(NAME-MCE) FW: Update on Jordan Hi: Administration Commits Ethics Violations

Mon Jun 16 16:20:56 EDT 2008

From: latinosineducation at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:latinosineducation at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jose Lara
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 1:10 PM
To: latinosineducation at yahoogroups.com
Cc: josexlara at yahoo.com
Subject: [latinosineducation] Update on Jordan Hi: Administration Commits
Ethics Violations

If you are not aware of the struggle occurring in Watts that insults all
culturally relevant educators and has 100's of students protesting,  please
click on the coverage from- More protests to follow by parents.

The L.A. Times:
<http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-jordan12-2008jun12,0,6132849.st
ory>
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-jordan12-2008jun12,0,6132849.sto
ry

or the Chicago Tribune:
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ktla-karen-dalazar-jordan-high,0,4726961
.story>
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ktla-karen-dalazar-jordan-high,0,4726961.
story

or Luis Rodriguez (author of Always Running):
<http://www.luisjrodriguez.com/blog/2008/06/la-school-battles-leads-to-resig
nation.html>
http://www.luisjrodriguez.com/blog/2008/06/la-school-battles-leads-to-resign
ation.html

Click on the links below for Telemundo Coverage:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL1SIWrw_b0>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL1SIWrw_b0 
KTLA Coverage: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPKf02NPvJE>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPKf02NPvJE>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPKf02NPvJE

LETTERS OF SUPPORT FOR WATTS YOUTH to
<http://us.mc336.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Students4Salazar@gmail.com>
Students4Salazar at gmail.com 

UPDATE!!

            The controversy over the firing of Raza teacher Karen Salazar
for her lesson plans that promoted Black and Brown community has gathered
national attention in a district plagued with problems. In addition to the
FIFTY FIVE percent annual drop out rate, in the last year Los Angeles
Unified School District has lowered administrative and educational standards
and insulted the field of education through the:

*	Allegations of rape of middle school student by school
administrators.
*	Allegations of statutory rape of student by substitutes and faculty.

 The negative publicity for L.A.U.S.D. continues and now heightens as the
Principal Strachan of Jordan High School fires teacher Karen Salazar for an
"Afrocentric" curriculum. The audacity is evident: an administration fires
an educator who promotes healthy and supportive relationships between Black
and Raza communities in a District that has a legacy of racial violence and
melees. Firing a teacher who highlights the natural alliances between these
racial groups insults every member of Los Angeles's who works to unite our
segregated city.

Now the Principal at Jordan High has submitted an evaluation that violates
teacher rights, LAUSD ethics, and possible even Union Contract. Not only has
Principal Strachan refused to release the positive evaluation (stull) that
Salazar received last year, he has now sent an unsatisfactory evaultion of
this year to the District. AN evaluation that:

.      Was never presented to the teacher 

.      Created and submitted without a teacher/ administrator conference

.      Was absent her signature (a REQUIREMENT for evaluations)

.      Was backdated nine days before it's creation

Do Not ALLOW PRINCIPALS TO THREATEN EDUCATION AND DUE PROCESS. BE AWARE of
the precedence they are setting for firing an educator! 

Support Educators and Education that UNITE Communities of MANY COLORS!!

ACTION!

1) Call Carol Truscott immediately.            LAUSD Local District 7:
(323) 242.1300           Email Board Richard Vladovic:
<http://us.mc336.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=richard.vladovic@lausd.net>
richard.vladovic at lausd.net   

Identify yourself as parent or concerned community member.

2) Call for the reinstatement of Salazar! Ask why the District is firing the
educators who create cross-cultural relationships!

3) Come to the community forum. 

CORRECT ADDRESS 2265 E. 103rd Street, LA, CA 90002- Jordan High School- Room
19- 5 pm!!

A Letter of Resignation by HBO Def Poet & Educator Mark Gonzales

Dear family:

It with great pain that I write this. The struggle for the education our
youth deserve is a daily battle; one that speaks to the beauty of present,
past and future, and all aspects of our individual and collective identity.
At Jordan High in Watts, the struggle is not only mental, it is physical and
emotional. A struggle to challenge and transform individuals and
institutions that do not speak to nor help heal from the daily violence
faced by all- whether caused by streets or police, deportation or
incarceration. Yet when we who willingly choose this profession out of our
love for people are attacked and harassed in ways that stifle and prevent
our effectiveness, we must a make public stand.

The stand has already begun by the students, demanding the reinstatement of
a fellow colleague and phenomenal organizer
<http://youtube.com/watch?v=-jMqxo2uMj8>
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-jMqxo2uMj8  &
<http://youtube.com/watch?v=vE8cOJ4bKGQ>
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vE8cOJ4bKGQ

Many of you I've met through my work as a poet who utilizes the Arts as an
alternative intervention to the violent self medication methods we employ to
deal with this sickening system we live in. The work to enhance global
perspectives while transforming our localized reality is steadily becoming
interlinked. Our purpose: to struggle against all methods that dehumanize,
steal, and abuse our loved ones. It is estimated that of up to 40% of youth
within District 7 of LAUSD are living within the foster care system; of
those, several have lived through the trauma of parental deportation,
intersecting the need to articulate the right to an education with the right
to be free from violence, insititutional and individual.  For threat of
violence looms before, during, and after school when the residue of
institutional trauma lingers fresh in the mind as the blue bruises on the
skin.In my two years at Jordan, I have had three students shot, four become
homeless, over a dozen experience court, and several who, when kicked out of
their foster care placement, lived house to house. In this city called Los
Angeles, we rank #1 in Teen Birth Rates and among the highest in
incarceration rates. As murders by the military increase globally, so do
they locally, with a 30% increase in homocides in L.A. county in the last
year.

Yet rather than creating models and establishing partnerships between the
abundant amount of people working to transform our communities, I have to
spend my time writing rebuttals to multiple "informal classroom
observations" that say nothing of my teaching ability or pedagogy, just
question the justification for a "poster hanging on a wall". Another
documentation was made when I used a cell phone to request graffiti removal
due to the absence of a working phone in the classroom. When seeing the
principal, I called him over to show him the graffiti. The next morning I
found an observation form in my box with no words but: "teacher on cell
phone". The previous year, after receiving a positive review on my annual
evaluation,  I was informed I would be transferred to another academy within
the school without my consent; stripped from my students who I worked hard
to build a relationship and trust with. 

Recently, a colleague of mine, Karen Salazar was fired for using
L.A.U.S.D.'s approved text "The AutoBiography of Malcolm X", when
administrators stated her teachings were too "Afro-centric."  She was then
told that the school would not renew her teaching contract for the upcoming
school year. Salazar's class is a favorite among students on campus, where
they regularly read and analyze books and selected readings from people of
color to whom the students can relate.  Students, who typically skip some of
their classes, show up religiously to English Class. However, much of her
success has also led to constant harassment by Jordan H.S. administration.
Salazar has been "observed" by the administration over 15 times in the past
year. As a Jordan student put eloquently: "The school knows that Ms. Salazar
is a very passionate and good teacher, and yet they want to fire her. It is
not fair because there are many other teachers who don't teach anything, and
they never get fired. "

In addition, the current administration under the leadership of Stephen
Strachan, has overseen and or authorized:

                *strong-armed tactics that have intimidated, humiliated, and
controlled teachers, students and parents.
*the improper purchasing and placement of  metal detectors at high school
entrances with money he was not authorized to spend. 

                *The forced scheduling of students into classes segregated
by gender WITHOUT obtaining prior parental consent, as is required. *
* A school-wide uniform policy without community input, much less full
community approval

                *Jordan High's #1 spot for LAUSD schools in SUSPENSION DAYS
- over 900 suspension days were handed to students in ONE School year alone
- nearly FIVE YEARS OF INSTRUCTION). *

                *A mass exodus of teachers, averaging dozens of resignations
at the end of each school year in which he has been at Jordan..
*The harassment, detaining, and suspension of students organizing for a
better school and community.

When students recently organized to demand the contract renewal of one of
their favorite teachers (Karen Salazar), many were called into the office
and threatened with suspension for passing out flyers to protest her
removal. As a result of community pressure, students were allowed back to
their classes. Since then, the school has stopped answering phone calls,
allowing them to screen calls and only allow non-Salazar and suspension
related calls to be returned. The principal has now claimed to be receiving
"threats" to justify the increased presence of police in front of the
school.  SIX POLICE CARS were brought to the front of the school the day of
the protest and remained parked there to intimidate the beautiful youth of
Jordan High. Increased police presence at the school has continued since
last week. 

Concerned community members are now DEMANDING the following: 

**** The contract renewal of teacher Karen Salazar (who teaches youth about
identity, critical literacy, and explicit/ implicit/ theoretical analysis
using culturally relevant texts). If not, the call for the removal of
Principal Stephen Strachan. ***

Action #1******* JOIN the students and community in protest of Salazar's
firing tomorrow, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11th at 3pm at Jordan High (2265 E. 103rd
St, LA, CA 90002). 

                                                                The
Association of Raza Educators will hand-deliver a letter to the principal
calling for the written renewal of Salazar's contract to avoid further
actions. 

If you are unable to attend, there are following actions.

Action #2) Fellow teachers from Jordan will be holding an action in support
of Salazar.

Actrion #3) Email LETTERS OF SUPPORT FOR WATTS YOUTH to
<http://us.mc336.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Students4Salazar@gmail.com>
Students4Salazar at gmail.com                            or visit
myspace.com/wattsstudentunion

Action #4) Forward to ALL- we must not let the erasure of our education to
be allowed silently.

Action #5: Call Jordan High School & LAUSD & tell them you want Salazar to
stay, otherwise we'll ask for Strachan out. When calling make sure to
identify yourself as a concerned parent, community member, student, or
educator.

Jordan High: (323) 568-4100
LAUSD Local District 7: (323) 242.1300
Email Board Member Richard Vladovic:
<http://us.mc336.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=richard.vladovic@lausd.net>
richard.vladovic at lausd.net  

The YOUTH DON"T WANT SYMPATHY- THEY WANT SUPPORT! 

Thank you immensely for your support while working at Jordan. My work will
continue because my heart will not change; To paraphrase Salazar: "Why do I
teach? I have no alternative but to struggle daily for the rights and beauty
of the people I love." I will be building with youth in L.A. for years to
come, just not at Jordan. Specifically creating partnerships between
Violence, Substance Abuse, and STD prevention with the High School for the
Recording Arts. The demands of the Watts Student Union, ranging from "PTSD
Days" to "full administrative budget disclosure" continue. Till all walls
dissolve and we are able to return home to our loved ones.

Mark Gonzales, M.Ed

Educator, Poet

Founder

Human Writes Project

humanwrites at gmail,com

humanwritesproject.org

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