Los Angeles teachers overwhelmingly expressed "no confidence" in L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy in the first vote of its kind in the nation's second-largest school system.
In the weeklong referendum that ended Wednesday, 91% of the participating teachers expressed disapproval of Deasy, with about 17,700 of the union's more than 32,000 members casting ballots, the teachers union announced Thursday.
The superintendent called the vote "nonsense" even before knowing its outcome, and a group of civic leaders rallied to Deasy's defense. But United Teachers Los Angeles said it would now press more assertively against Deasy initiatives that have made the city a crucible for education debates playing out nationwide.
"It's important to look at the data and impossible to ignore the results," union President Warren Fletcher said.
Deasy has angered some teachers by pushing for evaluations that include the use of student standardized test scores. He also has tried to limit job and seniority protections and to speed up the dismissal of teachers accused of serious misconduct or ineffectiveness in the classroom.
Still, a no confidence vote was not necessarily a foregone conclusion. The referendum came soon after union members overwhelmingly approved a new teacher evaluation agreement and after L.A. Unified School District restored unpaid furlough days. The confidence vote was placed before teachers by the union's House of Representatives, which contains many new delegates and younger teachers, who were presumed to be more supportive of Deasy.
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