Letters: A casualty of L.A. Unified layoffs

Re “Layoffs claim a teacher who turned novices into champs,” Oct. 9

Those of us at Fairfax High School suffering the loss of marching band director Ray Vizcarra’s talents are not blaming this kind of stupidity on union-management agreements that protect teachers, and therefore students, from arbitrary firings and displacements. That’s the implication when you publish “seniority” as the cause.

We point to the punitive allegiance to the corporate-engineered “reform” of public education and budget mismanagement that drives the Los Angeles Unified School District to annually threaten and displace the best teachers.

Joel Freedman

Los Angeles

Of course L.A. Unified considers teachers of Vizcarra’s caliber as expendable. When you throw bucketfuls of money at high-priced consultants and central office bureaucracy, there isn’t enough left for good teachers and teaching.

Winners? Follow the money. Losers? Students, parents, our community and our nation. It’s time to get our priorities straight.

Barry David Sell

Glendale

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