Hundreds of Teachers Call in Ill in Orange

School district officials scrambled to find substitutes, drafted administrators into classroom duty and asked some teachers to double their workloads Wednesday after almost 400 instructors called in ill, apparently to express frustration about a long-running contract impasse.

To varying degrees, the sickout affected all four of the Orange Unified School District’s high schools, two middle schools and four elementary campuses, said district spokeswoman Judy Frutig. Hardest hit was Canyon High School, where 57 of 80 teachers and guidance counselors missed school--causing the principal to pinch-hit as a gym teacher.

In all, 383 of Orange’s 1,547 teachers and counselors stayed away from campus Wednesday. On a typical day, about 130 miss school because of illness, family emergencies or conferences, Frutig said.

The apparent sickout was unauthorized, said teachers union President John Rossmann.

“We didn’t sanction it,” he said. “We did our best to discourage and dissuade any type of job action, if in fact that’s what it was. We prefer to resolve issues at the bargaining table.”

Relations between the Orange administration and the teachers union have been strained for years, and tensions have mounted in recent months. The crux of the dispute is the district’s wish to revoke a lifetime retirement plan, promised years ago to longtime teachers, to fund raises that all sides agree are overdue.

Negotiations have been stalled since May, when the union membership rejected a tentative contract agreement by 24 votes. That agreement would have given a few longtime teachers raises of up to 13% and required a buyout of veteran teachers’ retirement packages. Each side accuses the other of bargaining in bad faith.

Many teachers also object to the board’s conservative bent, as recently reflected in a decision to bar a gay support group from one high school.

This swirl of circumstances leads many to believe that Wednesday’s action was a protest. It was not clear Wednesday whether the protest would continue throughout the week.

“My understanding is that this is like the blue flu we hear about with the police,” said a slightly frazzled Frances Roney, principal at Villa Park High School. “It’s an unsanctioned action over the impasse in contract negotiations.”

One veteran Canyon teacher who missed work Wednesday described the sickout as a grass-roots expression of malaise not sanctioned by the union.

“We’re very frustrated because they treat us like dirt,” said the teacher, who asked not to be identified. Board members “have this Christian agenda they’re working on. They don’t treat us with any respect or act like experience is worth anything.”

Frutig said teachers will have their pay docked if they called in sick but cannot verify that they were ill. “If they’re out for a reason that’s not legitimate, it will be noted in their personnel file,” she said.

Some teachers felt torn between their loyalties to their school and students and their frustrations, said Canyon High Principal Ralph Jameson

“It’s a very difficult time,” he said. “I want to have a cohesive staff to work together. . . . It was difficult for these teachers to make the decision not to come in.”