If striking Los Angeles teachers needed an omen as they rallied in Grand Park downtown Friday, Mother Nature obliged. After four days of picketing in rain and chill and gloom, the sun burst forth.
“Do you feel your power?” union President Alex Caputo-Pearl asked the masses, who stretched from the steps of City Hall through Grand Park all the way to the Music Center.
They thundered their response.
Union treasurer Alex Orozco reminded teachers that bargaining teams could hear them on the other side of the stage, inside City Hall.
Thousands raised fists, thrust signs skyward and chanted: “Let’s go, team! Let’s go, team!”
With the celebrity help of singer Aloe Blacc, musician Tom Morello and actor Sean Astin, teachers made noise and memories — and also made their point.
The theater of this rally and numerous others this week have made it difficult for the school system’s bargaining team to make its own points: that it was the union that walked away from negotiations, and that the district faces serious financial problems.
But both teams seemed ready to get down to business.
“We need our educators and our students back in school come Tuesday morning. The onus is on us ... as leaders to do what we have to do,” said L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner in a late afternoon news conference. He said that he met with Caputo-Pearl and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti at 6:45 a.m. and that he’d been in and out of bargaining efforts as needed.
“Too many students are missing out on the education they should be getting,” he said. “We need to solve this now.”
It was unclear at midday if the union’s big event would prove a climax or just one more rally-the-troops moment in a protracted job action.
Still, the L.A. teachers’ strike ushered in its fifth day with optimism.
Teams from L.A. Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles began the new round of talks about noon Thursday and didn’t finish that session until just after midnight Friday.
The length of the first day of new talks was one hopeful sign. Another, perhaps, was a mutual understanding that neither side would discuss the content of negotiations in public. Competing news conferences had become a forum for harsh rhetoric and accusations of bad faith.
Talks resumed before noon Friday and were expected to stretch into the evening.
At Grand Park, the crowd streamed in a sea of red from every direction. On one side, school band directors led students in playing “Uptown Funk,” holding up sheet music or clipping it onto the gate barriers.
Some in the crowd chanted, “We are the parents, the mighty, mighty parents,” and raised their signs to the beat.
One parent on hand was Sylvia Barrera, whose daughter Rosie, 9, attends Stanford Avenue Elementary in South Gate. Rosie was with her mother rather than in class.
All week, Barrera has opened her house on Ohio Avenue to striking teachers, allowing them to use the bathroom, pouring coffee and handing out pastries.
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Teachers and their supporters fill Grand Park during a rally after a tentative agreement wath LAUSD on smaller classes, new community schools, nurses and a raise.
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Erin Payne holds her daughter Olivia Johnson during a rally at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl announced a tentative deal today that could send teachers back to the classroom tomorrow, ending the first Los Angeles teachers strike in 30 years.
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Maida Salido, Aurora Mireles and Stephanie Flores, left to right, celebrate during a rally at Grand Park in Los Angeles.
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LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl announced a tentative deal today that could send teachers back to the classroom tomorrow, ending the first Los Angeles teachers strike in 30 years.
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Mallorie Evans, center, celebrates after an agreement between the teachers union and the LAUSD was reached Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles.
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Teachers celebrate after an agreement between the teachers union and the LAUSD was reached Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles.
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LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, right, and United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl, left, with Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a tentative deal that could send teachers back to the classroom, ending the first Los Angeles teachers strike in 30 years.
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Thousands of teachers attend a UTLA rally in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
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Tom Morello, center, with guitar, is joined on stage by Perry Farrell, of Jane’s Addiction, and Wayne Kramer, with MC5, with tan jacket, as members of the UTLA Marching Band perform, “This Land is Your Land,” in Grand Park.
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From left, Lisa Ynfante, Iris Marin, Janis Nuno and Mireya Gutierrez, all LAUSD teachers join thousands at a rally in Grand Park.
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Ignacio Gordillo, Dean at Gage Middle School, shouts to the lawmakers at Los Angeles City Hall as thousands of educators rally in Grand Park.
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Xavi Moreno, center, gets ready for a rally in Grand Park.
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Jackie Goldberg, teacher, former school board member, who also served on the L.A. City Council and in the state Legislature visits with teachers attend rally in Grand Park.
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UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl, left, introduce himself to 5th grader Aryana Fields from Playa Del Rey Elementary School at the rally in Grand Park.
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Austin Beutner, LAUSD Superintendent, right, and Monica Garcia, LAUSD President, provide an update on the UTLA strike in Los Angeles on Friday.
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Thousands of educators with the United Teachers Los Angeles attend a rally on the fifth day of the teachers strike in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.
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From left, teachers Rosa Martinez, Maricela Chaidez and Lillian Garcia chant and cheer with fellow teachers preparing for a rally in Grand Park in front of Los Angeles City Hall Friday.
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Kimberly Barrera, a 6th grade teacher, joins fellow teachers preparing for a rally in Grand Park in front of Los Angeles City Hall Friday.
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Thousands of educators with the United Teachers Los Angeles attend a rally on the fifth day of the teachers strike at Grand Park in front of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
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Anavelia Valencia, left, and Courtney Moore, right, teachers at 99th Street Elementary school, perform a “rain dance” on the picket line in South Los Angeles.
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Teachers picket in the middle of Sunset Blvd., at Gordon Street in Hollywood.
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Antonio Solis, right, a teacher with Hollywood Primary Center, and Kevin Savage, center, a teacher at Vine Street Elementary, join fellow educators on the picket line along Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.
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Louisa Stiles, 4, eats a slice of donated pizza on the picket line at Elysian Heights elementary school in Los Angeles.
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School attendance fell again in the fourth day of the LAUSD teachers’ strike. Oscar Garcia, left, and Yacob Eyob work on their iPads at Burroughs Middle School.
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The hallways of Elysian Heights Elementary were uncrowded on Thursday; outside, teachers and parents picketed.
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Westminster Elementary kindergarten teacher Jessica Dunn makes her case to passing motorists on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice on the third day of the LAUSD teachers’ strike.
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LAUSD teachers, parents and others protest in front of school board President Monica Garcia’s home in El Sereno.
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A police officer clears the road to allow a car to pass during a protest Wednesday night outside L.A. school board President Monica Garcia’s home.
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Kindergarten teacher Beth Clark is among picketers on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice during Day 3 of the teachers’ strike Wednesday.
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Student counselor Sandra Santacruz-Cervantes, center, pickets in a crosswalk outside Hollywood High School on Tuesday.
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Educators and supporters pack San Pedro Street in downtown Los Angeles at a rally outside the headquarters of the California Charter Schools Association.
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Janette Duran, from left, Lauren Maucere and Stephanie Johnson, all specialists at Marlton School for the deaf, cheer at a rally at the California Charter Schools Assn. in downtown Los Angeles.
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Student counselor Edwin Deleon, on a bicycle, joins parents, teachers and students in a crosswalk to picket outside Hollywood High School during the second day of the United Teachers Los Angeles strike.
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Students from Main Street School hold signs as teachers and supporters make their way through downtown Los Angeles to attend a rally at the California Charter Schools Assn.
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Parents, teachers and students picket outside Hollywood High School during the second day of the United Teachers Los Angeles strike.
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On the second day of teachers strike, the United Teachers Los Angeles rally outside California Charter Schools Assn. offices in Los Angeles.
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On the second day of teachers strike, the United Teachers Los Angeles rally outside California Charter Schools Assn. offices in Los Angeles.
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On the second day of teachers strike, the United Teachers Los Angeles rally outside California Charter Schools Assn. offices in Los Angeles.
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Elisabeth Mitchell, right, a kindergarten teacher at the Accelerated Schools, a community of public charter schools in South Los Angeles, joins fellow teachers as they picket outside the school on the second day of the teachers strike.
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Los Angeles Unified Supt. Austin Beutner addresses the media at LAUSD headquarters on the second day of the United Teachers Los Angeles strike.
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Stephanie Grace, center, and Lilly Diaz, right, teachers at The Accelerated Schools, a community of public charter schools in South Los Angeles cheer to passing vehicles as they join fellow teachers as they picket outside the school on second day of the teachers strike.
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UTLA President Alex Caputo Pearl, center, joins teachers on the picket line at The Accelerated Schools in South Los Angeles.
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Teachers at The Accelerated Schools, a community of public charter schools in South Los Angeles picket outside the school on second day of the teachers strike.
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UTLA teachers gather at city hall in downtown Los Angeles for a march and rally Monday, as they walked off the job in their first strike in 30 years.
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Corianne Cook, a teacher from Webster Middle School with her children, Ryn, 9, left, and Liam, 12, march to LAUSD district headquarters during the first day of the UTLA strike in Los Angeles.
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Mallorie Evans, center, an educational audiologist at Marlton School for the deaf, signs along with the speaker while Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and supporters gather at LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles.
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UTLA teachers marched from downtown Los Angeles to LAUSD headquarters Monday, January 14, 2019, as they walked off the job in their first strike in 30 years.
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A supporter for the UTLA strike sports a Superman cape in Los Angeles.
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Mari Enyart, 42, helps her son Was Enyart, 7, with school work while they spend their morning at a Starbucks Cafe in South Los Angeles on the first day of the strike.
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Reseda High students Roosevelt Jimenez, 17, left, and friend Kimberly Aquino, 17, right, sit in the school auditorium as UTLA teachers are out on strike in Reseda.
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Dr. Frances Gibson, Chief Academic Officer at the L.A. Unified School District, serves as a substitute teacher leading a language arts class at El Sereno Middle School.
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Teachers in a sea of umbrellas block 3rd and 4th streets over the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles as they marched to LAUSD Headquarters from City Hall on first day of the UTLA teachers strike.
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Aleida Aguilar, a first grader at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles, is guided by her mother through the picket line formed by teachers on first day of the Los Angeles school teachers strike.
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Counselor Leah Zeller leads teachers as they chant in the rain on the picket line at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles.
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Teachers in a sea of umbrellas march up 3rd street over the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles as they marched to LAUSD Headquarters.
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UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl organizes Los Angeles Unified School District teachers before marching from City Hall to LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles.
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Los Angeles School Superintendent Austin Beutner, right, with School Board President Monica Garcia, met with Geri Guzman, left, and family members of students before holding a press conference at LAUSD Headquarters.
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UTLA teachers arrive at Los Angeles to LAUSD headquarters near the 110 Freeway Monday, as they walked off the job in their first strike in 30 years.
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Reseda High School vice principal Phyllis Castaneda clicks through a slide presentation in the campus auditorium as students at the school are in the school auditorium and gym as UTLA teachers are out on strike in Reseda.
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Students picket at the entry of Carson Senior High School in Los Angeles.
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Students at Reseda High are in the school gym as UTLA teachers are out on strike in Reseda.
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Students join the picket line with striking teachers in Los Angeles.
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Teachers march towards LAUSD district headquarters during the first day of the strike in Los Angeles.
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Olivia Cali Gomez, 5, spends Monday morning learning what it means to go on strike, outside of Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles.
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Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and supporters march from City Hall to LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles.
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Irma Torres, center, teacher from Heliotrope Ave. Elementary School, attends a UTLA rally at Los Angeles City Hall.
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Teacher Shari Sakamoto, left, joins teachers marching on a picket line Monday morning at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles on first day of the strike.
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Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and supporters gather at City Hall before marching to LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles.
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99th Street Elementary School Principal Marissa Borden, 43, fist bumps 5-year-old Samantha Carlos, while she and her two brother arrive at school in South Los Angeles on the first day of the strike.
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UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl, left, kicks off the LAUSD teachers’ strike at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles. <strong>More: <a href=”https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-los-angeles-teachers-strike-utla-president-20190114-story.html”>UTLA president calls for more money for teachers ‘in a city rife with millionaires.’</a></strong>
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Members of UTLA picket in heavy rain outside 99th Street Elementary School in South Los Angeles.
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Students join the picket line in support of the UTLA strike in Los Angeles.
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Mars Khan, 5, a transitional kindergarten student, carries a sign to support his mother, teacher Stefany Khan during a march in downtown Los Angeles.
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Teachers wave at passing vehicles on the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles as they marched to LAUSD district headquarters.
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Reseda High School students Jania Garcia, 16, left, and classmate Dennis Miguel, 16, work on a college prep app on laptops in the school gym in Reseda, Calif.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) “At least they’re talking,” she said, of the union and the district. “There is something happening, and that gives us hope.”
Not all parents were cheering on the rallies. The Westside parent of a fourth-grader, who did not attend Friday’s event, said she was troubled by the union’s messaging and militancy.
The parent, who requested anonymity over concern about retaliation against her child, said she asked both the district and a teacher whether she should keep her child home from school during the strike.
A district staffer told her to do “what I think is best for the kids — either keep them at home or send them to school,” she said. The teacher asked her to be supportive by keeping kids at home.
“I actually feel like LAUSD is giving me a more encouraging and supporting message, which is, ‘Put the child first.’”
English and history teacher Audra Feld, 36, picketed outside Gage Middle School on Friday morning before she made her way from Huntington Park to downtown.
Salary isn’t top on her list, she said: She wants the district to provide for a nurse every day, not just one day a week. Students also need more counselors, she said; some have to handle hundreds of students.
“Both parties will lose my trust for a long time,” she said, if they come out of this marathon bargaining without making progress in these areas.
“We’re not sure where the money is coming from,” she said, “but someone has got to find it.”
Watching the back-and-forth between Caputo-Pearl and Beutner has been hard, she said. “I feel like my parents are getting a divorce.”
Until Thursday, there had been no negotiations since union leaders rejected a revised district offer a week ago.
Another positive sign Thursday was a meeting just before negotiations began between the two leaders. They were brought together by Garcetti, who was hosting the bargaining at City Hall.
Attendance at schools Thursday was the lowest yet during the strike, with about 17% of students showing up. L.A. Unified receives state funding — its largest source of revenue — based on attendance. Officials estimated the loss for the day at about $18.1 million less the amount that they are not paying the strikers.
Schools are being kept open by skeleton staffs of administrators, substitutes and employees who are not members of the striking union.
Juan Flecha, the head of the administrators union, wrote to Beutner on Wednesday that conditions at schools were “dire and unsafe.” He then told media that the schools should be shut down.
Beutner responded Thursday in a letter to Flecha and said “students and families are counting on our schools to stay open.”
This week, Service Employees International Union Local 99 members at 10 schools voted to forgo their own pay for one or more days and walk off the job in support of teachers. Local 99 has announced that its workers at 24 schools plan to stage sympathy strikes starting Tuesday if no agreement is reached.
Enthusiasm continues to permeate picket lines.
The union held its daily morning news conference and rally at Bell High School in southeast L.A. County, where at least 200 people staged a block party, complete with music, dancing and food.
At the buffet table were squares of sweet bread that looked suspiciously like official L.A. Unified coffee cake, one of the most familiar sights in the nation’s second-largest school district, but a treat that should have been forbidden to striking teachers.
“Our students are the core of our existence and they need so much,” veteran teacher Timi Picard said. “They need us to get back in the classroom. I hope this ends so we can get back to what we love doing.”
Principal Rafael Balderas looked on from the steps in front of the school.
The mother of a student participating in the protest ran up to give Balderas a hug.
Academic counselor Juan Gomez, who is on strike, came up with his two young children. Each wore a sign saying: “We stand with L.A. teachers.”
Balderas shook their hands.
“He’s also got a newborn at home,” Balderas said. “People have to remember that after this is over, we all have to work together.”
Also coming over to chat with Balderas was the union’s chapter chair for the school, Kenneth Goodson, a resource teacher.
“The momentum is switching a little bit,” Goodson said. “The politicians are pretty much on the same side as the teachers.”
There is something to what he said.
In Sacramento on Friday morning, a group of legislators representing the L.A. area called on the school district to negotiate earnestly with teachers.
“The district isn’t negotiating in bad faith, but I do think that the issue of classroom size needs to be taken more serious,” said Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), former head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
Beutner has said repeatedly that he sympathizes with teachers demands and that he wants to do everything the district can afford. The main limiting factor, he said, has been the district’s budget problems — and the union’s unwillingness to acknowledge them.
School board member Nick Melvoin, who supports Beutner, said it appears to him as though the union wanted to provoke a crisis to advance its larger political agenda. Now that it has, he said, he hoped serious negotiations could take place.
After more than 21 months of back-and-forth, there was still much to hammer out. On salary, the two sides are not that far apart: L.A. Unified is offering a 6% raise spread out over the first two years of a three-year deal; the union wants 6.5% all at once, dated back a year earlier.
At his afternoon news conference, Beutner announced that another union, which represents the building trades, settled for a 6% deal, as have nearly all other employee groups.
The district has sought to limit talks to a narrow range of topics. The union has laid out a more sweeping agenda, asking to give teachers more say in decision-making. The union also has demanded smaller class sizes and schools that are “fully staffed” with librarians, full-time nurses and more counselors.
The district has made revised offers that move in the direction of union demands, but officials have said they can’t afford to do more.
Garcetti, however, has suggested there were ways to break the deadlock quickly without breaking the bank.
After the rally, Caputo-Pearl shook hands and posed for photos with members.
In an interview, he said members were prepared to keep striking, but “we’re going to negotiate for as many hours as we can over this long weekend to get an agreement.”
Times staff writers Melody Gutierrez, Dakota Smith and Doug Smith contributed to this report.
