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    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Popular LA Teacher Forced to Take Leave

    Parents and students at Hobart Elementary school in Koreatown are angry that a renowned teacher there has been removed from his classroom. Rafe Esquith has won teaching awards, been profiled in national news stories and written books about education. Now, he’s on forced leave while the district investigates a complaint against him.

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    By Madeleine Brand • Jun 19, 2015 • 1 min read

    Parents and students at Hobart Elementary school in Koreatown are angry that a renowned teacher there has been removed from his classroom. Rafe Esquith has won teaching awards, been profiled in national news stories and written books about education. Now, he’s on forced leave while the district investigates a complaint against him. Esquith’s lawyers say it was filed by another teacher after Esquith read his fifth-grade students a passage from “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” describing a naked man. What do we know about the situation and will Esquith be reinstated?

    The full episode

    3 of 5
    AME in L.A., Juneteenth, Plastic Surgery as Makeup and Friday Film
    1. 0:00AME in Los Angeles
    2. 9:28Juneteenth
    3. 18:41Popular LA Teacher Forced to Take LeaveYou’re reading this
    4. 27:22Friday Film: 'Jurassic World' Mania Continues, and More
    5. 41:01Is Plastic Surgery the New Makeup?
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Madeleine Brand

      Host, 'Press Play'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Jolie Myers

      Managing Producer, 'Press Play'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Matt Holzman

      Producer, 'The Document'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Anna Scott

      Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter

    • KCRW placeholder

      Ben Meiselas

      attorney at Geragos & Geragos. He represents Rafe Esquith.

      News

    The full episode

    3 of 5
    AME in L.A., Juneteenth, Plastic Surgery as Makeup and Friday Film
    1. 0:00AME in Los Angeles
    2. 9:28Juneteenth
    3. 18:41Popular LA Teacher Forced to Take LeaveYou’re reading this
    4. 27:22Friday Film: 'Jurassic World' Mania Continues, and More
    5. 41:01Is Plastic Surgery the New Makeup?
    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand