EDITORIAL, L.A. TIMES, May 5, 2002
 
           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.