Teachers Protest Dress Code
Schools: L.A. Unified urges troubled campuses to follow guidelines.Nearly 100 teachers at Mount Vernon Middle School met with Los Angeles Unified School District officials to protest what they call a "loyalty oath," a dress code and other changes mandated at certain troubled campuses.
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Under a "staff commitment form" created by the district for Mount Vernon, male teachers will be required to wear ties and slacks; women who wear dresses must wear pantyhose. No jeans or athletic shoes will be allowed. If teachers refuse to abide by these and other requirements on the form, they must apply for transfer to another campus. They will not be terminated.
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"If you are a teacher and you don't want to do it, you are welcome to go elsewhere," Romer said in an interview at district headquarters. "We're trying to salvage schools that are failing. We're trying to do something for the children."
At Mount Vernon, the district is also requiring staff members to be open to experimenting with or changing teaching methods, to communicate with students' parents, to maintain high energy and to attend all mandated staff development sessions.
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Mount Vernon is one of 10 Los Angeles Unified schools that state auditors found had failed to improve test scores despite four years of warnings....
[the other schools are] Avalon Gardens Elementary School; Gompers, Horace Mann and Sun Valley middle schools; and [John C. Fremont], Jefferson, Locke, Roosevelt and Wilson high schools.