I listened in angst to hear what my union’s response would be to the fact-finding panel’s report as it relates to the contract negotiations between LAUSD and UTLA. When I heard that we were moving to strike, I felt like a child caught between two parents in a bitter divorce. I have taught with LAUSD...

In the spring of 1970, I voted with other teachers to strike for teachers’ rights. At the time, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) was a newly formed organization. I was in my second year as a teacher and I believed wholeheartedly that being on strike was the right thing to do. I would later come...

Thousands of families across Los Angeles have just finished submitting applications for the schools they hope their children will attend next year. The decision of where to send your child to school is one of the most important decisions that a family makes. For many children in our city, the school that they attend will...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. With no hope of a settlement in sight in the contract dispute between LA Unified and United Teachers Los Angeles, attention has turned to the conduct of the expected teacher strike in January. The district distributed a “family resource guide” to parents to help them prepare for...

Steve Lopez’s series in the Los Angeles Times shines a light on two important issues that are far too easy for the public to ignore: The reality of poverty that too many California children experience and the absolute imperative that schools, teachers and principals have the resources they need to fully support children growing up...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Over the last few weeks, we have scrutinized how the California Teachers Association has funded the campaigns of school board candidates throughout the state, and how those campaigns did on Election Day. But candidates for public office are still one step removed from the union. Once elected,...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. While Election Day results for teacher unions across the country are best described as mixed, the California Teachers Association celebrated victories in virtually all of its targeted races. CTA’s unrelenting support of Tony Thurmond for Superintendent of Public Instruction was instrumental in putting him over the top....

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The contract dispute between LA Unified and United Teachers Los Angeles entered its final phase as the three-member fact-finding panel was finally seated last week. The panel now has 30 days to submit a non-binding report of its recommendations, after which the district may impose its final...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Last week, I expressed doubt that press outlets would revisit the assumptions made prior to the election about teacher candidates for office in the “uprising” states. I was wrong to be so pessimistic, as there were dozens of stories about how the results did not live up...

My husband and I consider ourselves to be bilingual and biliterate. My husband was born in Honduras and came to the U.S. when he was 8 years old, but still maintained his native language at home. While I was born in California, Spanish was my primary language at home and I was also an English...