Displaced Teacher Learns He’s Welcome in L.A.

For George Robertson, it looked to be a school year much like all the others at Lawless High in New Orleans’ 9th Ward.

His chemistry students showed early promise and the football team was prepped for its season opener. Across the courtyard, his older sister Jolanda taught music. At a school a few miles away, his baby sister Marla welcomed her class of preschoolers.

Within days, however, Lawless and schools across the city were shuttered as Hurricane Katrina bore down. From a hotel in Shreveport, the siblings watched television images showing familiar streets under water. Sporadic messages from Lawless students reported that two, perhaps three, of their classmates were feared dead.

Unable to return home, the three drove to Los Angeles with their parents. There, they knew, Aunt Odile and Cousin Wilma would help them to start over.

What they didn’t expect, however, was the welcome they received from officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District. Within weeks, the three are expected to begin teaching in Los Angeles schools.

“The L.A. school system was ready to reach out to us during a time of great need,” said George Robertson, 37, a bear of a man whose eyes are red with weariness. “And so here we are.”

With school districts nationwide scrambling to absorb the hundreds of thousands of students displaced by the hurricane, their teachers have received less attention. In Louisiana alone, about 12,000 teachers -- a quarter of the state total -- are out of work.

In Los Angeles, where many residents have close ties to the Gulf Coast, school district officials said the arrival of the Robertson clan spurred them to streamline the hiring process for teachers who have fled Katrina.

At the start of the week, George Robertson thought briefly about seeking a non-teaching job. But with parents and other relatives who were all educators, he and his sisters quickly looked to Los Angeles Unified.

On Wednesday, after completing the online application required of all applicants, he was called for an interview at the district’s downtown headquarters.

“I saw him holding his paperwork in the elevator and asked him if he was a new teacher,” said Deborah Hirsh, human resources chief. “He said, ‘I hope to be.’ When he told me he was from New Orleans, my jaw dropped. I grabbed him by the elbow and took him myself to his interview.”

Because Louisiana posts teacher credentialing information online, district officials were able to confirm that Robertson was qualified to teach chemistry. State officials waived a requirement that applicants provide college transcripts since Robertson’s were at Xavier University in the heart of New Orleans.

Robertson came out of the interview with an “early contract,” which guarantees him a teaching position after mandatory background checks are completed, Hirsh said.

On Thursday, Robertson interviewed at Los Angeles High School. “It’s looking pretty good,” he said. “I was made to feel really comfortable.”

Wherever he lands, the displaced teacher will be allowed a bit of time to adjust to the reality of teaching in Los Angeles. At Lawless, about 600 African American students walked the halls. In the nation’s second-largest school system, overcrowded campuses commonly rotate thousands of mostly Latino students through on a staggered, year-round schedule.

The district’s eagerness to hire Robertson isn’t simply a goodwill gesture: With more than 50 science teacher vacancies in high schools, the chemistry teacher’s skills are highly valued.

“It’s a mutual thing, because he’s helping us too,” Hirsh said. “It’s great for our kids.”

Immediately placing Jolanda, 46, and Marla, 36, whose initial interviews are scheduled for early next week, could pose more of a challenge, Hirsh said.

But she said she was confident that the district, which hires about 500 teachers throughout each school year, would find new classrooms for the sisters, as well as for any other qualified, displaced teachers who come to Los Angeles.

To get out the word to teachers who have fled Katrina, district officials have posted job notices on several education websites, as well as on the ubiquitous Craigslist website.

Meg Casper, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Education, said efforts to hire teachers in Los Angeles, Miami and other cities are bittersweet. “We desperately want to keep our teachers,” she said. “But at the same time, in a disaster of this magnitude, we want them to be taken care of just like our children. We understand that they have families to look after.”

Robertson and his family said it was too early to tell when, or if, they will return to New Orleans. For now, they are simply holding out hope that their former students are safe and they are looking forward to starting their new assignments.

“I didn’t think it would happen this quickly,” Robertson said.

“It’s a blessing that it’s worked out this way.”