Teachers Yield, Turn Grades In : Their Challenge to No-Pay Threat Is Rebuffed by Judge

Thousands of Los Angeles teachers, rebuffed in court in their effort to protect next month’s paychecks, on Friday abandoned their controversial pressure tactic and turned in midyear student grades to school offices.

The action came a few hours after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed the teachers’ union challenge to the no-grades, no-pay policy of school Supt. Leonard Britton. Britton had warned that he would not release the March 3 paycheck of any teacher who had not filed grades with the district by Friday afternoon.

By day’s end, it appeared that more than 90% of teachers, at the urging of their union leaders, were submitting the grades on official district computer forms.

Student Pleased

“That’s good!” said Betty Sanchez, a senior at Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles, one of many students who had worried that their futures might be adversely affected by the unusual handling of the grades.

Britton, who has alienated many teachers with his pay withholding threat, said he was “very pleased” by both the court ruling and the teachers’ actions, which will make official transcripts available.

On Feb. 3, when fall semester grades were due, nearly three-fourths of the teachers at district high schools and about half the teachers in the junior highs bypassed normal procedures by issuing grades directly to students on union-printed report cards. The tactic was part of a larger boycott of non-teaching duties that union members have organized as an outgrowth of their year-old contract dispute with the school district.

Acknowledging that they had lost a round, angry teachers Friday vowed to fight on for better pay and more say in how schools are run.

‘Ultimate Strategy’

At a press conference, Wayne Johnson, president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, said teachers had tried to devise pressure tactics that did not harm students, but they are now left with no option but to prepare for their “ultimate strategy.”

“Unless the school district substantially improves its offer over the next few weeks, we are headed for a strike later this year,” Johnson said. The teachers are expected to vote to authorize a strike in the next few weeks.

The contract fight appears far from over, but Friday’s developments appeared to ease, at least temporarily, the crisis that erupted in the district one month ago. That was when what had been a routine labor dispute escalated dramatically with a rash of campus demonstrations by junior and senior high school students. The protests, some of which became unruly, were organized for the dual purpose of demanding that grades be filed in the normal manner and to express support for teachers in their pay demands.

Before they began to taper off last week, the walkouts and sit-ins had become the largest wave of student demonstrations in 20 years on the city’s campuses and helped bring forth a new, higher pay offer from the school board.

They also contributed to Britton’s get-tough stand last month. He invoked an untested, 100-year-old state Education Code section as his authority to withhold the entire paycheck of any teacher who did not submit grades in the official manner by Friday afternoon.

The union challenged the constitutionality of the statute and Britton’s action. But on Friday morning, Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs threw out the teachers’ request for a temporary restraining order.

Argument Failed

Ruling just hours before Britton’s deadline, Janavs found that the pay withholding was “inextricably intertwined” with the grade-filing boycott. And that, she ruled, was clearly part of a labor dispute that previous state Supreme Court decisions have found must first be handled through the state Public Employee Relations Board.

Leo Geffner, an attorney for the teachers, argued unsuccessfully that Britton’s pay-withholding plan amounted to an unlawful taking of property--the wages earned by teachers who have been going to work and teaching each day.

But school district lawyers convinced Janavs that she had no jurisdiction in the matter.

The reaction at Roosevelt High, where one of the student walkouts occurred, was a mixture of relief and outrage.

Several students were pleased that their grades were going to be recorded on official district transcripts. Senior Anna Gomez said there had been rumors that students “wouldn’t graduate” if the grades were not filed.

But another senior, Brian Carter, said he was feeling “confused.”

“I want them to turn in the grades,” he said, “but in a way I don’t . . . so they can keep going for (better pay) for themselves.”

Math teacher Pierre Landa, walking to the Roosevelt office to turn in his computerized grade sheets, was philosophical. “It’s just part of a struggle. . . . We lost a small battle, but we’re going to win the war.”

Some teachers were boiling. “I can’t stand to do it,” said counselor Delores Seidman, who was threatened with losing her pay for not turning in grades for three student workers in her office. “I just can’t believe someone can be threatened . . . with Nazi-like tactics.”

Chemistry teacher Tom Hake insisted that as a matter of principle he would not submit the grades to the district. He said he has been in class “doing my job as a teacher.” If the district attempts to withhold his pay for not filling in dots on a computer forms--”a job a monkey could do”--Hake said, “I’m going to sue everybody.”

Union officials said they would appeal Friday’s court ruling on a test-case basis, using one or more teachers who will not submit grades.

Both sides say negotiations, which are continuing, are making little progress. The district is offering an 8% pay increase for the current school year and increases totaling 20% to 24% over three years. The union is seeking an 11% increase this year and 10% next year. Another major issue is how the management of the district should be restructured to allow teachers at local schools to share in decisions on budgets, curriculum and personnel assignments.