Upset Tustin Teachers Say They’ll Ban Homework : Negotiations: The union protests unsuccessful contract talks. Students’ reactions to threatened lack of assignments are mixed.

Students in the Tustin Unified School District might get out of doing their homework--en masse.

The Tustin Educators Assn. said Tuesday that effective immediately, its 320 members will no longer assign homework to the 10,500 students in the district’s elementary, junior and high schools, to protest unsuccessful contract negotiations.

Union President Joyce Rohrbaugh announced the decision to the school board on Monday night. Rohrbaugh said she would send letters to all teachers, which they should receive by Thursday.

But by late Tuesday, many teachers, students and parents had not heard the announcement, and not all supported it.

“I cannot imagine anyone on my staff doing anything like that,” said Pete Brower, principal of Beswick Elementary School.

The 420 teachers in the 15-school district have been without a contract for 10 months, and the two sides have met unsuccessfully with a state mediator four times. The district has offered the teachers a two-year contract with a 9.4% salary increase for the first year, but the teachers have asked for a raise of at least 11%.

In recent weeks tensions have mounted. Teachers have picketed board meetings and a negotiating session, and some have boycotted extracurricular activities, Rohrbaugh said.

The homework ban was just one of several actions approved on Monday by the union’s representative council, Rohrbaugh said. Members also will refuse to attend open houses, which are scheduled over the next several weeks, and will boycott meetings at schools, Rohrbaugh said.

“We feel we’re at the end of our rope,” Rohrbaugh said.

Paul Fisher, chief business administrator for the district, said that a boycott of open houses is illegal because the teachers’ contracts require them to attend.

“As far as homework, that’s probably in a gray area,” Fisher said. The district sets a policy that defines an appropriate amount of homework for each grade level, but individual schools and teachers have discretion, he said.

Rohrbaugh said the union is checking with attorneys on the legality of its actions. Rohrbaugh, a teacher in the district for more than 20 years, said the union had a strike in 1985 but has never done anything like this before.

“This is not a common occurrence,” said Susie Lange, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. “But when negotiations get bogged down like this, (boycott of school activities) is a common tactic to find.”

News of the unions’ action apparently had not reached Tustin High School by Tuesday.

“They assigned me homework today in Spanish and math, and they didn’t say anything,” said Kammi Day, 16, a sophomore who welcomed the idea of a homework boycott. “I think it would be great. We need a break.”

But Albert Ewens, a 14-year-old freshman at Tustin High, disagreed.

“I would be mad because I go to school for an education. I don’t go to school to just fool around. I want to be somebody.”

But Rohrbaugh said the quality of education has already been affected.

“The whole situation is such a distraction that there are times they are not doing the job they should,” she said. “We’re human. . . . Even if it means getting the attention of parents in a negative fashion, it might be worth it in the long run.”

Ernie Cheng, president of the Parent Teacher Organization at A. G. Currie Middle School, said: “I think it’s unfortunate that we’re at the stage of negotiations now where the children are being placed in the middle. It is just appalling to me that the impasse continues to go without any opportunities for a settlement.”

The association is working on a new contract proposal and will arrange another meeting with the district negotiating team and a state mediator, Rohrbaugh said.

Correspondent Greg Hernandez and staff writer Shelby Grad contributed to this report.