27,000 layoffs of teachers in LA leads to shortages of teachers

Date: Thursday, October 15, 2009 3:50 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2062 -- 10/15/2009 >>>>>

I'll have to admit, I like the comment in a recent blog by Nicholas Stix"
"Shortage shouting, even in the teaching biz? Paging Rob Sanchez!".

http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2009/10/14/a-reporting-problem-looms-la-times-story-on-laid-off-teachers-is-plagued-by-non-sequiturs-and-omissions/
"A Reporting Problem Looms: LA Times Story on Laid-Off Teachers is Plagued by
Non Sequiturs and Omissions"

Stix did such a good job commenting about the LA Times article I'm almost
speechless. Well, almost, he!he!

Sometimes it's a lot of fun to read the moronic articles that appear in major
newspapers like the LA Times in order to examine them for logic. Take for
instance the latest sophistry titled: "An education problem looms".

Be sure to read the previous newsletter to see what the real problem is -- in
Louisiana for example.

Now, back to the LA Times which contains this dire warning:

The state is facing a looming teacher shortage as baby boomers reach
retirement age and fewer young people are expected to enter the
field.

But, if there is such a shortage, how could there by large layoffs???

Faced with severe budget cuts, school districts last spring issued
more than 27,000 pink slips.

OK, if that obvious contradiction didn't throw you off your chair, the comment
by this shill will surely do it for you:

Margaret Gaston, executive director of the Center for the Future of
Teaching and Learning, a Santa Cruz-based nonprofit focused on
strengthening California's teacher workforce. "We want to make sure
there is, one, an adequate pool of teachers from which principals
can choose candidates that match the job openings, and, two, in that
pool we have teachers who are training or prepared to take those
challenging assignments in shortage areas."

Mistakes like this prove that newspapers no longer have editors. I don't mean
to be perceived as profiling somebody on the basis of race or ethnicity, but
the journalist who wrote the article, Seema Mehta, doesn't seem to me the type
who would oppose H-1B.

The LA Times even raises this gloomy scenario:

As thousands of laid off California teachers sit out the school year,
educators are worried about the long-term effect of losing so many
teachers. Some instructors are considering leaving the state or even
the profession, and if history is any indication, fewer young people
will pursue careers in teaching.

So, if thousands of California teachers are ready to flee the state, why are
Louisiana education officials going on junkets to the Philippines to recruit
young female teachers? It would seem that they could go to LA to recruit all
the teachers they need. How tough could it be to find teachers in a bankrupt
state that is, among other things experiencing drought induced wildfires and
huge mudslides.

I sort of hate kicking a dead dog, but the article has several interviews of
clueless unemployed teachers. Like for instance, Heather Hottinger who lost
her teaching job. She said the ordeal is kind of discouraging because she
recently realized that she is competition with scores of others. I'll wager
she has never heard of H-1B. Duh!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-teachers4-2009oct04,0,1662548.story

An education problem looms
In a time of layoffs, the state hopes to inspire a new generation of educators

By Seema Mehta

October 4, 2009

As thousands of laid off California teachers sit out the school year,
educators are worried about the long-term effect of losing so many teachers.
Some instructors are considering leaving the state or even the profession, and
if history is any indication, fewer young people will pursue careers in
teaching.

"The pipeline issue is one of the most significant challenges that we're
dealing with, with the layoff situation or the pink-slipping," said Margaret
Gaston, executive director of the Center for the Future of Teaching and
Learning, a Santa Cruz-based nonprofit focused on strengthening California's
teacher workforce.

Faced with severe budget cuts, school districts last spring issued more than
27,000 pink slips. Although many of those teachers were eventually rehired by
school districts, thousands are still out of work, existing on a combination
of unemployment benefits, their savings, spouses' wages and substitute
teaching income when possible.

Heather Hottinger was one day shy of becoming a permanent teacher when she was
laid off from her job at Vintage Magnet Elementary in North Hills in July.
Since then, the new mother has applied for every teaching position she hears
of, only to find herself in competition with scores of others.

To make ends meet, the 32-year-old is seeking substitute teaching assignments
in Los Angeles and Temple City schools but has only worked three days this
school year. She and her husband are considering a move to Texas, which has
more teaching openings and where other relatives moved after earning
credentials in California.

"All I want is my classroom. This is what I wanted to do my whole life, and I
keep getting pushed away," said Hottinger, who is among 2,143 Los Angeles
Unified School District teachers, counselors and administrators who are no
longer employed full-time. "Did I go into the wrong field? I definitely have
second thoughts."

The state is facing a looming teacher shortage as baby boomers reach
retirement age and fewer young people are expected to enter the field.
Nearly 55,000 teachers could retire over the next seven years, according to
WestEd, a San Francisco-based nonprofit research and education agency.

In addition, the layoffs are having a ripple effect on the next generation of
teachers: Past economic downturns in California have produced fewer teachers.
In the years after the dot-com bust, the number of students enrolled in
teacher preparation programs declined 13% and the number of new teaching
credentials dropped 17%, according to the Santa Cruz teachers center.

"We are confident that California once again will recover out of this economic
slump, and it will be reflected in the hiring practices of schools and
districts," Gaston said. "We want to make sure there is, one, an adequate pool
of teachers from which principals can choose candidates that match the job
openings, and, two, in that pool we have teachers who are training or prepared
to take those challenging assignments in shortage areas."

Concerns about the next generation of teachers have prompted statewide and
national recruitment efforts.

The Obama administration has requested $30 million for a national campaign
that focuses on young adults and mid-career professionals and on such high-
need areas as science and math. In addition to reaching out to potential
teachers, the U.S. Department of Education hopes to improve training programs.
President Obama and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan plan to hold events
in the fall highlighting the importance of teaching to the nation's future.

"It's a noble profession. In many other countries, children do aspire to be
teachers, and they are regarded as some of the most important people in
society," said John White, the education department spokesman. "That's what we
need to do, so that we not only replace the teachers who are retiring but
bring the most talented people to the field. . . . We need them to aspire to
be the next generation of teachers."

The California Teacher Corps was formed earlier this year, with the goal of
placing 100,000 new teachers into classrooms over the next decade. The
organization focuses on recruiting professionals who are changing careers.

"There are people who had considered teaching who now are a little bit
frightened off by it," said Catherine Kearney, president of the nonprofit.
"One of things we can do is be proactive and talk more and plan more for
what's in our future. The future is really here now."

Kate Robertson, 24, thought she was the future. Then she was laid off after
her first year.

"After I finished the credential program, I started to hear that it's really
hard to find a job. Why didn't anyone tell me this?" she said.

She was considering a combination of substitute teaching and working as a
waitress to get by until she got a new job at Larchmont Charter in August.
The school will find out later this month if it needs to cut more positions.
"I don't think I would have chosen another route. I might have, had I known it
would have been such a struggle."

Many teachers said they will weather this storm because they cannot imagine
any other career.

Jennifer Galvin, 45, decided she wanted to be a teacher in second grade.
Her father had just died, and her teacher helped her deal with her grief and
uncertainty.

"She was just so warm and open. I was very, very, very shy," she said. "She
would give me hugs, she was patient with me, she let me be myself and she let
me know that I was safe."

Galvin taught in the Bay Area for 15 years, but moved to Folsom to be closer
to her family. She made the four-hour commute to her old district for two
years, but it was exhausting, so she found a job closer to home. As a new
teacher with little seniority, she has been pink-slipped each of her three
years in the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District. The first two times, she
got a phone call asking her to return days before schools were to open.

So in August, as Galvin has done every summer for the last 18 years, she
bought supplies -- folders, pencils, hand sanitizer, crayons -- for every
child in her classroom.

The phone never rang, and the supplies are boxed in her garage.

"I thought I would be a teacher forever. I don't know what I'm going to do if
I don't get called back soon," she said. "I don't wake up not thinking about
it, and I don't go to bed not thinking about it."

seema.mehta@latimes.com

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