Teacher Sickout Protests Pay Impasse : Some Students at Santa Ana High Picket in Support

Nearly half of the intermediate school and high school teachers in the Santa Ana Unified School District staged a sickout Friday to bolster their demand for a pay increase, officials said.

The teachers, who have been deadlocked in negotiations with the school district since February, are asking for a 9% pay raise retroactive to July 1. The district’s last offer was a 3% pay hike.

About 300 of 709 teachers in the district’s secondary division, which includes 11 schools, called in sick Friday, district spokeswoman Diane Thomas said.

Not Sanctioned by Union

“It appeared a certain group of schools were targeted,” Thomas said, speculating that was the reason why none of the district’s 24 elementary schools were affected by the sickout.

Gail King-Burney, president of the Santa Ana Educators Assn., said the sickout was not sanctioned by the teacher’s union. However, she said, “we’ve been telling the board they’re dealing with a pressure cooker. We’ve been saying an explosion was going to occur.”

King-Burney said the teachers association has called a general meeting for Tuesday at Valley High School. The purpose of the meeting, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., is to take a strike vote.

Thomas said the schools hardest hit by Friday’s protest were McFadden Intermediate School, with 43 of 50 teachers calling in sick, and Santa Ana High School, with 76 of 123 faculty members staying home.

However, she said, district administrators, including several members from the Anaheim Union High School District and the Orange Unified School District, filled in as substitute teachers. As a result, no classes were canceled.

“All people coming in have lessons to operate with,” Thomas said. “We are not sending students home, and we are not canceling classes. We will continue keeping schools open.”

Although no classes were canceled, about 200 students at Santa Ana High School elected not to go to class to show support for a teacher pay raise.

Instead, many of the students, wearing black armbands to symbolize their support, stood in front of the school talking to reporters. Others carried posters, with such messages as “No Pay, No Teachers, No Students” and “Board members are mean cause they won’t give our teachers any green.”

“We’re prepared to do whatever we have to to help the teachers and to help ourselves,” said 17-year-old senior Tracie Lee. “Everything comes down to the students. Nobody else is showing any concern for these teachers. It’s up to us.”

Another student, 19-year-old Frank Villasenor, said: “We just want people to know we care about the future. We’ve just got to give (teachers) what they deserve.”

Villasenor said students were inspired by a similar protest at another Santa Ana high school the day before.

On Thursday, students at Saddleback High School staged an hourlong protest on behalf of district teachers. Students left their classes shortly after 11 a.m. when a false fire alarm was set off. The students remained outside until noon.

While students maintain that they have not been encouraged by teachers to protest, school officials said some parents feel differently.

“We’re getting calls from parents saying that they were angry that teachers have been encouraging students to do this,” said Andrew Hernandez, principal of Santa Ana High School.

Hernandez said he agreed with those parents. However, he said, he was “happy” with the way students had conducted themselves. Some even volunteered to pick up trash around the campus, he said.

Of Friday’s sickout, Orange County Schools Supt. Robert Peterson said: “The teachers have the wrong target. The board can’t go to the public for a tax increase. Their target should be Sacramento.”

Peterson said Proposition 13, which went into effect in 1978, limited local government’s ability to raise property taxes for education.

Peterson said demonstrations such as Friday’s sickout only make the “general public less supportive of education.” Instead, he advised students and teachers to write their legislators.

King-Burney said a pay increase was not the only concern of teachers. She said their last contract expired June 30, and the school board was “not doing anything to expedite the settlement. This is the longest we’ve ever gone without a settlement.”