Strike Delayed but Students Are No-Shows

Nearly a fourth of Orange students stayed out of school Wednesday even though teachers canceled an announced walkout that now is planned for today.

Union officials said weeks ago that teachers would strike for two days starting Wednesday, but the union pulled a last-minute switch on the district; teachers picketed their schools early in the morning but then went to the classroom as usual.

The announcement of the strike had given district officials ample time to prepare for the absence of hundreds of teachers, but when the district got wind of the change Tuesday night, they wound up scrambling anyway--to tell the substitutes they were unneeded.

School officials and even some Orange teachers were left seeking explanations for the last-minute change and wondering whether it amounted to a labor tactic, a plan within a plan, to upset the district.

“I think it was done to keep [district officials] on their toes,” said Villa Park High School history teacher Richard Brunt. Brunt stood in a picket line at Villa Park on Wednesday morning with about 30 other teachers.

Whatever the reason, Orange Unified School District trustees found themselves in the awkward position of blasting the union for not striking, especially after learning that 24% of students--6,945--were absent from school Wednesday. Absenteeism averages 6% in the district. Apparently many parents had not heard about the Tuesday evening cancellation.

“We were hit pretty hard,” district spokeswoman Judy Frutig said. The district also lost 50 of the 850 substitute teachers it had hired for the walkout after canceling on them for Wednesday.

If the delay was merely a ruse, it harmed the community, board President Linda Davis said at a press conference.

“If it’s a game, it’s cruel and unfair,” she said.

Union President John Rossmann said the change stemmed from more straightforward roots: District negotiators had invited the union back to the bargaining table.

There was no ruse, no plot, no smoky back-room plan, Rossmann said.

“We had a couple of feelers from them Tuesday and didn’t want to pass up any opportunity,” he said. “That’s the main reason the committee made the decision.” Those negotiations ultimately led nowhere, he said.

At a meeting Tuesday of the 1,500-member Orange Unified Education Assn., someone asked whether the delay could be a labor tactic and the rumors spread from there, Rossmann said.

Other union officials, however, offered different explanations for calling off the strike.

Kay Casserly, one of Canyon High School’s union representatives, said it was clear to her at Tuesday’s meeting that canceling the strike for a day was a ploy.

“It was a strategy,” Casserly said. “The strategy threw [the school district] off guard. I think it was a good strategy.”

A third official, union co-Executive Director Val Steine, offered a third explanation for the canceled walkout: The union did not receive enough responses from school site union representatives on whether to proceed.

The union is required to notify the district about striking by 4 p.m. the day before a strike is to take place, Steine said, and while union officials determined the vast majority supported the strike, they were not able to tally the votes by that time.

Rancorous contract negotiations between the 42-school district and the teachers union have lasted for two years. District officials have said they cannot afford to pay what the teachers are asking. Union officials question the validity of the district’s budget figures.

Negotiations are stalemated over the district’s decision in March to unilaterally impose a contract for the years 1998-2000, giving teachers an 8% raise over the two years. The union wants that contract mediated; the district wants to move on to negotiating a contract for 2000-01.

By Wednesday afternoon, however, teachers and union officials had agreed on one point: today’s strike. The district was officially notified about it at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

About 350 teachers crowded W.O. Hart Memorial Park in Orange on Wednesday afternoon waving small U.S. flags and carrying signs reading “OUEA On Strike” and “Unfair Labor Practice Strike.”

The teachers cheered as union leaders urged them to stay strong in the face of criticism from the school district that a strike is hurting students by keeping them out of the classroom.

Some parents interviewed Wednesday said they are indeed worried about the effect of the strike on their children’s education.

Beth Weickum, whose daughter is a second-grader at Cambridge Elementary, said she supports the teachers but is concerned about the strike disrupting the students. She had not decided whether she would allow her daughter to attend school today.

“I will come and as long as I don’t have to cross any picket lines and they are providing curriculum in the classroom, then she will stay,” Weickum said. “I don’t think it’s a good environment for my kids to be in [if] they aren’t going to learn anything.”

Times staff writer Lisa Richardson contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Walkout Updates

* Orange Unified School District’s hotline will be updated during the day with recorded information about the teacher walkout. The number is (714) 628-4210.

*

To speak with district officials, parents can call the information center at district headquarters: (714) 628 4248.

*

Background information about the ongoing contract disagreement between the school district and the teachers union is available at their respective Web sites:

https://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us

https://www.orangeteachers.com