🚀 go-pugleaf

   Round up all that are illegals or the "droppings" of illegals and
march them to
the border.

ted











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Battle-scarred 'sub' in L.A. barrios speaks out

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Posted: November 16, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern


By Migdia Chinea


Hi, my name is Migdia Chinea and I'm a recovering LAUSD "substitute."

Oh, I'm also UCLA-educated with honors, refined, empathetic, college-
level Spanish fluent and a Googleable professional screenwriter.

To make ends meet during hard economic times, I became a "substitute
teacher" for the Los Angeles Unified School District, or LAUSD - or to
put it more kindly, a "guest teacher." As a guest LAUSD teacher I
thought I would be an asset, but the system has never appreciated nor
taken advantage of my educational or professional hard-earned
accomplishments.

There's no teaching going on at LAUSD - only confinement of the sort
one may find in a penal colony, complete with walkie-talkie-carrying
wardens and bullhorns. And I have "confined" at many different schools
within central Los Angeles in the last six months. Many students
scream "suuuuuuuub" when they see someone like me - a "guest teacher"
- in their classroom and trample anyone and/or anything as they push
and shove their way inside.

Recently, I was privy to a narrative by a teacher in which he
complained that after a one-day absence, his classroom was in shreds
and wall posters were torn down. His VHS player and flash drive with
all lesson plans were stolen as was his computer. Lab equipment was
broken and tagged with gang symbols in permanent marker and completely
nonfunctional. He was subsequently informed that his substitute
teacher had walked out of the classroom numerous times throughout the
day and had left the students to themselves. He wondered how the
substitute could be so irresponsible and how he would break the news
to his seventh-graders about their tagged notebooks with profane
language and two-weeks worth of work in the garbage. Oh, woe!

I have covered the school at which that individual teaches. It is
surrounded by criminal street gangs and is widely considered one of
the most dangerous campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School
District. The South Side Village Boys, South Side Watts Varrio Grape,
Grape Street Crips, East Side Village Bloods, Hacienda Bloods, Circle
City Piru and Bounty Hunters street gangs all claim turf in that area,
and frequent flare-ups of gang violence are common. I have found most
classes in this school to be in a complete state of disaster,
absolutely filthy, with no computers available. There are no simple
supplies, such as pencils, pens or paper, nothing to be found
anywhere. Was this teacher's class an exception? Did he not know that
some of his students are probably gang members themselves?

(Column continues below)



I have observed that many students at this school (and other LAUSD
schools) are violent and unpredictable. I was present, in fact, during
a violent melee involving hundreds of students that brought in several
police squad cars and helicopters flying overhead. I have also endured
several school "lock downs." Here's how a "lock down" works: As in a
prison, the inmates and their jailers are not allowed to leave for any
reason, nor let anyone out.

I then wondered if this teacher had ever asked his students why they
behaved the way they did. Are there still people out there who believe
that students are ALWAYS right and eager to learn and downtrodden and
good. Why are these LAUSD schools so dilapidated - is it the
"suuuuuuubs"? I have actually been advised to take pictures of these
areas of confinement, er, pardon me, "schools," just in case someone
makes an accusation after I'm long gone and I have no way to defend
myself. And I always try to leave one classroom door open because I am
often afraid for my life - my life.

I've been injured more than once. On Oct. 5, 2007, at another
notorious middle school, I was deliberately body-slammed on the head
by two to three large young men in a P.E. class of 53 students, while
another teacher (someone I had never met before) was decent enough to
give a formal declaration to school and police authorities of what he
had witnessed. I sustained a concussion and sciatica nerve damage as a
result of this personal attack intended to "terrorize [me]." I have
memory lapses and continued head and leg pain. I'm told by the local
police that this sort of physical abuse on teachers occurs with
disturbing regularity. The LAUSD case nurse assigned to my case
labeled my attack "boys will be boys."

I've been burglarized (on June 11, 2007), by a stalker with key access
to my locked classroom (likely by another teacher or custodian). This
theft occurred during lunch break while I was on a five-minute
bathroom errand and included a $2,600 2-week-old Sony Vaio notebook,
my RX glasses, credit cards, etc. The incident was also reported to
the jurisdictional police. But I will have to take LAUSD to Small
Claims Court, because district officials will accept NO
responsibility.

I've been insulted repeatedly, e.g., "hey, you bitch!," among many
vile expletives, by students at various schools.

I've been vandalized. My Mini S Cooper has been broken into twice. I'm
usually so tired after a full day of "teaching" that I once never even
noticed the damage until I opened the car's hatchback several days
later.

I've been harassed and pelted with the same Halloween candy I bought
as a treat for the students on Oct. 31, 2007. In the pandemonium that
usually ensues at these "underprivileged schools," the bungalow class
door handles that I reported as missing came off upon touching, fell
off, and the students began using these door handles as weapons -
their behavior and the school's fire code violation were reported to
the LAUSD Board of Directors and the fire department. What a laugh.

My class was rampaged at a barrio middle school on May 23, 2007 -
witnessed by two other substitute teachers who were sent in to "help
me." One happened to be a lactating mother. These two individuals were
also pelted with various objects. This incident was reported to the
dean and to school security. No response from the dean for two whole
class periods. This was also reported to LAUSD Superintendent David
Brewer - no response at all.

I've been maltreated and threatened at all of these schools. But
you're not supposed to complain about maltreatment. You're supposed to
contain these students and stay quiet with your head down. Is anyone
aware of that? Is anyone aware that "substitutes" cannot complain
about anything? Is anyone aware that with an obesity and diabetes
epidemic in our youth, regular teachers sell junk food for profit to
students at many schools? I have reported that fact to the State
Department of Education and Social Services. But you have to do so on
a school by school basis because state bureaucrats believe it's a
singular problem.

I have reported every single incident listed here and many, many more
not listed here. However, the LAUSD has only aggravated the situation
by doing nothing and ignoring everything.

In my view, the LAUSD is completely corrupt, inept and broken, with
many students having serious behavioral problems and disinterested in
learning, whereas the teachers remain underpaid and exhausted - some
of them just marking time until their retirement and giving out
charity passing grades to high school students who can barely write or
do math at a third-grade level.

I believe that the students who commit acts of dishonesty (like
cheating), violence and outright destruction of property should be
suspended. When the recidivist students are suspended, their parents
or guardians should pay a fine, which may grow incrementally according
to the student's offense - and I believe that when such offenses are
perpetrated against a substitute, the fine should be doubled (like
driving violations in construction zones). I believe that when these
citations are enforced a few times, we will all see a marked
improvement in student conduct. If there are no consequences to
students for unruly behavior, and all they get is a nice little talk
at the dean's office, unruly behavior is reinforced. These bad
students know how to lie and abuse a system that appears to be afraid
of them. They know there are no consequences. They're not learning
much now, and the teachers cannot be teaching much in a chaotic
environment - so it's a self-perpetuating situation.

As for me, I am exhausted. I feel exploited and I'm also injured, to
boot. It's almost impossible for anyone in my position - in a few
short days - to instill in these students any sense of decency, good
manners and respect because they should be learning these civilities
at home. Please know that I get paid very little with no health
insurance coverage in sight. And while those incompetents in high-
level administrative positions collect their big, fat paychecks for
their lack of humanity, there seem to be no end to the problems.

This is a difficult economy, especially for educated single mothers.
And women must do what they can do to support themselves and their
families. But the press covers this aspect of survival from the
teacher's perspective very little, concentrating instead (and almost
exclusively) on the students' persistent test failures. I am aware
that some teachers, and some "substitutes," may be incompetent and
don't care about performing well on their jobs, nor do they care about
their students. However, since I'm not one of those people, I believe
that the media has an obligation to acknowledge the problems and
report truthfully on what is going on. The schools are a mess, filthy,
dilapidated and without supplies. The students are dangerous,
disrespectful and out-of-control.

The country should take notice that teaching has become a very
dangerous job and that my life as a teacher is very, very, cheap.