"My name is Veta Gashgai and I am a teacher at a Los Angeles Partnership school- Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School in Los Angeles District 14 and LAUSD District 5. This letter is to offer suggestions on how we can avoid losing staff at our school and to voice the sickness I feel because of this. We are facing losing 22 teachers and other support staff including security. We can ask all staff to give up one paid day a month for the whole year. I am willing to. I also would ask if families could donate as much as they can to their children’s school. Why not all the leaders of our state also give up 12 days of pay?...

"I have been at Stevenson for only four years, but I am committed to the Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles community. I moved here from Orange County and bought my first home here. I’ve seen a lot of positive changes in the city and at our school moving us in a positive direction. If we loose young great teachers like Mr. Martinez, Mr. Pfeiffer, Ms. Harrington, Ms. Ramirez, Ms. Gutierrez and all the others I didn’t name; it will fundamentally keep us behind.

"We are moving forward with the partnership and the awesome teachers we have. Our teachers are the most intelligent, motivated, effective, caring, and talented leaders, but they are going to have to leave our students and be awesome somewhere else. We need them at our school, and they want to be at our school. Please help."

--Veta Gashgai, teacher at Stevenson Middle School

"All we hear about is laying off the young up and coming teachers who have not reached tenured status. What about the old, stubborn teachers who do not like to abide by the District's standards? Those teachers need to retire. 30 year plus teachers who do not like to follow the current standards should not be working! Of course not all of the experienced teachers are like this, but getting rid of the younger more flexible teachers is an absolute mistake. No aspiring elementary school teacher coming out of college will want to apply to LAUSD jobs if they see the district ridding themselves of these energetic, fresh teachers."

--Ruben Basquez, parent

"Educating our youth is the most important task of our government. Everyone should have a chance at learning and teachers are essential to making that happen. If budget cuts are necessary then it should start at the top with the school board and not in the classroom with the teachers."

--Sasha Nelson

"I am a second year 5th grade teacher at Vinedale Elementary. Since joining the LAUSD district, I have incorporated many techniques involving the use of technologies to teach my students. I have reinvented the ways OCR has been taught over the years. Instead of using the ancient transparency machine to teach "selection vocabulary", everything is done using powerpoints slides. Students in my class are learning new vocablaries with the help of pictures, videos, and sounds. The point I am making is that I deeply care how students learn. I have taken many extra steps in finding ways to accomodate all of my diverse learners. I\'ve dedicated so much of my time and effort to instill a sense of confidence in my students. I feel that I don't deserve the pink slip due to my love for my community. I attended public school my whole life and want to keep giving back. Please reconsider laying off thousands of new enthusiastics teachers because we have so many great ideas."

--Duke2today, teacher at Vinedale Elementary School

"I took over a classroom being taught by a long-term sub who is a tenured teacher. My students\' periodic scores went up from the sub\'s scores and continue to improve. On the first periodic (after being taught by the sub for 6 weeks), out of 84 students, 4 students scored proficient (69% or above) and 0 students scored Advanced (82% or above).

After I taught for five weeks (39 days of instruction), 19 of my students scored Proficient (69% or above) and 3 of my students scored Advanced (82% or above). The next test occurred at the beginning of my fourth month of teaching. This is my most recent data. 24 of my students scored Proficient, and 15 of my students scored Advanced. This last test was completely writing-based; it was not multiple choice.

Please explain to me how eliminating my job will benefit the students. Find a different solution."

--Elizabeth Pier, teacher at Los Angeles Academy