School Board Censured by Teacher Union : Compton: The state’s largest faculty union also asks Supt. Honig to investigate what it calls deplorable conditions at schools.

The president of the state’s largest teachers union said “deplorable” conditions in the Compton Unified School District led his group to adopt a resolution that censures the school board and asks state Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig to investigate.

“We’re having teachers bailing out because there’s no hope, no support,” said Ed Foglia, president of the California Teachers Assn.

“Right now, nothing is being done,” he said, referring to the district’s decaying school buildings, high student dropout rate, low test scores and teacher salaries that rank among the lowest in Los Angeles County.

“We’re asking that the state of California do something about Compton,” Foglia said, “and (saying) that the superintendent would be the person to do it. . . . Somebody has to call attention to the situation.”

The censure resolution, which was recently adopted by CTA’s executive board, was requested by Compton teachers, who are locked in a salary dispute with the district and have been working all year without a contract. Last month, they began staging one-day sickouts to protest what they say is the board’s refusal to bargain in good faith.

Compton’s acting school superintendent, Elisa L. Sanchez, said the CTA resolution is unfair: “It’s not positive news for us, particularly at a time when we are going through some very difficult collective-bargaining issues. It’s going to make it harder for use to settle.”

CTA wants its censure resolution--the first by the union in at least 15 years, Foglia said--to spur Honig, state legislators and federal representatives into starting a drive to upgrade the Compton schools. The resolution is being circulated to all 232,000 CTA members and to various elected officials in an effort to enlist their support, Foglia said. “We want the educational community to help change this.”

The Compton Education Assn., as well as a group of teachers at the district’s Dominguez High School, have also petitioned Honig complaining about low salaries and poor working conditions. Honig’s office has sent a letter to Sanchez saying it expects her to respond to the teacher complaints.

Sanchez said she and other district staff members met two weeks ago with Honig staff members to discuss Compton’s problems.

“We have a very close working relationship with the state superintendent’s staff,” she said.

The district is preparing a response to Honig on the complaints, Sanchez said, with the response expected to be ready the second week of May.

The teachers have accused the district of deliberately keeping salaries low to force the most experienced teachers to leave Compton for higher-paying jobs in other districts. Last year, more than 150 teachers left the district, and union officials say the same thing will happen again this year if the district does not raise pay scales.

The departing teachers, the union says, are being replaced with long-term substitutes or teachers who do not yet have their credentials.

On Tuesday, district representatives met with teacher leaders for the first time in about four months but did not alter the district’s salary offer of 6% for each of three years, said Wiley Jones, executive director of the Compton Education Assn. There is another meeting on Friday, Jones said.

On Wednesday, 39 of the 86 teachers at Compton High School stayed home for the day, the second time in a month that a large number of teachers have called in sick at the school. Similar actions have occurred at other Compton schools in recent weeks.

The union wants a comprehensive salary readjustment under which teachers at the top pay scale--those with 14 years experience--would earn double what beginning teachers are paid. That would raise the most experienced teacher’s annual salary from around $37,000 to $45,000. The average salary for teachers with comparable experience is $44,569 in the top 10 paid districts in Los Angeles County.

Last week, a state fact-finding report discounted the district’s claim that it cannot afford to give teachers more than 6% salary increases. The fact-finder agreed that Compton teachers are among the lowest paid in the county, and that the low salaries are driving teachers out of the district in search of higher pay and better working conditions.

Before the school board meeting Tuesday night, parents and classified employed employees--janitors, clerks, bus drivers and cafeteria workers--picketed the school district headquarters on Tamarind Avenue.

The parents group has been calling for reforms in the schools. The classified employees, like the teachers, have not yet settled on a work contract.