‘Class sizes should be reduced’: Los Angeles parents support striking teachers despite chaos at home
Striking Los Angeles' teachers take aim at charter schools - https://www.rawstory.com/?p=1428377 via @rawstory
Elizabeth Rietz says it hasn’t been easy taking care of her daughter at home during the first two days of a strike by Los Angeles teachers, while she and her husband try to start their own clothing line. But she believes it’s the right thing to do.
Like many parents Rietz, whose daughter is a 4th grader at Ivanhoe Elementary School in the middle-class Silver Lake neighborhood, has taken on the extra burden in solidarity with 30,000 teachers demanding higher pay, smaller class sizes, more staff and less testing.
“We’re choosing to struggle because we support the teachers. And we would rather struggle at home and try to entertain our daughter while we work, so that we can send a message to the district that we believe that class sizes should be reduced,” Rietz, 42, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials have kept its 900 schools open during the two-day strike using administrators and substitute teachers, mindful that working-class parents cannot afford child care.
But only about a third of the district’s 492,000 students turned up on the first day of the work stoppage, many parents choosing to keep their children home. The Los Angeles Zoo, La Brea Tar Pits and area museums have offered free admission to students during the strike.
Even with attendance down sharply, limited staffing meant schools gathered students in gymnasiums for “independent study.”
The walkout entered its second day on Tuesday, three days after negotiations broke down over a new contract and with no new talks scheduled between the district and United Teachers Los Angeles.
UTLA negotiators have demanded a 6.5 percent pay raise. Teacher pay currently averages $75,000 in the district, according the California Department of Education. The district has offered a 6 percent hike with back pay.
Rietz is among a group of Ivanhoe parents who decided in discussions on social media CONTINUE READING: 'Class sizes should be reduced': Los Angeles parents support striking teachers despite chaos at home
