‘Don’t Hold Us Back’ Protest Takes a Stand for Education

ASTRID TOVAR
Staff Writer

In the Oct. 17 issue of the Los Angeles Times, an advertisement caught the attention of educators and education reformers alike with a subtle yet brazen full-page message: “Don’t Hold Us Back.”
Don’t Hold Us Back (DHUB) is a growing education reform group that aims to pressure the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to implement major changes in their policies.
They called out to LAUSD and the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) to reform their contracts between the district and the union for efficient education
On DHUB’s website, they state that they are “a coalition of civil rights, parent and community based organizations that believe every child deserves a quality public school education.”
DHUB threatened LAUSD with a lawsuit claiming that LAUSD and UTLA have been violating the 1971 Stull Act that mandates California schools evaluate staff members based on student performance.
“[W]hat they’re doing takes guts and things are getting intense, but it is really needed,” senior Brenda Lopez said.
DHUB also aims to put an end to the last hired, first fired” practice which bases teacher cuts on seniority. Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of Community Coalition, says that they advocate that the more experienced the teacher is, the more they deserve to keep their job.
LAUSD supports most of DHUB’s views and says teachers “should be rewarded for academic excellence,” while DHUB also challenges UTLA’s practice of sending the most inexperienced teachers to the poorest neighborhoods.
In a joint effort, parents and reform groups have pressured LAUSD and UTLA to come to an agreement on terms based on the Stull Act lawsuit that requires them to evaluate teachers with student reviews by setting certain deadlines— one of which has since passed. It ended in a stalemate where neither president made a decison.
“I respect groups such as DHUB for trying to help,” U.S. History teacher Jose Sanchez said, “but they are often times misled. Merit pay has not been proved anywhere that it is effective.”
DHUB sent a letter of their concern to Superintendent John Deasy, UTLA leader Warren Fletcher and L.A. Unified board on Oct. 24.
“When only 56% of our students graduate from high school,” wrote the e-mail, “we are failing close to half of our kids and cosigning them to a life of poverty.”
Although DHUB is still a growing movement that is centralized in Los Angles, it has now made its voice known among education reforms groups and hopes to expand to districts in other cities in California and across the country.