One candidate to head the Los Angeles teachers union was laid off. Another was removed from the classroom for alleged misconduct. A third lost his position when his school was restructured with new staff because of low test scores. A fourth is an elementary school counselor who must shuttle between two campuses.
Ten candidates are vying to be the next president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest teachers union. Their misfortunes run the gamut of what can go wrong for teachers, especially in recent times.
They seek to lead a teacher corps that is substantially dispirited and divided, with common grievances, but lacking consensus on how to move forward. Candidate ideas include becoming more — or less — adversarial with the district and changing the color of union T-shirts from red to pink or orange to seem less aggressive.
The leader of the union not only affects its 31,552 members but also half a million students.
"UTLA is a major stakeholder in the fight for quality education," said Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of Community Coalition, a local social action group. "The quality of their leadership — or the lack thereof — looms large."
Incumbent Warren Fletcher seeks a second and final term for a three-year position that pays $101,000 annually. The ballots were mailed out in late February and will be tallied March 20.
The L.A. Unified School District is slowly recovering from years of budget cuts that forced thousands of layoffs of teachers, counselors, nurses and others. UTLA, other unions and the district are battling over how best to use moderate increases in funding. There's also contention over the growth of charter schools, most of which are non-union, and a new teacher evaluation system that relies, in part, on student test scores.
Against the backdrop of perennially low student achievement, the district must decide how to achieve new state learning goals, while it also embarks on a $1-billion technology program and prepares for new state tests.
Fletcher, 54, said that since he became president, teacher layoffs and furlough days have stopped. And he insisted that he has made no major concessions to L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy on issues critical to teachers.
"In the last three years we have stopped the free fall," Fletcher said at a recent candidates forum. But his administration needs more time, he said. Fletcher contends that he's always made sure that the voice of the members is his "primary driver of decisions."
The challengers counter that an improving economy ended the layoffs, and that while Fletcher has stood by Deasy and his allies have successfully maneuvered around the union on such issues as teacher evaluations.
The union president speaks for the membership publicly and is a crucial figure for setting priorities and negotiating contracts. But the union's structure also is cumbersome and, without a strong president, it's difficult to bring the factions together.
Virtually every challenger has a grievance with Fletcher, the union or L.A. Unified that is distinctly personal.
Veteran community activist and social studies teacher Alex Caputo-Pearl, 45, had hoped to spend his career at Crenshaw High in Hyde Park. But when Deasy ordered the school reorganized, Caputo-Pearl and most other teachers were removed.
Caputo-Pearl said he could revive the union. He said he has the endorsement of 250 campus union representatives and also has assembled a slate of candidates for the union offices other than president.
Caputo-Pearl represents a left-leaning activist wing that has rejected Fletcher. Gregg Solkovits, 57, is the standard bearer for some traditional union stalwarts who also have deserted Fletcher.
Solkovits, whose mother once served as union president, taught English and social studies at Monroe High in North Hills for 28 years, 15 as the union representative. A longtime union officer, he's now a vice president. He faults Fletcher for allowing 25% of schools to lack a local union leader and says he could unite members and mold the union into an effective institution.
Bill Gaffney, 64, became active in UTLA after a districtwide payroll snafu left him without a paycheck for three months. The union, he said, did nothing to help him. The science and physical education teacher has been the union representative at Fulton College Preparatory in Van Nuys for six years.
He faults UTLA leadership for being needlessly adversarial with district officials, missing opportunities to reach common ground that could benefit students as well as teachers.
David R. Garcia, 43, blames the union for not being adversarial enough. He characterizes union and district leadership as a corrupt, greedy cabal. An art teacher, Garcia has been unable to land a permanent position since he was laid off from Jefferson High in South Los Angeles several years ago.
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