LAUSD UTLA strike

[toastykitten]

First post, hope I'm doing this right. I am a LAUSD parent. There are several actions that can be done to support Los Angeles teachers, who are currently on strike:

• Encourage anybody with kids in LAUSD to keep them home until the strike is over. This is as much a safety issue as it is an educational or political one - LAUSD has waived and/or loosened fingerprinting/background requirements for parent volunteers/staff/scabs who are being hired to look after the kids. They're not learning anything, and are most likely watching random movies instead of being taught lessons. If they are in middle/high school, then they are signing in and then ditching immediately after. 
• If you have the time, pick a school and join the teachers/parents picketing in front of their schools. They picket at the beginning of school - from 7 AM - 9 AM and after from around 2 PM - 3 PM. You can donate food/coffee/hand warmers. I would not recommend donating to the various gofundmes unless you personally know them.
• Contact the LAUSD school board and demand a fair contract for the teachers that 1. lowers the student:teacher ratio, 2. doesn't make a raise contingent on stealing from their pensions and that of newer hires, 3. gives schools the adequate staffing - nurses, psychs, librarians, that they need. Contacts are listed here. Please thank George McKenna and Scott Schmerelson, the only ones who voted against Austin Beutner being appointed superintendent, and who have spoken out in support of the teachers.
• If you have any foreign language skills to speak of, reach out to the local foreign language media, because they don't know what's going on. Telemundo gave out inaccurate information, and so did local Chinese media, leading to a lot of confusion about why teachers are striking, and concerns that students would be punished for their non-attendance during the strike.
• Beware of which media you consume regarding the strike - LASchoolReport is run by a bunch of pro-charter people, and local pro-charter billionaire Eli Broad is one of the supporters, along with every other pro-charter billionaire in this business.
• UTLA has endorsed Jackie Goldberg for the empty district 5 school board seat, which was vacated by Ref Rodriguez, a pro-charter felon who was convicted of money laundering. Funny, that. Anyway, the election is on March 5.