Josefa’s Christmas Wish

“What I want for Christmas is for my family to be happy, and for my mom to not loose her job.”

December 2009: Those are the simple yet compelling words of LAUSD student Josefa Martinez, whose mother, Josefina Aguilera, teaches at 68th Street School. Her mother tells the story of how the letter (reproduced on this page) was written:

“During Thanksgiving dinner, Josefa overheard a conversation I was having with a teacher from another district about layoffs. The teachers in that district received a letter stating that teachers with as much as 10 years’ seniority may be laid off. Josefa’s face went pale, and she quickly asked me about my seniority. I reassured her and told her not to worry. I thought the subject was forgotten. The next day we went to Macy’s and stopped by to write a letter to Santa, and this is what she wrote.”

Josefa’s fears were not unfounded. Last year, her favorite teacher received a RIF letter. The notice was eventually rescinded, but until then she would see her teacher outside the school every Friday asking parents to call the School Board. Josefa also knew all six teachers who were laid off last school year from 68th Street, and her Aunt Kate was RIF’d from Kennedy Elementary and is moving to Thailand to teach.
In this one family you have encapsulated all the worry, all the hardship, all the damage wrought by these terrible budget cuts.

I will be sending a copy of Josefa’s letter to Superintendent Cortines and all seven School Board members. If this were a made-for-TV Christmas movie instead of real life, the letter would have the power to grant Josefa’s wish and stop the threats of pay cuts, furlough days, and layoffs.

But it’s not that simple. Our schools have been hit by a one-two punch of drastic cuts in state funding and declining student enrollment. We know the budget crisis is real, but we also know that LAUSD’s inbred impulse is to cut the classroom first and not do the tough work of trimming elsewhere beforehand. We must once again be the District’s conscience, be the prod that forces LAUSD to do the right thing. We are willing to sit down with LAUSD officials but not until the District has taken every possible step to make the budget cuts away from the classroom first. And if we do sit down with them, they need to know that 45,000 members are standing behind us.

We had 1,000-plus members out on a chilly Tuesday on December 8—loud and proud and determined. We will be greatly building on those numbers in the coming months, and every one of you must be a part of it.
When we hit the streets, we are part of America’s history of citizen activism. Our country was built on protest. For better or for worse, no major improvements to our country—from women’s rights to civil rights—came without people banding together in actions of dissent and unity.

“Power concedes nothing without a demand,” said Frederick Douglass. “It never did and it never will.” Year after year, we prove that this is true of LAUSD.

If there are any doubts whether our actions make a difference, you only have to look at last year. Layoff notices were issued to 6,000 UTLA members last March, but each month we held protests, rallied in the streets, lobbied Board members, and organized with parents, and little by little that number dropped. We didn’t get all that we wanted, of course—2,000 of our newest colleagues lost their full-time jobs—but imagine if we had done nothing at all.

When you make your New Year’s resolutions this year, I hope you consider adding these to your list:

- Attend all UTLA meetings at your school.
- Send your email address to http://www.utla.net/emailupdate to sign up for regular email updates.
- Ask your chapter chair what you can do to help organize your school.  
-Go to all UTLA rallies and protests and bring your colleagues with you.
- Write regular letters to the School Board.
- Talk to your parents about the effect layoffs and pay cuts would have by raising class size and demoralizing staff, forcing teachers to leave for other districts, and severely hurting the school district’s ability to recruit the best educators.

In the end, once again, it would be our children who would lose.
UTLA is not its officers or its Board—it is you. Officers come and go, but our members remain. You are our strength and the only shot we have at minimizing the damage to our schools. Everything is on the line: Our jobs. Our profession. Our students’ future.

My hope for this holiday season is that we can find moments of peace and happiness in the middle of all this uncertainty. My best wishes go to all of you for a rich holiday season with family and friends—and I’ll see you in the streets in 2010.