I do not have the legal right to do that, and they’re milking the system," he said. "And the system is designed not to protect kids and schools and the educators, but it is designed to protect the very few incompetents that we have.”

Teachers union president A.J. Duffy has asserted that accused teachers deserve the presumption of innocence and due process and that they should not be expected to perform non-teaching duties while their cases are being resolved.

Cortines was speaking at Fairfax because it was the site of the first confirmed case of swine flu in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Cortines said he authorized the school to remain open on the advice of public health officials.

That decision has been questioned by Duffy, who heads United Teachers Los Angeles.

“It is foolhardy of the Los Angeles Unified School District to disregard the health and safety of students, teachers, school staff and the community,” Duffy said in a statement. “In the case of Fairfax High School, we believe strongly that LAUSD should close the school for a few days to guard against the potential spread of the disease.”

Cortines said the union’s position unnecessarily politicized the issue.

“The teachers union is not a doctor,” Cortines said. “It would be like asking me what you should do.”

He acknowledged that some parents were alarmed to see workers in protective hazardous-materials suits this morning at the school.

“We were just being precautionary,” Cortines said about cleanup efforts.

Fairfax Principal Ed Zubiate said the hazard suits were used to protect workers from daylong exposure to cleaning solvents, not the flu virus. Workers began Tuesday night to disinfect common areas and classrooms used by the sick student, who is not seriously ill, officials said.

Cortines also announced the district would receive less money from the federal stimulus plan than some had projected, supporting his reluctance to use all the dollars that would be necessary in next year's budget to rescind the planned layoffs.

The teachers union is planning a one-day strike May 15 to protest teacher layoffs, more crowded classrooms and faculty turnover, which is expected to result from the district's financial woes.

Cortines reiterated the district’s intention to seek a court injunction to stop the walkout, which violates the union contract.

-- Howard Blume

Blume is twittering about budget woes in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Follow his updates @howardblume.

Times Investigation: Failure Gets a Pass 

Comments

[dodger tony]

The acting out, posturing, grandstanding, and just plain bad faith between LAUSD and teachers is a circus, to say the least. The fact that these entities are behaving like children makes me wonder if the students shouldn't be the ones teaching the adults.

[Richard Martel]

I think all those teachers should be fired. There should be no excuse. Taxpayers' hard earn dollars are being mismanaged. How can this atrocity continue? Get rid of the union. They are not for the students, but for stupid teachers.

[Judith Ruth]

Don't blame the teachers for the system's flaws. Teachers should be given due process and presumed innocent but if they are truly negligent change the system that keeps them from being fired.

[jamesincalifornia]

In paragraph two, you say 160. In paragraph three, you say 150. Whatever the number, these misfits need to be included in the pending layoff.

[David]

The next time the teacher's union supports any law, tax increase, candidate, Vote the opposite. This article clearly states why. It's never for "the children", it's always only about them.

[JC]

I concur with Mr Cortines for once!
UTLA Member

[Daphne]

The union undermines its own credibility by supporting poor teachers.
Let them all walk out and do a Ronald Reagan, fire them all and break the union.

[fedup]

Get rid of UNIONS!!

[William Hale, aka, Haji Mohammed...]

===============NH:
Can teachers going through due process be required to do curricu8lum
design work? Lesson plan work? Self re-certification work? Oral Exams?
Read reports reltated to eduction? etc. etc. etc.? Likely who is
already doing those kinds of things are their own, no?
=================Null Hypothesis//

[CommonCents]

Suspend them without pay till their stinking case is resolved. Demand all previous pay be returned if convicted.

[OCBlauski]

The Teacher's Union couldn't give a rat's A$$ about the students, and they never will. Break the union!!

[Ralph]

LAUSD is planning the layoff of good teachers. On wonders whether these 160 (possibly the tip of an ugly iceberg) will continue to be paid to stay at home, proteched by a system gone to rot. This is how the taxpayer's money is being spent while about half of the LAUSD students are dropping out and of those who graduate and try to go on to college, horrific percentages are tracked into remedial math and English courses. What further evidence is needed? LAUSD is a failed K-12 paradigm and those involved have a vested interest in maintaining it.

God help our kids and our society.

[Jason]

The teacher's union is so out of line it is disgusting.

Due process in case of alleged misconduct? No one else gets such favorable treatment.

Remember, the CTA doesn't care about students, it only cares about protecting teachers, apparently regardless of their ability level.

[Mike WC]

Do teachers get full pay when the school is closed due to Swing Flu fear? It's kind of an outrageous accusation, but I trust these people to do nothing right. It really is getting frightening how rouge this state's unions have become. There are fewer students now than before and the dropout rate is still nearly 50%.

Walkout sure helps "Da Children".

[socalife]

jamesincalifornia:

At least be "correct" when you're being overly critical.

It's not the 2nd paragraph, it's the 1st paragraph where the writer notes "160" teachers and in the 2nd paragraph (not the first) the "150" is a direct quote from the Superintendent.

That's why there is a disparity in the numbers. It is not the writer's fault.

[bobdoh]

CA is now among the nation's worst states in k-12. (see educ report at McKinsey.com).

The union and its "due process" nonsense is like a parasite binging on our children's opportunity.

btw, constitutionally, due process protects life, liberty and property. A job is none of those. Used loosely, who's due process is more important, the union/teachers or the kids?

[bkl]

I will vote no on 1-A, not because I am opposed, but because I am afraid that 1-B could pass. I don't want a single extra penny to go to the UTLA and its members. As others have stated, they are never for the kids, only for themselves. They disrupted the board meeting protesting possible layoffs, but they never disrupted a board meeting to protest the fact that our children aren't graduating from high school.

[August]

Why are not all American worker given the same deal?

[Mindstorms]

I worked in the Philadelphia Public School System for over 30 years and I saw the same problem with getting rid of incompetent teachers. Many times administrators would just transfer their problems to a different location which of course did not solve the problem. However, the rules for getting rid of poor teachers came about via negotiations so the answer is to change the procedures through negotiations. Most teachers I worked with don't have any problem with identifying and getting rid of poor teachers or administrators as long as there is a reasonable system in place. If administrators were not bound by any rules in getting rid of personnel you can be sure that in poor economic times such as today the first that would be terminated would be those at the highest pay scale to save money. I am old enough to remember teachers being terminated before they got in three years of service only because new teachers cost less.

[Teacher]

I have been an LAUSD teacher for 4 years. I would really prefer to have no union. The union reps at our school are usually bad teachers themselves, hence why they hide behind the union. It sickens me that over 150 teachers are sitting around, when they could be atleast teaching themselves. Honestly, they should take turns modeling good teaching, so that if they are let back in the classrooms they can excel. However any perverts and idiots should get the boot. The union needs to go!

[Edgar]

Why are people surprised about this? it makes perfect sense that a bad school district makes bad decisions.

[Aletheia]

What nasty, one-sided yellow journalism the L.A. Times has been running with this series. Did the paper resurrect the 1st Otis Chandler and put his zombie body in charge of editorial policy? Let me give that zombie Chandler some tips on good journalism. Start by asking if the facts are as your sources say they are. Then ask if their characterization of the facts is as they claim. Then ask whether there is some political purpose or ulterior motive for their marshaling of the facts or their characterization of them. Finally, ask if the L.A. Times should be endorsing those claims rather than pursuing neutral and nuanced journalism (nuanced would be, in part, laying out and rounding out what you've discovered in the above steps). Otherwise, it's just using the paper for propaganda and politically-motivated reinforcement of prejudice (bad unions + virtuous administration = necessary cuts).

That said, since we're back in newspaper olden days, I'm off to see if I can get the other partisan side from a Hearst paper.

[Figgins]

@ Judith Ruth

The teachers can and should be blamed, for they negotiated this ridiculous featherbedding. The teachers are not solely to blame because the namby-pamby LAUSD administrators agreed to this BS.

If the teachers strike on May 15th, the LAUSD has the right to terminate any and all contracts of those that participate in the illegal walkout.

[James Los Angeles]

Fire the teachers that are failing our children of an opportunity to compete in the global arena, and we have to scale backs the power of unions, even though I appreciate what they do... Unregulated they are no different then the banks, and financial institutions that have tasted power, and are run amuck

[Timray]

oh my Zeus!!! oh i hope California voters remember this come May 19th....we need to move more money into the educational system immediately what with all these teachers waiting to find out whether they have been unjustly accused or not. Did you know that New York city has hundreds of teachers just like these unfortunate teachers....thank Zeus we have a union for them....they should get food stamps too!!! remember....May 19th and 2010.....change you can count on!!!!!

[DonV]

A system must be created where if the evidence is proven to be true, that teacher must be FIRED! This leaves a black eye on the profession. There are many good teachers in LAUSD. People don't know the difficulties in teaching until they walk in those shoes. But, the UNION can not continue to support these teachers or the PUBLIC will turn on all the TEACHERS!

[Mr. M]

I love how posters here assume that 150 teachers are indicative of the entire profession. Get a grip people. Teachers are so overly stressed and are performing heroic acts every day. The union HAS to protect all its members - that's the point of its existence. Change the system. Completely agree with Cortines on this but to blame all teachers is really stupid.

[Whatever]

The system is the problem, not the teachers that take advantage. Mr. Cortines should work against the system. He is right - the system does not care for the students. A new evaluation system should take students and parents opinion into consideration, we are the customers!

[Leslie]

As a teacher, I feel the need to voice an opinion that will likely be dismissed should I include one typo or grammar error; however, I must speak. I despise my union due mostly to the fact that they ask me to wear stupid colored shirts, picket at over/underpasses and write our legislators diligently. I would love to have a "Reagan" like effect and fire all the teachers in CA--WHO THE HELL ELSE WOULD DO THE JOB??? I could enjoy unemployment and spend time rearing my own 3 children instead of CA's 'left overs' by parents who don't want to raise their own.. I don't want more pay, I don't want to be paid for a job poorly done--I want to come home to my own children and tell them I did something good today. I don't defend anyone but myself...but teaching is unique in that we are all lumped together--like a marriage--only most of us wouldn't choose the same partner again....

[Bob]

The LA Times and reporter Jason Song are to be congratulated for this extremely enlightening series on unfit teachers. I'd like to know what, if anything, Superintendent Cortines has done in his long and underwhelming career to dismiss unfit teachers? What did he do when he was Superintendent of the Pasadena School System? What did he do when he was Superintendent of the NYC School System? What LA Unified needs is a Superintendent who is willing to kick ass and take names. Ramon Cortines is certainly not the solution; he's part of the problem. I'd like to see Jason Song take over as Superintendent. At least he's willing to uncover LAUSD's dirty little secret.

[bruce]

when the teachers go on their one-day strike may 15 (in violation of their contract) this is the district's opportunity to break the union by firing every single one of them. later, the repentant parasites will crawl back to be rehired under much more favorable terms for the taxpayers, and good riddance to the others. it would be worth shutting the rest of the school year down to achieve this outcome.

[Ben]

I am a UTLA member and I am tired of our union protecting incompetent teachers. While teachers like myself are working our rear ends off trying to restore the professionalism of teaching, there are many teachers out there just going with the motions. They let each year pass without making an impact, just waiting for retirement. They do a disservice to our students, and our profession. Mr. Duffy, it's not just the district that's trying to function in a broken system, UTLA is also in dire need of an overhaul!

[Ellen]

This is such a small number of teachers. It is obvious that the LA Times is in bed with Steve Barr and Green Dot. Their slander against teachers has been relentless. The headline was misleading at first and made it sound like all teachers were not working and getting paid. Disgusting.

[Charles]

I agree with Cortines. However, we should not generalize. Most LAUSD teacher are hard working, caring, well-educated individuals. Yes, both UTLA and LAUSD are both plauged by incompetent individuals. On one hand, LAUSD is inept in educacting our youth but is really good at maintaining needless bureaucrats. On the other, UTLA defends incompetent teacher. Cortines is just diverting the blame. He should start with himself.

[Melissa]

Judith, you must not be an LAUSD teacher. The union is about adult agendas on the backs of our students. There are many great teachers in LAUSD, but there are also many teachers who simply come to work to collect a paycheck. They only care about maintaining the status quo. It is truly child abuse. These teachers have to go.

[Dan]

I can't believe this has just come to light. This abuse has been ongoing for over 15 years that I am aware of. Incompetency is rewarded while success gets laid off...all because of "tenure".

[LAUSD teacher]

I would agree with Cortines on this one. I have seen incompetent teachers at our school who should have been let go a long time ago. The union is great about protecting our jobs but shouldn't they also be looking out for what is best for the students. Obviously not in this case. The union says it is all about the students. If that is the case shouldnt action speak louder than words?

[Steven Kent]

Why are we blaming teachers and not the comission that keeps them in limbo? As with all things LAUSD, it's the bureacracy that is the greatest evil of all, not those caught up in it.

P.S. The housed teachers can make copies, it is not beneath them. We teachers make copies all the time! I should send over my student work that needs graded to them.

[john Smart]

I bounced around as a sub in LA Unified for a few years thinking it would be a respite from my previous work in the film industry. I have since left and gone back to the movie biz. I can say without any qualms that LAUSD is far more corrupt and amoral than Hollywood.
LAUSD is a gross combination of an entitled teacher's union and pointless administrators. I've never seen so much wasted money and time as I did on long term sub assignments. They announce relentlessly how much they do it all for the kids - which is of course a classic case of the "big lie" .

10 million dollars a year for teachers who do nothing. In what other profession could a union pull off a stunt like that?

[LB Teacher]

Seems like there's quite a few people jealous of us teachers.

[JustATeacher]

What people don't understand is teachers in LAUSD have earned at least a bachelor's degree plus 3 years of additional schooling (to earn a preliminary and then clear credential), taken no less than three comprehensive exams (CBEST, CSET, and RICA in the case of elementary) and undergone two years of probationary teaching during which time they can be fired at any time even without cause.

A right to due process is appropriate given the level of education teachers have gone through to become teachers. You can't compare a teacher to someone who works in an office and has no credential.

That said, the 160 teachers we're talking about should be fired and fired quickly if they're proven to be guilty of misconduct. However, that doesn't mean we need to throw out the whole system.

There are incompetent lawyers and doctors and plumbers and the list goes on. No one is saying let's fire them all. It's not everyone who can perform brain surgery. And it's not everyone who can teach.

[A parent]

JUST LOOK AT THE UTLA WEBSITE - THEY PLAN TO LEAVE OUR KIDS HANGING FOR A FULL DAY OVER LAYOFFS - ARE THEY LIVING UNDER A ROCK?

[Sean Socco]

All you union bashers and teacher haters out there need to check yourselves. I'd put $$$ down that most of you all saying we should "just get rid of these teachers and their union" are the same haters who would say of our kids "just lock up all these gangbangers and hoodlums!" UTLA IS the teachers and, straight out, these teachers care MORE about the kids than anyone except their parents. Most of you trying to use the kids to defend your union bashing don't even know the little homies. We who work in the hood can tell right off. Y'all two faced. Simple

[Rosie]

The incredible waste of money paying teachers not to work while their hearings go through is a shocking travesty when the money could be used for the children.
The Unions need to think of the bottom line (which they are completely unable to do). Tthey need to see that bad teachers need to find other jobs for which they are better suited.
It's not good business or good for the children to have bad teachers hanging onto jobs for which they are not equipped.
Unions cease to be effecive when they display such supidity.

[Teacher]

They should fire those 150 or so teachers. As a teacher myself, I think administration and teachers within a school community should be able to get together and let go of teachers who are incompetent. I have 2 or 3 at my school site. However, the state should also fire some of these parents who expect teachers to be their stand in parent. I can't count how many times I've had to take out the crackers and juice boxes to feed hungry students; asked students why they've come to school wearing the same clothes as the day before; seen parents barely able to write their names; and who've been in this country for 20 or so years and still can barely speak a word of English. I bet you that if we "fired" some of these parents or retrained them, the public school dropout rate would decrease. I can only teach the student for 6 hours a day. It is up to the parent to help with the rest and they can't help if they are uneducated, as well.

[Stupid Teacher]

Who do you think voted in the Union, the contracts you have and the procedure for how incompetent teachers are dealt with? "Don't Blame the Teacher." Teachers shouldn't be allowed to post here. They should be in the classrooms, continuing to mess up our kids and get paid for it. And when they about to be fired they should say "think fo the children." Oh wait, they are doint that already.

[Grace]

What profession doesn't have its share of incompetent people? Last time I looked, they all do. If you don't see them in your profession, maybe its because you are the incompetent worker. However, I am also enraged that good teachers work endlessly while some slack off. But let's get to the real issues:
1) Without a union, administrators would be able to hire and fire without cause. Maybe because they woke up on the wrong side of bed, even.
2)Teachers are protesting May 15 because the district wants to increase class size. District says you can't prove that children learn more, the smaller the class size. Common sense tells us otherwise!
3)Mr. Kim was hired because he was going to sue for discrimination. How can you hire someone to teach children when his speech is unintelligible? The real story should be--Why do disabled people have more rights and power than the rest of us?

I could go on and on with the problems plaguing the district. What we need to fix these problems are level-headed people who can see the real issues because they live it everyday, not downtown office workers who don't even know what a school looks like, except from a childhood memory!

[Hary]

I'm not a teacher, but I have to wonder how many 100,000's of tax dollars go to the LASUD administration's Salaries and all the consultants they hire as well?

And yet nothing ever changes, it's like a broken record-
It's always the Teachers fault, year after year.

Do you think perhaps it's the administration that is incompetent and 'milking the system'?

[PW]

If I was a teacher making 70k a year I would fight like hell to keep my job. This is survival instincts and everyone would do the same.

[carol duran]

i am so glad i chose not to have children...don't have to worry
about putting their education in the hands of the system...

[jfx]

Duffy's comments are very reasonable, once you realize that he has a very narrow goal. As union president, he is interested in promoting the interests of teachers. Not students, not parents, not the school administration. He has no need to compromise, and why should he when that isn't his goal. Furthermore, it makes sense for him to weaken and undermine anyone with competing interests, which is why he demands a school shutdown for a few days "to guard against the potential" of swine flu, calling "foolhardy" anyone who disagrees.

[CR]

How can Duffy complain about he layoffs of good teachers and in the same breath defend paying out $10 million a year to incompetent instructors? Clearly, the kids are not the union leader's #1 priority. But I would think that the head of the teachers union would want to support it's members that are good teachers over those few that shouldn't be teaching anymore.

There may have been a time when the union could have its cake and eat it too -- but not in this economy. Layoffs are inevitable unless the union gives some ground on the teacher dismissal policies.

Incompetents that cannot teach, or worse yet, put our children in danger should be given fair - but prompt - due process. And then we should get on with teaching these kids.

[Rob H]

I'm a teacher who has just received tenure. It's great. Now I don't have to worry about if some kid acting up is going to cost my family a salary. I can just teach, if a stdent is a problem I can send him out and not worry about revenge from that student's parents. Tenure is a great thing. It makes me a better, more relaxed teacher. I don't have to jump every time administration walks by, hoping none of my students do something stupid as they walk by.

[LAGringo]

Do not go into teaching, period. Politicians are not held accountable, parents and students are not held accountable and the media is not held accountable. The Times spent all that paper space focusing on 160 out of 40,000 teachers supposedly riding the gravy train, destroying the morale of thousands of hard working teachers, and at the same time ignoring the real problems in education. It’s not worth the $48,000 to have your job constantly under the microscope and constantly threatened (not to mention having your life threatened by students). Run from teaching. Take the $30,000 it would cost you to get the necessary credentials and certificates and put it in a CD. Go work for a company that is squandering trillions of taxpayers’ dollars, get yourself a nice bonus for crashing the company, then walk away free as a bird. Do not work as a teacher.

[confucius]

I am a LAUSD teacher and I am believe that we are long overdue for restructuring the LAUSD. I am pro union, but I don't want to go on a strike on May 15. I believe that the strike will not accomplish anything. Strike should be the last card that we draw and not the first. I question the current union leaders and LAUSD bureaucrats who have never taught in their lives. Neither are willing to work together and the children will surely suffer for their ignorance. If the union makes me choose between them and the student, I will always choose student every time.

[StopUSAGiveaway]

To those Teachers complaining:
You have all summer off
You have never worked a summer in your life
You have each holiday off
And when the bell rings--you run
TEACHERS and educators complain the most.
of any and all professions
If you do not like it THEN work ALL YEAR with ONE WEEK off
How about being a policeman?
They can't just run off when they are being shot at nor running after a rapist or drug dealer
TEACHERs and most are there because they do no and cannot complete
and
GOOD DEDICATED TEACHERS are the first to verify that one
As for the scum bags who get leave with pay--
they are parasites
the photo of the Asian and his mother speaking up when I saw it without having even read the article
He reeks of MOLESTATION and perversion
WHY AREN"T THE PARENTS FILING, too?
If Parents FILED LAWSUITs
and TAXPAYERS there
that would END the Perverts and put them in JAIL
What profession other than Congress/Senate doesn't get impeached or fired?
TENTURE
THE NEA is a political junkie for themselves.
Look at education in the l960's vs now and the responsibilities of teachers then versus now.
Teachers miss a day every week
and when it comes to STRIKES they dare strike during the school year when they have ALL SUMMER to negotiate.
STRIKING speaks for itself.
No one else has a guaranteed job
Why should teachers?

[los angeles resident]

The 5-10-09 4:59am posting shows a lot of ignorance and lack of education in its own content. I am a critic of the LAUSD operations and I was a teacher there for a while, but the blanket statements reflect that ignorance of issues and reliance on stereotypes, especially about "the asian" and the author's ability to detect a "molester" on tha basis alone just throws up a red flag on his (or "her," as the case may be) analytical skills- and throw in some racism there, too.

Your statements that blast teachers on the one hand and on the other hand, show praise of "dedicated" teachers is puzzling- How do you distinguish one from the other? If a teacher complains, is that enough to be a bad one?

The work schedule you note is not created by the teachers but you make it out to be another negative point. It's irrelevant.

Your comment, "TEACHERs and most are there because they do no and cannot complete
and
GOOD DEDICATED TEACHERS are the first to verify that one...'

Again, your comments are strangely inconsistent, praising and then criticizing. Is the good, dedicated teacher supposed to support your statement- "Yes, most of us can't compete," (or "complete," if not a typo)? And compete with "what?" All a very muddy way of looking at this and just much venting.

The unions have lots of power and the state legislators yield to the heavy lobbying that unions practiice, including the teachers union. The common people don't get represented on that playing fiield. The LAUSD is always behind the beat, and acts either timidly or boldly, usually inappropriately on too many issues with lots of examples of bad judgment and processes that are wasteful of money and human resources, but lack of conseqeunces promotes the absence of ACCOUNTABILITY throughout the system. That is the major problem all around.

And your comparison to police is completely illogical. The only thing I am sure of is that you have an intense opinion on this, but also you don't need facts to cloud your judgment- I hope LAUSD did not play a role in creating the foundation for your thought processes. If you were a student of the district, it really did not prepare you well.