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Tania Lopez

Sophomore Louise Gaguet signs a petition created by junior Delilah Trujillo during her period 6 English class on Sept. 18.

Junior Sebastian Olfatmanesh was doing his classwork when he first heard that some teachers would be displaced from the school. Disbelief was the first emotion he felt, followed by devastation.

“I was like, there’s no way,” Olfatmanesh said. “I did not believe that (…) when it got confirmed, I was so devastated and I didn’t know what to say and do. I was just thinking that the (music) department was going down and now it’s completely gone.” 

On Wednesday, students learned that two veteran teachers at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) were being displaced: music teacher Wes Hambright and Spanish teacher Glenda Hurtado. The decision was made after Norm Day on Sept. 13, which determined staffing levels based off of total enrolled students at a school. This year, DPMHS student enrollment is the lowest it has ever been, causing the budget cut and affecting faculty numbers. According to guidance counselor Martina Torres, this year’s enrollment is 188 students. This is 32 less compared to last year, which had 220. 

The teachers were notified of their displacement the day it occurred. Both shared goodbye messages to their students. 

“It is with a deep sadness to announce to you that my position as a Spanish teacher was terminated at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School as of today due to low enrollment,” Hurtado said in a message on Schoology. “I will be designated to another school. Not sure where or when. I am still processing the news. It is a very difficult time as I have been part of this beautiful shark community for the last seventeen years of my teaching career.” 

Hurtado has worked at DPMHS since it was part of Birmingham Community Charter High School – back when it was called Birmingham High School, before it became a charter school and before DPMHS split from it. Hambright has been a faculty member since 2015, first as a permanent substitute teacher during the 2015-2016 school year, then as a full-time member in August of the next school year. Hambright was previously displaced due to budget cuts during the second half of the 2015-2016 year, thereby shutting down the music department, but was brought back so students could fulfill their A-G requirements. During the 2016-2017 Norm Day budget cuts, the Spanish department lost one of its two teachers, retaining Hurtado due to her seniority. 

“I was stunned,” Hurtado said. “I didn’t understand where the decision was coming from. I love what I teach them. I love what I do and because I’m passionate, this hurts more. I just hope Mr. Petrossian made the right choice for our students, for the sake of our school.”

This year, seniority was not considered when determining who to displace. The decision was made at the school level by Principal Armen Petrossian.

Petrossian declined to comment.

“There’s a sense of betrayal,” Hambright said. “A little bit of betrayal, after being here for the amount of time that I have, and building the program, building the rapport with students. So there was a little bit of betrayal. I understand budgets, but I felt then there has to be other solutions to the issue, and more support for the school. So I felt like this decision is letting the students down.”

Since they were the only teachers for their departments, classes will be changed or removed. Hurtado was the only full-time foreign language teacher, as math and Portuguese teacher Goncalo Fino de Sousa only teaches one period of Portuguese. Currently, students do not know what will happen to their Spanish or music classes, but many resent the idea of switching to online classes on programs like Edgenuity or Apex, which are unpopular with students. Music will no longer be offered at DPMHS. 

“Everything will have to turn online,” senior Allison Gonzales said. “I think we all know no one really enjoyed online school, as we already had a bunch of underclassmen hating on that, so I don’t think it’s a good outcome.”

With their departures, Art club, Hispanic/Latino club and songwriting club need to find different club sponsors, or be shut down. 

“Now I don’t know where my club is going to be,” sophomore Desirae Carns, who is president of songwriting club, said. “Because my club was in his class, and he’s (the) music (teacher). So now I don’t know who’s going to sponsor my club, since he’s gone.” 

Due to Hambright’s departure, all concerts for the year have been canceled, including World Music Day. The concert, which is held during slain journalist Daniel Pearl’s birthday month, was meant to highlight his love of music. Students would use the concert as an opportunity to promote diverse, varied music and show off their musical talents. 

“Music means a lot to me because it’s just a way of escaping and I can just convey my thoughts and emotions to music,” junior Mose Judge-Glascock. “World Music Day means a lot to me because it’s a way of sharing people’s different cultures. I feel like without that, there’s not going to be as much diversity within the school.”

Many students and parents worry that the absence of these departments will lead to a further drop in enrollment. Some current students, who were part of the music department, are debating leaving. Prospective students that could have been enticed by the music program may not enroll.  

“The main reason why I’m here is because of the music department,” Judge-Glascock said. “And I feel like if there’s no music department then I might not want to be at the school anymore.”

World Music Day isn’t the only event affected by the displacements. Spirit Week is postponed to a later date due to the low morale of the student body. Homecoming is still set for Sept. 28. 

“When students are downtrodden and dispirited due to the gutting of beloved departments, we cannot celebrate at a time when the things we love are being removed,” ASB and Leadership announced on the @dpmhsclassof2025 Instagram on Sept. 19. “Our community feels frozen in time – our school environment is not the same without them.”

Many students frustrated with the displacements have taken matters into their own hands. Junior Delilah Trujillo has gone class-to-class with a petition to reinstate the teachers, while other students ask parents after school. Some have begun to call Los Angeles Unified School District officials, such as School Board member Scott Schmerelson and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. 

“I hope all the phone calls that we’re making will make them realize what we’re actually doing needs to be heard,” Trujillo said. “Because we need those teachers, whether they like the teachers or not, we need them at the end of the day.”

Students and staff remain optimistic that their advocacy will pay off and things will return to normal. 

“I’m getting a lot of emails from parents and students and their support,” Hambright said. “But when I come in, see it and feel it, it gives me hope that we can fix this and we can continue on. We’ll look back on this at the end of the year and it’ll just be a hiccup.”

Aidan Lia contributed to the reporting of this article.