"We, the parents of Alexander Hamilton HS have drafted this petition in an attempt to not just keep our 5th Assistant Principal. Ms. April Monroe. We are facing losing one of our most important administrators! Our Assistant Principal, Ms. April Monroe, is being cut with the reason that budget cuts require us to lose an AP, and the last one hired is the first one fired. Well, in her case, this is a technicality because she wasn't given her promotion when it was scheduled to happen, because we changed principals right in the middle of her promotion process, and someone else was sent to our campus instead. However, April Monroe has been consistently the glue that has held Hami together for almost 16 years!

Let that resonate - April Monroe has been a crucial part of Hamilton High School for  almost 16 years!  She has been our Title I Coordinator, TSP Coordinator, AND EL Coordinator, and was finally promoted to Assistant Principal, a role that was critical in giving her a juxtaposition in which she could expand her support of our students. So while she may be the last AP hired, she is a longtime force at our school and holds our community together in so many ways. We rely on her work, commitment and expertise with the school’s  budget, our programming, resources, student support. She knows our community and is consistently successful in creatively finding solutions to achieving high academic success for our kids. We cannot take the diversity of hats April Monroe wears at our school lightly and losing her will be a massive blow for our students, our teachers, and our entire Hamilton High School Community!

Hamilton High School has the highest Black population in our LAUSD school district. The idea that we are going to cut the only Black AP we have is unthinkable to me. Representation matters. These last years have been difficult for all our kids. Ms. Monroe is a trusted adult for every student at Hamilton High School. I know first hand that so many Black female students find it easy to turn to Ms. Monroe in tough times and the way she supports our students is critical to them staying in class and in school. She has also been key to ensuring Black families and students have representation and have a voice at our school. 

We have been informed that the door has been re-opened for appeals and in regards to Assistant Principal cuts, waivers are very likely to be granted in cases like ours. We’ve also been made aware that some schools are using the cuts as an excuse to restructure their administrations and we have reason to believe that is the case at our school. That is something that makes me, as a parent of three young Black students, very uncomfortable. 

With the 40% carryover that is now being released and as a school with an alternative schedule, we would like to A. ensure that the appeal has been submitted in order to keep our same level of resources, and B. that although we usually are speaking about positions and not people, that the powers that be understand that we are not lobbying for a position, we are lobbying specifically for the person in the position, Ms. April Monroe, to retain this position at Hamilton HS!"

Please consider the importance of Ms. April Monroe to our entire school community and to the overall success of our school. 

Respectfully Yours,

The Parents of Alexander Hamilton HS"