Pay Raises for Schools Officials

Re “L.A. Schools Officials Get 6% Raise,” Sept. 9.

No raise for [Supt. Ruben] Zacarias until he improves the one item he conveniently overlooked in his report on the goals of the superintendent--the standards of the teachers. He talks about improving the test results, pass rate, literacy, English, placement and more. But what about the teachers? They are the most important element of the education system.

I have been waiting for months for the Los Angeles Unified School District to test our teachers, after the Massachusetts tests revealed that some 60% of the teachers could not pass a basic college entrance exam, or worse yet, a second exam at high school level. Zacarias has done nothing to test the capability of our teachers. I am willing to bet that many students would receive a better grade on the test than some of the teachers.

The L.A. system has hundreds of noncertified teachers, hundreds more hired out of Mexico to fill the language gap--no longer in effect. What standards were used to hire these teachers and is it time for them to leave? What has he done to match the teachers with the subject they teach? An English major should teach English; a math teacher should teach math; a gym major should not teach science.

By the way, I do not want to have my tax money pay for unqualified teachers to become the educators they should have been before they were hired. Maybe it is true, the union runs the schools, not Zacarias. No raise for Mr. Z until . . .

CHARLES DUSHECK, Chatsworth