LAURACK D. BRAY, ESQ.
FEDERAL ATTORNEY
P.O. BOX 611432
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
TEL: (805) 901-2693
September 28, 2010
Mr. (A.J.) Duffy: Stay the Course, Do Not Allow the L.A. Times’ Brown-Nosing to Stop You from Demanding Impartial and Fair Reporting from the Times
A.J. Duffy, President of the United Teachers Los Angeles, announced that he was organizing a boycott of the L.A. Times, apparently by both his constituency and other labor groups, asking the groups to cancel subscriptions to the Times. His dissatisfaction and disgust was directed at the Times “publishing a series of articles that uses student test scores to estimate the effectiveness of district teachers.” L.A. Times, “Union urges Times boycott”, August 16, 2010. “Based on test score data covering seven years, the Times analyzed the effects of more than 6,000 elementary school teachers on their students’ learning. Among other things, it found huge disparities among teachers, some of whom work just down the hall from one another.” Id. “Students often backslid significantly in the classrooms of ineffective teachers, and thousands of students in the study had two or more ineffective teachers in a row.” Id.
Mr. Duffy’s views were that test scores could be useful “as feedback for teachers” (so that teachers could gauge the progress of students), but that the test scores should not be used to evaluate teachers or their expertise with students. Mr. Duffy is quoted as saying, referring to the Times teacher-student database, that it was “an irresponsible, offensive intrusion into your professional life that will do nothing to improve student learning.” Id. Moreover, he “attacked the reliability of standardized tests in general. . . .” Id. And I, for one, certainly agree with his attack, having confronted a multitude of standardized tests during the course of my educational career, i.e., H.S.D., A.A., B.A. , M.S., M.P.A., and J.D. A standardized test should only be an indicator (among other indicators) and never a decider (in and of itself) of either a student’s ability to perform or succeed, or a teacher’s expertise or effectiveness . The Times have now published the database, including the teacher names, online, and it has limited availability to the public . Mr. Duffy stated, “This is part of the continuing attack on our profession (teachers), and we must continue to fight back on all fronts.” Id.
He kept his word about the boycott, and then some.
On Tuesday, September 14, 2010, the Union organized and staged a protest of teachers against the L.A. Times, in front of the Times building in downtown Los Angeles. The demonstrators protested against “unfair reporting” and carried and “waved placards that said: “Shame on the L.A. Times” and “We Demand Fair Reporting”. L.A. Times, “Union Stages Protest against the Times”, September 15, 2010. The crux of the protest was the teachers “protesting what they said was unfair reporting in recent articles that used a statistical analysis to rank the performance of thousands of instructors.” Id. Mr. Duffy, a leader and organizer of the protest is said to have stated, “Teachers. . . are more than a test score.”
What happened after the protest is the focus of this blog; that is, the Times, through reporter Steve Lopez, “Sitting down with A.J. Duffy,” L.A. Times, September 19, 2010. Let me first give credit where credit is due. I give credit to the L.A. Times for providing coverage of the protest (and boycott)(in front of its office), which appeared to be successful. The Times did not have to do that, but it did. And, I’m sure a lot of Angelenoes and other citizens, statewide, would not have known of the protest , but for the Times’ coverage.
Nevertheless, I believe the UTLA’s and Mr. Duffy’s protest and boycott of the Times is legitimate and necessary or needed. Especially when it comes to unfair or biased reporting. And, I think the quality of the legitimacy is recognized by the Times, thus, the “sit-down with Mr. Duffy.” Regardless of any good-faith purpose for the “sit-down”, on the street, that’s called “brown-nosing”. An attempt to garner favor from Mr. Duffy after a successful (i.e., impactful) protest and/or boycott of the Times, or to convince him to change his course of protest (and boycott) against the Times’ unfair reporting without addressing the unfair reporting directly. “(T)ell the Old Bear that if he comes around on the subscription, I will personally deliver the paper to your door for a week.” Id.
And so, through this blog, I urge Mr. Duffy and the UTLA to stay its course in reference to its protest and stance against unfair reporting by the Times. Because, regardless of the legitimacy of the Times’ concerns for L.A.U.S.D.’s students or parents, its widespread and detailed investigation and reporting of teacher ineffectiveness is clearly and intentionally biased and/or partial against teachers (and other largely minority professions in Los Angeles, e.g., nurses, social services workers, etc.). If this is not true or not the case, then why isn’t the Times doing or conducting the same type of investigation of largely white high-ranking professionals, e.g., judges. I am intentionally using judges as an example because the Times’ investigation has been of public teachers and other professions (and the judges are public employees), and because I know, from personal experience, that there is a sufficient enough study sample of ineffective and effective judges for an investigation of judges similar to that of teachers (of course there would have to be the proper substitution of appropriate concerns, i.e., for teachers—student improvement, and for judges—litigant or lawyer satisfaction or harm caused or rights denied by the judges’ actions or other). And, the rationale for the Times’ teacher investigation and evaluation would apply equally to an investigation of judges. According to the Times, and its vice-president of communications, Nancy Sullivan, “The newspaper published the (teacher) database. . . ‘because it bears directly on the performance of public employees(such as judges) who provide an important service, and in the belief that parents and the public have a right to judge the data for themselves.” L.A. Times, “Teacher’s suicide shocks school”, September 28, 2010 .
I urge Mr. Duffy and the UTLA to stay the course regarding its protest and boycott efforts against the L.A. Times, and to continue to demand fair and impartial reporting from the Times, and to inform the Times that the best objective evidence that it intends to be fair and impartial in its reporting is to either initiate an investigation of judges, state and/or federal, in the same areas as the teachers, i.e., the greater Los Angeles area, or to remove the teacher database information from the internet or print until it does conduct such an investigation. I understand that Mr. Duffy would likely prefer the removal of the teacher database information regardless , and he has good reason for taking such a position. But, my position here is on behalf of fairness and justice for all, and especially for minority professionals, who appear to be receiving the brunt of the Times’ unfair and biased reporting of teacher effectiveness.
cc: A.J. Duffy, President, UTLA
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