Teachers’ Strike Notebook : Longshoremen Weigh In With Some Help

As a show of support for striking teachers, the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union is offering temporary work cards to United Teachers-Los Angeles members. Evidently, the notion of pushing pallets is palatable. Richard Lomeli, ILWU Local 13 secretary-treasurer, said Thursday that 30 teachers had already completed applications and that he expects to receive 170 more by this afternoon.

Lomeli conceded, however, that picketers need harbor no illusions of permanently trading their textbooks for forklifts. The offer, he said, is more a show of moral support than anything else.

“We aren’t really doing that much work ourselves. We can’t be out on the picket lines with the teachers, but at least we can offer them this.”

If the strike continues, teachers who received the temporary cards would compete for “casual” dock and clerical positions with other union members and would probably receive one day of work a month, Lomeli said.

Some picketers apparently are seeking to be paid while on strike by using their accrued sick days. But in a procedure that may sound more than a bit familiar to students, school officials have announced that teachers who call in sick this week must submit proof of their illness.

No word yet on whether the proof must come in the form of a doctor’s letter or whether a note from parent, guardian or spouse will suffice.

Instructors who can prove to their principal’s satisfaction that they took time off for other reasons allowed for under the district’s explicit personal days policy also will be paid, according to Eva Hain, the school district’s public information officer.

Among the few early winners in the school strike have been classes from outlying school districts that had been on the Los Angeles Children’s Museum’s waiting list.

Due to strike-related cancellations, elementary school students from Norwalk and Orange County have been given an unexpected chance to hop on a yellow school bus and visit the downtown museum.

So far, all the canceled slots have been re-booked--a good thing since the museum’s reservation policy precludes refunds (which can amount to more than $150) on short notice unless a substitution is found.

“It’s an end of the year treat for many schools,” said museum reservations manager Marshall Nalle.

Moments before 500 striking teachers descended on Manual Arts High School for a demonstration earlier this week, four teen-age boys were noticed lingering across the street from the campus. It was about 9:30 a.m.

The youngsters called their truancy a political statement.

“I’m just walking around helping the teachers out,” one of the boys explained. “I’m protesting with them.”

For the school district’s food services division, the strike has led to such practical questions as: How many chicken patties does it take to feed a sorely depleted school population?

At Newman Nutrition Center in East Los Angeles, 60,000 school lunches are normally prepared and shipped a day ahead of time to 150 Los Angeles schools.

But this week it has been difficult to predict just how many students will be showing up from day to day. Therefore, it is exceedingly difficult to figure out just how much food is needed.

Some spoilage has resulted. However, central food services officials are remaining mum on the percentage of burritos, bagels and chicken patties that have had to be discarded.

Saying he was “tired” from his efforts this week, Randy Altenberg, deputy director of food services, referred all inquiries about the unused food to district Supt. Leonard Britton’s office.

School, some would say, is meant to provide a meaningful education while at the same time keeping youngsters off the street. It did neither for young Christine Love earlier this week.

The Audubon Junior High ninth-grader said her mother gave her explicit instructions before she departed for class Wednesday morning: If school is a waste of time, come home.

“My mother said she’d rather for me to be at home helping around the house,” Love explained, “than to be at school not learning anything.”

Love, having apparently learned nothing, left school. But on her way home, she was stopped by a policeman and handed a ticket for jaywalking.