Students, parents, community, and alumni organized an inspiring rally today against teacher jail at Crenshaw High School -- in defense of Ms. Iris Stevenson, a world-renowned music teacher, community activist, and Crenshaw High pillar. Ms. Stevenson was reassigned to teacher jail recently, with no explanation given. Students, parents, community, and alumni are building from the long tradition of organizing at Crenshaw High to fight back -- it is a fight back I am honored to be a part of, and it illustrates exactly the kind of coalition-building strategy UTLA needs to support to end teacher jail. Ms. Stevensons removal is the latest in a series of attacks on Crenshaw High. We, at the school, organized for years, winning battle after battle over the course of a decade against the District, against corporate charters, and in support of building a nationally-recognized, teacher-driven school improvement model. Now, the District sees it as pay back time -- LAUSD reconstituted the school last year amidst a huge pushback that we organized, the District threw the elected dean in teacher jail (which we organized against, and recently won his re-instatement), and now Ms. Stevenson. LAUSD is trying to punish us for organizing and developing our own approach to education. We will not rest. See the Channel 5 and Channel 2 stories at the links below. Lead the way, Crenshaw community! losangeles.cbslocal/2014/01/30/former-students-rally-around-beloved-crenshaw-teacher-banned-from-the-classroom/ ktla/2014/01/30/students-voice-outrage-after-crenshaw-choir-director-placed-on-leave/#axzz2rweLh2UQ
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 04:19:31 +0000
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