Student Unrest in Teacher Pay Dispute Grows

Student unrest appeared to be gaining steam across the sprawling Los Angeles school system Wednesday, as three protest-organizing students were suspended at a junior high school and rumors circulated that half a dozen student walkouts and sit-ins could hit campuses today.

A week after the first impromptu student walkout at Fremont High School broke into the headlines, the epidemic of protests related to a teacher-management labor dispute seemed to be taking on a life if its own. The teachers union and district officials both officially tried to quell the demonstrations but were left Wednesday anxiously watching events unfold that appeared to be beyond their control.

“We’re afraid a kid is going to get hurt,” said Catherine Carey, a spokeswoman for United Teachers-Los Angeles.

The mostly peaceful protests are an outgrowth of a yearlong labor dispute between the school district and its teachers over wages, duties and other issues. The students are angry that teachers, who are boycotting some duties, may not file midyear grades with the district. Many students have also expressed support for teacher pay demands.

The teachers are seeking a one-year pay raise of 12%. The school district has offered a 17% increase spread over three years. The most notable turn of events Wednesday was the spread of the protest, which had been confined to high school campuses, to the junior high level.

Three students at Horace Mann Junior High School in South Los Angeles were suspended after they circulated flyers urging students to walk out of classes this morning. It was the first time students had been disciplined in connection with the protests, although the school principal insisted that the students, all girls, were not suspended for organizing the protest.

Principal Rose Olle said the girls had broken school rules by obtaining a hall pass under false pretenses and then using it to go classroom to classroom to distribute their flyers.

The students, after obtaining a pass from a teacher, gave the “indication there had been official approval to interrupt . . . classes to make an announcement there would be a walkout,” Olle said. The decision to suspend the girls was her own, she said.

Issued Pass

The students, however, said they believed that they were suspended for organizing the protest. One of the students, 14-year-old Tiffani Johnson, told The Times in a phone interview she believed that the teacher who issued the pass knew how it would be used.

Tiffani acknowledged she had told school officials Wednesday afternoon that she had sought the pass to go to the library. But she said late Wednesday that she was trying to protect the teacher.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he knew what we (were) doing,” Tiffani said.

The teachers union has said its members are trying to discourage the protests, which in several cases have been strongly supportive of teacher contract demands.

Lucy Fried, a teacher union representative at Horace Mann, said her understanding was that the teacher did not understand how the hall pass would actually be used. She noted that the teacher was questioned by school administrators who were “satisfied it was given out for normal, legitimate reasons.”

Olle and the suspended students said they expected the walkout to be held despite the suspensions, and it could be intensified.

“I’m certainly concerned,” Olle said. “When you get such a large number in a group at one time there could be an injury.”