Focus on School Management

Once again The Times just doesn’t get it. You commend Eli Broad for giving money to improve school site management, something we at UTLA also believe is important. But your Sept. 28 editorial is another attack on teachers and their union. Seniority is not the only factor in class selection. If school principals need the help of Broad and his millions to learn how to better manage their schools, what makes The Times think that they currently know who should teach first grade or U.S. history?

Educational research shows that the most important school site factor for increased student achievement is the quality of the classroom teacher, not the quality of the site administrator. In the 1960s and ‘70s when teacher salaries had greater purchasing power than they do today, 20% of college freshmen wanted to be teachers. Today, when a teacher’s salary cannot compete with other professions requiring the same amount of university preparation, only 7.9% of college freshmen want to become teachers. If The Times and Broad want to improve education, they should help us find ways to make education more attractive to our university students.

JOHN PEREZ, Vice Pres.

UTLA NEA Affiliate

Los Angeles

* Your editorial proposes that we simply return to a top-down philosophy and return power to principals so they can be better leaders. As highly educated professionals, we teachers have earned the right to be partners in the educational process. This is what LEARN and LAEP are all about: communication, team building and problem solving. These are the skills that are desired by employers in the private sector, and I find it offensive that your editorials continue to use our Los Angeles teachers’ union as a scapegoat for societal shortcomings. Want to know what really happens to incompetent teachers? They become principals and administrators.

JAIME GOMEZ, Teacher

Downtown Business Magnet