LAGUNA HILLS : Teachers Tell Plans of Push for Contract

Teachers from the Capistrano Unified School District have announced a series of tactics intended to pressure the district to agree on a contract, including picketing, a ban on homework assignments and a boycott of extracurricular activities.

Ric Stephenson, president of the Capistrano Unified Education Assn., said that 75 to 100 teachers on Sunday will picket outside model houses for Ocean Ranch Homes in Laguna Niguel, a gated community under construction.

“This demonstration is for people who are looking to buy homes in the area,” Stephenson said. “They should be made aware that the district is not everything it projects itself to be.”

The teacher’s union picketed Tuesday in front of Dana Hills High School and Newhart Junior High School.

The teachers union, in a contract stalemate with the district, has also sent a letter to its 1,200 members asking them to cease weekly student progress reports, after-hours student “help” sessions and involvement in all extracurricular school activities. They further called for a work slowdown that would ban homework.

The Tustin Educators Assn. last week mailed a letter to its instructors in the Tustin Unified School District asking for a similar ban.

“We do it begrudgingly,” Stephenson said of the Capistrano union’s action. “Yet, we do it with the greatest hope that the district will sit down and negotiate in good faith.”

And tonight, Stephenson said, San Clemente High School instructors plan to boycott an open-house, directing parents to a teacher-run forum on contract problems with the district.

Although the teachers’ three-year contract is not due to expire until June, the group has been negotiating with the district on a new pact for more than a year.

The teachers have opposed district proposals that would cut health benefits and add an employee disciplinary plan to the union contract.

A spokeswoman for the 24,800-student district said the teachers should stick to the collective bargaining process and not let the negotiations affect their classroom performance.

“Our school district believes that it is not appropriate for teachers to negatively affect the education of students,” Jacqueline Cerra said. “We are going to expect our professionals to keep the educational process intact.”

The teachers are mistaken in believing that the work slowdown will force concessions from district board members, she said.

“I don’t see (the union’s) actions changing the board’s current position,” Cerra said.