An Administrator —and Former SLP—Shares His Perspective on the LA Teachers’ Strike 

Editor’s note: We are publishing this post after the conclusion of the LA teachers’ strike in order to share insights for members about the continuing wave of strikes, such as the current one in Denver. As an administrator in the Speech and Language Program in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), I belong to the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, the union representing administrators. I’m not a member of the union on strike—United Teachers of Los Angeles—so my role during the strike was to provide instruction and supervisory support to those students who reported to school during this time. Schools remained open during the strike and students participated in instructional programs. Qualified LAUSD staff—including reassigned administrators like me—provided instruction. My experiences during the strike vastly differed than those of the 17 educational audiologists and 505 speech-language pathologists out striking. It pained me to cross the picket line. My heart was with my colleagues, but my focus was on the children who came to school. I felt that I played an important role in the safety and instruction of these students by teaching a class of students with disabilities. Throughout it all, my experiences reaffirmed my respect for teachers and SLPs working with students daily. The LAUSD serves 65,866 students with disabilities. Among them, more than 28,000 receive speech-language services, 4,300 preschool students receive i...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Advocacy Audiology News Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology audiologist educational audiologist Source Type: blogs