Lake Balboa students protest teacher reassignments

LOS ANGELES - Students at a school in Lake Balboa held a rally Monday to protest the potential reassignment of two beloved teachers. 

It was 3pm when over 100 students walked out of school at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School and hit the sidewalk to protest teacher reassignments and Norm Day. They were upset that two of the school's teachers - a music teacher and one who teaches Spanish - were notified they were being reassigned because of low enrollment.

After concerns from parents, students, and teachers, the principal announced that one position would be saved… the music teacher's job. 

"My concern is that Norm Day is not an okay practice. Taking teachers out of our schools in the middle of September is so not okay for the students' mental health because we've already started all of our classes, we've been prepared, we've been excited to learn and then suddenly our teachers are pulled from us," said Serena Elkins, junior class president.

LAUSD said this is happening because of something called Norm Day, a census of students taken several weeks into the school year across the state to make sure the resources follow students. 

But these students think Norm Day is anything but normal. 

"To my understanding, we needed to have 191 students enrolled to be able to keep these positions. We're at 188. And so just being three students off, we lost these teaching positions. It's extremely frustrating," said teacher and union rep Tim Hughes.

What makes Daniel Pearl Magnet such a unique school is its small knit community and focus on journalism. The school, which was established in 2009, was named after Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. 

"This is devastating. I sat in a local school leadership council meeting and listened as students were sobbing. It is very sad and my heart breaks for these kids," said mom and PTSA parent Colleen Elkins. "We need to rethink how we are funding schools in this state."

The Spanish teacher, Glenda Hurtado, her displacement was a result of low enrollment in the class she was teaching. Music teacher, Wes Hambright, said his was also due to low enrollment, but in addition to that, his class is an elective. 

Hambright was reinstated Monday. He said he was told the reason was due to the uproar from teachers and students.