Brea Prepares for Possible Teacher Strike

School officials in Brea called an emergency meeting for today to prepare for a possible strike next week by teachers who think that the district is not going to give them enough lottery money.

Teachers in the 4,400-student Brea-Olinda Unified School District voted Monday on whether to authorize a strike. Although results were not announced, teachers association president Rachel Sweet said she had “no doubt” that a strike was authorized.

The 170 teachers have been offered a 5% pay raise, retroactive to July 1, to be paid in part by money generated by the California lottery, according to Supt. Edgar Seal.

Sweet said the offer was rejected because the pay increase does not include enough lottery money.

50-50 Division Wanted

“We want a 50-50 division of that lottery money,” Sweet said.

School board trustees were scheduled to meet at 7 a.m. today.

“This is preparatory,” Seal said. “We have to be able to employ substitutes and take care of other needs in case there is a strike. I don’t think the teachers want a strike, but we have to be prepared.”

At issue is the third year of a three-year contract. The teachers want a pay raise retroactive to July 1, when the contract year began, said John Zoeckler, crisis chairman for the teachers’ association.

In addition to a different division of lottery proceeds, Sweet said, the union wants a $500 salary enhancement for teachers who are in the upper scale of experience and have advanced degrees.

5% Raise Acceptable

Seal said the 5% pay raise appears to be acceptable to the teachers, but that the dispute centers on the division of the lottery money and the enhancement of pay for the most experienced teachers. Zoeckler, of the union, agreed that those are the stumbling blocks.

Sweet and Zoeckler, in separate interviews, said Seal is correct in saying the teachers do not want to strike. “But we’ve been on strike before, about six years ago,” Sweet said. “I think the teachers are very disenchanted with the district.”

Said Zoeckler: “When they (the school board trustees) hold that meeting Tuesday, I hope they’ll be talking about something more than preparations for a strike.”

Sweet said that if a strike becomes necessary, “it would probably take place next week.”

According to Assistant Supt. Peter J. Boothroyd, current pay scales in the district range from $19,021--a beginning teacher’s salary--to $34,912, which is the top pay for the most experienced teachers.

The last school strike in Orange County was in October, when teachers in the Tustin Unified School District staged a six-day walkout because of an unresolved contract.