LOS ANGELES – The United Teachers Los Angeles union is fighting back against the school district’s plan to improve academic performance at the failing Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy because some teachers might lose their jobs.

UTLA members whipped parents into a frenzy in front of the south Los Angeles pilot school this week after superintendent Ramon Cortines announced plans to overhaul the school by requiring staff to reapply for their jobs, according to LA School Report.

The school is one of 37 “Reed Investment Schools” identified in a legal settlement last year that requires the district to provide funds to stabilize the school by retaining teachers, CBS Los Angeles reports.

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The district plans to partner with L.A. Promise, a group that has successfully improved student learning at other L.A. schools by replacing half the teachers.

UTLA, of course, would rather the district give existing teachers another change to step up their game, despite poor academic performance since the school opened in 2010. During an April 30 review of the Obama Global Prep, a team of district education experts noted a lot of problems, and concluded that a “strong instructional program is not in place,” LA School Report cited from a district report.

The news site reports the “accelerated review” revealed that:

  • While work was displayed in most classrooms, the majority of posted assignments were low-level worksheets that provided little to no student feedback.
  • In multiple classrooms, reviewers found students who were not participating in the lesson and had not been given supplemental assignments
  • Projects, activities and assignments did not require higher levels of thinking or were not aligned to the instructional standards resulting in low-levels of student cognitive engagement.
  • Students expressed a desire for more elective curse offerings and clubs.

“Students also reported that they have not been taught science, a core content area that is tested in middle school, because the position is vacant. The science vacancy has also prevented the school from fulfilling the science component of the science, technology, engineering and math focus that was outlined in the revised pilot school plan,” according to LA School Report.

Student performance data posted on Niche.com shows students aren’t learning a whole lot. Only 18 percent of the school’s sixth through eighth grade students scored proficient in math, and only 29 percent met that threshold for reading.

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence of academic failure, UTLA officials believe the district’s turnaround plan “is just a way to blame teachers for a much bigger problem,” union spokeswoman Suzanne Spurgeon told LA School Report.

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Like always, the union blames the virtually non-existent student learning on a lack of funding and staff.

Union officials told CBS Los Angeles the proposed staffing changes at Obama Global Prep will “destabilize the under-supported and under-funded school” and hurt students “who may find their favorite teachers are gone when classes resume after summer break.”

So the UTLA convinced parents like Michelle Miller to fight plans to improve instruction.

“I have been a parent here since the doors opened,” Miller told protestors in front of the school Wednesday. “If it wasn’t for the teachers behind me, my sons would not have graduated. (The people making this decision) don’t know the teachers, they don’t know the students. It’s not right.”

Other parents, however, think the best teachers will remain at the school under the district’s turnaround plan, and it will give officials an opportunity to weed out less effective educators.

“They’re good teachers and they know they can back it up,” parent Teresa Clark told CBS Los Angeles.

But Clark also pointed to another critical component that also has major impact on how students learn: parents.

“I mean, if you want your kids to get a good education, we as parents need to step up,” she said.

CBS Los Angeles reports Obama Global Prep stems from a $19.5 billion LAUSD program aimed at providing “every student with the opportunity to attend a safe and healthy neighborhood school operating on a traditional, two-semester calendar.”