#teachers-union

#teachers-union

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A sweeping agreement announced Friday between unions and Los Angeles school officials will result in a longer school year, a return to a three-week winter break and a reboot of controversial acceleration days.The deal also includes the resolution of legal issues, including some that could have proved to be important test cases for future labor negotiations.

A few days ahead of his May 15 inauguration, Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson announced that Jennifer "Jen" Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union's recent chief of staff, will serve as his deputy mayor for education, youth and human services.Jennifer Johnson was one of several senior staff members, including the Mayor-elect's chief financial officer and policy and budget directors announced Thursday.

Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas escalated their attacks on one another as Chicago's mayoral race enters the final week of campaigning before the April 4 election.Monday morning, Vallas held a rally with trade unions supporting his campaign where he denounced an effort to place lawn signs around the city linking him to former President Donald Trump.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Carmen Marchany knows the three-day strike that has shuttered Los Angeles public schools is another blow to her already unstable finances.But the special education assistant still joined her colleagues on the picket line Wednesday morning outside South Gate High School, holding signs and chanting in the rain.

Striking Los Angeles Unified School District employees and their supporters, including teachers, rally outside LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 during the first day of a three-day strike.(Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Striking Los Angeles Unified School District employees and their supporters, including teachers, rally outside LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 during the first day of a three-day strike.

A union representing 30,000 Los Angeles school custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and other support staff has started a three-day strike with support from the district's teachers, effectively stopping classes for more than a half million students in the nation's second-largest school system.

The Oakland Unified School District has settled a week-long strike with its teachers union a deal that will boost pay a total of $70 million.But as the administration figures out how to pay for those raises, could it also face stiff fines for the time its 34,000 students went without teachers?District officials had no answers early this week, but the experience of another large Northern California school district's lengthy strike last year is sobering: The Sacramento City Unified School District expects to be hit with a hefty $47 million in penalties after a two-week strike left it short of the state's required 180-day instruction time.

Teachers union leaders called off a strike set for today at the Covina-Valley Unified School District after reaching a tentative agreement late Wednesday night with officials of the 13,400-student school system."Schools will be open and will continue on a normal schedule tomorrow, Dec. 1," Supt.

The Oakland teachers' strike has entered its second day Friday and a mediator is attempting to make progress in negotiations after both sides strongly maintained their positions throughout a tension-filled day Thursday.State Superintendent Tony Thurmond offered Thursday to step in as a mediator, just as he did in 2019.

Oakland teachers at 14 middle and high schools are planning a walkout on Friday.But, the teachers union has not sanctioned a strike.Meanwhile, LA educators are back in the classroom today after reaching an agreement late Thursday.Local assistances centers are set to open for residents in San Bernardino County Communities in the San Bernardino Mountains, east of Los Angeles, are once again struggling to dig out of more snow following this week's latest atmospheric river.

Members of the union that represents most nonteaching employees in Los Angeles schools - cafeteria workers, custodians and teacher assistants - have overwhelmingly voted to allow their leaders to call a strike if negotiations don't lead to an agreement.The 30,000 workers represented by Local 99 of Service Employees International Union include bus drivers, campus security aides and gardeners - all essential to operations in the nation's second-largest school system.

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters denied the incumbent, Lori Lightfoot, a second term, a rebuke to a leader who made history as head of the third-largest US city.Vallas, a former schools chief executive backed by the police union, and Johnson, a Cook county commissioner endorsed by the teachers union, advanced to the 4 April runoff after none of nine candidates was able to secure more than 50% of the vote.

"Acceleration days" - two extra days of school over winter break - were a no-brainer for the brainy Kimberly Sanchez, a senior at the Maywood Center for Enriched Studies.If there had been five extra days, she'd have done them all.She did not need the all-out sales pitch and communication blitz of the last few weeks from school officials urging students to attend.

Ka'Dijah Brown, Mike Chang and Jennifer Shanosk won a seat on the Berkeley Unified school board.Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/ CatchLight Ka'Dijah Brown, Mike Chang and Jennifer Shanoski have earned seats on the Berkeley school board after all the ballots were counted Monday night.Reichi Lee, who raised the most money of any school board candidate in recent history, finished fourth, missing a seat by 1,096 votes.

CHICAGO When Bobby L. Rush, the Black Panther turned congressman turned elder statesman of this city's South Side, stood last week to endorse Paul Vallas for mayor, the first question he confronted featured his own words.How could a man who just two and a half years ago called Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police the most rabid, racist body of criminal lawlessness by police in the land stand behind Mr. Vallas, the candidate endorsed by that police union?

Unions, super PACs and political organizations that threw their money and support behind slates of Chicago City Council candidates are tallying their batting averages for the first round of voting and figuring out their game plans for the April 4 runoffs.The stakes are high, as the cash and manpower these groups can bestow could help swing many of the 14 remaining head-to-head contests in which they opt to get involved.

The powerful Service Employees International Union Local 1 threw its support behind Brandon Johnson on Wednesday as businessman Willie Wilson endorsed Paul Vallas, the latest jockeying for support by the two mayoral candidates ahead of the April 4 runoff election."Brandon is an organizer, a teacher, a Cook County commissioner and a longtime community activist, and most importantly for me and my union, he is one of us," Local 1 President Genie Kastrup said.

Iran's civil nuclear arm said hackers breached the email system used by a company operating the country's sole nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.It was unclear whether the breached system contained classified material.The protests first focused on Iran's state-mandated hijab, or headscarf, for women but transformed into one of the most serious challenges to the country's ruling clerics.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Christina Lowe didn't expect to be hauling her young son and daughter to the Pan Pacific Park Recreation Center from their home in Sherman Oaks.But the strike by Los Angeles Unified School District workers had closed schools, and her kids needed something to do.

Here is a guide for coping with the three-day Los Angeles Unified School District walkout set to begin Tuesday morning.The basics
The walkout - which will last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - would include as many as65,000 workers.Schools would be closed during a strike.That is leaving parents scrambling.

A popular Bay Area charter school system is closing its two Sunnyvale campuses this June despite months of attempts to save them, but parents and teachers said the ordeal is far from over.Board members from Summit Public Schools voted to shut down the middle and high schools in Sunnyvale, called Summit Denali, at a special board meeting Thursday.

Six candidates are competing for three seats on the Berkeley Unified school board.Top (left to right): Ka'Dijah Brown, Mike Chang, Tatiana Guerreiro Ramos.Bottom: Norma Harrison, Reichi Lee, Jennifer Shanoski.Credit: Marina Small, Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Voters and candidates await the results of an at-large election for three of the five seats on the Berkeley school board that has drawn an unusual amount of attention this year.

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates opened public comments at the first Board of Education meeting of the year Wednesday, asking for support for teachers and staff on a range of issues, from the impact of gun violence to the length of parental leave granted employees."I bring you urgency from the workers who are making it happen every day.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas will launch their first television ads this week as they attempt to unseat Mayor Lori Lightfoot.By coming out with TV spots nearly two months ahead of the Feb. 28 election, the two candidates are attempting to define themselves for voters before their rivals can.

More than 300 picketers demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Covina-Valley Unified School District on Wednesday morning as negotiators began last-ditch efforts to avoid a teachers strike scheduled for Thursday in the 13,400-student school system.A primary point of contention is proposed changes to health benefits.

Kelly Gonez and Rocio Rivas have declared victory in their races for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education, elevating the influence of the teachers union as the school system navigates contract negotiations, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and critical funding issues.In District 6, which covers most of the east San Fernando Valley, incumbent school board President Gonez had 51.27% of the vote through Tuesday compared with 48.73% for high school Spanish teacher Marvin Rodriguez.

Rocio Rivas has built on her lead over Maria Brenes in a close Los Angeles school board race to represent downtown, surrounding neighborhoods and the Eastside, according to an updated tally released Monday.In a second board race, for a seat representing the east San Fernando Valley, school board President Kelly Gonez has extended her advantage over challenger Marvin Rodriguez.

A tight race between two Los Angeles school board candidates with big-money supporters got tighter with the release of the latest vote tally Thursday.Since the end of the first count early Wednesday morning, the gap between Maria Brenes and Rocio Rivas has shrunk from 852 votes to 203 votes.Brenes leads with 50.17% of the votes to Rivas' 49.83% in their bids to represent District 2, which includes downtown, adjacent neighborhoods and much of the Eastside.

Los Angeles school board President Kelly Gonez is in a surprisingly tight contest with challenger Marvin Rodriguez for a Board of Education seat representing the east San Fernando Valley.In a second board contest - to represent downtown and the Eastside - Maria Brenes holds a small lead over Rocio Rivas.