Keep Mr. Freedman Teaching at LACHSA

Gerald Freedman has been teaching U.S. History at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts since its inception in 1985. Since beginning at LACHSA, he has also taught A.P. U.S. History, Music and History, Contemporary Issues, and other history related courses. When the school was founded, teachers were picked from across the Los Angeles Unified School District, in order to create an academic program that challenged students who thought differently than at most other high schools. However, LACHSA falls under LACOE jurisdiction, and after the initial teachers were hired and the school was started, teachers were chosen from the LACOE pool only.

Because Mr. Freedman is a LAUSD teacher teaching at a LACOE school, he has no seniority; despite the fact that he has been teaching at LACHSA for over 20 years, and is one of two remaining academic teachers who have worked at LACHSA for its entire history.

Until now, this has caused few complications, and those that have arisen have been resolved. However, now, in our rough economic times, the moment any LACOE social studies teacher from any other LACOE school is displaced, he/she immediately has the right to Mr. Freedmans job; as long as he/she has taught for more than a day, he/she has more seniority than Mr. Freedman.

That time has come upon us; at least one teacher with a degree to teach U.S. History has been displaced, and Mr. Freedmans job is on the line. The students, parents, alumni, teachers, and supporters of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts will not stand for this.

Mr. Freedman is one of the superior teachers at LACHSA; a teacher who goes beyond the classroom to teach not only facts but a way of thinking about history. He brings to the classroom and to the students vitality and inspiration; a vitality that is necessary for arts students to thrive.

A history credential is not enough to teach at LACHSA. A LACHSA teacher must understand how to teach a group of students who do not always think in a linear, logical, pattern. This quality cannot be tested for, and there is no way to gain a degree in inspiration. What the students of LACHSA do know, however, is that Mr. Freedman has this quality.

The reasons why we must keep Mr. Freedman are innumerable, and each student can give a different testimony in his favor. But let this much be known: although he may not technically have seniority, Mr. Freedman is without a doubt, entirely a part of this school, and has been since the beginning. To displace him would be to do the entire LACHSA community a disservice so great that the effects will be irreversible. We, the students, parents, alumni, teachers, and supporters of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, cannot see him leave.

By signing below, I give my support to keep Mr. Freedman at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.