Friday, November 30, 2012

Letters: ON THE OTHER HAND ON DEASY

letters to the Editor of the LA Times | http://lat.ms/YxFHus

November 30, 2012

Re "Head of the class," Opinion, Nov. 26 [4LAKids: http://t.co/8uifHhOM ]

During his short tenure as superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, John Deasy has been reprimanded by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for failing to report the change of status of a teacher who was accused of sexually abusing students. He has exhibited unprofessional conduct by accosting a substitute teacher and engaging in a verbal confrontation in front of high school students at Washington Prep High School. In a Times article last April, one of his subordinates refused to provide a name when criticizing Deasy for fear of reprisal.

If Deasy has done anything, it is to instill a culture of fear in the district.

Victor Ramos

Mission Hills

Despite Jim Newton's glowing analysis of Deasy, I find only two statements that seem worth praise:

Deasy has "cut the district headquarters staff by 54% in two years." It's about time, but I'm sure there's still plenty of busy work going on there.

"Districtwide, scores on the Academic Performance Index, a state measure of student achievement, jumped 16 points last year." Don't the teachers, not Deasy, deserve credit for that?

Cheryl Clark

Long Beach

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