I am sending you this letter with the hope that you will also write the State Board in favor of splitting up the Los Angeles Unified School District. Of course, you may not agree with anything I say and you think the school board is doing a great job ?–then do nothing. File it in the trash.
11/20/01
State Board of Education
721 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, Ca. 95814
Dear Board,
Our organization FREE (Finally Restoring Excellence in Education) has just notified me that you will be meeting soon to discuss whether or not the people of the San Fernando Valley will be permitted to vote on whether or not they wish to split off from the Los Angeles Unified School District.
There is an irony here that is unthinkable. There are more than a million and a half people living in this Valley. How can a school district that encompasses more than 650,000 students possibly accomplish anything? And they do not. That is why they must be separated into community districts who will be better managed by the communities themselves.
I have seen where the people in Carson voted to stay with LAUSD. Fine. Maybe the Valley will also. But when I read of the tremendous pressure put on that community by UTLA, I was absolutely shocked. Do they not have a conscience? We do not have schools so that the Union can exist. We have schools so that our children can be educated.
Being held hostage to a school district and its teachers?’ union is not what the United States is all about. The union does not have any authority to tell parents what they can and cannot do. We are citizens of a free country and so are they. We cannot tell them they cannot vote and neither can they prevent us from voting. These schools belong to us. They are bought and paid for by the taxpayers.
The union represents employees. UTLA employees should be able to work in the two proposed Valley school districts. They will face no problem as far as I am concerned. If the Union wants to add a ?“C?” to their name, so that it will read UTLAC, for United Teachers of Los Angeles Consolidated, that would be their vote to decide. Perhaps then the teachers could work in any district where they could find a job and still protect their vested interest in UTLA as it relates to pensions, health care and whatever other perks there are to which they are now entitled.
Thank you for taking my letter in consideration as you discuss the future of the LAUSD.
My views are not out of the ordinary. I am sure that they represent the feelings of many, many citizens here in the San Fernando Valley who are very unhappy not only with our schools, but also with our status as part of the City of Los Angeles. I am sure you are well aware that there is support for secession.
Sincerely yours,
Theodora Howell
23718 Community Street, Canoga Park, Ca. 91304-3003
11/20/01
State Board of Education
721 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, Ca. 95814
Dear Board,
Our organization FREE (Finally Restoring Excellence in Education) has just notified me that you will be meeting soon to discuss whether or not the people of the San Fernando Valley will be permitted to vote on whether or not they wish to split off from the Los Angeles Unified School District.
There is an irony here that is unthinkable. There are more than a million and a half people living in this Valley. How can a school district that encompasses more than 650,000 students possibly accomplish anything? And they do not. That is why they must be separated into community districts who will be better managed by the communities themselves.
I have seen where the people in Carson voted to stay with LAUSD. Fine. Maybe the Valley will also. But when I read of the tremendous pressure put on that community by UTLA, I was absolutely shocked. Do they not have a conscience? We do not have schools so that the Union can exist. We have schools so that our children can be educated.
Being held hostage to a school district and its teachers?’ union is not what the United States is all about. The union does not have any authority to tell parents what they can and cannot do. We are citizens of a free country and so are they. We cannot tell them they cannot vote and neither can they prevent us from voting. These schools belong to us. They are bought and paid for by the taxpayers.
The union represents employees. UTLA employees should be able to work in the two proposed Valley school districts. They will face no problem as far as I am concerned. If the Union wants to add a ?“C?” to their name, so that it will read UTLAC, for United Teachers of Los Angeles Consolidated, that would be their vote to decide. Perhaps then the teachers could work in any district where they could find a job and still protect their vested interest in UTLA as it relates to pensions, health care and whatever other perks there are to which they are now entitled.
Thank you for taking my letter in consideration as you discuss the future of the LAUSD.
My views are not out of the ordinary. I am sure that they represent the feelings of many, many citizens here in the San Fernando Valley who are very unhappy not only with our schools, but also with our status as part of the City of Los Angeles. I am sure you are well aware that there is support for secession.
Sincerely yours,
Theodora Howell
23718 Community Street, Canoga Park, Ca. 91304-3003
