Renewal of Britton’s Contract Assailed

The president of the Los Angeles teachers’ union on Tuesday criticized the decision to renew the contract of Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Leonard Britton.

“The superintendent has done at best a mediocre job,” said United Teachers-Los Angeles chief Wayne Johnson. “I feel that he made the strike and all of the problems last year much worse than they would have been under a competent superintendent.”

The Los Angeles Board of Education unanimously voted in closed session Monday to extend Britton’s contract until June 30, 1991. His current three-year contract expires in 1990.

Britton had been the target of union attacks during the last year, which was dominated by teacher boycotts of routine duties and culminated in a nine-day strike. He ordered the docking of pay for teachers who participated in the boycott. He also moved up the deadline by which teachers had to turn in final grades, an action that caused teachers to strike two weeks earlier than planned.

Board President Jackie Goldberg said Tuesday that she voted to extend Britton’s contract because he has shown a depth of knowledge about educational issues that many superintendents lack.

She also said that even though she did not agree with some of his actions last year, she was impressed that he “had the courage” to take them.