LAUSD TARGETS PHENOMENAL TEACHER GREG SCHILLER
(Mensaje se repite en Español)
When I was in high school my science teacher had us do an experiment to illustrate that a molecule of water was in fact made up of: two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. We accomplished this experiment by running a small current of electric through water, while subsequently capturing the resulting release of highly volatile hydrogen and oxygen into two separate test tubes. Even though the potential for a dangerous explosion was present, nobody accused my science teacher of building or teaching his students how to build a bomb.
When I was in high school my science teacher had us do an experiment to illustrate that a molecule of water was in fact made up of: two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. We accomplished this experiment by running a small current of electric through water, while subsequently capturing the resulting release of highly volatile hydrogen and oxygen into two separate test tubes. Even though the potential for a dangerous explosion was present, nobody accused my science teacher of building or teaching his students how to build a bomb.
And yet today, highly esteemed and honored Ramon C. Cortines Visual and Perfoming Arts High School (VAPA) science teacher Greg Schiller finds himself in LAUSD's crosshairs as their latest target in its campaign to remove teachers at the top of the salary scale or who question their actions on clearly trumped up charges. Teacher Schiller is now cooling his heels in LAUSD teacher jail, where 93% of his fellow inmates are over 40 and at the top of the salary scale. Could this have more to do with Schiller's salary than his actions? Isn't it counter intuitive to find the most veteran teachers alleged to be the worst?
His alleged crime was that two of his students had build projects that were deemed "guns" by LAUSD administration. While these students experiments, which they had worked on with their parents, illustrated scientific concepts having to do with the propulsion of objects electronically or by gas, like the common hydrogen-oxygen experiment mentioned above- they in no way presented any danger to students or faculty. So why was Mr. Schiller targeted?
In addition to being at the top of the salary scale, Mr. Schiller was United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) chapter chair, who seems to have pissed off