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Criticizing the Schools

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Is the Los Angeles School District too large, cumbersome and inefficient? Since there has been much talk lately about breaking up the Los Angeles School District into smaller districts, I would like to add my two cents worth. When it takes over three months to receive a set of textbooks ordered from a supplier within the state, only a few hundred miles away, it begins to be very frustrating.

I am a teacher in the Los Angeles district, and I ordered a set of textbooks for a business organization class the first week of the semester.

I called the district’s textbook unit about two weeks later to determine how long it would take for delivery so I could make other plans in the meantime.

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I was told that the order went out on Sept. 18 and that it would take four to six weeks for delivery. Even that length of time seemed excessive to me, but they said that was the best they could do.

I called again eight weeks after the books were ordered, again to try to determine the approximate delivery date. I was then told it would not be until the end of November at the earliest, but probably a “little” longer. When I asked why it was taking so long, the answer was that it was due to a “systems breakdown.”

I am writing this letter 11 weeks from the day the books were ordered. In the 1850s supplies were delivered from St. Louis to San Francisco faster than that by wagon train!

MIKE CARTER

Alhambra

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