District lands deal a with Amazon to employ students
Partnership: Program will help those with financial hardships from low-income families
EAST LOS ANGELES » Students graduating next month from Los Angeles Unified with plans to enroll at a local community college full-time can apply for a job with Amazon, which has agreed to work around students’ class schedules, representatives for the school district and tech giant announced Monday.
The partnership is intended to support low-income students who, due to financial hardships, might have to defer their dreams of pursuing a higher education if they can’t earn a paycheck while in school.
In an interview ahead of the official announcement, Superintendent Austin Beutner said he reached out to Amazon after learning that despite a record graduation rate of nearly 81% in LAUSD in 2020, there was a 9% drop in the percentage of students — about 3,000 fewer students than on average — who went on to enroll at a two-year college full-time. The conclusion was that low-income students who had to deal with job losses, deaths of loved ones and other challenges during the coronavirus pandemic were forced to go directly into the workforce to support themselves or their families.
During Monday’s news conference at Woodrow Wilson High School to announce the partnership with Amazon, Beutner said the pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities that LAUSD serves.
“Many of (our graduating seniors) had to make a choice of postponing or forgoing college to help support their family,” he said.
“That’s not a choice any young adult should have to make.”
Under the partnership, Amazon will aim to hire 500 LAUSD graduates from the class of 2021 and work around their college class schedules by offering flexible work hours. Jobs could range from working in a distribution center, filling orders, to working at Whole Foods Market.
“We know that trying to juggle a job and a full-time class load is a challenge for anyone,” said Marie Lloyd, Amazon’s Southern California manager of external affairs. “That’s why Amazon will use your class schedule to create your work schedule. So you never have to miss a class to make a shift and never have to miss a shift to make a class.”
The jobs will pay at least $15 per hour, and employees who work at least 20 hours per week would qualify for benefits such as health care, paid time off and 401(k), according to the tech company.
Students in the program can also get help from Amazon on how to apply for a job or draft a resume and receive feedback during mock job interview sessions. After a year of employment, students could qualify for schol- arships.
The company will also work with LAUSD teachers this summer to create a cloud-based computing certification program which students, starting with the class of 2022, will be able to take so that when they graduate, they could apply for higher-paying jobs, Beutner said.
To apply for a job through this program, go to amazon. com/lastudenthourlyjobs.