Prez Perspective Featured Image_02.20.2020
President's Perspective
February 18, 2020
Win the School Board in 2020 to win bigger in 2022

The atmosphere at the temporary UTLA field office in Van Nuys was electric this past Saturday as more than 75 members prepared for precinct-walking for Scott Schmerelson. Cecilia Cordova Hart, Adriana Garcia, and Christina Medina from Cohasset Elementary huddled together to look at their assigned turf map on their phones. Teams from Blythe Elementary, Winnetka Elementary, Sharp Elementary, Carpenter Elementary, and Beachy Elementary took their sheets of talking points and confidently departed for their assigned turf.

President's Perspective Featured Image 10.19.19
President's Perspective
October 25, 2019
Our strike shifted the narrative: Now, we win more

We keep seeing the positive impacts of our strike. Take a moment and feel pride in your days in the rain on the picket line. Lisa Bennett is a special education teacher, UTLA chapter chair, and an LAUSD Teacher of the Year. She teaches at Van Gogh School, one of those closest to the Saddleridge fire. Lisa and others across the San Fernando Valley were incensed by LAUSD’s flat-footedness in responding to the fire. Schools should have been closed and should have remained closed until they were rigorously cleaned and the air quality improved. LAUSD needs a plan, developed with stakeholders, for fire safety in the future.

UTLA Officers with New Deal for Public Schools Pledge Card
President's Perspective
August 23, 2019
A bold New Deal for our movement

Alex delivered the following State of the Union speech at the 2019 Leadership Conference in July. "We will never forget 2018-19. An historic strike with unprecedented wins. The largest public sector strike in a single city of the United States in years. The first large strike since Janus, sending a pro-union message nationwide. The first Red for Ed strike in a blue state, challenging Democrats on their terrible record on funding and privatization. A strike being studied internationally..."

Alex is in the crowd as parent Maria Ruiz blasts the LA Chamber of Commerce for its reprehensible fight against Measure EE and the funding our schools need. More than 100 parents and students protested outside the chamber’s headquarters on May 21.
President's Perspective
May 30, 2019
Corporate greed or the funding our schools need?

There is one overwhelming punchline for all of us between now and June 4: We need to vote, we need to get others to vote, and we need to precinct walk to pass Measure EE. Jackie Goldberg’s 71% to 29% landslide victory on May 14 was a watershed moment.

Alex (third from left) with a small group of people volunteering for Jackie Goldberg (second from left) holding Jackie Goldberg for School Board lawn signs.
President's Perspective
April 23, 2019
Bring the passion of our strike to passing Measure EE

We’ve spent our careers explaining that public education is chronically underfunded. Enough is enough. For the first time in my career, and in yours, we are on offense against underfunding. Measure EE, on the local ballot on June 4 that would bring $500 million to our schools. 

Alex Caputo-Pearl walks in Oakland strike.
President's Perspective
March 14, 2019
Not just a moment, but a movement

Our strike empowered Los Angeles. The impacts of our collective action are not just those we can measure, like contract wins and the shifting political dynamic, but those that are more intangible, like the positive human, emotional, and spiritual effects.

UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl is left holding an umbrella with his daughter, Ella, right holdng an umbrella and picket sign that says, 'On Strike" during the Los Angeles teachers' strike in January 2019.
President's Perspective
February 14, 2019
Together, we made history

Our strike won an overwhelming victory on the issues. We launched the teacher strike movement in California and accelerated the teacher strike movement nationally. We made history. But what remains etched in our brains and hearts most indelibly is the togetherness, love, pride, and creative spark we felt on the picket lines and in the rallies.

If we are forced to strike it will be to defend the future of public education
President's Perspective
January 3, 2019
The defining moment of educator courage is here

After 20 months of attempting to reach an agreement with the district — an agreement that would, after years of neglect, reinvest in our students, our schools, our jobs, and our healthcare instead of tearing them down — we have declared a strike date of January 10, 2019.

Competing Visions Block Image
President's Perspective
November 14, 2018
Competing visions for public education

In this edition of the President's Perspective by Alex Caputo-Pearl the competing visions of Supt. Austin Beutner and our UTLA President for the future of public education in Los Angeles are discussed. Click here for more.

King with ACP
President's Perspective
September 17, 2018
Downsize or Reinvest?

What is the answer to downsizing our public schools? Reinvesting. Reinvesting by recruiting and retaining educators with a fair pay increase, stopping the increases in class sizes, pushing for more per-pupil funding, giving educators a say in what tests are administered, placing commonsense regulation on charter growth.