Superintendent John Deasy (Photo credit: cityyear)
By Brian Hews
The powerful United Teachers of Los Angeles said “it’s about time” that Superintendent John Deasy of the Los Angeles Unified School District submitted his resignation late Thursday night.
In a statement, UTLA officials said: “It is no secret that UTLA has had major concerns with John Deasy’s leadership. Nonetheless the future of LAUSD is not about one man. The challenge going forward is to make sure students and schools get the resources they so badly need after five punishing years of recession. UTLA believes new leadership at LAUSD holds the potential to make that happen.”
UTLA President Warren Fletcher went on to say: “UTLA members have made it clear that Deasy’s leadership was not taking the District in the right direction. In April, 91% percent of 17,500 members polled found “no confidence” in his leadership. We later conducted an in-depth member-wide survey, and the Superintendent scored just 1.4 on a scale of 1-to-5.”
“In recent months, Deasy’s role in the billion- dollar iPad debacle has been especially troubling. First he served as a pitch man in an Apple promotional video and then he committed the District to purchasing the devices through a suspect and misleading contracting process,” the statement stressed.
“Deasy has ignored the concerns of the District’s teachers and health and human services professionals for a very long time. UTLA is hopeful that the School Board and the entire LAUSD community will take this opportunity to refocus the District back to its most basic mission: providing every student with a well-rounded education.” the union noted.
