Orange Unified Caught Ill-Prepared by Sickout

Orange school district officials scrambled to find substitutes, drafted administrators into classroom duty and asked some teachers to double up on workloads Wednesday after almost 400 instructors called in ill--an apparent sickout to express frustration about a long-running contract impasse.

To varying degrees, the sickout affected all four of Orange Unified School District’s high schools, two middle schools and four elementary campuses, district spokeswoman Judy Frutig said. Hardest hit was Canyon High School, where nearly three-fourths of its 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 weren’t on campus Wednesday. On a typical day, about 130 miss school because of illness, family emergencies or conferences, Frutig said.

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

“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 teachers union have been strained for years, but the tensions have reached a climax in recent months. The crux of the labor dispute is the district’s wish to revoke a lifetime retirement plan (promised years ago to longtime teachers) in order to fund raises that all sides agree are overdue.

Negotiations have been stalled since last May, when the union membership rejected a tentative contract agreement by 24 votes. That agreement would have given a few longtime teachers raises of as much as 13% and required a buyout of veteran teachers’ retirement packages. Both sides accuse 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 student support group from one high school.

This swirl of circumstances leads many to believe Wednesday’s action was a protest. It was not clear whether it would continue throughout the week. By early evening Wednesday, only a few teachers had called in sick for today, not an extraordinary number.

“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 named for fear of retaliation. 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.”

Added another teacher who missed work at Canyon: “We get no money, no raises. All of our young teachers are leaving the district within two years. It’s pathetic. . . . In my opinion, the [board members] actually dislike public schools and are trying to privatize or charter-ize them.”

The action did not cripple schools, Villa Park’s Roney said, but it did gum up the educational works. First period was a bit hectic at her school, with teachers doubling up to teach two English or history classes simultaneously. But the confusion eased by second period when more substitutes arrived.

Students Sympathetic but Frustrated

“The kids have been very well behaved,” she said. “They’re responding to directions and going to class as directed.”

Several students said they were both sympathetic to, and frustrated by, the teachers’ decision. Villa Park seniors Nicole Ferguson and Jessica Hubbard, both 18, were among them.

“I have substitutes in every one of my classes; it’s pointless for me to be here today,” Ferguson complained.

Some classes were led by parent volunteers, added Hubbard. “One teacher said he wouldn’t be here [at school] if he had tenure,” she said.

Because Orange has been legitimately bitten by the flu bug, it’s hard to say how many of the missing teachers are ailing and how many are participating in “a last hurrah for the rogue element of the [union] leadership,” Frutig said.

Calls requesting substitutes began trickling in Tuesday afternoon. District administrators were able to round up 187 substitutes to fill vacancies--at a total cost of $18,700. Fifty additional vacancies--such as those created by counselors--required no substitutes. The remaining 146 slots were covered by doubling up on classes or sending administrators back to the teaching trenches.

“Teachers will be docked [pay],” if they called in but cannot verify their illnesses, Frutig said. “If they’re out for a reason that’s not legitimate, it will be noted in their personnel file.”

At Canyon High School, 57 of 80 teachers called in sick; at El Modena, 52 of 92 did; at Villa Park, the numbers were 55 of 86; and at Orange High, the tally was 33 of 99, district officials said.

The bulk of the remaining absences were concentrated at Cerro Villa and El Rancho middle schools and Fletcher, Prospect, Handy and Villa Park elementary schools.

Many Canyon High teachers left detailed lesson plans for substitutes, who were allocated to academic classes rather than electives. That left Principal Ralph Jameson covering one physical education class, which became more of a study hall.

Some teachers felt torn between their loyalties to their school and students and their frustrations, Jameson said.

“It’s a very difficult time,” Jameson 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.”

Canyon High junior Ashley Klein, 16, sympathizes with her teachers. She just hopes the sickout won’t harm her grades.

“I think it’s a little rotten because it’s right before finals,” she said. “Any other time, it would be OK. Today was a pointless day to come to school.”