Rally supports laid-off teachers at charter school
REDDING, California - For the second time in five months, the California Teachers Association is fighting layoffs at the Academy of Personalized Learning, a charter school in Redding.
Teachers, parents, students and CTA representatives stood in front of the school on Larkspur Avenue on Friday morning, holding signs like “No More Teacher Cuts” and “Let Our Voice Be Heard.” About 50 people showed up to support the teachers.
Wendy McBroome, president of the Academy of Personalized Learning Educators Association, said four teachers were let go Friday. She was not one of them.
The layoffs come after the school let five teachers go in December.
“We were presented with a school budget last week that shows a fiscal crisis and the need to eliminate four teachers,” said McBroome, who teaches Spanish and independent study. “But yet in the same budget, there’s an increase in every spending category except for teachers.”
Academy of Personalized Learning is a kindergarten through 12th grade charter school sponsored by the Gateway School District.
Both McBroome and Jon Halvorsen, a CTA staff consultant in Redding, are convinced the school’s administration is retaliating against the teachers because they organized in November. McBroome said the union’s vice president, secretary and treasurer were among those who lost their jobs Friday.
The Academy of Personalized Learning Educators Association was formed in November with the help of the CTA. At the school’s Dec. 18 board meeting, the board announced it would eliminate five Rally supports laid-off teachers at charter school - Redding:
