蜜桃影视

This article was produced in partnership with聽

About one-fourth of LA Unified schools have just won a coveted freedom: the right to hire the best teacher for the job.

However, the majority of Los Angeles schools are still shackled by a longtime districtwide policy that forces principals to hire from a 鈥溾�� list of 鈥渄isplaced鈥� teachers.

But that could soon change. Board members have directed the new superintendent to 鈥渨ork to eliminate the pool of teachers who are displaced one year or more.鈥�

Teachers are 鈥渄isplaced鈥� if they are forced out of a school either because they are deemed ineffective or are bumped by a more senior employee, or if they are returning from a leave of absence and have not yet been hired at a school site.

The displaced teachers continue to draw full salary and benefits, and the district keeps them on the rolls indefinitely, unlike some other districts nationwide that聽聽teachers鈥� employment if they haven鈥檛 been hired within a certain time frame, such as a year.

There are currently 708 displaced teachers on LA Unified鈥檚 payroll, and 211 of them have been on the list for more than a year, the district reported Wednesday in response to a public records request. Last year, the 鈥渕ust-place鈥� teachers cost the district about $15 million, and聽聽LA Unified to end the pool.

The new hiring freedom came through Tuesday鈥檚 unanimous school board聽聽of the 鈥淐lose the Gap鈥� resolution, which seeks to ensure that all students, particularly those with high needs, can meet state academic standards and qualify for a four-year in-state university. The resolution also seeks to strengthen school improvement plans, and it requires the district to start reporting its graduation rate in two ways: the percentage of students who graduated meeting state standards, and the percentage of those eligible to apply to state colleges.

鈥� Read more:聽

The primary focus of the resolution is improving the district鈥檚 lowest-performing schools, so those are the schools that are getting the hiring freedom.

The resolution states: 鈥淣o teachers who were displaced one year or more should be assigned to schools in the lowest performing band of schools based on the School Performance Framework or the high and highest need schools based on the Student Equity Needs Index 2018.鈥�

Together, those schools are estimated to be roughly a quarter of the roughly聽. LA Unified also has 224 independent charter schools, which are not bound by the district鈥檚 hiring restrictions.

Nick Melvoin, the board鈥檚 vice president, asked why only a portion of the district鈥檚 schools should get the hiring freedom.

鈥淲hat is the purpose of not placing these teachers in the lowest-performing quartile [of schools]? The same logic would apply to all classrooms and all students,鈥� Melvoin said during Tuesday鈥檚 board discussion. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to see us work to not have them in any schools.鈥�

He proposed adding language that would give all schools the freedom, but board member Kelly Gonez objected because of possible financial implications. So a compromise was crafted. The amendment states, 鈥淭he Superintendent will work to eliminate the pool of teachers who are displaced one year or more, via training, help with replacement, or exit from the District.鈥�

鈥淭he logic of my amendment is, If it鈥檚 not good enough for some kids, it鈥檚 not good enough for all kids,鈥� Melvoin said in a phone interview Thursday. 鈥淭he biggest thing this is about is mutual consent in hiring. Teachers and principals shouldn鈥檛 go where they aren鈥檛 excited to go, and school communities shouldn鈥檛 have teachers and principals they鈥檙e not excited to have.鈥�

He said he will continue to push for all schools to be included. 鈥淚 will hold him [the superintendent] accountable for that and see what we can do in bargaining. I鈥檒l also continue to raise these concerns at board meetings when colleagues want to create more exceptions, which I think will continue to happen, especially when principals and families reach out about equity.鈥�

At Tuesday鈥檚 meeting, board member Scott Schmerelson called for adult schools to be included. He said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want us to put displaced teachers in continuation schools.鈥�

Board President M贸nica Garc铆a said Thursday that she 鈥渨elcomed Mr. Melvoin鈥檚 amendment. Again, in working to close the gaps, the resolution did not solve all district challenges. When SENI [the Student Equity Need Index] passed, we understood that was dealing with money and change in policies that is being highlighted now. Bottom line: I would stand with every parent that expects every member of our school staff to be qualified and able to do their job well.鈥�

鈥楥an you help my principal鈥�

Melvoin said, 鈥淥ne of the things that led to my amendment is, now having visited every school in my district, parents are so excited and grateful for the amazing teachers that their kids have. And yet they鈥檙e frustrated when they鈥檙e in a class with a teacher that鈥檚 less than excellent or they hear from their principal the difficulty in hiring the right teachers. When I usually hear from parents, it鈥檚 parents calling saying, can you help my principal, because we can鈥檛 get this teacher, or we鈥檙e losing this great teacher, or we have to place this teacher.鈥�

Melvoin said contract changes will likely be necessary to extend the hiring freedom districtwide.

鈥淚 say this as a former teacher: I think we should have a contract that respects teachers as professionals and also kids as the most important actor in the system, and I don鈥檛 think our current contract does that. I think that it doesn鈥檛 put kids first, and I also don鈥檛 think that it鈥檚 respecting teachers as professionals. Because if I鈥檓 told that I have to go to a school that doesn鈥檛 want me, or I can鈥檛 stay at a school that wants me, that鈥檚 devaluing my service as a teacher, and that has to change. And I think that鈥檚 actually going to be the way that we attract better teachers, is by treating them as professionals, and our contract does not do that right now.鈥�

Garc铆a noted Thursday that the local teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, 鈥渨ill have an impact on our ability to negotiate and address systemically鈥� the district鈥檚 hiring policies.

Ben Austin, a school reform advocate and executive director of Kids Coalition, which aims to give students and their parents聽, agreed that the district should end the practice of forcing principals to hire from the list of displaced teachers.

鈥淢ust-place teachers are Exhibit A for why the LAUSD needs to translate 鈥楰ids First鈥� from a hashtag into a civil right,鈥� Austin said by email Thursday.

鈥楧ance of the lemons鈥�

The practice of districts shuffling ineffective teachers from school to school is known as 鈥渢he dance of the lemons.鈥�

In 2010, after a five-month investigation by聽, then-Superintendent Ramon Cortines announced that 鈥渢he district plans to substantially cut back on granting lifelong tenure to inexperienced teachers.鈥�

But that hasn鈥檛 happened.

The displaced teachers are different than teachers who are facing allegations of sexual or physical misconduct; however, they too receive full pay and benefits while they are out of the classroom, which has been estimated to have cost the district more than聽聽in recent years.

But the far larger problem, LA Weekly reported, is one of 鈥減erformance cases鈥� 鈥� the teachers who cannot teach yet cannot be fired. From 2000 to 2010, district officials spent $3.5 million trying to fire just seven of the district鈥檚 33,000 teachers for poor classroom performance 鈥� and only four were fired, during legal struggles that wore on, on average, for five years each. Two of the three others were paid large settlements, and one was reinstated. The average cost of each battle was $500,000.

During the same time period, when LA Unified fired four failing teachers, 800 to 1,000 underperforming civil-service-protected workers were fired at City Hall, LA Weekly found.

The cost of ineffective teachers

础苍听聽is widely seen as聽聽in a child鈥檚 success in school, and even more so for聽聽and those in minority groups.

Requiring principals to hire first from the must-place list 鈥渋s just a terrible, terrible way to staff a school,鈥� said Daniel Weisberg, chief executive officer of TNTP, an education nonprofit that helps school systems address educational inequity. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no school, no principal, no parent, no teacher who wants to be in a school where somebody is forced on them and may not want to be there and may not be a good fit for the school or the students or the community.鈥�

But in attempting to fix the problem, he cautioned, 鈥淚t鈥檚 squeezing the other end of the balloon. If you exempt [some] schools, those teachers are going somewhere.鈥�

Many LA Unified principals say聽聽with being聽 with teachers from the 鈥渕ust-place鈥� pool.

Three-quarters of Los Angeles principals聽, a research and policy group focused on teacher effectiveness, said they were unable to hire their teacher of choice because they needed to hire from the priority placement list. The same 75 percent of school leaders said that teachers on the must-place list are rarely if ever a good fit for their school.

Kency Nittler, manager for teacher trends at the National Council on Teacher Quality, said their 2011 survey of LA Unified principals found that 鈥渢he majority of principals in LAUSD were rarely or never satisfied with the teachers they were forced to hire from the must-place list.鈥�

Kate Walsh, the organization鈥檚 president, said, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to hold schools accountable for results, you need to make it possible for the leader in that building to decide who is going to work there.鈥�

Legal attempt to address ineffective teachers

A lawsuit filed on behalf of LA Unified students in failing schools sought to make it easier for schools to get rid of ineffective teachers.

A ruling by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 2014 in the聽,听Vergara v. California, found that the state鈥檚 tenure and seniority systems, which can protect ineffective teachers, harmed all students, but especially poor and minority students, leading to outcomes that 鈥�.鈥� The case ended last year when the California Supreme Court聽聽an appellate court ruling.

The intention to give Los Angeles鈥檚 high-needs schools a waiver from having to hire off the must-place list was by then-Interim Superintendent Vivian Ekchian at a school board committee meeting in March that presented the new 鈥�,鈥� which the board then聽聽in April as a primary funding model for the district to ensure that dollars designated for the highest-needs students actually reach them. This week, Ekchian was named聽.

At that same April meeting, board members voted to create an聽聽that will allow parents to more easily compare schools as well as聽聽by which to evaluate them.

Katie Braude, executive director of the grassroots parents organization聽, noted afterward that the district should report how many must-place teachers are on a school鈥檚 staff.

The assessment framework, which Gonez said could lead to school report cards, could 鈥渟hine a light on things we don鈥檛 have any information on at all,鈥� Braude said, such as 鈥渓ooking at teaching staff, how long teachers have been at a school, how frequently they are evaluated, how many substitutes a school has for a year, how many must-place teachers are on staff.鈥� It gives parents an opportunity to make good choices.鈥�

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.