EASTSIDE : Head Start Teachers Want Director Fired

Teachers have accused an Eastside Head Start schools program of unfair labor practices and are calling for the ouster of its director.

The dispute began in June when teachers at Azteca Head Start--which serves about 500 children in 13 schools in Alhambra, Bell, Boyle Heights, City Terrace and Montebello--voted to remain in the American Federation of Teachers.

The Head Start program, under executive director Rosanne Ghiazza, responded by withholding wages from 25 teachers, said Jo Navarro of the teachers union.

The teachers usually are laid off during the summer and collect unemployment benefits, Navarro said. But this year the benefits were denied because Azteca had reported that the teachers voluntarily resigned, she said. The benefits were reinstated after the teachers appealed to the state Employment Development Department.

The union fought back, filing claims with the National Labor Relations Board accusing Azteca of unfair labor practices.

Ghiazza, however, insisted that her office acted properly. “We reported factual information as it happened,” she said.

Last week, teachers picketed Azteca’s Alhambra offices calling for Ghiazza’s dismissal. They also complained to the Los Angeles County Board of Education, which administers the federal funds to Head Start programs.

Andrew Kennedy, an administrator with the county office of education, set up a meeting between parents and teachers and Azteca’s board last week. The teachers say there was one positive result from that meeting: They found out where and when they were to report to work. Another meeting between the teachers and the board members has been scheduled for later this month.

Azteca’s troubles have led some parents to enroll their children elsewhere; others are left wondering whether the program still exists.

“During the summer when all of this started to surface, we decided to put our son in another school,” said Maria Moberg, whose 4-year-old son, Daniel, attended the Marguerita Head Start school last year.

Daniel has cerebral palsy and needs specially trained teachers, Moberg said. “We just had no way of finding out how this would all turn out and I didn’t want to take the chance that some teacher would have to take my child who wouldn’t want him in her classroom.”

Although other parents said they had not been notified as to when to register their children, Azteca officials insist school is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Moberg said school is starting unusually late, compared to last June when she was able to pre-register Daniel for school in early September.

However, Ghiazza said Azteca has to wait until it receives funding from the county before it can begin school. This year, she said, it just took a little longer than last year.

The troubles are but the latest for the beleaguered Head Start program. Last year, 10 disabled children sued Azteca, claiming they were illegally excluded from the program. That suit was later resolved when the children were allowed to return to the Head Start classrooms.