At a time when teacher's across the state need to be more unified. The LAUSD is thinking about not supporting its teahers when it comes to a one-hour strike. With the looming budget deficeit, and the potential for hundreds of teachers to be laid-off, you would think that the district would support the teachers and rally their parents to support this strike.
LAUSD will fight teacher walkout
Officials will seek court order banning 1-hour strike
By Brandon Lowrey, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/27/2008 09:17:31 PM PDT
With Los Angeles Unified School District teachers threatening a walkout next week to protest $353 million in budget cuts that could cost some their jobs, district officials said they would seek a court order today to keep teachers in class.
The planned June 6 hourlong walkout would be illegal because it would leave students unsupervised and vulnerable, district officials said.
"We have a legal, ethical, moral and every other obligation to make sure that the students' safety is being taken care of," said Maribel Medina, special counsel to the LAUSD board.
"One hour is sufficient to expose these students to a whole host of potential horrors."
The teachers union president defended plans for the walkout, refuting district claims that it would put students in harm's way.
"That's a lie," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. "We have directed our chapter chairs to sit down with the principals and create a one-hour safety plan.
"If the district is going to go for an injunction (against the walkout), then they're sending a clear-cut message to the students and the community of Los Angeles that they would rather not fight against the budget cuts, and that's sad because the students are gonna lose out."
District officials say they're cutting heavily into clerical and administrative staff to soften the impact on teachers.
LAUSD faces a $350 million budget cut - its share of a $4.3 billion
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slice out of education in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's widely criticized state budget proposal.
It remains unclear how many teachers could lose their jobs because of the cuts, said David Holmquist, LAUSD's chief operating officer.
But the district could only legally lay off teachers from a pool of about 5,200 still in their two-year probationary periods, he said. And the district has been cutting teachers from that group in recent years due to declining enrollment.
"There will definitely be layoffs," Holmquist said. "I would imagine we will be not inviting some of the probationary teachers back. I would like to think, and hope, it will be a small number."
Duffy said the walkout is intended to send a message to the governor and legislators that the cuts to education are too deep.
And even though the union and district are together in the fight to soften the impact of the statewide budget cuts on teachers and students, the prospect of the district fighting the union before a state labor board has strained their relationship, Duffy said.
Superintendent David Brewer III also bemoaned the state's cuts and said the district will do everything in its power to ensure that the cuts don't hit classrooms hard.
He said English-as-a-second- language programs, along with arts and music programs, may feel the pinch.
"We're trying to send a very strong signal to Sacramento that these cuts are unacceptable," Brewer said.
But he said the walkout isn't the right way to protest.
"We're not questioning the message," Brewer said. "We're just questioning the method."
