In a story it called, Three Stooges Tussle for Control of LA Schools the authors of the Teacher Quality Bulletin take a couple of swings at L.A. union president AJ Duffy, who, determined not to be sidelined by the mayors and the superintendents reform plans,
has released a "Dear Santa" wish list on behalf of his union. Among the more notable items, Duffy wants the district to cede control of the hiring and firing of school principals to teachers and parents (always a good idea to give employees the right to fire their employers) and eliminating the district’s minimal dress code for both students and teachers.
Duffys a strange guy. After supporting the Mayor initially (I trust Mayor Villaraigosa, and I trust that if he appointed someone, they would be good, solid people willing to help public education,) he has been battling the mayors and the superintendents reform plans from dawn till dusk. Central to his argument against the superintendents plan? School autonomy is key and the superintendent is taking it away. Duffy writes:
To the extent that schools are autonomous, to that extent they will likely succeed. Increasing centralized control, on the other hand, will likely not foster student improvement…
Strange, considering last year he told the USA Today that: "Decentralization is a terrible idea. that would be a disaster. And whats his beef with the mayors plan? Among other things, he rallied his troops against the introduction of more charter schools the ultimate autonomous units — into LA. Apparently, school autonomy is only a good thing if unionized teachers are the ones in control. In other words, autonomy is good if Duffy has it, a disaster if anyone else does.
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