Teachers Urged to Not Withhold Grades as Student Protests Spread

Student protests continued to spread in the Los Angeles Unified School District on Monday, and the superintendent issued a public plea to teachers to disavow any plan to withhold official fall semester grades due in 10 days.

And for the first time publicly, top district officials voiced suspicions that teachers may be encouraging the student demonstrations, although no direct evidence was offered to support the charge. “To utilize young people as pawns in a labor dispute . . . for (students) to be prompted by teachers to do this is not professional behavior,” school board member Rita Walters said late Monday during the board’s regular weekly meeting.

Teacher union officials and students denied that teachers have encouraged the spate of student walkouts at high school campuses or the noisy protest outside Monday afternoon’s board meeting. Helen Bernstein, vice president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, noted that the union has issued a public statement urging students to remain in class and said she has seen “no evidence” teachers are prompting the protests.

Teachers and management are locked in a dispute over a new contract. The chief issue is money, with teachers seeking a 12% raise this year and the district offering 17% over three years.

To put pressure on the district, teachers have been refusing to perform certain duties, including filing student progress reports with school offices. Teachers have been giving the reports directly to students, however. Union officials have said there is a possibility that semester grades will not be filed with school administrators if a settlement is not reached by Feb. 3. But they have said grades will be given directly to students and nothing will be done to harm their academic progress.

The student protests began with an impromptu walkout last Wednesday morning at Fremont High School that degenerated into rock-throwing and the summoning of police. It was followed by a massive, brief student walkout Friday at George Washington High. A small demonstration occurred Monday morning at Jordan High School and about 25 chanting, sign-waving Marshall High School students demonstrated Monday afternoon at school district headquarters.

The theme of the demonstrations has changed considerably since the first protest, when most students voiced concern about rumors that they would not receive grades needed for college applications and graduation. Monday’s protests were more akin to rallies in support of the teachers’ pay demands.

“Teachers deserve more. The board’s not poor,” was one of the student chants outside the board room Monday. Marth Cepeda, an 18-year-old senior who was one of about 100 Jordan High students taking part in Monday’s walkout, called The Times seeking coverage. Students protested, she said, “to support our teachers (so they) get their raise . . . the raise they want.”

Supt. Leonard Britton, in a prepared statement delivered at Monday’s board meeting, said the teachers’ actions are hurting students and they should stop. He warned that if semester grades are not filed with the district, students’ college applications could be “delayed or otherwise hampered.” In a statement endorsed by several board members, he called on union leaders and individual teachers to disavow any plan “to hold these grades hostage” while contract negotiations continue.

UTLA’s Bernstein insisted that students would not be harmed. If students request it, she said, high school counselors will be able to send letters confirming the grades to college admission offices. “Dr. Britton doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” she said.