Displacing teachers inhibits students’ ability to learn. This week, we lost two teachers to displacement because of budget cuts. With them, we lost our ability to engage and learn music and Spanish, which is a tragedy and disrespectful to the legacy of Daniel Pearl.

Since 2022, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has prided itself on its strategy to fulfill student needs, the five pillars of the Strategic Plan are: academic excellence, joy and wellness, engagement and collaboration, operational effectiveness and investing in staff. In its attempts to make large decisions based on a data sheet, the district has failed to uphold its five pillars by stripping Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) of teachers who make students both passionate and motivated. The decision obstructs academic capability, ignores student interests, disrupts educational paths and encourages lower enrollment in the school.

Norm Day is an annual event that uses the number of students enrolled to reallocate resources between schools. This year, Norm Day was on Sept. 13. At DPMHS, the number of enrolled students dropped to 188, the lowest it has ever been. The consequent budget cuts were devastating. 

With lower enrollment numbers came reallocation of teachers and limitations on school funds. Music teacher Wes Hambright and Spanish teacher Glenda Hurtado were given a notice of displacement on Sept. 18. After leaving school campuses, many students, including us, were in shock over the loss of teachers, feeling disheartened about the rest of their school year. 

While Spanish classes could go online and onto platforms like Edgenuity, it still fails to meet many students’ educational needs. Learning software cannot replicate the conversational experience an in-person lecture offers. 

We are worried that students will not be able to learn effectively online. All of us had experience with the platform and can confidently say that Edgenuity does not teach students to the same degree as a teacher. Online teachers cannot understand students the same way an in-person teacher can. For the past two years at DPMHS, AP World History has been taught through Edgenuity and has significantly lower pass rates than other AP classes that have a teacher. 

This can be attributed to a lack of communication and unclear instructions an online course provides.

Without a music teacher, the music department cannot function and will be shut down. Classes are temporarily led by substitute teachers until students are relocated into separate classes. World Music Day, an event to continue the legacy of Daniel Pearl as both the journalist and violinist who the school was named after, was led by Hambright. Despite the months students spent practicing the event, it is dubious in its continuance.

Teacher displacement has left schools in a cycle of student disinterest. Without teachers to actively motivate classrooms, students will be unable to focus on their education. A lack of teachers causes low student enrollment. This attempt to allocate resources is a detriment to schools with smaller student populations. While the displaced staff can continue teaching elsewhere, students cannot continue learning without teachers to lead them.

Students should not have to fight and take a stand to have a proper education. LAUSD should not limit the capability of its students through displacement as it directly impacts the learning environment of small schools. Enrollment data does not include the number of apathetic students who need the support of a teacher.