Pink Slips

Yesterday was Pink Slip Friday in LAUSD.  Friends and colleagues started texting at 6:30 in the morning reminding each other to wear pink, though preferably not pink slips or lingerie of any public sort, to work.  It was festive and light-hearted, perhaps because it (and we) were still bleary-eyed about it all.

Then we went to work.  One by one six teachers from our staff of 35 or so were called into the principal’s office.  He was gentle but it was still executioner-style.  They were told that registered pink slips would be awaiting them at home.  The principal himself had gotten one (he’s new this year).  As had our week-old vice principal.  Bleary-eyed quickly became teary-eyed.

I’ve been searching the district’s website, the union’s website, the LA Times, but I can’t find a straight story full of facts, figures, and hard data.  Here’s the closest thing I’ve found, some numbers from different sources at the aggregator site, 4LAKids:

8,846 layoff notices sent out

including

~2,000 permanent elementary school teachers

~3,500 probationary (non-permanent) teachers

~2,900 administrators and counselors (90% of whom work in schools, NOT in the central bureaucracy = ~2,610 principals, vps, counselors, etc.)

TOTAL SCHOOL SITE CUTS: 6,110

Remainder: 2,890

Does this mean that 69% of the job cuts directly affect students?  And a mere 31% come from the paper-pushing, memo-generating bureaucracy downtown (and in the 9 local mini-districts, each of which completely replicates the others’ bureaucratic structure)?

In the absence of data, rumors are flying. The word at our school site is that the people whose positions are being cut downtown are going to be coming back to the schools because they have seniority: hence the need for such drastic cuts in the schools.

If this is true, the teacher who worked with kids because s/he chose to work with kids is being booted out of the classroom in favor of the paper-pusher who chose to leave the classroom.

People leave the classroom for many reasons, a few of which may even be idealistic and good, but all too often it’s because they’re:

A. Burnt out

B. Not so good with kids

C. Wanting to climb the pay scale faster

D. Needing to buy a BMW/Mercedes/Lexus to let the world know who they really are

E. Preferring to wear suits everyday rather than clothes that might get dirty (kids being kids)

F. All of the above

Parents, rejoice!  The people who ran away from kids are now going to be in charge of your little ones.

By lunch we were sitting around grim-faced under the pallid fluorescent lights of the teachers’ lounge.  Around us, our custodian was giving a tour of browning ceiling tiles to a facilities worker.  The worker opened his ladder and began painting over the discolored tiles.  It all felt so Romania, 1986.

Then we started to get angry.

We know there’s a recession and job cuts are likely.  We know we can’t control the bureaucracy (though we wish our union would do more on waste on this front, in alliance with the media, parents, us).  But why can’t we control our own school site at least?

Our school is just turning around this year.  A great new principal, a (seemingly) great new vice-principal.  A great new coordinator (a teacher who left to save jobs, and, for sure, will return to the classroom soon).

But some of the junior teachers being let go are so much better teachers than some of the senior teachers staying on.  Some of these teachers are our teammates in turning the school around.  Some of the senior teachers are our obstacles in turning the school around.

Hmm.  Teammates.  Obstacles.

We decided we want to play Survivor, LAUSD School Edition!

We want to be the ones voting ineffective teachers off our island.  We want to be the ones setting the tasks and challenges and deciding the budget and consequences.  We want to pink slip.

We know, we’re dreaming.

Back to wearing pink on Monday.

Can’t our union come up with something more meaningful for us to do than change our clothing color?

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