the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Apr 14, 2025
In January, the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) lost five schools in the Altadena area, which was largely wiped out by the Eaton fire. The district, located northeast of Los Angeles, reported that two-thirds of its students had to evacuate, and that 987 families lost their homes in the fire—as did 120 district employees.
And yet in February, when the fire’s ashes had barely cooled down, PUSD officials dealt some of these fire victims another devastating blow: layoffs!
The PUSD announced that, by June, it would be eliminating 151 positions. Of the 117 teachers who got layoff notices, about a dozen have lost their homes in the fire, according to the Pasadena teachers’ union.
PUSD officials say they have no choice. They say they are not only short of money, but that the state will further cut their funding because their enrollment will drop as a result of the fires. In other words, instead of providing extra funds to help fire victims, California authorities are actually cutting money from schools in the fire zones!
Pasadena is not alone. West of L.A., the Palisades fire caused heavy damage to four schools run by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). And like the PUSD and about 40 other school districts across California, the LAUSD has also notified many teachers that they may be laid off in June. Unlike other districts, though, the LAUSD has not disclosed the number of pink slips, as layoff notices are known, that it issued.
Pink slips have become an ordeal California teachers go through every spring. Even when some of the pink slips are rescinded, they obviously cause a lot of extra stress and anxiety among teachers and their families, and their students as well.
Even this year’s catastrophic L.A. fires were apparently not reason enough for California officials to spare schools from this havoc, and not even in areas devastated by the fires—when everybody knows that schools are one of the few places where disaster victims, and especially children, can find support.