Anaheim Teachers Jeer, Chant at Trustees

On the day after their 1-day strike in the Anaheim Union High School District, about 300 teachers tried to crowd into a meeting of the board of trustees, and the ones who made it almost got themselves thrown out.

The early part of Thursday’s meeting was punctuated by teachers’ jeers and shouts, prompting board president JoAnn Barnett to cite a section of the education code that empowered her to eject them for “willfully disrupting” the meeting.

“I get more courtesy from students and parents than I do from you teachers,” Barnett said.

“You don’t respect us either,” one teacher retorted.

Both sides were still feeling the effects of the 1-day teachers’ walkout over stalled wage talks.

More than 650 of the district’s 900 teachers stayed away from the classroom Wednesday, and almost half of the 20,000 students were reported absent in the first strike in the school district’s history.

The teachers have been working without a contract for 14 months.

Both sides say the matter could now go to “fact-finding,” a procedure in which a representative of the state Public Employment Relations Board examines the claims of both sides in the dispute.

Hoped for Settlement

Many teachers said they came to Thursday’s meeting to give board members an opportunity to settle the prolonged conflict over salaries.

But teachers who expected an extended hearing on their concerns were disappointed.

The matter was not on the board’s agenda--contract negotiations rarely are--and the 1-day strike was not formally discussed by the trustees.

During the public-comment section of the meeting, board members did give Leonard Lahtinen, president of the Anaheim Secondary Teachers’ Assn., a chance to discuss the matter.

“Your refusal to reach a contract settlement forced 700 teachers to leave the classrooms,” Lahtinen said. “We’re not proud of that and we hope you aren’t either.”

He added: “Each day this (impasse) continues, it will be harder to end this.

“We have very serious open wounds in this district. . . . Settle with us now.”

After Lahtinen finished speaking, teachers began chanting “Now, now, now.”

At that point, Barnett threatened to throw the teachers out, and they quieted down.

The trustees then moved on to the next agenda item without comment.

During another part of the meeting, when teachers again became vocal, board members called a 10-minute recess and left the room. They later returned to resume the meeting.

Hundreds of teachers had gathered at a rally 30 minutes before the school board meeting, but fire marshals posted inside the room allowed only about 130 of them to go inside.

And when there was no formal discussion after Lahtinen’s comments, many began to trickle out.

Several teachers in the picket lines Wednesday said the decision to strike was especially tough in this district because a large number of them have been with the district for most of their teaching careers.

Ironically, 25-year service awards were handed out at Thursday’s meeting to about a dozen teachers. Most of them carried a picket sign when they went up to accept their awards from Barnett.

Board members appeared visibly nervous during the early part of the meeting when they were confronted by the jeering teachers and their signs that read: “We did it, now you do it” and “We need new leadership at A.U.H.S.D.”

One woman held up a sign saying “Parents in support of A.U.H.S.D. teachers.”

After the meeting, Barnett went into another room and wept.