Dress the Part, Teachers

Some teachers at Mount Vernon Middle School in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles are fighting for their “right” to wear comfy T-shirts, jeans and puffy cross-trainers to work. They don’t want to bother with collared shirts, ties, dresses, pantsuits, stockings or leather-soled shoes. But what spells comfort to them sends a different message to students: Anything goes.

The teachers must give up their jeans by July as part of Los Angeles schools Supt. Roy Romer’s plan to encourage a more professional culture at 10 failing schools singled out by state auditors for their continued abysmal academic performance.

The dress code isn’t the only thing changing at Mount Vernon. A new principal took charge this year. The school will switch from a year-round calendar to a traditional two-semester schedule. Most important, the school’s teachers must commit to using teaching methods that have boosted scores at a group of schools that were once among the worst in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

They also must agree in writing to be punctual, show up regularly, work collegially with other teachers, maintain high expectations for students and attend 20 days of mandatory training sessions, for which they will be paid, and all required meetings. If these changes don’t raise test scores in 18 months, the state could take over the school.

The shocking thing about these agreements is that they have to be put in writing. If some teachers have to be told to show up on time and cooperate, it hardly supports their union’s demands that they be treated as professionals and have ironclad job protections.

John Perez, the strident president-elect of United Teachers-Los Angeles, has likened the teacher commitment agreements to McCarthyist loyalty oaths. That sort of scorched-earth categorization only encourages teachers not to change, not to grow.

The staff commitment forms originated with the Ten Schools Program, which was set up about 15 years ago to raise achievement at troubled schools in Watts and South-Central L.A. The program has since been expanded to other schools south of the Santa Monica Freeway. Teachers at participating schools say the dress code in the commitment, which some Mount Vernon teachers so strongly protest, has brought them greater student respect.

Mount Vernon’s students have a lot of catching up to do, which will require major improvements. And yes, respectably dressed teachers is one of them.