Andrea Gabor wrote a piece referring to testimonials to Rafe Esquith by former students.
Now other Esquith alums have contacted her, and she reprints their reactions here to the LAUSD disciplinary actions against him. He has been suspended with pay, and his class trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was canceled this year.
One student writes about how Esquith changed her life; the other expresses his suspicions that administrators are out to get Esquith because he never followed orders. With all the national and international honors heaped on him, the LAUSD has conspicuously never celebrated his renown as a teacher.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is worth to repeat:
“”Rafe showed me the world, but he also showed me:
The value of HUMILITY and HONESTY.
He taught me that SUCCESS is NOT defined by HOW MUCH YOU MAKE or how famous you are, BUT that IT IS HONORABLE to BE HONEST and DO GOOD.
I am still trying to apply that to my life and practice today, and the classroom motto of ‘Be Nice, Work Hard’ follows me wherever I go.
He showed me that I could achieve my dreams but also made me think about how those DREAMS could DO GOOD and HELP OTHER PEOPLE.””
In short, LAUSD’ s Administrators’ attitude is completely opposite to whatever Rafe’s teaching value and belief. Only God can be the ultimate Judge on LAUSD Administrators’ sufferance sooner or later within this live. Back2basic
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I don’t understand how an injustice could persist. Where is the union on this? Surely LAUSD is not immune to legal action.
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I think I read something about the union offering help but that Rafe was pursuing private representation. Perhaps someone closer to the scene can elaborate.
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I guess if Deasy and Broad want you to go away, you go away. This should be a national outrage. Perhaps tho while we focus on this, LAUSD is up to worse behind the scenes. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
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We really are no different than totalitarian states- it’s just that our totalitarian is the corporate state
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If this were about child safety, he would have been removed from his classroom the moment accusations arose. That is California State law. I do not understand how it’s ok to pull a person from their workplace, hide them, and launch an investigation with no boundaries, interview personal contacts, associated organizations, decades back in time. I cannot believe that is allowable in the United States.
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“I cannot believe that is allowable in the United Snakes.”
I can!
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When we were children it was not allowed; we did have civil rights, but citizens of this country are going to have to once again stand for the American dream. Corporate government lead by oligarchs has no heart. At best it is fascism with a smile. But with justice minded people like you around – might will be conquered by right.
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I’m posting here an email I got from Sandra Jaffe, who produced Our Mockingbird, a documentary that “uses Harper Lee’s 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird as a lens to view race, class, gender and justice — then and now.” Rafe Esquith is among the many experts she interviews in the film.
Hi Andrea,
I read Diane R’s blog and saw what you wrote about Rafe. He appears in my documentary (twice – there are a LOT of voices!) , OUR MOCKINGBIRD, and I, too, visited his class when I interviewed him a number of years ago. He’s definitely the most dedicated and hard working influential life changing teachers in this country.
I hope that he is able to absolve himself and get back to work changing lives.
All best,
Sandy Jaffe
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Rafe Esquith is a hero to so many of us in education. I have a quote by him on my library website: “If children develop a love of reading, they will have better lives.” from Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire.
How can this be???
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The NEA Representative Assembly will vote today or tomorrow on an item to increase awareness of teacher jails. I hope anyone who knows someone attending that convention in Florida right now will send a quick message asking for support of the item. It would send a strong message given that Mr. Esquith’s case is the one making headlines right now. http://ra.nea.org/new-business-item/new-business-item-60/
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