Beverly Hills Board and Teachers Resume Talks

Striking teachers and school officials in Beverly Hills reopened contract talks Sunday evening after meeting earlier in the day with parents who urged them to settle their week-old labor dispute.

Nicholas Micelli, who hosted the meeting between the teachers union, district representatives and about 150 parents at his home, said there were “no barbs at all” exchanged among those who attended.

Contract negotiations resumed at district headquarters at 6:30 p.m. and continued late Sunday night with a a state mediator sitting in.

“I hope both sides come out of it with red eyes, saying they made some progress, and that the teachers are back in school on Tuesday,” Micelli said.

The new talks culminated a weekend of escalating tension that saw parents launch a petition drive urging school officials to negotiate with teachers, who began their strike last Monday over wages and benefits.

On Saturday and Sunday, parents walked their neighborhoods and the city’s business district with the petition, which asks the Beverly Hills Unified School District to “explore creative financial alternatives” to finance raises for the teachers, and to begin round-the-clock talks.

At a meeting Saturday night, also at Micelli’s home, some members of a newly formed group of parents, Children First, said they might later push to recall the school board. “We are not going to forget,” Ada Horwich, one of the organizers, told the standing-room-only crowd of 150, which included some teachers and students.

Gershon Lesser, who also called for ouster of the “arrogant” school board, said that during the strike his three children have been “home sick with the flu, and they’ll probably have the flu for a long time because it’s a very bad virus.”

Some parents, however, said a recall campaign would merely make school officials more defensive.

Teachers are seeking an 18% pay raise over two years. A mediation session last Wednesday collapsed shortly after it began, with the district sticking to its position that it can only afford an 11% raise.