LAUSD Strikes Back, Makes Notes of Teachers’ Accrued Time Off

TIME ACCRUES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN: The Los Angeles Unified School District was only too delighted to prepare a report this week on the accrued vacation and illness hours of teachers union leaders who are on leave from their regular teaching and/or counseling jobs.

United Teachers-Los Angeles President Helen Bernstein has blasted the school district for allowing administrators to bank vacation and sick time so they can cash out when they retire. The union’s newspaper, United Teacher, calls it “vacationgate” and charges administrators with gross misconduct.

Well, the school district has a list of its own. Among the findings:

* Bernstein had accrued 914 hours--or about 22 weeks--in vacation and illness time as of July, 1994, including 365 hours of vacation;

* Union Vice President Day Higuchi accrued 1,412 hours--or about about 35 weeks--of vacation and illness time, including 368 hours of vacation;

* Another UTLA vice president, John Perez, had banked 1,044 hours--or about 26 weeks; including 382 hours of vacation.

But whatever vacation time the officers have accrued, union policy states that no more than 10 days can be cashed out when the terms expire. So there.

And guess who still holds the record? Yes, Supt. Sid Thompson had stored about 42 weeks of unused vacation through last year.

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IMAGE IS EVERYTHING: Brad Sales, the school district’s new spokesman, already knows he has a public relations problem on his hands. He’s been on the job for three days.

“I think one of the biggest problems that the school district has is its image,” Sales said. “I think the district . . . is basically shrouded in a bunch of negative myths. One of the challenges I have is to bring reality into focus and basically pull back the shroud of myths.”

Is it a myth that the district has abysmal test scores, high absenteeism and an even higher dropout rate?

Well, no, Sales said, but the much-maligned district has a remarkably low administrative ratio compared to other districts. “That’s one of the best-kept secrets,” Sales said.

To help unveil other district secrets, Sales says he will put together a public relations strategy for the district. He’s beginning by meeting with top district staff and the Board of Education to gain their perspectives.

How did the district get into this mess? “It’s no secret that the [teachers] union--UTLA--over the years painted its own picture,” Sales said. “Certainly a split between labor and management has had something to do with it. There’s been a constant pounding over the years.”

For its part, UTLA agrees it has been “pounding away” at the district--but for change, not to tarnish the district’s image. “If the district would spend more time doing its job of educating students, its image would take care of itself,” said Catherine Carey, the union spokeswoman.

Sales replaces Bill Rivera, who retired from the job this week. Sales, who formerly worked for City Councilman Richard Alatorre, most recently was a free-lance communications consultant. He spent 11 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District at Richmond Elementary, Webster Junior High and University High School. He graduated from Palm Springs High, then went to USC, where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

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SMOKING IS NOT A SPORT: Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) is calling on Sports Illustrated to clean up its act--but it is not the magazine’s racy swimsuit issue that he is going after.

The tobacco ads that appear throughout the magazine, Waxman says, are luring children to smoke.

Waxman joined four colleagues this week in asking Sports Illustrated to stop printing tobacco advertising because the millions of teen-agers who read the magazine “are literally bombarded by advertising promoting the virtues of smoking.”

Saying the magazine ought to put “the health of our children ahead of . . . corporate profits,” the letter cited five full-page cigarette ads in the July 31 issue, including one urging readers to “collect all 10” Camel cigarette collectors’ packs.

Joining Waxman were Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) and Reps. James Hansen (R-Utah), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Martin Meeha (D-Mass.)

The lawmakers urged Sports Illustrated to follow the proposed Food and Drug Administration regulations announced by President Clinton last week that would prohibit tobacco advertising in magazines with at least a 15% teen-age readership.

The rules are still just proposals and have already been challenged in court, but the lawmakers called on Norman Pearlstine, editor-in-chief of Time Inc., which publishes Sports Illustrated, to follow them voluntarily.

No word yet from Pearlstine.

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CONTRACT TALKS: Paul Stepanek is not afraid to borrow a good idea when he sees one.

Trounced by Henry Waxman last fall, Stepanek is back--and this time he has some recycled ideas up his sleeves to attract some attention to his 1996 campaign.

With the Hollywood sign as a backdrop, Stepanek held a news conference recently to announce a seven-point “contract with Hollywood” as part of his bid to represent the 29th Congressional District, which includes North Hollywood, Universal City and Studio City.

After all, the “contract with America” idea worked pretty well last fall for the Republican Party as a whole, helping to sweep them into the majority in both houses.

Stepanek’s version of the contract would establish a private group to research the impact of entertainment on children, education and culture; establish a rating system for violence in entertainment, and encourage the entertainment industry to consult with special “violence advisers” who would recommend ways to eliminate gratuitous violence.

He also suggested a special Academy Award to promote “positive images in media.”

The issue of violence on the big screen gave Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) a boost when he raised it during a speech in Century City earlier this year. Stepanek, a 34-year-old public relations man from Westwood, says he is going one step further than the Republican leader, providing “constructive parameters for a mutually beneficial public policy.”

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Shuster reported from Los Angeles and Lacey from Washington, D.C.