LA teachers on strike disrupting studies of 600,000 students

About 600,000 students in Los Angeles are not sure when they will be able to see their teachers again as more than 32,000 teaching and non-teaching staff have kicked off strike, first of the kind in about 30 years, demanding bigger salaries and smaller class sizes.

The strike has come following negotiations between United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union and Los Angeles United School District (LAUSD).

Los Angeles is the second biggest school district in the country.

Even though the teachers are on strike, but the students need to attend the school as classes will continue with the help of more than 2,000 reassigned administrators and 400 substitute teachers.

Meanwhile, latest offer of LAUSD for the union is to add about 1,200 more educators in schools and reduce class size in thousands of classrooms.

The school district said grades four, five and six to have maximum of 35 students while the number will be 39 in all middle and high school math and English classes.

LAUSD said there will be 6 percent salary increase and “back pay for the 2017-2018 school year.”

However, the parents are puzzles whether to send their kids to school amid the strike. They are mostly concerned whether about 2,000 substitutes can replace 32,000 missing educators.

Some of the parents said to be keeping their kids at home even knowing the school will not excuse absences due to strike.

One father said, “There’s not instruction happening. Why the hell would I send my kids to daycare with hundreds and hundreds of kids…”