Thursday, December 30, 2010

Impasse in La Habra schools moves to new forums | district, teachers, union - News - The Orange County Register

Impasse in La Habra schools moves to new forums | district, teachers, union - News - The Orange County Register

Impasse in La Habra schools moves to new forums

By LOU PONSI and SCOTT MARTINDALE
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LA HABRA A strike by teachers against the La Habra City School District has ended, but differences between the teachers union and the district are far from being settled.

Still to be resolved are a lawsuit by the union against the district, teachers' anger over a decision by the school board to cut pay, and the need to bring the community together in the wake of the strike.

Teachers and students, meanwhile, return to the classroom Jan. 3 after winter recess.

The lawsuit filed by La Habra Education Association, the union representing the teachers, union months before the strike helps to shed light on the origins of teacher unrest in the district, although it does not have a direct bearing on the current impasse.

Union leaders sued the school district in Orange County Superior Court last June, after the district unilaterally imposed a temporary freeze in the automatic pay raises that teachers receive each year, plus automatically began deducting additional funds from teachers' paychecks to help offset a price increase in their health insurance plans. The district maintained tha