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LAUSD rules that Carthay Center teachers are welcome back

LA School Report | May 7, 2014



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Carthay Center Elementary School Playground

Carthay Center Elementary School Playground

Another day, another win for the parents of Carthay Center Elementary School.

After LA Unified removed first-year Principal Crystal Campbell-Shirley over their complaints that she was ill-suited to learn during the school shift to magnet status, they were told today that the seven teachers she declined to rehire for next year would be welcome back.

Four of the teachers were especially highly-regarded by the parents.

“The parents are ecstatic,” said Jennifer Dowd-Giuliano, president of the school PTA. “Now, the focus is back to getting a new leader who’s a good fit, somebody invested more with what we’re doing going forward.”

Dowd-Giuliano said once the district had approved the school’s transition to an environmental studies magnet, Shirley appeared not interested in the change.

Parents first tried to work with her with no apparent success, Dowd-Giuliano said. Then, the parents went to the district to complain. Finally, on April 1, they hand-delivered a letter to Superintendent John Deasy.

Meanwhile, parents further pressed their case by forming a committee, which led to rallies this week to call attention to their plight.

They were notified yesterday that Shirley would be removed from the school, and in a follow-up message today from an instructional area superintendent, Cheryl Hildreth, they were told, “Any teacher that applied to Carthay Environmental Studies Magnet will remain.”

Shirley had moved against both kindergarten teachers and one each from the first through fifth grades.

Hildreth also told the parents that Shirley has accepted a “new administrative assignment effective May 6th” and the search for a new principal would begin later this month.

 

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