Teachers Say the ‘Working to the Rule’ Tactic Works : Education: Such protests are under way in four local districts. They anger school boards as well as some parents and students, but unions say it wins attention to their needs better than anything short of a strike.

Traditionally, public school teachers have performed above and beyond the call of duty by grading papers, planning lessons and tutoring students on their own time.

Lately, however, an increasing number of teachers, frustrated by stalled contract talks, have been engaging in a protest tactic they call “working to the rule”--that is, doing nothing beyond contractual obligations.

The tactic is legal and not unprecedented among teachers’ unions. But as it gains more popularity among unions, parents and administrators are beginning to question whether the tactic is ethical, and whether students are being unfairly used as pawns. And students, angered over being dragged into disputes beyond their control, are starting to fight back.

Teachers say they don’t like the tactic, but argue that recalcitrant school boards have pushed them to desperate actions. Parents say that they understand the teachers’ contract concerns--most agree that teachers are underpaid--but they fear that the work slowdowns will irreparably damage their childrens’ futures. School administrators counter that any work slowdown constitutes a breach of contract and is unprofessional.

Meanwhile, the students remain caught in the middle.

“Working to the rule” protests come in varied forms:

* In the Ocean View School District, teachers refused to participate in the district’s science fair, which traditionally has produced winners at the Orange County Fair and prestige for the district.

* In the Huntington Beach City School District, teachers boycotted parent conferences and stopped after-school tutoring.

* In the Capistrano Unified School District, union leaders have prepared a 28- point list of possible protest measures, including weeklong homework boycotts and picketing of open house meetings.

* In a highly emotional and highly publicized case, the Tustin Educators Assn. advocated elimination of homework assignments, prompting a student sit-in at Foothill High School. The demonstration led Principal James Ryan to place 110 students on probation.

Union leaders say that the tactic works by generating community interest and encouraging parents to learn more about the teachers’ position during contract talks. They argue that such drastic measures would not be necessary if the districts would bargain in good faith.

“Obviously, not assigning homework and not attending open house is a negative activity,” said Joyce Rohrbaugh, president of the Tustin Educators Assn., which represents 430 teachers and counselors. “The purpose of it is to make the community more aware that we have a serious problem and get them to come to the board meeting or find a way to get them to encourage the board to negotiate.”

Administrators say the tactic needlessly alienates parents and punishes students. Some say it’s illegal.

“If those tactics are designed to bring parental support to the teachers, in my observation it’s the reverse,” said Jerome R. Thornsley, superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District. “Parents are not very patient with those types of activities--they don’t think they’re appropriate. I personally don’t understand how essentially punishing or trying to hurt students is effective.”

Parents, to some degree, agree with both sides. They say that a work slowdown does indeed spur greater attendance at school board meetings, and often results in a more sympathetic view of the teachers’ stance.

But the parents remain torn by the fear that their childrens’ education is suffering. Many share their childrens’ fear that elimination of homework will place greater emphasis on classroom testing and unfairly penalize students who don’t test well.

Kay Melcher, president of the Parent-Teacher Organization at Tustin High School, said she has watched her son’s grades drop from A to C in one of his favorite classes.

“I think it’s sad,” she said. “I think it’s hard on the kids. I know there’s two sides to everything. I just think it needs to get settled.”

Other parents, however, were not as forgiving.

“I think it’s nonfeasance,” said Leslie Ebert, who has a son and a daughter attending Foothill High in Tustin. “They’re just not doing their job. In any other profession, you would get sued for that action.”

Whether teachers can be sued or otherwise disciplined for declining to participate in after-school work is disputed. Under state law and state Department of Education policy, such matters are generally left to local officials to decide. Similarly, the state Public Employment Relations Board, which can step in to rule on contractual disputes at the request of either side, and such professional organizations as the California Teachers Assn., remain neutral unless asked to participate.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said the current collective bargaining system, which has been in place since 1976, lends itself to adversarial tactics designed for one side to pressure the other. Without fundamental changes in the system, he said, such tactics will continue.

“Maybe given the negative part of that (system), maybe there’s an alternative way where teachers would trade the right to strike in return for a neutral panel to arbitrate,” Honig said.

However, he added, such a change is unlikely to occur. Teachers’ unions, he said, have been “real skittish about giving up the right to strike because they’re saying, ‘Who says we can trust these panels?’ ”

While Honig conceded that, under the collective bargaining system, teachers have the right to “work to the rule,” he disagreed with the tactic of boycotting homework assignments.

“It’s hard to argue that homework is not a part of your job,” he said. “I can understand saying, ‘I will not put out extra effort,’ but homework is included in (teachers’) jobs. That to me goes over the line.”

Students affected by the boycotts agreed with Honig’s assessment. They said they feel their high school years are being irreparably damaged by teachers’ job actions.

“We’re tired of quietly standing by and watching our education deteriorate before our eyes,” Foothill High School student Greg Amrofell said at a recent Tustin school board meeting. He was backed by other students holding posters that read, “Let us learn” and “I wint to scool in Tustin.”

Teachers interviewed by The Times were split on whether students are being used as bargaining chips in contract negotiations. Some teachers said students are being affected only minimally, while others said they aren’t being affected at all.

But all the teachers agreed that the boycotts are necessary to force the hand of recalcitrant school district administrations.

“Nobody likes to have the students involved in the bargaining process,” said Ric Stephenson, president of the Capistrano Unified Education Assn. and a history teacher at Newhart Junior High School. “The teachers in particular find it distasteful, (but) the association has to play to the cards that are dealt.”

George Waibel, president of the faculty club at Foothill High School in Tustin, said he believes that students are suffering, but not because of the teachers’ boycotts.

“I think students’ education is suffering, but it’s not necessarily because of a lack of homework,” Waibel said. “The suffering is because they don’t have an enthusiastic teacher in the classroom who is willing to put in 110%, and that’s an outcropping of the way they (teachers) are being treated.”

THE ISSUES IN THE CONTRACT DISPUTES Details of the contract disputes that have led to teachers’ job actions in Orange County school districts:

* Ocean View School District, Huntington Beach: Talks are deadlocked over health benefit issues, use of funds from the state lottery earmarked for education and teacher participation in the decision-making process. A fact-finding study by a three-person mediation panel is scheduled for later this month.

* Tustin Unified School District: Teachers, who have been without a contract for 10 months, are seeking a raise of at least 11%. The district has offered a two-year contract with a 9.4% salary increase for the first year.

* Capistrano Unified School District: The teachers’ three-year contract expires in June, but the union has been in negotiations for a new pact for more than a year. Talks are currently stalled over district proposals to cut health benefits and add an employee disciplinary plan that would allow the district to suspend tenured teachers without pay.

* Huntington Beach City School District: A yearlong dispute ended April 17 when teachers ratified an agreement under which they will receive a 7% pay raise retroactive to July 1, larger steps in the salary schedule and full health coverage, all of which the union demanded throughout negotiations. Union leaders attributed the resolution of the dispute to the pressure exerted by job actions.

WORK SLOWDOWN MEASURES

To protest stalled contract talks, the Capistrano Unified Education Assn. suggested that teachers use some of the following measures:

* Picket another school’s open house.

* Refuse to participate on school committees or in school activities that are not compensated or part of the contract.

* Do not meet or help students at lunchtime or before and after school.

* Take no work home to grade.

* Pass back papers only once a week or once a month.

* Pick a week and use nothing but work sheets and dittos for the whole week. Eliminate oral instruction, collaborative grouping, simulation and discussion.

* Show a film related to your subject once or more a week.

* Stay home ill when feeling slightly ill (district officials say this tactic will hurt the district because of a shortage of substitutes).

* Eliminate weekly progress reports at the elementary level.

* Eliminate homework and/or special assignments.