Beverly Hills Teachers Take Pay Protest to Rodeo Drive

Beverly Hills school teachers took their protests to the street Tuesday--and what a street they picked.

Fashionable Rodeo Drive--window shopper’s paradise and the scene of many of a spending orgy-- served as the backdrop for a demonstration by 150 Beverly Hills teachers, who complain that their paychecks can’t buy anything on the tony street.

Ensnarled in a contract dispute with the Beverly Hills Unified School District, the teachers decided to take their protest to a location that would keenly illustrate a disparity in priorities that, they contend, is keeping their salaries too low.

The protest site shows the difference between “how the community supports its business and how the school district supports its teachers,” California Teachers Assn. President Ed Foglia said at a pre-march rally at the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church.

The march--spanning four blocks from Santa Monica Boulevard to Dayton Drive--lasted about one hour and was orderly. The teachers kept to the sidewalk and stopped for all the traffic lights. As they marched past such upscale boutiques as Nina Ricci and Giorgio, some of them gaped at the fancy merchandise--the $3,000 cashmere capes and $1,500 silk tuxedos--and then muttered about the prices, which wouldn’t shock many of their students.

“The kids are very aware of what you wear and the cars you drive,” said Beverly Vista Middle School teacher Kate LaRue, who says her $29,000-a-year salary is not enough to live on. “There’s not a single student who intends to be a teacher. We’re perceived as losers.”

One merchant tried to sell Beverly Hills High School teacher Frank Mahan a pair of shoes, but Mahan declined. “We shop at Pic ‘n Save until we get a raise,” he said.

Many shoppers and tourists along the route expressed sympathy for the teachers. But at least one visitor, David Radon of Kansas City, Mo., said he was was dismayed to run into “this mob of people.”

Current starting pay for the teachers is $21,604 annually, while top pay for those with nine years of experience is $46,270. The average salary is $42,659.

The district’s offer of a 9% increase over two years would put Beverly Hills teachers roughly on par with their counterparts in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where teacher salaries this year range from $27,346 to $50,123. The Beverly Hills teachers are asking for an 18% increase over two years.

They say they may strike on Oct. 16 if the contract dispute is not settled.

Among the 42 unified districts in Los Angeles County, Beverly Hills has the smallest class sizes and spends the most--more than $5,000--per pupil.

The schools have long had a reputation for academic excellence. But, despite its rich image, the district has fallen on hard times in recent years, in part because of declining enrollment.

To generate additional income, the district rents out school libraries and auditoriums to the city of Beverly Hills.