Class-Size Cuts

Re “Schools Get OK to Try to Trim More Class Sizes,” July 22:

I thought the kindergarten teachers who spoke before the LAUSD Board of Education’s July 21 meeting made it clear. The plan to reduce class size in kindergarten by teaming teachers for up to an extra hour daily will only produce exhausted teachers and no benefits at all for the kids, who will still be packed into a crowded classroom. On top of that, the board is not planning to pay the teachers for the extra instructional time worked with students.

Of course the kindergarten teachers, whom I represent, are absolutely right to oppose this proposal. As president of United Teachers Los Angeles, I oppose it unequivocally.

Unfortunately, your article intimated that I may acquiesce to the proposal to reduce class size in kindergarten by changing for the worse the working conditions of teachers. That is not so. I will never allow the rights of LAUSD teachers to be shunted aside. And your article is wrong on another count: I am not the board president, I’m the president of the teachers’ union.

DAY HIGUCHI

Los Angeles