Superb: California students take a stand to topple teacher tenure; New York up next

A 2012 legal case brought by nine public school students in California, who argued the state's teacher tenure laws denied their right to a quality education, ended a few months ago after a judge declared the laws unconstitutional. Shortly after the ruling, legal action regarding teacher tenure laws began in another state, with parents in New York filing a similar lawsuit.

TRANSCRIPT

MEGAN THOMPSON: Sisters Beatriz and Elizabeth Vergara attend public high school in a low-income, mostly Hispanic section of northern Los Angeles. The girls are aiming for college, and would be the first in the family with higher degrees.

But the Vergara sisters say that in middle school, they faced obstacles in pursuing their education – chaotic classrooms and little to no instruction. Elizabeth, now a senior, and Beatriz, a junior, say back in 7th grade, they both had a particularly bad history teacher.

ELIZABETH VERGARA: He would just be at his desk. Like, just using his computer or sleeping. And I didn’t even learn anything. Like, I was getting behind.

BEATRIZ VERGARA: And he would let students smoke marijuana -

MEGAN THOMPSON: They were smoking marijuana in class?

BEATRIZ VERGARA: Yeah. I know, it’s hard to believe.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Beatriz also says a science teacher was offensive.

BEATRIZ VERGARA: She would call this girl “whore,” and, like, “Slut, go over there.’

MEGAN THOMPSON: What went through your mind when you heard that?

BEATRIZ VERGARA: I was scared to ask questions ’cause I didn’t want her to, like, I didn’t want her to offend me.

ALICIA MARTINEZ (Spanish): They were really being traumatized by these teachers.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Beatriz and Elizabeth’s mother Alicia Martinez, who emigrated from Mexico, says she complained to a school administrator about the two teachers – and two others. But, she says, nothing happened.

More: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/students-take-a-stand-to-topple-teacher-tenure/

Superb: California students take a stand to topple teacher tenure; New York up next

Superb: California students take a stand to topple teacher tenure; New York up next

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