This LA Times article captures the carnage that seniority-based layoffs have:

The cuts were especially devastating to the three schools because administrators had recruited younger instructors who wanted to be there. When they were dismissed, they were often replaced by instructors who did not want to work at tough, urban campuses.

Some replacement teachers "quit after only a few days," the suit alleges.

Many classes were then filled with instructors who did not have the proper credentials or by substitutes who rotated through.

Several substitutes allegedly gave all students a "C" because they didn't know the material well enough to grade the work, the suit claims.

Sharail Reed, a Markham eighth-grader, said she has had at least nine substitute history teachers this year. When her mother asks her what she's learning in that class, Sharail said: "I don't have anything to tell her."

Some students are reluctant to go to some of their classes, teachers say.

Nicholas Melvoin, an English as a second language teacher at Markham, said he lets some pupils read in the back of his room even when they're supposed to be in another class, where the instructor has lost control. The students say they learn more in Melvoin's room.

"I know we have rules, but how can I say no?" Melvoin asked.

---------------------