Los Angeles Magnet High School Music Teacher Reinstated by District Amid Student Protests
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Students attend a school in the Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
By Jill McLaughlin
9/24/2024Updated: 9/24/2024

A music teacher at the Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, a public school focused on journalism, was reinstated on Sept. 23, a week after the school had made plans to remove him and a Spanish-language teacher from their positions during district budget cuts.

Students who staged a protest Monday found out later that same day that music teacher Wes Hambright would be reinstated by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“Of course, it is so exciting,” student Nadia Buer, a protest organizer, told The Epoch Times Tuesday. “We’ve gained another member of our family back, but our work isn’t over yet.”

The student-organized walkout at the school Monday drew about 70 students, parents, and teachers, according to Buer.

The group plans to continue protesting until Spanish-language teacher Glenda Hurtado is also reinstated.

Both instructors were set to be transferred to other schools after district representatives counted students at the campus to assess student-to-teacher ratios on Sept. 13, according to a district spokesperson.

The student count is conducted every year during a school day several weeks after the fall semester starts, to “ensure that resources follow students,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

“This allows districts to expeditiously shift resources as necessary to meet student needs district-wide,” the spokesperson said. “The District works collaboratively with each school to minimize disruption and to mitigate immediate impacts to affected schools, however we understand that [it] can cause disruption to the staffing in some school communities.”

About 70 students protested after a music and Spanish teacher were removed from their positions at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2024. (Courtesy of Nadia Buer)

About 70 students protested after a music and Spanish teacher were removed from their positions at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2024. (Courtesy of Nadia Buer)

Enrollment at the school dropped from 220 in 2023 to 188 this year. That is the lowest enrollment at the school since it was established in 2009, according to The Pearl Post, the school’s student newspaper.

The school is located in the Lake Balboa neighborhood, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It’s the “smallest stand-alone comprehensive high school” in the district, according to the school website.

The school was named in honor of Daniel Pearl, an American journalist who worked for The Wall Street Journal and attended Birmingham High School in Lake Balboa. He was covering the war on terror after 9/11 when he was kidnapped in 2002 and killed four weeks later by Islamic terrorists in Pakistan.

The high school offers a comprehensive education but is also focused on journalism and communications. Students have a chance to run a student newspaper, perform in the music program, and play sports, the website states.

Artist Levi Ponce poses with his mural project of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, near his old neighborhood in Los Angeles on May 23, 2015. The artist worked with students from the Daniel Pearl High School and LAPD West Valley Police cadets on the project. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

Artist Levi Ponce poses with his mural project of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, near his old neighborhood in Los Angeles on May 23, 2015. The artist worked with students from the Daniel Pearl High School and LAPD West Valley Police cadets on the project. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

The district spokesperson didn’t say whether the Spanish teacher would be reinstated. The school’s principal Armen Petrossian was not available to talk with The Epoch Times about the teachers, saying it was a personnel matter.

Hurtado posted a message on the district’s Schoology site for students and parents after finding out she had been displaced.

“It is with a deep sadness to announce to you that my position as a Spanish teacher was terminated at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School as of today due to low enrollment,'' Hurtado wrote.

The teacher who had started at the school when it was part of Birmingham High School 17 years ago told students in the note she would be reassigned to another school.

However, Hurtado has returned to Daniel Pearl as a substitute teacher for her own class, according to student protest organizer Buer, a sophomore at the school.

Students at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School plan to continue protesting until their Spanish teacher is reinstated, according to an organizer. (Courtesy of Nadia Buer)

Students at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School plan to continue protesting until their Spanish teacher is reinstated, according to an organizer. (Courtesy of Nadia Buer)

Taking Spanish is mandatory for graduation, so the class wasn’t canceled when the district dismissed Hurtado. According to the district, Spanish classes at the school will be switched to online only.

The effort to get their teachers back has brought the school together, though, Buer said.

“Our school has really come together to make all of this happen,” she said. “It’s really beautiful. There’s an optimistic way to look at this situation.”

The group plans to possibly gather again for another walkout Wednesday afternoon, after another district administrator may visit the school.

Student leadership canceled spirit week and homecoming events after finding out that Hurtado and Hambright had been displaced.

“When students are downtrodden and dispirited due to the gutting of beloved departments, we cannot celebrate at a time when the things we love are being removed,” the students posted on Instagram Sept. 20. “Our community feels frozen in time—our school environment is not the same without them. Due to this, Spirit Week and Homecoming are postponed.”

City News Service contributed to this report.

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Jill McLaughlin is an award-winning journalist covering politics, environment, and statewide issues. She has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Oregon, Nevada, and New Mexico. Jill was born in Yosemite National Park and enjoys the majestic outdoors, traveling, golfing, and hiking.

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