One Strike and You're Out

I'm feeling a lot better now. I mean, being a victim of a smash and grab is SO LAST WEEK.

All the concerned comments from my online friends helped a lot -- as did hearing about the experiences of the people I come into contact with all the time. In fact, I now consider myself extremely lucky -- it turns out that just about everyone I know has had some experience with this kind of crime (and the ones living in tonier neighborhoods may even have it worse; with their security fences, alarm systems and privacy hedges giving them meager protection from determined criminals). This is just life in the big city... and I thank God we only had our cars burgled.

I spent much of the week working on the PTA newsletter, which was like pulling teeth this month, mainly because the UTLA (the teachers union) has been working without a contract since June and is holding a strike vote in a couple of weeks. The ongoing negotiations have not been getting much coverage on the news, and I know a lot of parents don't even know that this is going on, and that when the TV stations finally wake up to this as a story, it will be presented in a way designed to put everyone in a panic.

Contract negotiations between the union and the school district are a five-step process... even if the union authorizes a strike, which is what is expected, there are three more steps they have to take before they can call a job action: (1) One of the parties must declare that they are at an impasse, meaning that negotiations are deadlocked, then (2) a mediator hears both sides and tries to come up with a resolution... and if neither side agrees to the decision, (3) they go to "fact finding," which is a kind of trial where both sides present their case to a "fact finder," who must also try to come up with a resolution. Only when THAT is rejected can a strike occur. And even though the head of the teacher's union is loudly telling anyone who will listen that UTLA will strike in March (just when everyone is gearing up for state testing!) -- I would think going through mediation and fact finding would take longer than a couple of weeks?

Anyway -- writing an article about this in the PTA newsletter is tricky, as I don't want to take sides and the principal (who must approve the newsletter before distribution), wanted me to include some material from LAUSD's website because I attributed the description of the negotiating process to UTLA -- because they were the only ones who published anything that did explain what was going on.  All LAUSD is doing is sending out press releases that paint the teachers as greedy and asking for too much. And of course, the teachers are downplaying their salary demands and getting the word out that the sticking point is reducing class size, which is, of course, something all of us parents would like to see.

I finally took out all attributions and included links to both LAUSD and UTLA, so parents can find the information for themelves, and hopefully, not be blindsided if a strike does occur this semester. I sincerely hope all the posturing ends and the two sides find a way to forge a contract they can live with. Ours is a famously troubled school district, and it does not need this on top of all its other problems.

Having worked for two years as a part time school employee, I can tell you that everyone there is under tremendous pressure. I got to know teachers who want nothing more than to do good by their students. And I got to know equally hard-working administrators who were sincere in their efforts to help our kids along. Good intentions all around - and a system that's impossible to work with. I am a firm believer in public education, but seeing our school district first hand makes me want to run to the nearest private school, and I would if I could afford to. But I can't, so I do what I can to make our public school better.

But all bets are off if our Mayor succeeds in taking control of the District. He wants to impose an eight-hour school day, which might be great for working parents who cannot afford to pay someone to supervise their kids after school. It might be great for students who are underachieving. It would not be great for my gymnast daughter, who is at the top of her class and already juggling school, Hebrew school and nearly 20 hours a week of training. My husband gets upset whenever I mention homeschooling as an option, but if they go to such a long school day while my daughter is still involved in this sport, that may be the only option we have.

I'll worry about that only when I have to...

Comments

[Lorna]

There are always so many sides to strike issues---and so much passion. Having been a teacher, and with lots of family who teach, I almost always do take sides; I can't understand how we can trust our precious children to people we don't want to pay decent salaries and allow decent working conditions to. good for you if you can stay neutral in your position though.

[lin]

After moving to L.A. five years ago and now that I have a grandchild in the Los Angeles public schools, I have started taking much more note of all issues concerning education in this City.

When I was a kid growing up in the Washington, DC suburbs (Montgomery County, MD), there were two school districts in the United States that we were always battling against with our test scores. They were the LAUSD and Westchester County, NY. Then that pesky property tax issue was brought into play and while it took a few years of trickle down economics before the schools, buildings and equipment were actually affected, it did happen. People have to belly up to the tax table and pay their fair share of property taxes. Here's an example of why public schools in Wisconsin are, on average, better than those here in Southern California. This is a very simplistic overview. Here in Topanga, we're living in a home that's valued at twice that of our old home in Milwaukee yet our property taxes are a little less than half of those we paid in Milwaukee (five years ago).