With Strike Over, Students Return to Their Work Too

With the six-day Orange Unified School District teacher strike over, things at El Modena High School were back to normal Monday, students and teachers said.

Most of the 1,800 students had cut classes last week to picket with the teachers. On the first day of the strike, several students climbed over a chain-link fence into the street after the gates leading to the campus were secured.

David Kushner, a 17-year-old junior, said he walked the picket line every day. He said he believes that the teachers should have stayed out until they got everything they wanted in the contract.

“I feel that teachers are always biting the bullet, getting the bottom line,” Kushner said. “But it was time to get back to learning. We’ve got finals coming up, and we needed to get back to class.”

Tony Lucero, a 15-year-old sophomore, said he and about 100 other students marched with teachers in front of the school district’s administration building Friday, but he had mixed feelings about their return to class Monday.

“It’s fun when the teachers aren’t there, but I sympathize with them. They deserve a lot more than they are getting. It’s tough being a teacher,” he said.

Eleventh-grader Lan Nguyen, 16, said many students stayed home from class last week because they felt they would be wasting time with a substitute teacher. Some students who went to class said they listened to radios, played puzzles or slept.

2 Students in Class

“It’s kind of dumb to come because you don’t do anything in class when you have a substitute teacher. In some of my classes there were only two students, including myself,” she said.

Virginia Brady, who teaches English as a second language (ESL), said she believes that the contract is fair and that most of the teachers seem to be relieved the strike is over.

“It’s the pits when you’re in the middle of that kind of situation,” Brady said. “Everybody in our school is working hard to make the transition easier. This is a very unified staff, and we want to make sure the students don’t lose any more time.”

Joan Young, a language arts teacher, said she was pleasantly surprised by the strong support from students and parents. She said their interest helped to reaffirm that the strike was worthwhile.

“It was particularly interesting to me because I just got back from the Philippines, and in the Far East, if you are a teacher, you are put on a pedestal. You kind of lose sight of that here,” she said.

Cecelia Dick, another ESL teacher, said she was one of about 15 teachers at the school who did not strike. She said she was pleased Monday when all of the teachers met during the morning recess to discuss the settlement.

“I didn’t strike because I am new to the district and the ESL program is funded by the state. So my loyalty was with the program and the kids. Many of the Hispanic and Asian students (in the ESL program) didn’t stay home. They came to school,” she said.

“I’m glad it’s all over now, because I hate strikes. Overall, no matter what happens, in the long run, nobody wins.”