Faced with thousands of potential layoffs, 50 United Teachers of Los Angeles union members joined forces with community activists on March 10 to disrupt a board meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
While UTLA President A.J. Duffy addressed the board, teachers sat on the floor holding up signs that read, “Students lose when we lose teachers, No layoffs.” The chants from the teachers and their allies, who refused to be silenced, forced board members to convene in a different room.
Once there, no longer forced to face the consequences of their decision, the board voted 5-2 to send pending layoff notices to nearly 9,000 teachers, administrators and counselors due to a $718 million budget shortfall. Unless ballot measures to increase the district’s budget pass, all the layoffs could become final on June 30.
The teachers’ action was followed by a solidarity student walkout on March 17. Students marched through downtown Los Angeles to the district’s headquarters building.
