Public Education, the Inside Story

Welcome to our blog on public education. We are two people with over 50 years of classroom teaching experience. Wayne Johnson, in addition to 27 years of classroom teaching in Los Angeles Unified District, was president of the 32,000 member teacher bargaining unit in Los Angeles for six years. He was also president of the 330,000 member California Teachers Association for four years. Harriet Perl was a classroom teacher for 35 years and worked for Los Angeles Unified as a counselor to victims of violence for nine years.

We know public education from the inside, and we want to share our information with you. We plan to show you the reality behind some of the important issues in public education today, such as:

How to fire bad teachers
Merit pay as a reward for good teachers
Private and charter schools vs. ordinary public schools
Principal power
The role of teacher unions
The college prep track for all kids
Why so many kids drop out
Where the education dollars go
Who teaches the teachers?
Teacher tenure
Parents' role in their children's schools
What it's like to teach today
Are vouchers the solution?

And much more!