Teacher Fasts Over Slow Contract Talks

A Los Angeles elementary school teacher, frustrated by the continuing stalemate in teacher contract negotiations, is hoping to starve the school board into submission.

Annya Bell, 42, a veteran first-grade teacher at 42nd Street School, began a fast Wednesday, which she vows to continue “as long as it takes” for the Los Angeles Unified School District to agree to the demands of the United Teachers-Los Angeles.

The city’s 32,000 teachers have been without a contract since last June. They are seeking a one-year, 12% pay hike and elimination of non-teaching supervisory duties. The school board is offering a 17% raise over a three years. Negotiations and a series of meetings with Mayor Tom Bradley are scheduled for this week.

“I’ve just never taken a stand on anything before,” said the 5-foot, 2-inch instructor, who has already dropped four pounds from her normal weight of 120, while consuming only fruit juice and tea. “But I’m a great advocate of Mahatma Gandhi and passive resistance.

“The stalemate goes on and on and on,” she continued. “And it’s come to the point where I’m tired of waiting and waiting.”

In particular, Bell said, teachers should be given more time for curriculum preparation and be relieved of the daily one-hour task of patrolling the schoolyard before and after school and during recess periods.

Thus far, Bell’s protest, which she stressed is “a personal endeavor . . . to focus attention upon the current struggle,” has met with mixed reviews.

Hope Voiced

Gabriel Cortina, speaking for the school district, said: “We’re obviously hopeful the lady changes her mind. . . . Her energies can best be spent working with the kids.”

Meanwhile, union President Wayne Johnson declared, “We would not encourage that type of activity. I’m afraid somebody might get ill.”

At the 42nd Street School, several fellow teachers have voiced support, with one supplying Bell with a meditation manual and another comparing her actions to those of longtime farm workers’ union head Cesar Chavez.

On the other hand, seven instructors at the Southwest Los Angeles school sent a facetious letter to the school’s principal, Victor R. Kimbell, stating that they were initiating their own protest--”a breathing strike.”

“We will hold our breaths until all negotiations are resolved, or we turn blue,” the letter read.

Kimbell wrote back: “Thank God! At least this will not last long!”

On a more serious note, Kimbell said that if the fast were to continue indefinitely, “we’d have to look at” whether Bell remained capable of handling her 26-pupil class.

Bell, a 19-year teaching veteran who now earns $42,000 for a 10-month school year, said she should have no problems with energy because her health is being monitored by a doctor.

“I’m a little sleepy, and my lips are dehydrated,” Bell said Monday. “But hopefully, I will rest during the four-day Thanksgiving holiday and then come back and go on.”

Otherwise, her teaching assistant, Rodney Porter, is ready to lend a further hand.

“If she tumbles over,” Porter quipped, “I’ll stand her back up.”