Aug 31, 2008 9:30 am US/Pacific
Teachers Aim To Force Out Unfriendly Principal
CARSON, Calif.
United Teachers Los Angeles has been flexing its muscle by holding demonstrations aimed at forcing out principals unfriendly to the union, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.
About 75 teachers, parents and union representatives gathered on the lawn in front of Dolores Street Elementary School in Carson last month to protest what they alleged was Principal Anna Barraza's incompetence, the Times reported.
Barraza has denied claims of arrogance or incompetence, and some teachers who have worked with her say the criticisms are unwarranted.
The union for administrators has called her a courageous educational leader.
The protest was the second time in the past year that UTLA organized a campus sleepover, one of a number of protests against principals in Huntington Park and eastern Los Angeles, among other places, The Times reported.
The demostration also called attention to the Los Angeles Unified School District's practice of moving administrators from campus to campus, seemingly to avoid confrontation with the teachers union or to avoid dealing with controversial employees.
Barraza has been assigned to a different campus each of the past three years, and the union held protests outside two of those schools.
Senior Deputy Suptintendent Ramon Cortines acknowledged that, rather than document administrators' problems so they can be disciplined or supported, the district typically reassigns controversial principals.
He pledged to end the practice.
"We take the chicken way out," he said. " . . . We horse-trade," he said.
Union officials accused Barraza of not taking mediation meetings seriously and said she did not consider their suggestions for the school's
budget.
No one denies that Dolores Street needs to improve.
The school scored 737 on the latest state Academic Performance Index, a 21-point drop from the year before.
The state's target score is 800.
Barraza went to the school with high hopes, even though the teachers union had held protests at her last posting at Dena Elementary in Boyle Heights the year before.
Barraza told The Times that she unsure why she drew the union's ire at Dena, but that she suspects she was targeted after refusing to hire an academic coordinator with union ties.
A.J. Duffy, the head of UTLA, shrugged off the criticism, saying the thought the sleepover at Dolores it was "a good tactic."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
