As Showdown Nears, Lull in Action Marks Teachers Pay Dispute

As the clock began ticking toward a showdown that no one appears to want, Los Angeles Unified School District board members and teacher union officials said Tuesday they hope a “window of opportunity” over the next few weeks can be used to reach some accord in their contract dispute and avoid further escalation or a teacher walkout.

“There’s sort of a lull period here,” said school board member Alan Gershman. “Perhaps people on both sides can take advantage of this . . . calm before the potential storm.”

School board President Roberta Weintraub tried to stress the positive Tuesday, saying she is “reaching out the hand of friendship and negotiations to get this resolved” and hinted that a new district pay offer may be in the offing. “Each side has to give up getting exactly what they want,” she said, declining to elaborate.

Reacting to the largest wave of student-led protests in Los Angeles schools in nearly 20 years, Supt. Leonard Britton on Monday announced that he was “drawing the line” with teachers who have threatened to withhold students’ midyear grades from the district. He said paychecks due March 3 will be withheld for any teacher who does not file grades with school offices in the normal manner by Feb. 17.

With grades due Friday, it is not clear whether the students are willing to give the two sides weeks to resolve their differences. The current rash of protests continued Tuesday at about 10 campuses.

Classroom teachers, meanwhile, responded quickly and angrily to Britton’s threat, although there were no reports of sickouts or other job actions. “The reaction from the schools (teachers) is just absolute outrage,” said Wayne Johnson, president of the 22,000-member United Teachers-Los Angeles.

Groups of teachers huddled at individual schools and the union headquarters Tuesday afternoon to plot their next moves, and faculties at at least two schools--Jordan High School and Portola Junior High School--took straw votes that indicated a willingness to strike if necessary. On Monday, Johnson had warned that Britton’s action could lead to a strike, but it was unclear Tuesday afternoon if or when a formal strike vote might be taken.

Frustrated by lack of progress in contract negotiations, teachers have been withholding some services since September. They also have said they will not file fall semster grades, due Friday, with the district unless a settlement is reached. Teachers insist that the tactic will not harm students, who will be given grades directly on union-issued report cards.

Dozens of Protests

But demonstrations involving more than 10,000 students have erupted on dozens of campuses in the last two weeks, partly because of student fears that lack of official grades will hinder their academic progress. Many students also have been strongly supportive of teacher demands for a 12%, one-year pay increase, which the school district says it cannot afford.

Protests on this scale have not been seen in Los Angeles since thousands of Latino students, complaining of poor quality education on the Eastside, took to the streets in the so-called “blowouts” of 1968 and thousands more students joined picket lines two years later in support of teachers during a five-week strike. That was the last major strike by Los Angeles teachers.

About 3,000 students participated in Tuesday’s walkouts, which were generally peaceful and, in most cases, over by noon. With semester final exams this week seeming to dampen the protests at the district’s high schools, most of Tuesday’s activity was at junior highs.

School district officials viewed the increasing involvement of junior high students in the protests with concern, noting that the younger students can be more excitable and more prone to rowdiness than their high school counterparts. “I’m really scared that this is now commencing at the junior high school level,” said Eastside board member Leticia Quezada, who has been urging neighborhood parents to monitor and help keep order at such demonstrations.

The legal and political ramifications of Britton’s Monday announcement, meanwhile, were still being sorted out Tuesday.

Parent Support Reported

District officials said dozens of parents had called in to support the superintendent’s stand.

But it remained unclear Tuesday just how strong the support was on the sharply divided school board for the district’s most politically sensitive stand yet in the nearly yearlong labor dispute. By all accounts, no board vote was taken endorsing the paycheck-withholding tactic, although sources said it was discussed extensively in a six-hour closed-door session before Britton announced it to the press.

Two of the seven board members--Julie Korenstein and Warren Furutani--were critical of Britton’s move, which the superintendent said is based on legal authority granted him under the state Education Code. At least two other board members--Weintraub and Jackie Goldberg--adopted noncommittal or neutral public postures.

Some board members also noted that they had been advised by their lawyers that, even if they wanted to, they do not have the legal authority to reverse Britton’s decision.

Staff writer Sam Enriquez contributed to this story.