All the drama about Los Angeles Unified School District's cutting of nearly 8,600 jobs seemed to peak last week, when school superintendent Ray Cortines made his final recommendation for the cuts. Today, however, is the moment when LAUSD will actually vote to approve the layoffs, which include 4,700 teachers. At 1 p.m., its board will gather in a special session at 333 S. Beaudry Avenue.

Layoff protest at Dorsey High School

For the past week the teacher's union, United Teacher Los Angeles, has been staging demonstrations protesting the proposed layoffs and is calling for its members to show up in force at today's LAUSD board meeting. Last week UTLA members packed the board room and at one point their president, A.J. Duffy, refused to relinquish the floor mike — causing the board, under police protection, to retreat to a smaller, closed room. The teachers' protests come against the backdrop of a tentative contract agreement between the union and LAUSD — although the UTLA pledges to continue its members' boycott of student evaluations.

Meanwhile, a 4 p.m. “stop the layoffs” rally, sponsored by Local 99 of the Service

Employees International Union, will be held at the LAUSD HQ calling for

the use of federal stimulus money to prevent the flow of pink slips.

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