LAUSD Teachers' Strike Looms As Students Return After Winter Break
STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) — A massive LAUSD teachers' strike is looming as hundreds of thousands of students return to the classroom Monday. The doors remain open for now, but a massive strike remains a possibility.
Union and district leaders will return to the negotiating table Monday. The district says it "welcomes the opportunity to ... find a reasonable compromise."
Still, a contentious tone continues.
UTLA claims the district is "desperate" in making "a disingenuous claim that [the union] did not give sufficient notice of ... intent to strike."
In North Hollywood Sunday, students were getting a hands-on civics lesson as they rallied in support of teachers who could strike by the end of the week.
Some parents shared stories of cramped classrooms.
"One of the classrooms that I visited – a social studies class – had 52 children. In a classroom!" North Hollywood parent Jennifer Schwartz exclaimed.
After nearly two years without a deal on class size, increased pay, more services and less testing, teachers like Gail Craven are bracing for tough days ahead.
"How are we gonna make ends meet? Losing a day's pay is huge. We want be in the classroom with those kids. We don't want to be out on the picket line," she said.
Meanwhile, parents like Jim Ulrich got notice Sunday that if there is a strike, students will spend most of the day in large open spaces, supervised by workers without teaching credentials.
"I think it is a shame that LAUSD can't give the teachers what they want," he said.
The district has reportedly hired 400-500 substitutes. But as the union has pointed out, that is not enough to keep teaching the 600,000 students in the district.