Plaintiffs and the local teachers’ union reached an agreement last week designed to prevent 37 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District from getting hit by layoffs.
The pact calls for hiring new administrators, installing mentors to help inexperienced teachers, hiring counselors, and providing 40 hours of professional development for teachers in the schools. It does not, however, alter the fundamentals of teachers’ seniority rights—the provisions that the plaintiffs sought to change when the suit was first filed.
The suit was filed in 2010 on behalf of students in the schools, which were losing dozens of novice teachers during budget-based layoffs.
