L.A. Teachers Strike for First Time in 30 Years, the Nation's Largest School Walkout
Source: NY Times
By Jennifer Medina, Tim Arango, Dana Goldstein and Louis Keene
LOS ANGELES More than 30,000 Los Angeles public-school teachers began the largest school strike in the country on Monday and the first in three decades in the district. Holding plastic-covered signs on rain-drenched picket lines across the city, they demanded higher pay, smaller classes and more support staff in schools.
The strike effectively shut down learning for roughly 500,000 students at 900 schools in the district, the second-largest public school system in the nation. The schools remained open, staffed by substitutes hired by the city, but many parents chose to keep their children at home, either out of support for the strike or because they did not want them inside schools with a skeletal staff.
With negotiations apparently at a standstill, the strike could last days or even weeks.
The decision to walk off the job came after months of negotiations between the teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Although educators on all sides agree California should spend more money on education, the union and the district are locked in a bitter feud about how Los Angeles should use the money it already gets.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/lausd-teachers-strike.html
Power 2 the People
(2,437 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,638 posts)It is the 2nd largest district, after NY.
As a CA teacher people should know that students in our state get HALF what other students get in other states. Too many standardized tests (even in first grade), 40 kids in some classes, no support staff (only once a week large schools have a nurse, psychologist, librarian, tech help, second lang assistance, art and music teachers, etc on site) and unfair pay, etc.
This is ridiculous. Our state is progressive but NOT with public schools. Teachers are NOT baby sitters and free day care, they are highly educated professionals who work 50 hour weeks and get little respect from the state, the admin and the parents. This has been allowed to go on for far too long since women are still paid less than men and most teachers are women. RESIST!