Students Suffer a Revolving Door of Teachers

Little Antonio Chavez took home a report card with grades that were unusual for at least one reason--they bore the signature of an instructor he had not seen for a year, and then only for three days.

And Antonio was not alone.

All 25 students in his combination second- and third-grade class at 24th Street Elementary School in the Wilshire District were, teachers say, like “a class that the district forgot.”

Each received a report card from a teacher they had hardly seen.

Administrators admit that the class of mostly minority children was taught the entire year by more than a dozen substitutes who rarely lasted more than a few days--prompting accusations of misconduct, forged documents and threats of litigation.

“Those kids never had a permanent classroom and they never had a permanent teacher,” said Rudy Oliver, the class’s original teacher. He taught the first three days of school in February then left on sick leave and has not returned.

“It would be amazing if they learned anything,” he said. “They lost a year.”

Still Don’t Have Teacher

Anna McLinn, the school’s principal, said finding long-term substitutes was harder than usual because no one knew when or if Oliver would return.

Nonetheless, the pupils graduated to a higher grade. Today, new students fill the class, but they still do not have a permanent teacher or classroom.

The troubled class at 24th Street reflects, in many ways, an even more troubled school district. Los Angeles schools are overcrowded, forcing some of them to squeeze in more students by operating on a year-round schedule.

But classroom space is still scarce. Thus, Antonio ended up in a “roving” class that moved from room to room throughout the school year.

Crippled by a shortage of hundreds of teachers, the district also has been forced to rely heavily on substitute teachers who have abilities that, officials say, vary significantly.

Some have not passed tests required for teaching by the state and district. Many substitutes are reluctant to take on assignments in inner-city schools like 24th because they fear students will be too undisciplined.

Mayor Blames Parents

The high school drop-out rate hovers around 50% and higher at schools in poor communities. Mayor Tom Bradley, citing the need to break the “cycle of failure” in impoverished areas, such as Watts, recently said children there should be taken from parents and put in special schools.

Bradley blamed parents for the failure of youngsters to achieve in school. Oliver and other teachers disagree.

“A lot of the parents with kids in this class don’t speak English,” one teacher, who asked not to be named, said.

“I honestly think the administrators thought they could get away with it (using only short-term substitutes) because they figured the parents wouldn’t understand enough to complain. Or maybe the parents didn’t realize they had the right to complain.”

Antonio and his classmates were taught by 15 substitutes who came and went several times during the year at a pace so dizzying that officials were afraid to issue quarterly report cards.

“The subs would be there one day, two days, five days. How do you grade children in a situation like that?” McLinn said.

The school didn’t. In fact, the class did not receive grades until the end of the year, when officials had to provide proof that the youngsters had gone through the school year so they could advance.

The substitute who finally made out the report cards had been in class three weeks and used tests scores and comments from past substitutes and others to determine grades.

Although McLinn said she feels the grades were fair, the substitute signed Oliver’s name to the report cards. McLinn said the school’s assistant principal ordered that action so that parents, some of whom were complaining, would see the name of a district teacher instead of a substitute.

Teacher Charges Forgery

Now Oliver says he may file the kind of lawsuit that the district was afraid would come from parents if they found out their kids were being taught by substitutes.

“As far as I’m concerned they forged my signature,” he said, noting his name or initials also appear on documents containing comments about progress of individual students.

“This is a terrible thing to do. Parents give us there children feeling they can trust us. The kids trusted me. Will they trust us again?”

“They (administrators) preferred something illegal to the truth, which is they never had someone in that class long enough to give a decent grade. They used my name to cover up the truth.”

McLinn denies that accusation and said the assistant principal did not realize that ordering a different signature was improper.

A campaign to attract the 2,500 more teachers needed for the district’s projected 578,870 pupils in 1985 was launched last year and a spokesman said progress has been made.

But it has come too late for Antonio and his classmates.

“These children need the stability of someone who is going to always be there,” McLinn said. “You’re talking about lives that may end up on welfare because they can’t read and they can’t write. They missed those skills.”