Students at Daniel Pearl high school protested after two teachers were displaced

By Tim Haddock, City News Service

Students at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Lake Balboa conducted a walk-out on Monday, Sept. 23, to protest the announced displacement of two teachers, a move prompted by low enrollment.

Music teacher Wes Hambright and Spanish teacher Glenda Hurtado were informed after Norm Day on Sept. 13, when the district determines staffing levels based on enrollment, that they were being relieved of duties at the school, including their overview of school clubs and special events.

Enrollment at the school dropped from 220 to 188 from 2023 to 2024. That enrollment is the lowest at the school in its history.

Upon learning of the news Wednesday, a group of students formed a plan to walk out of classes Monday to protest the displacement and rally in support of them. At 3 p.m., the group walked from the campus to the Los Angeles Unified School District North District offices.

Hurtado posted a message on the social media site Schoology about being displaced.

“It is with a deep sadness to announce to you that my position as a Spanish teacher was terminated at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School as of today due to low enrollment,” Hurtado wrote. “I will be designated to another school. Not sure where or when. I am still processing the news. It is a very difficult time as I have been part of this beautiful Shark community for the last seventeen years of my teaching career.”

Hurtado started her teaching career at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School when it was part of Birmingham High School, before it became a charter school and split into Daniel Pearl Magnet.

Hambright has been a member of the school faculty since 2015, starting as a permanent substitute teacher, becoming a full-time teacher in August 2016. He was displaced during the 2016 school year because of budget cuts, which led to the music department shutting down, before eventually returning.

Two teachers, not including Hurtado, were displaced in the Spanish department because of budget cuts during the 2016 school year.

“Norm Day is a day each year in which actively-enrolled Los Angeles Unified students are counted solely for the purposes of reallocating district-provided staff according to the staff norm tables approved by the Board of Education annually,” a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson said.

“This student count is typically conducted on a school day several weeks into the school year and the practice occurs across the state as school districts work to ensure that resources follow students. This allows districts to expeditiously shift resources as necessary to meet student needs district-wide.”

Principal Armen Petrossian declined to comment about the displacement to The Pearl Post, the school’s student-run newspaper. Hambright told The Pearl Post that he felt a sense of betrayal by the decision.

“A little bit of betrayal, after being here for the amount of time that I have, and building the program, building the rapport with students. So there was a little bit of betrayal,” he said. “I understand budgets, but I felt then there has to be other solutions to the issue, and more support for the school. So I felt like this decision is letting the students down.”

Without Hurtado and Hambright on staff, the art club, Hispanic/Latino Club and songwriting club will no longer meet. Hurtado and Hambright were the faculty advisers for those clubs.

In addition, World Music Day and all concerts at the school have been canceled. World Music Day is a traditional event at the school in October to commemorate the birthday month of Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed by Islamic militants in 2002. The World Music Day in 2023 celebrated what would have been Pearl’s 60th birthday.