COLUMN ONE : Parents Spell the Difference : Their extraordinary role helped bring an end to Beverly Hills teachers strike. Educators call it a how-to manual.

When Day 3 of the Beverly Hills teachers strike dawned with no negotiations in sight, real estate investor Robert Schwab, whose children attend the city’s prestigious public schools, persuaded the union and the district to go back to the bargaining table.

Two other fathers, Eli Blumenfeld and Albert Gersten, met with representatives of both sides and determined that money was the missing ingredient, so they worked with other parents to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and pledges to put toward teacher salaries.

Another parent, real estate attorney Tom Levyn, building on the groundwork that Schwab laid, put together a negotiating session last weekend that would lead to a settlement in the district’s first-ever teacher strike.

Throughout a city known for the excellence of its public schools, parents met, offered ideas and professional skills, took out their checkbooks and prodded their elected officials.

On Wednesday, members of the local teachers union approved a settlement giving them a 12% salary increase over two years and ending the walkout that began Oct. 16. As teachers prepare to go back to their classrooms today, the parents of Beverly Hills’ students are getting much of the credit for ending the labor dispute.

Educators around the country say the parents’ role in the Beverly Hills strike was extraordinary. They note that few communities, if any, could raise so much money in a matter of days simply by asking neighbors to open their checkbooks. But, although most school districts may not have parents as wealthy as those in Beverly Hills, educators say there are important lessons to be learned from the Beverly Hills experience.

“Forget the dollars,” said Linda Briskman, the mother of an elementary school pupil and the president of a private foundation that raises money to help pay for the district’s renowned academic programs. “We’ve got a very active community here. . . . Beverly Hills parents are nothing if not interested in their schools.”

At a time when parents around the country are being urged to get more involved in their children’s public schools, Beverly Hills could write the how-to manual, educators say.

“I think the situation in Beverly Hills is far superior to anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Linda Boitano, Pacific Region director for the National Education Assn. The city’s teachers union, the Beverly Hills Education Assn., is an NEA affiliate.

“Those parents are in the forefront and ahead of the game,” said Boitano, whose association is among those pushing for better parental participation in the schools.

Beverly Hills offers an unusual example of the trend toward growing involvement by parents in public education. In Chicago, mothers and fathers are playing a major role in governing local schools. In Los Angeles, they are sitting on newly formed councils that will help operate campuses. In Compton, school officials have asked parents to help discourage dropouts. In other cities such as Miami and Rochester, N.Y., parents are working in concert with administrators to improve their children’s education. The push for involvement comes as more and more parents--and business leaders--have expressed dismay at the state of U.S. public education and how poorly trained its students are. Many parents are frustrated with many so-called education reform efforts.

But in Beverly Hills, residents have long pointed with pride to their public school system as one of the best in the nation. Many parents say they moved to the city primarily because of the schools.

Both Boitano and a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers said they believe that Beverly Hills parents are the first anywhere to help settle a strike by offering money to boost teacher salaries, as well as the first to participate directly in settlement negotiations.

“I think we’re definitely going to see more and more community involvement, not only in our schools, but also in our bargaining, and that is something we really welcome,” Boitano said.

AFT spokesman Scott Treiblitz said that the specific techniques used in Beverly Hills may not work in other districts, but “the key is the involvement, and I think we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of that . . . as parents realize they are going to need to play an active role in their child’s education.”

What is ironic about the Beverly Hills strike is that it came at a time when teacher strikes across the country are down, from 200 to 300 a year in the early 1970s, to between 50 and 60 a year as the 1980s draw to a close, Treiblitz said.

He credits the drop in part to a growing willingness by parents to support the schools through special tax levies as they come to better understand what is needed in their districts.

For years, Beverly Hills parents have been going to the aid of their schools, which have lost much of their once-generous tax funds through declining enrollment, the 1978 property-tax-slashing initiative and an important state Supreme Court ruling that decreed that California’s school districts must equalize their spending of public dollars. No longer could wealthy districts spend more property tax dollars per child than poor ones.

To help make up for the loss of school tax dollars, the district received funds from Beverly Hills, enjoyed annual fund-raising projects of the Beverly Hills Education Foundation and began leasing its facilities and even selling sportswear bearing the logo of its famous high school. All this has enabled the 4,700-student district to spend about $5,000 per year per pupil, more than any other unified district in Los Angeles County.

The parents’ role in helping to finance the Beverly Hills strike settlement could engender some criticism in districts where there are very few parents with money to give.

Community involvement in its schools “is part of the psyche of Beverly Hills,” said parent Levyn, who participated in a six-hour negotiating session on Sunday. “Giving to the schools is not something new. That made it easier” to turn to parents for help this time around, he said.

Levyn is typical of the scores of parents who decided to do something more than watch anxiously from the sidelines. A real estate attorney by trade, he said he is frequently involved in negotiating big-money deals and decided to see what he could do with the strike.

“I thought they needed someone who was not involved on either side, so I went down to the picket line one day and offered my services to the teachers. I heard nothing so I went back and offered again. This time I got a meeting with union negotiators, who put me in touch with the superintendent,” said Levyn, the father of a boy in first grade.

Eventually, he was able to arrange Sunday’s session with union negotiators, the school board’s attorney and several board members. The two groups met in different buildings at district headquarters, with Levyn and the state mediator shuttling up and down stairs and between buildings.

Levyn said the conditions were: nobody walks out, respect each other’s position and no publicity.

“I felt I was able to ask questions of interest to a parent,” Levyn said of his role.

Bill Gordon, chief negotiator for the union, said he found the level of parental involvement unique.

“I’ve been in this business 19 years, and I’ve never seen a strike anything close to this,” Gordon said. “They’re all generals in Beverly Hills, no privates. They are good parents . . . they’re all honestly trying to find a way out of this dilemma.”

Board of Education President Dana Tomarken and Supt. Robert French on Wednesday stopped short of crediting parents with playing a significant role in bringing about a settlement. But Tomarken said:

“I’m sure parents were very, very concerned and upset and they were trying to get both sides to move. . . . The key that brought people to be more involved . . . was that they become really aware of how districts are funded.”

Attorney Nicholas A. Micelli, father of two Beverly Hills High students and organizer of several parent meetings on the strike, said parents provided, “through various means and locales, environments in which both the board and the union representatives could come together eyeball to eyeball, and that kind of broke the logjam.”

Micelli said he views the Beverly Hills strike “as a beacon sort of case” for parents in other districts.

“People are going to have to become informed about the real problems that face the schools. If parents are concerned about having a quality education program for their children, they are going to have to get involved,” Micelli said.

And developer and fast-food entrepreneur Gersten, a leader in Children First, one of the groups that pledged to raise money for teachers’ raises, said parents don’t have to be wealthy to help.

“Affluence is not the key,” said Gersten, parent of two elementary school children. “While we in Beverly Hills are blessed with having a number of affluent parents, we are also blessed with those that aren’t rich. And they are just as interested in having a good education for their children as the rich ones are.”

In finding ways to improve parental involvement in public schools, Gersten said, “You’re not looking for wealthy parents, you’re looking for concerned parents.

“The most important thing is not to be apathetic and relinquish all controls to the elected officials. . . . I think we care more for our own children and their future than elected officials . . . and that is not about money.”

Times Education Writer Elaine Woo contributed to this story.

THE BEVERLY HILLS STRIKE SETTLEMENT

Here are the terms of the two-year settlement reached Wednesday by the Beverly Hills Unified School District and the Beverly Hills Education Assn., the union representing about 300 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors:

Wages: In 1989-90, a 5% guaranteed salary increase, plus a 2%, one-time bonus using money contributed by parents. Any parents’ money left over after paying the 2% bonus to all employees to be distributed as one-time bonus or used to defray costs of health benefits in 1990-91.

In 1990-91, a 7% guaranteed salary increase, plus additional 3% built into permanent salary schedule contingent on passage of parcel tax to be placed before voters on the June, 1990, ballot.

Health benefits: The district will pay a maximum of $4,248 per teacher for health benefits effective Feb 1. The district currently is paying $3,070 per teacher.

Teaching minutes: Currently, teachers are required to be in classroom with students from 1,250 to 1,285 minutes per week. There will be no increase in 1989-90. But in 1990-91, teachers would agree to teach up to 1,350 minutes--if voters approve the parcel tax next year.

Retirement plan: The district and the union agreed to jointly develop an early-retirement incentive plan by Feb. 1.