NY Times-Teacher's Suicide Uncovers Problems In LA School System

Rigaberto Ruelas, a dedicated Los Angeles school teacher, whose body was found underneath a bridge in the Angeles National Forest back in September 2010: ktla.com

(Story reported by Ian Lovett for the NY Times)

LOS ANGELES — Colleagues of Rigoberto Ruelas were alarmed when he failed to show up for work one day in September. They described him as a devoted teacher who tutored students before school, stayed with them after and, on weekends, took students from his South Los Angeles elementary school to the beach.

When his body was found in a ravine in the Angeles National Forest, and the coroner ruled it a suicide, Mr. Ruelas’s death became a flashpoint, drawing the city’s largest newspaper into the middle of the debate over reforming the nation’s second-largest school district.

When The Los Angeles Times released a database of “value-added analysis” of every teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District in August, Mr. Ruelas was rated “less effective than average.” Colleagues said he became noticeably depressed, and family members have guessed that the rating contributed to his death.

(Click here to read the full story on the NY Times website. Click here to read one of the initial stories on the death of Rigaberto Ruelas on the LA Times website. May GOD Rest the soul of this dedicated and beloved teacher, and give HIS Grace and peace and comfort to Mr. Ruelas's family, friends, students, and fellow teachers, during their time of grief and need.)