Teachers Make a Point--in Absentia

About 100 Santa Ana Unified teachers apparently participated in a sickout Tuesday to demonstrate their frustration with long-running contract negotiations that have stuck on the question of salaries.

Typically, district officials said, 100 to 200 teachers are absent on any given day. On Tuesday, 306 of the district’s 4,500 staff called in ill.

The absences were not enough to derail classes, but administration and district personnel with teaching experience were called in to help fill in alongside regular substitutes.

Rumor of the sickout, which was not authorized by the teachers union, had been floating for about a week, said Century High School Principal Thomas Reasin. Forty-four teachers were absent from the school, which usually sees about five teacher absences per day.

“However, we have a contingency plan in place and all of our classes are covered,” he said. “No kids are walking around unsupervised, and instruction continues smoothly.”

The sickout is meant to send a message to the Board of Education, some teachers said, not their students, parents or colleagues.

Valley High School teachers participating in the sickout left lesson plans for the substitutes who would be teaching their classes, said Principal Robert Nelson. “We understand that they’re trying to make a point in terms of negotiations, but they’ve been very responsible.”

However, teachers are frustrated and several planned to picket their schools early this morning.

For the past two months many have attended school board meetings with picket signs denouncing the slow pace of salary negotiations that began in October.

In speeches to the board they have pleaded for a resolution and criticized board members as callous and calculating.

“The Board of Education is not listening--they don’t seem to care,” said Carol Wade, a teacher of 20 years who stayed home from work Tuesday. “I’m absolutely insulted that we have to resort to these kinds of tactics. I’m a professional with a master’s degree, and yet here I am picketing on the sidewalk: ‘Have master’s degree, will work for food!’ ”

The board agrees with teachers that they should be paid more but Santa Ana is hampered by limited funding from the state, said President John Palacio.

“The solution really rests with Sacramento,” he said. At its next meeting, the board will ask Gov. Gray Davis to use surplus funds to boost teacher salaries.

Teachers initially sought a 5% increase and the district offered 1%. The district’s last offer was a 3.4% salary increase with a 1% medical increase.