United Teachers Los Angeles held a news conference yesterday, at which its brass proclaimed that they were not ?the villains of education.? Of course, they also said that they oppose using test scores to evaluate teacher performance and that they oppose ending the seniority system which, as the Los Angeles Daily News put it, ?forces the district to keep teachers who have worked with LAUSD the longest, regardless of performance, during layoffs.? Yolie Flores, a LAUSD school board member, said, ?We all welcome a more progressive teachers union in Los Angeles . . . but up until now they have been the party of no.? Can you argue with that?
?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow