Bradley Offers to Mediate in Schools Dispute : Education: He refuses to denounce possible strike by teachers, claiming it would compromise his effectiveness. District officials try to deal with campus tensions.

Mayor Tom Bradley has renewed an offer to mediate a teachers contract dispute that could throw the mammoth Los Angeles school district into turmoil.

Bradley made his offer Thursday through his top aide after school board members issued an urgent plea for the city’s political leadership to do more to help avert a teachers strike that could put 645,000 students out of class and heat up a volatile city environment.

Several school board members called on Bradley and officials in other cities served by the district to make a strong statement denouncing a teachers strike. They said such pressure could bring both sides to an agreement more quickly.

“It seems the political leadership of the Greater Los Angeles area views this as just an education problem,” school board member Warren Furutani said at a news conference at district headquarters. “I believe the Los Angeles Unified School District is on the verge of a crisis equal to the riots of six months ago. This time it won’t be buildings and businesses that will be burned and looted. The victims will be the children . . . public education.”

Bradley, through Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani, said that he could be effective as a mediator and that a statement deploring the teachers’ strike action would prevent him from assuming such a role.

“A simple, public call for the teachers not to strike would remove him from the role as a good faith mediator at some point in the future,” Fabiani said.

Bradley offered to mediate the dispute in August but was told by district administrators that his help was not needed.

In a news conference of his own Thursday, schools Supt. Sid Thompson said he intends to tap into the region’s human relations networks and counseling programs to aid schools that are simmering with tensions. Two campuses were hit with confrontations between black and Latino students this week.

“We cannot ignore the depth of the problem, the depth of the anger young people are feeling,” he said. “Our students are reflecting the ethnic problems of the city as a whole.”

Last week, members of the influential United Teachers-Los Angeles union voted overwhelmingly to authorize their union leaders to call a strike if negotiators cannot win a settlement that reduces a cumulative 12% pay reduction that takes effect Nov. 6. The salary cuts were brought on by the district’s unprecedented $400-million budget shortfall.

The sticking point that could propel teachers to strike centers on the issue of future salary reductions. While union leaders have acknowledged that some cuts are inevitable this year, they are seeking assurances that there will be no future decreases. The board has been unwilling to make such a guarantee given the dismal state economy and predictions that there will be at least another $95-million shortfall next year.

Negotiations intensified this week after racially motivated violence erupted at two high school campuses, and a shouting match broke out at a junior high school. District officials said Wednesday that the time has come for outside community help.

“These are all of our children and everyone’s collective responsibility,” said Furutani, who is considering a run for the City Council. “No one can idly stand by and just assume the board, the superintendent and unions will solve this problem.”

Board member Mark Slavkin echoed sentiments of three other board members who complained that politicians and others were quick to take public stands over who should be appointed as interim school superintendent, but are silent during a more severe crisis.

Furutani proposed that government and business leaders sign on to an agreement by y promising to find more education funding so that salaries are not cut again.

UTLA President Helen Bernstein agreed with Furutani’s stance in general. But, she said, it is more important that board members agree to make fundamental changes in the way the district is managed to make more money available for teachers.

“Calling on leaders to take responsibility isn’t going to do it,” Bernstein said. “What are they supposed to do now? Say: ‘Here I am?’ ”

Officials at City Hall rejected suggestions that they have abandoned the school district, saying school board members must take primary responsibility for keeping their house in order.

Leaders in Sacramento and at City Hall said there is little chance that they can provide financial assistance to guarantee that teachers’ salaries will not be cut.

Delaine Eastin (D-Fremont), chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee, said Los Angeles schools should not expect any extra help from Sacramento to avert or settle a teachers strike. “My heart goes out to them, but the schools are hemorrhaging all over the state,” she said.

City Councilwoman Rita Walters, a former school board member, said the union should realize that there is “absolutely no money available and should stop the continual drumbeat for more.”

Several City Council members feared that a teachers strike could lead to more civil unrest.

“A teachers strike right now would be an unmitigated disaster--for the students, for the teachers, for the school district and for the city. Everything should be done to avoid that disaster,” said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky.

Others said it is up to teachers to back off from their threat.

Councilman Richard Alatorre called the strike authorization “foolish” at a time when state and local government officials have no money to pay teachers more. “This is the worst time for the teachers or anyone to talk about striking,” he said. “Of course it will lead to problems.”

Yaroslavsky, whose daughter attends North Hollywood High School where several hundred students fought Monday, said he was disturbed to learn that on the day after the unrest none of his daughter’s teachers discussed the problems.

Times education writer Larry Gordon contributed to this story.