Enforcement of Teacher Contracts

* Re “Rules Eased to Help Schools Add Teachers,” July 27:

Your articles about the money that Gov. Pete Wilson has allocated to schools to reduce class size miss a very important fact: Children are not the only ones who can’t escape from wretched schools. Teachers and administrators are beginning to cry foul.

Teachers cry that they, too, are the victims of wretched schools. They are now being held to the terms of their contracts, which require them to stay put until the end of the school year. This forces them to miss out on choice schools by having to apply late.

School district administrators are also looking for change. Those who are in charge of recruiting and hiring realize that they will now have to work harder to attract and retain good teachers, who are already in short supply. They also cry foul.

Teachers unions, however, realizing that more teachers, forced to pay more dues, means more money and more power, do not plan to fight enforcement of the contracts.

B.E. VICKROY

Escondido

* One week before the state authorized funding for hiring additional classroom teachers, I decided to return to the education field. As a state-certificated elementary teacher, my first step was to call several school districts and request an employment application. Within a matter of two days I had received applications from all but one district. The missing application was from the Los Angeles Unified School District--it took over two weeks to arrive.

In order to begin the application process with LAUSD an appointment for a “paperwork review” is required. This district, with such a critical shortage of credentialed personnel, is scheduling these reviews eight weeks from the date of request. That’s now 10 weeks of wasted time before an application can even get into the personnel office. In the meantime, other school districts are processing and hiring applicants in a timely manner, which will ensure a smooth start for the students coming into their classrooms at the beginning of the school year.

CHERYL CAUGHLIN

Rancho Palos Verdes