Students Join Teachers in Walkout at High Schools

Hundreds of high school students in the Tustin Unified School District staged a protest and walkout Friday in support of striking Tustin teachers, who voted later in the day to extend their strike at least through Tuesday.

Sandy Banis, president of the Tustin Educators Assn., said that a vote Friday afternoon was held to offer striking teachers an opportunity to end the 3-day-old strike and resume instruction.

But after a foot-stomping, hand-clapping meeting at the Tustin Community Center attended by about 200 teachers, Banis said that teachers voted to remain on strike and scheduled a meeting Tuesday to assess any possible change in position by the school board, which meets Monday night.

Earlier Friday, an estimated 300 Foothill High School students, with many carrying pro-strike placards, walked out in sympathy for the striking teachers. About 15 to 20 students at Tustin High School also walked off campus Friday.

Security Tightened

School administrators tightened security at district high schools in anticipation of any violence or vandalism. There were no serious incidents and no arrests, police and district spokesmen said.

Meanwhile, Banis said that the only hope to break the labor strike before Tuesday is for concerned parents to persuade the board that Supt. Maurice Ross should reopen labor negotiations, which were discontinued last week.

Some hope was expressed after a state fact-finder offered early Friday to continue negotiations. But hopes dimmed after the district rejected the offer.

Ross, who was reached Friday evening before a closed meeting of the board, said he told the fact-finder that the district wasn’t going to negotiate.

“We made our final offer before the strike,” he said.

Ross said that he foresees no progress, although the district has offered to meet with teachers “to clarify” the district’s last offer.

No Concessions

“We’re always willing to discuss and clarify the issues but we’re not willing to negotiate because it suggests that we’re ready to make concessions. And we’re not,” Ross said.

Other than the student walkouts, Ross said, the schools have functioned well.

Ross blamed some striking teachers for encouraging the student walkouts and creating a “very dangerous” traffic situation when hundreds of Foothill students temporarily blocked a busy thoroughfare.

“We had to call in additional police for that area in front of Foothill High,” Ross said. “We were concerned about their safety while the teachers were encouraging their help and support.

“I was very disappointed with those teachers.”

The union claimed that teacher participation in the strike increased slightly Friday, but Ross said that it actually had declined slightly.

Ross said that 235 of 397 regular classroom teachers were on strike Friday--although a union spokeswoman said their figures showed a gain of two teachers from the previous day. On Thursday, the district said that 239 teachers were on strike.

A carnival atmosphere prevailed during the walkouts Friday. Many students loaded into cars and took the occasion to go off campus.

Others stood alongside striking teachers and complained about the situation and the quality of substitute teachers.

‘Doing Absolutely Nothing’

“Hey, why stay? We’re not learning anything with substitutes,” said Foothill sophomore Dana Botula, 16, who was among the protesting students.

“I have a PE (physical education) substitute teaching in my math class,” complained Liz Clarijo, 16, one of about 20 Tustin High students who joined teachers on the picket line. “We were sitting in there doing absolutely nothing.”

Botula said that she decided to protest after consulting with her father, Michael Botula, a KTLA Channel 5 reporter in Los Angeles.

“After I told him what I was going to do, he said that it was OK to stand up for my teachers because I think they’re good,” Botula said.

“The substitutes don’t know how to teach. We want our teachers back,” said Foothill student Jenny Hutton.

Most students said that they intend to return to classes Monday. And many said that they intend to appear at the board meeting Monday to present a petition calling for a districtwide school walkout Thursday if no progress is made in the negotiations.

To Pressure Board

Banis said that the union has urged concerned parents to attend Monday’s board meeting to bring pressure on the board to reopen negotiations.

Although some protesting students received warnings, no immediate disciplinary actions were taken, Ross said.

“Not at this time. I think that when we have more time, we’ll let the parents know what their children did and how they acted,” he said.

The district, in its “final offer,” said that it would give the teachers 8.2% for the current school year and could pledge “not less than 4%” for 1986-87. The offer did not include any pay raise for the 1984-85 school year.

The union has asked for a pay raise totaling 6.3% for last year, in which the teachers had no formal contract, and a pay raise of 8.1% for the current school year.