Hundreds Join "Occupy" Protest at LAUSD Headquarters

Los Angeles - Hundreds of protesters, some of whom have been taking part in the Occupy L.A. encampment outside Los Angeles City Hall in protest of what they call corporate greed amid high unemployment, marched to LAUSD headquarters today to decry teacher layoffs and large class sizes.

But Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy condemned the protesters' claims, calling it an "insult" to compare the district's financial troubles to "policies and institutions that have systematically hurt the poor and middle class."

Participants in the march rallied at City Hall before beginning a march to LAUSD headquarters, where the Board of Education was meeting. Outside the building, protesters waved signs and chanted slogans, with some vowing to camp out at the district's headquarters and mirror the Occupy L.A. protest.

"It is time the LAUSD School Board listens to us, the 99 percent," organizer Jose Lara said. "We demand full funding of our schools, an end to layoffs that disrupt our school communities and an end to public school giveaways. It is time we hire back our teachers, counselors, nurses, office workers and all others who play an instrumental role in educating our students."

Protest organizers claimed the district had a $55 million surplus that should be used to bring back laid-off teachers and staffers.

Deasy, however, said the bulk of that money had been used to retain 330 positions that had been slated for elimination, hire an additional 160 certificated employees and 300 clerical and other support personnel.

He called the protesters "misinformed," saying their comments and actions were "contrary to the spirit and intent of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy L.A. and the other laudable movements for economic justice that have sprung up around the country and the world over the last month."

"As participating UTLA (United Teachers Los Angeles) employees know, LAUSD is also the victim of deliberate and pernicious government actions aimed at the least powerful in our society," Deasy said. "What we need is a state that invests in our youth more than it invests in our prisons."