Saturday, March 17, 2012

The Miramonte Problem: Response to La Opinion Editorial

Miramonte Elementary School was not solely deficient in failing to report the sexual abuse by two teachers. This dysfucntion of covering up criminal conduct is endemic to a district throttled with bureaucracy and enchained to sclerotic teacher's unions.

Contrary to the unjustified optimism of the editorial, teacher's unions do not have "an interest in the professional behavior" of their members. If that were the case, unions would do away with uncondititional job protection, would permit merit pay, and would support a state-wide voucher program for parents to choose where they enroll their students. These reforms would hold schools and teachersaccountable and would release students from the current government monopoly on public education.

 Then there is the problem of illegal immigrants who enrolled their children in Los Angeles schools. When students came home complaining about the inappropriate conduct of their instructors, the parents refused to do anything for fear of being caught and deported by the state. Even legal residents were powerless to do anything because they were unaware of what was going on.

I agree that legislators must remain calm before instituting necessary reforms, yet to conclude that the school district can institute more rules to protect students from sexual predators in the classroom is foolishness if more important changes are not undertaken regarding the state of California's immigration laws and the powers of state employee unions.

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