LAUSD teachers oppose deal that bumps veteran substitutes out of jobs
Teachers across Los Angeles are pushing to rescind a deal their union leader made that could result in the loss of benefits and work for veteran substitute teachers. Resolutions to cancel the agreement passed overwhelmingly this week at seven of eight local area meetings across the Los Angeles Unified School District, the union has confirmed.
The arrangement under challenge was signed in July by district officials and A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. Under it, about 1,800 newly laid-off teachers advanced to the top of the pool of substitutes, jumping over substitutes with more seniority.
The goal was to keep well-qualified laid-off teachers working, which also would give them an incentive to remain with the district until they could be rehired, said Duffy and Vivian Ekchian, the district’s chief human resources officer.
Because of the ongoing state budget crisis, the district on July 1 laid off about 2,000 teachers who had not yet earned sufficient tenure protections.
Duffy said his expectation was that many, if not nearly all, of the teachers would work as long-term substitutes at the schools where they had been laid off. He said the agreement would provide stability for schools heavily hit by the loss of teachers and keep the next generation of teachers in the system. The primary beneficiary would be students, he said, especially those at high-poverty schools, which had the most displacements because they also employed a greater number of the less experienced teachers.
But substitutes decried the secret negotiations with the district, which were held without representation for them, in possible violation of contract provisions.
Substitutes must work at least one day a month to keep their benefits and must work at least 100 days to earn benefits for the following year. The district typically uses about 2,200 subs a day, so 1,800 new ones could take up most of the work. On the first day of the traditional school year, the district used 1,446 subs, of whom 667 were laid-off teachers working in long-term sub placements.
The veteran subs assert that the deal, which is valid for one year, could undermine seniority protections for all teachers.
“UTLA has acted illegally against its own teachers to subvert the contract,” said substitute committee chairman Dave Peters in an email to fellow subs. “The other teachers need to be educated about the theft of our jobs. Their own jobs and benefits will be in jeopardy if UTLA can so easily sell
us out.”
Union members so far have sided with the substitutes: The motions to rescind apparently won majority support from all the teachers at this week’s meetings, not just from the subs. The union’s representative body will take up the issue at its October meeting.
-- Howard Blume
This was illegal, and political motivated. Mr. Duffy, I believe it's time you step down.
Posted by: Trébor Jacquez | September 18, 2009 at 06:28 PM
I'm a Los Angeles Unified Substitute teacher and member of UTLA, the union here. Our UTLA President, over the summer, traded away the seniority rights of substitute teachers in a secret meeting, without notifying the UTLA substitute leadership, as required by our own bylaws. Teachers voted overwhelmingly on 9.16.09, to have our union boss, AJ Duffy, rescind this agreement, but I know he's not going to. We are currently looking for a lawyer willing to fight the union on this by filing an injunction. If you are a lawyer involved with labor law, please help. Thanks for your consideration.
Posted by: Billy Spear | September 19, 2009 at 07:36 PM
The position of the Union is outrageous, The most experienced and qualified potentially are the substitues who revert to this position due to other circumstances i.e family needs versus those were laid off due to being on the job the least amount usually less than two years therefore they are the least experienced and qualified. The Teachers across the District realize that a substitute coming into the classroom in this environment needs to be actually better or at least equal to the regualar teacher as opposed to the least experienced. A.J. Duffy favors mediocrity!
Posted by: Sanford Gordon | September 20, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Why do subs in LAUSD have any contracts or seniority over a teacher less experienced or not who was under contract and in an actual classroom working full time? If you have made the choice to be a sub you are a day to day employee and have no right to expect benefits or contracts. Not to mention that LAUSD pays their subs on average $55 more per day and $100 more per day than other districts when you are in a long-term assignment.
Posted by: Christy | September 20, 2009 at 02:51 PM
UTLA should have no part of secret deals. I'm a LAUSD teacher who supports quality eduction, lowered class size, and I'm ashamed of the action of my union in this case.
Posted by: D. Tokar | September 20, 2009 at 09:18 PM
First Duffy's throws coaches and coordinators under the bus, now substitute teachers; who is next teachers themselves. Time to recall Duffy and replace him with leadership that represent all Educators of LAUSD!
Posted by: Former Coach | September 20, 2009 at 09:58 PM
Just because a teacher is young does not make him or her better than an experienced teacher who chooses to serve as a substitute teacher. UTLA needs to agree to an evaluation system that rewards all qualified teachers and objectively evaluates sub-standard teachers. It would be very easy to build the evaluation system into the seniority system and preserve the best of both. Is UTLA looking for real solutions to real problems or just cutting deals?
Posted by: Dan Basalone | September 21, 2009 at 10:42 AM
NO matter how sluttish Duffy's decision appears, teachers must not simply defame him. He was between a rock and a hard spot: Seasoned teachers should be placed in their own classrooms. Teachers, regular and subs should not be deprived of their medical benefits, funds should not be siphoned from public schools to charters in the privatization scheme to break the teachers unions (and all other unions as well!). WHat was the man to do? It is the capitalist system, stupid. THe great monster of profit and greed, the crushing cart with two wheels that is driving the bloody assault on us all. All, reapeat, all teachers, indeed all working folk should unite against the SYSTEM, not merely Duffy.
Posted by: STuart | September 21, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Why should a laid-off fully credentialed teacher have to take a seat behind day-to-day subs? It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. The teachers with seniority are upset? Please. The laid off teachers were let go because of seniority. If the bumping-down process is going to happen it should happen at all levels. The laid off teachers should be at the top of the sub list. They are the ones who spent years training to be a teacher in the first place. In my experience day-to-day subs really don't do much. If you are a sub reading this during the day then you really do do nothing except read the paper and do crosswords. Oh I forgot, you take roll for 10 minutes also. Please, there is no comparison between a credentialed teacher and a peon sub. Get real!!!!!
Posted by: Lausd Teacher | September 21, 2009 at 01:03 PM
If the UTLA has any scruples at all, it will call for the ouster of their idiotic president, Duffy! How dare he enter into closed talks with LAUSD regarding substitute teachers and not include the representative for them! He has no idea what he is doing and only serving to harm the teachers of UTLA and has made a mockery of education. Teachers need to recall him and put a dedicated leader of TEACHERS in office.
Posted by: Rick | September 21, 2009 at 02:31 PM
In response to "LAUSD teacher": What was that person doing reading emails in the middle of the day?
As a fully credentialled Substitute Teacher I not only follow Lesson Plans, that is, when I find them, but I also create Lesson Plans when the regular teacher has not, for some reason, left one. I and my non-credentialed substitute friends alaways do our best and leve the room in better condition than we found it. Some of us have even been told by the students that our day together was the best learning time that they had all year.
What this classroom teacher teacher is doing by putting down the subs is exactly what the powers that be are hoping for....DIVIDE AND CONQUER.... a lesson that this teacher has not learned at all: UNITED WE STAND AND DIVIDED WE FALL.
If I have devoted my life to helping children in
the classroom for a number of years, I deserve medical insurance just as much a first year contract teacher who just arrived.
Posted by: Credentialed LAUSD Substitute Teacher | September 21, 2009 at 02:44 PM
Teachers better stop this holier than thou attitude or all will suffer. There are both outstanding regular and substitute teachers in LAUSD, but there are also the few who are not capable whether regular or substitute. The key has been and always will be having a fair evaluation system that helps teachers grow professionally when they start in the profession and keeps them motivated as they become experienced. Supposedly there is a "commission" working on the evaluation system, when are we going to hear from them. Seniority should be respected when deserved and evaluated fairly with accountability when it is not.
Posted by: Dan Basalone | September 22, 2009 at 08:53 AM
I agree with those who state that the denigration on both sides of this issue needs to stop. It ISN'T fair that career subs should have their benefits affected because of the unusual situation this year, which will follow them into retirement. But was it fair for me to be laid off after almost three years of credentialling and BTSA classes, one day before I would have been permanent? Perhaps one solution would be to change the requirements for career subs who need 25 years of continuous employment for retirement benefits: this year shouldn't count for them. Otherwise their "clock" would reset to one.
I hope the justified anger surrounding this issue helps spur what we RIF'd teachers want: full-time teaching positions.
Posted by: RIF'd Teacher | September 22, 2009 at 01:14 PM
p.s. I don't see how Duffy can say he expected the RIF'd teachers to have long-term sub positions at their school sites. There are no open positions, period. We were bumped by district administrators who got pushed back into the classroom (wonder how long they'll last BTW). Those positions aren't just sitting open. They're filled. So that statement is disingenuous at the very least. Sorry, I know the district wants to divide and conquer, but it becomes easier to do so when our own union isn't straight with its members. I think the deal was that laying off teachers would save the district their salaries over the summer...
Posted by: SK | September 22, 2009 at 02:48 PM
How dare subs come up with the argument that they deserve benefits also. Of course they do. No one says they don't. But, for a credentialed teacher who spent about three years in graduate school and another year or two in BTSA to be laid off a day before becoming permanent. Hello!!!! These teachers who spent all that money for their credential and who staked their very future on their teaching career, is now without benefits, reduced to spending nearly $900 for a COBRA plan for their family. Is this fair? No, absolutely not. How come all of these veteran teachers are crying foul about the laid off teachers getting to be at the top of the sub list, when they essentially bumped out these teachers with their seniority? District office people were bumped down back to schools. Teachers were bumped to the unemployment line. If this whole bumping business can hold any weight it must go down to the bottom of the heap, which are subs. Why should a laid-off teacher be pushed underneath the "career" subs? Allowing them to be on top just goes along with the whole bumping business anyway.
Posted by: Another LAUSD Teacher | September 22, 2009 at 03:22 PM
A 'career sub' is generally an out of work actor or the guy who still can't pass the bar exam. Get real and get a credential if you want respect and the rights to a job. You are only allowed to stay in a class for 30 days anyway and at that point a REAL teacher should get the job. The good subs are still being called, but by no means should they get seniority. Duffy signed the letter knowing exactly what he was doing, legal or not. Are you so shocked that he's a liar? Get rid of him.
Posted by: LOL | September 22, 2009 at 08:04 PM
This is a tough call - on one hand, you have young (or recent transfers to the profession), and on the other - career subs. What to do?
Discussion threads drive me batty. Choose an alias, and scream from extreme perspectives. Real human beings (and schoolchildren) are affected by this. Not all young teachers are idealistic and effective, and not all subs are lazy failed screenwriters. The average classroom teacher (sub or otherwise) is dedicated and hardworking - and part of a LAUSD system that needs tremendous reforms.
This may be an appropriate time to scrutinize the tenure system and see if it is working for us. UTLA is strongly against merit pay schemes, but I don't believe that real change can come without it. Ideally, all the RIFd teachers should have been the least effective teachers, but there is no way yet of critically evaluating who's out there. I wouldn't trust my admin team with merit pay decisions. But real change can be mere years, not decades off. We truly got rid of some of the best and kept some of the worst.
I was RIFd but now retained my old job as a long-term sub. Three months ago, I was down and out and looking for teaching work coast to coast. I'm back now as a sub for my old job, waiting for a contract. I am lucky to have work, especially work that is so fulfilling.
In my experience (I have subbed for 2 years in this district), the best subs are the ones with aspirations for a contract job. These are teachers working their way through prep programs or internships. When they demonstrate competence and initiative, they get chosen for long-term gigs and have the best chances for contract jobs when they become available. Principals and HR staff want people with career aspirations for work.
But here I might be adding to an unhelpful comparison between those contract teachers who depend on teaching to put food on their plates to subs who are looking for extra cash. This breeds resentment on campus, which trickles down to the kids. Zoom your scopes out to see the limitations of the tenure system that is on its way out in many districts, like DC.
I'm not a lawyer; I'm a teacher - just trying to do my best like so many of my colleagues. Duffy had to do something. It's only a year-long deal. We have to think longer term than this.
NOW STOP READING THIS THREAD AND GO LESSON PLAN!
best,
b
Posted by: Brian | September 22, 2009 at 09:34 PM
As a substitute teacher, I'd just like to extend may gratitude
for working so closely with your elected cohorts Substitute Board of
Director member Leonard Segal, Substitute Committee Chair Dave Peters,
and point officer for substitute issues Gregg Solkovits. Your
decision to suspend over half the substitute pool was quite brilliant,
the sign of a true politician. Moreover, the letter you sent to us was
well-informed and gave us great assurance. Ironically, you borrowed
the term "cone of silence" from "Get Smart" (I wonder who got that
joke, or even if it was meant to be one). Silence is good when
working for the people, that way you can make your decisions on our
behalf, without ever having to consult with other chosen leaders. I
had to check the signature twice, honestly thinking I had received a
letter from Niccolò Machiavelli himself. With charisma like that, I'm
sure there's an office waiting for you in Washington.
Signed,
Unemployed
Posted by: Unemployed | September 23, 2009 at 09:18 AM
In response to the so called regular LAUSD Teachers: Stop putting down and disrespecting substitute teachers. Many of the substitutes would like to work in permanent positions. They've work out there in the "real world" where the best are hired, before they decided to go into education. Many of your students prefer teachers who have work experience outside education (engineering, business, medical, law). If the hiring process were determined by merit and achievements, you regular teachers wouldn't be worth a dime. Count yourselves lucky were you are!! Pure Luck.
Posted by: Another Fully Credentialed Substitute Teacher | September 23, 2009 at 01:23 PM