Only about a third of Los Angeles Unified students showed up to school Monday, the first day of a teachers’ strike, with many staying away despite assurance from district officials that all campuses would be in full operation.
The school district said 141,631 students came to campus, based on preliminary data. Officials said 54 of the district’s 1,240 schools had not yet provided attendance figures.
The district’s total enrollment is about 485,000.
The low attendance numbers capped a day of disruption across the city. But it also helped the skeletal staff that managed many of the schools.
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About 31,000 members of the teachers union had agreed to walk out to try to win smaller class sizes, more support staff at schools and better pay.
Thousands of picketing teachers and other union members — many of whom had arrived at their schools before sunrise — joined the mid-morning downtown rally in the chilly rain along with some students and parents. Police estimated the turnout at 20,000. The massive group then marched roughly a mile to school district headquarters on Beaudry Avenue.
Michael La Mont, 48, who teaches third grade at Hooper Elementary, said the march represented the unity of teachers working for better conditions.
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“We’re marching for the future of public education,” he said. “No one’s doing this for fun. We’re missing our kids. It’s raining. We’re not going to get paid.”
The strike became inevitable when negotiations broke off late Friday afternoon between the L.A. Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles after more than 20 months of bargaining. Supt. Austin Beutner called for an end to the strike during a news conference Monday morning and said the district remains “committed to resolve the contract negotiations as soon as possible.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom called on both sides to find a deal.
“This impasse is disrupting the lives of too many kids and their families,” Newsom said in a statement. “I strongly urge all parties to go back to the negotiating table and find an immediate path forward that puts kids back into classrooms and provides parents certainty.”
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L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said that enough progress has been made in negotiations to put a deal within reach.
“This is the time to make an agreement,” he said. “There is not much that separates the two sides. And there has been movement toward what the teachers have demanded and what the district can afford.”
In an effort to avert the strike, district officials sweetened their previous contract offer Friday based on improved funding for all school districts in Newsom’s state budget proposal unveiled last week. The district also hopes for a boost from Los Angeles County supervisors, who could vote Tuesday on a plan to give L.A. Unified up to $10 million for nursing and mental health services.
The latest district offer included lower class sizes by about two students in middle schools, a librarian for every secondary school, an extra academic counselor for high schools and a full-time nurse for every elementary school. The district now pays for one day of nursing per week, although many schools use discretionary funds to provide additional days.
The increased staffing, however, would be guaranteed for only one year. District officials said this was necessary because the funds are coming out of a one-time reserve.
“We made our last proposal to UTLA on Friday, which was rejected,” Beutner said. “They walked away from bargaining. We would encourage them, we urge them to resume bargaining with us, anytime, anywhere, 24/7.”
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For UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl, the temporary nature of the increased staffing made the proposal a nonstarter. The two sides are so far behind in negotiations that even if they reached a new three-year deal this week, it would be in effect for only 18 months. The previous contract expired in June 2017.
“Let’s be clear, educators don’t want to strike,” Caputo-Pearl said to a crowd of supporters during a news conference at John Marshall High School in Los Feliz. “We don’t want to miss time with our students. We don’t want to have less money for the car payment or less money for the school supplies that we always end up buying ourselves.”
During the last teachers’ strike, about half the district’s students went to school. The plan at many schools for this strike is to gather students into large groups in common areas like gyms, auditoriums and multipurpose rooms so they can be supervised by fewer adults. It’s not clear how much learning will be going on outside of the real-time civics lessons happening on the sidewalks.
The day did not follow normal routines as volunteers, an estimated 400 substitutes and 2,000 staffers from central and regional offices filled in for 31,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors. At 10 schools, nonteaching employees are taking part in a sympathy strike, which created additional headaches as administrators struggled to manage such tasks as preparing and serving meals.
Some students and parents opted to join teachers on the picket line. Cherie Sanchez, 48, huddled with her son and daughter — in raincoats— outside El Sereno Middle School as the protest reached boisterous levels around them.
Sanchez, an account manager for a software company, said she will take time off work to care for her children at home while the strike continues. They plan to picket with the teachers in the morning and read at home the rest of the day. She said she’s advocating for more funds for the education of students with disabilities because her husband is a special ed teacher.
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“Public schools are expected to support special needs students but without the resources to do so,” she said. “For me, the problem is the privatization of charter schools and the large class sizes. I want smaller class sizes for my kids.”
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Teachers and their supporters fill Grand Park during a rally after a tentative agreement wath LAUSD on smaller classes, new community schools, nurses and a raise.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Erin Payne holds her daughter Olivia Johnson during a rally at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl announced a tentative deal today that could send teachers back to the classroom tomorrow, ending the first Los Angeles teachers strike in 30 years.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Maida Salido, Aurora Mireles and Stephanie Flores, left to right, celebrate during a rally at Grand Park in Los Angeles.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl announced a tentative deal today that could send teachers back to the classroom tomorrow, ending the first Los Angeles teachers strike in 30 years.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Mallorie Evans, center, celebrates after an agreement between the teachers union and the LAUSD was reached Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Teachers celebrate after an agreement between the teachers union and the LAUSD was reached Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, right, and United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl, left, with Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a tentative deal that could send teachers back to the classroom, ending the first Los Angeles teachers strike in 30 years.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Thousands of teachers attend a UTLA rally in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Tom Morello, center, with guitar, is joined on stage by Perry Farrell, of Jane’s Addiction, and Wayne Kramer, with MC5, with tan jacket, as members of the UTLA Marching Band perform, “This Land is Your Land,” in Grand Park.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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From left, Lisa Ynfante, Iris Marin, Janis Nuno and Mireya Gutierrez, all LAUSD teachers join thousands at a rally in Grand Park.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Ignacio Gordillo, Dean at Gage Middle School, shouts to the lawmakers at Los Angeles City Hall as thousands of educators rally in Grand Park.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Xavi Moreno, center, gets ready for a rally in Grand Park.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Jackie Goldberg, teacher, former school board member, who also served on the L.A. City Council and in the state Legislature visits with teachers attend rally in Grand Park.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl, left, introduce himself to 5th grader Aryana Fields from Playa Del Rey Elementary School at the rally in Grand Park.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Austin Beutner, LAUSD Superintendent, right, and Monica Garcia, LAUSD President, provide an update on the UTLA strike in Los Angeles on Friday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Thousands of educators with the United Teachers Los Angeles attend a rally on the fifth day of the teachers strike in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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From left, teachers Rosa Martinez, Maricela Chaidez and Lillian Garcia chant and cheer with fellow teachers preparing for a rally in Grand Park in front of Los Angeles City Hall Friday.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Kimberly Barrera, a 6th grade teacher, joins fellow teachers preparing for a rally in Grand Park in front of Los Angeles City Hall Friday.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Thousands of educators with the United Teachers Los Angeles attend a rally on the fifth day of the teachers strike at Grand Park in front of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Anavelia Valencia, left, and Courtney Moore, right, teachers at 99th Street Elementary school, perform a “rain dance” on the picket line in South Los Angeles.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Teachers picket in the middle of Sunset Blvd., at Gordon Street in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Antonio Solis, right, a teacher with Hollywood Primary Center, and Kevin Savage, center, a teacher at Vine Street Elementary, join fellow educators on the picket line along Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Louisa Stiles, 4, eats a slice of donated pizza on the picket line at Elysian Heights elementary school in Los Angeles.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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School attendance fell again in the fourth day of the LAUSD teachers’ strike. Oscar Garcia, left, and Yacob Eyob work on their iPads at Burroughs Middle School.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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The hallways of Elysian Heights Elementary were uncrowded on Thursday; outside, teachers and parents picketed.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Westminster Elementary kindergarten teacher Jessica Dunn makes her case to passing motorists on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice on the third day of the LAUSD teachers’ strike.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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LAUSD teachers, parents and others protest in front of school board President Monica Garcia’s home in El Sereno.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer clears the road to allow a car to pass during a protest Wednesday night outside L.A. school board President Monica Garcia’s home.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Kindergarten teacher Beth Clark is among picketers on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice during Day 3 of the teachers’ strike Wednesday.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Student counselor Sandra Santacruz-Cervantes, center, pickets in a crosswalk outside Hollywood High School on Tuesday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Educators and supporters pack San Pedro Street in downtown Los Angeles at a rally outside the headquarters of the California Charter Schools Association.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Janette Duran, from left, Lauren Maucere and Stephanie Johnson, all specialists at Marlton School for the deaf, cheer at a rally at the California Charter Schools Assn. in downtown Los Angeles.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Student counselor Edwin Deleon, on a bicycle, joins parents, teachers and students in a crosswalk to picket outside Hollywood High School during the second day of the United Teachers Los Angeles strike.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Students from Main Street School hold signs as teachers and supporters make their way through downtown Los Angeles to attend a rally at the California Charter Schools Assn.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Parents, teachers and students picket outside Hollywood High School during the second day of the United Teachers Los Angeles strike.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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On the second day of teachers strike, the United Teachers Los Angeles rally outside California Charter Schools Assn. offices in Los Angeles.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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On the second day of teachers strike, the United Teachers Los Angeles rally outside California Charter Schools Assn. offices in Los Angeles.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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On the second day of teachers strike, the United Teachers Los Angeles rally outside California Charter Schools Assn. offices in Los Angeles.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Elisabeth Mitchell, right, a kindergarten teacher at the Accelerated Schools, a community of public charter schools in South Los Angeles, joins fellow teachers as they picket outside the school on the second day of the teachers strike.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles Unified Supt. Austin Beutner addresses the media at LAUSD headquarters on the second day of the United Teachers Los Angeles strike.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Stephanie Grace, center, and Lilly Diaz, right, teachers at The Accelerated Schools, a community of public charter schools in South Los Angeles cheer to passing vehicles as they join fellow teachers as they picket outside the school on second day of the teachers strike.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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UTLA President Alex Caputo Pearl, center, joins teachers on the picket line at The Accelerated Schools in South Los Angeles.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Teachers at The Accelerated Schools, a community of public charter schools in South Los Angeles picket outside the school on second day of the teachers strike.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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UTLA teachers gather at city hall in downtown Los Angeles for a march and rally Monday, as they walked off the job in their first strike in 30 years.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Corianne Cook, a teacher from Webster Middle School with her children, Ryn, 9, left, and Liam, 12, march to LAUSD district headquarters during the first day of the UTLA strike in Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Mallorie Evans, center, an educational audiologist at Marlton School for the deaf, signs along with the speaker while Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and supporters gather at LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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UTLA teachers marched from downtown Los Angeles to LAUSD headquarters Monday, January 14, 2019, as they walked off the job in their first strike in 30 years.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A supporter for the UTLA strike sports a Superman cape in Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Mari Enyart, 42, helps her son Was Enyart, 7, with school work while they spend their morning at a Starbucks Cafe in South Los Angeles on the first day of the strike.
(Silvia Razgova / For The Times)
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Reseda High students Roosevelt Jimenez, 17, left, and friend Kimberly Aquino, 17, right, sit in the school auditorium as UTLA teachers are out on strike in Reseda.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Dr. Frances Gibson, Chief Academic Officer at the L.A. Unified School District, serves as a substitute teacher leading a language arts class at El Sereno Middle School.
(Silvia Razgova / For The Times)
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Teachers in a sea of umbrellas block 3rd and 4th streets over the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles as they marched to LAUSD Headquarters from City Hall on first day of the UTLA teachers strike.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Aleida Aguilar, a first grader at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles, is guided by her mother through the picket line formed by teachers on first day of the Los Angeles school teachers strike.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Counselor Leah Zeller leads teachers as they chant in the rain on the picket line at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Teachers in a sea of umbrellas march up 3rd street over the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles as they marched to LAUSD Headquarters.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl organizes Los Angeles Unified School District teachers before marching from City Hall to LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles School Superintendent Austin Beutner, right, with School Board President Monica Garcia, met with Geri Guzman, left, and family members of students before holding a press conference at LAUSD Headquarters.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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UTLA teachers arrive at Los Angeles to LAUSD headquarters near the 110 Freeway Monday, as they walked off the job in their first strike in 30 years.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Reseda High School vice principal Phyllis Castaneda clicks through a slide presentation in the campus auditorium as students at the school are in the school auditorium and gym as UTLA teachers are out on strike in Reseda.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Students picket at the entry of Carson Senior High School in Los Angeles.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Students at Reseda High are in the school gym as UTLA teachers are out on strike in Reseda.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Students join the picket line with striking teachers in Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Teachers march towards LAUSD district headquarters during the first day of the strike in Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Olivia Cali Gomez, 5, spends Monday morning learning what it means to go on strike, outside of Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and supporters march from City Hall to LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Irma Torres, center, teacher from Heliotrope Ave. Elementary School, attends a UTLA rally at Los Angeles City Hall.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Teacher Shari Sakamoto, left, joins teachers marching on a picket line Monday morning at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles on first day of the strike.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and supporters gather at City Hall before marching to LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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99th Street Elementary School Principal Marissa Borden, 43, fist bumps 5-year-old Samantha Carlos, while she and her two brother arrive at school in South Los Angeles on the first day of the strike.
(Silvia Razgova / For The Times)
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UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl, left, kicks off the LAUSD teachers’ strike at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles. <strong>More: <a href=”https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-los-angeles-teachers-strike-utla-president-20190114-story.html”>UTLA president calls for more money for teachers ‘in a city rife with millionaires.’</a></strong>
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Members of UTLA picket in heavy rain outside 99th Street Elementary School in South Los Angeles.
(Silvia Razgova / For The Times)
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Students join the picket line in support of the UTLA strike in Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Mars Khan, 5, a transitional kindergarten student, carries a sign to support his mother, teacher Stefany Khan during a march in downtown Los Angeles.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Teachers wave at passing vehicles on the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles as they marched to LAUSD district headquarters.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Reseda High School students Jania Garcia, 16, left, and classmate Dennis Miguel, 16, work on a college prep app on laptops in the school gym in Reseda, Calif.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
For Laleda Hines, 31, a food service worker, it was awkward to walk into 93rd Street Elementary School with her 11-year-old daughter, Naomi, past teachers who had gathered in front of the campus, she said.
“It’s strange,” she said. “But I still have to go to work, and she has to go to school.”
Hines said she doesn’t have anyone to watch Naomi while she’s at work, so she leans on the school not just to educate her daughter, but also to watch her during the day. While she supports the teachers and said they deserve more pay and smaller class sizes, she said, she was conflicted by some of their other demands because the school district has said the high costs would lead to insolvency.
“If the district has no money, then there’s no job for me,” she said.
Some students who had intended to go to school were torn when they saw their teachers picketing outside. Two Los Angeles school police officers who stood inside the doors at Marshall High told a student who approached the exit to watch the teachers that she should remain on campus. If she wanted to leave, one of the officers said, she shouldn’t come back. Officers said they wouldn’t stop students who left, but students were not supposed to flow in and out of the school.
At Venice High School, senior Salvador Molina and six other students gathered at the front entrance to brainstorm how to get more of their classmates off the campus. They had opted to attend school, but decided to leave when their principal directed them to the gym.
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“I’m trying to plan a trip to the museum,” Molina said, adding that he could take the Metro to the Natural History Museum, where he could “learn something.” A few hours later, the entire group made it to the museum, which has offered free admission to LAUSD students during the strike.
The teachers union continues to push for more hiring to make class sizes smaller and give schools needed support services — such as full-time nurses and librarians at every middle and high school. The union and district are not that far apart on salary. L.A. Unified is offering 6% spread out over the first two years of a three-year deal. The union wants 6.5% all at once, retroactive to a year earlier.
Kevin Alfaro, a social studies teacher at Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, said his classes are just too big and students end up being the victims. His four advanced placement government classes have 40 to 41 students each, he said.
“That’s a lot for an AP class,” Alfaro said. “Class sizes have gone up a lot. Everyone thinks it’s the pay increase [at the heart of the strike]. That has a lot to do with it, but class size is the main thing.”
Union officials on Monday called on federal and state leaders to increase school funding, and on the Los Angeles Unified School District to spend its reserve as well as new funding identified in the governor’s proposed budget.
“The eyes of the nation are watching, and educators and nurses … all over the country have the backs of the educators in L.A.,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said. “We need the conditions to ensure that every child … gets the opportunity he or she or they deserve.”
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Physical education teacher Lin Joy Hom pulled up to the gate that leads to the Marshall High parking lot before sunrise with “UTLA strong” emblazoned in red letters on her car windows. While class sizes are her No. 1 concern, she said, she also wants every campus to have a school nurse every day. Marshall High doesn’t have a full-time nurse, she said.
“I can’t tell a kid, ‘Don’t get hurt on Tuesday because there’s no nurse,’” she said. “We need a nurse every single day.”
The chilly morning and steady showers did little to dampen the resolve of the group gathered outside the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts at the start of the school day. Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” blared from a speaker as a picketer thumped on a drum. A passing car honked to the beat. Another motorist pressed on his car horn and held his fist out the window as he passed.
At Wilshire Crest Elementary — a small school of about 150 students in Mid-Wilshire — more than 20 teachers and some parents braved the rain to send a message.
“We have to let people know that we mean business,” said special education teacher Lynette Bickham-Tilley. “We’re in the trenches and we don’t even have supplies all the time. All we want is a fair shot.”
Although attendance across L.A. Unified schools was sparse, there were many parents who sent their children to school with little hesitation.
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“I think it’s important, strike or no strike, that our kids continue their routine,” said Stephanie Lee, 45, who waited for the final bell at John Burroughs Middle School as rain pelted the windshield of her minivan.
Lee supports the teachers, but also thought it would be a mistake to shield her 11-year-old daughter, Erin, from a strike, which could itself be educational.
“My daughter told me her teachers have shared information about the strike in class, and I think it’s great she’s aware,” Lee said. “I like that she knows the bigger picture of what’s happening.”
A social worker who lives in Koreatown, Lee said it helped that the school’s administration continuously kept her updated the week before the strike through texts, phone calls and emails.
“I trusted they would have the right plan in place.”
In the afternoon, the school day like no other was done.
One by one, the children ran to their parents at at 99th Street Elementary School. As the families walked away together, parents wanted to know if their children’s teachers had been at school. They had not.
Joel and Ilcia Martinez asked Rebecca, 7, what she had done in class.
“Did you color?” Ilcia Martinez asked.
The little girl, missing two front teeth and holding a pink umbrella with kitty ears, nodded.
About 31,000 United Teachers of Los Angeles employees plan to strike. Students can expect to see significant cuts in the number of faculty present.
Times staff writers Melissa Gomez, Nicole Santa Cruz, Suhauna Hussain, Doug Smith, Ruben Vives, Maria L. La Ganga, Corina Knoll and Sam-Omar Hallcontributed to this report.
Howard Blume covers education for the Los Angeles Times. He’s won the top investigative reporting prize from the L.A. Press Club and print Journalist of the Year from the L.A. Society of Professional Journalists chapter. He recently retired “Deadline L.A.,” a past honoree for best public-affairs radio program, which he produced and co-hosted on KPFK-FM (90.7) for 15 years. He teaches tap dancing and has two superior daughters.
Sonali Kohli is a former Los Angeles Times reporter. A product of Southern California, she grew up in Diamond Bar and graduated from UCLA. She worked as a metro reporter for the Orange County Register and as a reporter covering education and diversity for Quartz before joining The Times in 2015.
