*Warning: Suicide* LA Teacher

[TiredX2]

Rigoberto Ruelas, LAUSD Teacher Upset Over Low Ranking, Found Dead

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_740544.html

Rigoberto Ruelas Jr. was considered much more than a fifth-grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School – he was a mentor to youth tempted to join gangs and a tireless booster that kids could make it to college.

But after a newspaper published a school district report that ranked Ruelas as a "less effective teacher" based on his students' test scores, colleagues saw him grow despondent.

On Sunday, his body was found at the foot of a remote forest bridge in what appears to be a suicide. Authorities are still investigating, but friends and colleagues suggest he was distraught over the teacher rating.

This just made me so sad to see. I don't know if people will ever *know* why he did this, but ...

[A&A]

That's really sad!

[lookatreestar]

seriously why does everything have to be rated and ranked?

[luvmybaby333]

As if test scores can truly measure a teacher's impact on their students. This is so heartbreaking and senseless.

[mamaofthree]

this is so upsetting to me. why have we allowed ourselves to be judged like this? our children are no longer people but a grade and a test score. we are credit scores. we are just a number, a rank. we are no longer valued as humans and what we are above these simple evaluations.

maybe it wasn't just his ranking that made him do it, maybe it was the final straw through. so very sad.

h