200 Teachers Call in Sick in Orange Over Contract

More than 200 teachers in the Orange Unified School District staged a sickout Friday to protest the lack of a pay-raise agreement after almost 1 1/2 years of negotiations.

School district spokeswoman Josie Cabiglio said 239 of the district’s 1,100 teachers did not report for work Friday.

Mark Rona, president of the Orange Unified Education Assn., said the sickout was not sanctioned by the teachers union. He said union and school district officials are scheduled to go back to the bargaining table Tuesday.

3 Schools Hardest Hit

The schools hardest hit by the sickout Friday were Orange High School, with 42 teachers out; El Modena High School, with 38 teachers out, and Canyon High School, with 25 teachers absent, Cabiglio said.

No classes were canceled at the district’s 37 schools.

All but five classes affected by the sickout were staffed by substitute teachers and school administrators, district officials said. The five classes not staffed were combined with other classes.

The sickout came just 10 days after teachers held a one-day strike--the first county teacher strike in three years and the first strike in the 35-year history of the district.

Rona said the teachers are asking for a 3.15% pay raise for the current school year and 4.37% for next year. In addition, the teachers want a guarantee that the district will continue to pay costs of health and welfare benefits.

The district has offered a 2.54% pay increase for this year and a 3.76% increase for next year. Officials have maintained that Orange Unified is limited by the amount of money given by the state, and that the schools received an increase of just 2.54% this year.

As for the health and welfare benefits, the district has agreed to pay costs for the current year but only up to $3,622 per teacher next year. The reason for this, Cabiglio said, is the district does not know how much costs for benefits may rise in the fall.

“In essence, it would be like writing a blank check,” she said.

Of the talks, Rona said: “It’s frustrating. The district is not willing to budge.”

The current average teacher pay in Orange Unified is $33,307 a year. Salaries range from $21,686 for a beginning teacher to $40,628 for senior instructors.

Orange Unified covers 108 square miles and provides schools for Villa Park and Orange, plus parts of Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.

Cabiglio said substitute teachers called Friday were paid $175 for their work. If another strike or sickout is called, she said, “we’re prepared to keep calling in substitute teachers.”