Like Ortega, Vargas did not express any hostility toward the student in question.
"I don't think he understands what he has done," Vargas says. "He's not in the right environment."
Assistant Superintendent Thomas Pike seemed to take last week's events in stride, offering a measured analysis of the mass student departure as well as the events leading up to it. Student and faculty safety are indeed a top priority, Pike says.
He also points to the multiple, sometimes conflicting interests of campus safety, transparency in campus operations, privacy rights and protecting the rights of the accused.
"We've been involved and actively engaged with the students on campus on this matter for months," Pike says.
"I don't think we were caught off-guard at all by this, as we've been very aware and have undertaken a lot of staff actions on campus to address and meet the students' concerns. Unfortunately, their frustration came to a head today. I understand it."
In the wake of the Tucson shooting of a U.S. congresswoman and the recent, accidental shooting of two L.A. schoolchildren during class, Pike says the district maintains an "aggressive program" to identify and intervene with students who may be struggling with behavioral problems or mental issues.
Pike says the school had some trouble keeping a single substitute in Ellis' class, mostly because of the nature of substitute teaching itself: a transitory assignment in which a substitute teacher often will either take another job elsewhere or take days off.
But Pike insisted the district is taking decisive action to remedy the problem.
"We have finalized plans today to resolve that concern of the students," he told the Weekly on Jan. 27. "On Monday we will have someone in that classroom that can commit to the needs of the district."
Student organizer Avery Smith, 17, a senior, says a second automated call went out to students and parents last Thursday after the protest, in which officials vowed to take action regarding student concerns.
As for meting out punishment to students for engaging in the walkout, Pike seems focused on the future, not on recrimination.
"[Ward] is going to take a look at it, but we don't want to escalate their frustration, so we'll take a very careful close look at how to proceed," Pike says. "We want to handle it in an adult, perhaps less punitive fashion."
One thing the students and Pike seemed to agree on is the value of a teacher like Ellis.
"We want her back just as badly as they do," Pike says. "And we're trying to make that happen."
Reach the writer at mrcromer@aol.com.
Czarnecki also was the school's sophomore class advisor and the advisor to the campus' ... Norco High 161 ... Although they later throw yet another interception at the one, they force a safety, and manage to gain the ball back. ... passes, all which were incomplete, and the game ends with the Poly Bears in an excited uproar. ...
Although Norco is light years from LAUSD, LA Weekly can't resist taking a gratuitous slap at "lemon teachers" who are so stupid they choose to teach in some of the most dangerous schools in California.
So since LA Weekly itself suggested the link, let's do some comparisons.
An elite, 700-student high school with a star "teacher of the year" should not have to accept students with "special needs." Such a dangerous student "should be placed somewhere that is better equipped to help him and educate him." Guess where that could be - an overcrowded, inner city school in Los Angeles staffed by unionized "lemon" teachers who don't get to pick and choose whom to educate.
Bear in mind that if you teach in inner city schools, personal threats in and out of the classroom are simply occupational hazard. The bureaucracy of LAUSD is filled with educational reformers who insist that whenever teacher is threatened by students, especially students with "special needs", it's all the teacher's fault. He or she did not "relate" to the special needs of the student. Even if LAUSD were interested in protecting the lives of its teachers, it is limited in what it can do simply because of the threat of lawsuits. Suffice it to say, a few "special needs" students have figured out that they can get away with murder. And some of their parents, viewing LAUSD as a cash cow, are ready to sue at the drop of a hat..
In spite of these risks, if you are a "lemon" teacher in an inner city school, you don't take 54 day leave-of-absence because you are unhappy with the way the principal handled a disciplinary case. Students come first. You must give them your best - regardless of the risks. Before you dwell too much on threats to your own personal safety, you must remember that a lot of students risk their lives every day coming to school, partially because we have a mayor who would rather run the school district than ensure safe street in dangerous 'hoods. For that reason, you must be there - partly to provide a safe learning environment for your students - even at the risk of your own life. As a "lemon" teacher in LAUSD, you can't shove this responsibility on a per diem sub.
The big problems with unionized "lemon" teachers in LAUSD is simple. They try too hard to educate everybody. For their efforts, they get smeared by the Los Angeles Times, the Board of Education, and LA Weekly. UTLA really needs to give up on that outdated notion. They need to turn all their schools into union-run charters and find innovatived ways to "outsource" students who are more trouble than they are worth. If they follow the "creative examples of some charter schools, particularly in Florida, they can dump their problem students elsewhere and still keep their ADA. They could even find ways to send all their problem students, including those with special needs to Kennedy Middle College in Norco where they can be educated by superstar teachers. If this transformation occurs, who knows? Perhas some day the teachers in Norco can become the lemons, and maybe a unionized teacher in an inner city school in Los Angeles get named teacher-of-the year.
Mark Cromer's article once again proves that Miller's law* is alive and well.
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