Greater LA
Why some LAUSD teachers quit amid pandemic challenges
Last year took a heavy toll on educators who had to pivot to teaching via video, sometimes with their own kids at home. Many of them watched hard-won education gains disappear into black boxes on Zoom.
By Steve Chiotakis • • 25m ListenLast year took a heavy toll on educators who had to pivot to teaching via video, sometimes with their own kids at home. Many of them watched hard-won education gains disappear into black boxes on Zoom. Those experiences led many of them to quit the profession.
“Saying goodbye to teaching was the hardest goodbye I've ever had to make,” former high school teacher Emma Gallagher says. “There's guilt tied up in it. It's like, if I'm not my best in the classroom, there are 180 faces staring up at me. And I know their stories, I know what they're going through. I know how they need support, and if I can't provide that, I know exactly how it affects them.”
In this episode
2 stories‘The hardest goodbye I've ever had to make’: LAUSD teachers share why they quit
Last year took a heavy toll on educators who had to pivot to teaching via video, sometimes with their own kids at home. Many of them watched hard-won education gains disappear into black boxes on Zoom. Those experiences led many of them to quit the profession.
Read the story12 minLAFD battalion chief: ‘If there's not another woman at your station, who's going to stick up for you?’
“The department has been historically plagued by issues regarding race and gender. It seems like it's gotten a little bit worse over the years," says Kris Larson, the first female African American captain promoted to battalion chief at the LAFD.
Read the story13 min
