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The members of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) have high hopes for their new president, Warren Fletcher. Elected on March 30th of this year, Fletcher differs greatly from his predecessor AJ Duffy. In fact, he beat out Duffy’s chosen successor, Julie Washington by 6 percent in a run-off election, representing a new direction for the union. Warren was backed by NewTLA, a dissident faction who want a new direction for their union. A July 18th LA- Times Op-ed considers Fletcher’s new position in office “a welcome departure from the bombastic thuggery of his predecessor, A.J. Duffy.” AJ Duffy even admits, “I chose to be bombastic so that people would listen.” In contrast, Warren Fletcher proves to be a bit more modest with his presidential title preferring to be referred to as simply an English Teacher. His election platform was based on strengthening UTLA as it struggles against teacher lay-offs, charter schools, and the Mayor’s education agenda. In his new position which just started on July 1st, Fletcher will be contending the new superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, John Deasy who took office in April. So far, Deasy has made significant reforms to how teachers are evaluated, to the meals that are served in school, and toward closing down what are considered low-performing schools. Along with the many mixed reactions towards the new superintendent, Fletcher expects Deasy to be “someone who can stop enabling dubious policies and practices” at LAUSD.

GUEST: Howard Blume, LA Times Reporter and co-host of Deadline LA with Barbara Osborn which airs Mondays at 3:30 pm on KPFK