LOS ANGELES _ The Los Angeles teachers union announced Wednesday night that is ready to go back to the bargaining table.
Union leaders said they had yet to hear from the Los Angeles Unified School District but they were ready to start talking Thursday _ on the fourth day of their strike _ and to take up Mayor Eric Garcetti's offer to mediate.
"We have offered to go back to the bargaining table with the district tomorrow and are waiting for their response," United Teachers Los Angeles secretary Arlene Inouye said in a news conference just after 7:30 p.m.
UTLA president Caputo-Pearl called on students, teachers and parents to remain on the picket line, and especially to show up for a rally in Grand Park on Friday to send the bargaining team into what could be a full weekend of negotiations leading up to Martin Luther King Day.
"We want to send them off powerfully, with a huge action on Friday," Caputo-Pearl said of the bargaining committee.
As of 8:10 p.m., Los Angeles Unified School District officials had not responded publicly to the offer to return to bargaining.
The announcement came after a third day of picketing in the rain. On Thursday morning, tensions remained high between the union and district officials as the first Los Angeles teachers' strike in 30 years continued.
In a morning news conference, Caputo-Pearl accused Superintendent Austin Beutner of sending mixed messages about whether students who missed school during the strike would be punished.
"He is trying to create chaos and confusion and fear," he said.
Student attendance on Wednesday, meanwhile, dipped to its lowest total yet.
The preliminary count, which includes nearly all schools, was 132,411, about 27 percent of district enrollment. This figure compares with Tuesday's adjusted total of about 35 percent, which was a slight improvement over Monday, the first day of the strike.
In all, the district says it has lost $69.1 million in state funding based on attendance. Subtract the $10 million a day in wages it hasn't had to pay its striking workforce _ and that's a net loss of $39.1 million.
That news was not the only discouraging development for Beutner. The head of the administrators union, Juan Flecha, floated the idea of closing campuses because of "dire and unsafe working conditions."
And the school board's thinly united front cracked open when board member Scott Schmerelson issued a statement that essentially sided with striking teachers: "Instead of repeating the 'doom, gloom and heading for bankruptcy' predictions that we have heard for decades, I believe that it is Mr. Beutner's job to honestly identify sources of funding buried in our existing budget, and the revenue growth predicted for next year, that could be creatively sourced and invested in the students who need smaller classes and adequate support services now."
Beutner's view of the district's financial limits has been supported by the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which reviews the budgets of county school systems.
On Wednesday evening, activists targeted the only board member who has made public appearances with Beutner this week _ board president Monica Garcia.
About 100 parents, students and educators, led by the advocacy group Reclaim Our Schools L.A., swarmed the street of Garcia's home in Montecito Heights around 5:30 and demanded she meet with them and hear their concerns. A half dozen police officers watched as five protesters walked up Garcia's steps and knocked on her door. They waited for 10 minutes before police asked them to leave, then held a news conference on the sidewalk.
"We came to address her _ she sent the police to deal with us," Cesar Castrejon, an activist with Reclaim Our Schools L.A., said on the sidewalk. Some in crowd jeered; some yelled, "Monica, come out!"
Anne Orchier, an organizer with Nolympics LA and a Los Angeles tenants union, said the stalemate between district and union officials required they deliver teachers and parents _ the people directly affected by whatever deal is reached _ to the doorsteps of the dealmakers themselves. "It's time to confront the individual actors directly," she said. "Otherwise, you set up a meeting, they send a handler and nothing gets done."
Negotiations broke off late Friday following more than 20 months of bargaining. The two sides have been unable to come to a resolution to educators' demands for better pay, more support staff and smaller classes. District officials have said they don't have the money to cover everything teachers are asking for, while union leaders have accused the district of "hoarding" funds.
Each side has repeatedly blamed the other for the impasse.
Caputo-Pearl said Wednesday night that the union and district leadership had spoken to Garcetti and state Superintendent of Education Tony Thurmond, who just took office. Garcetti had said during a news conference earlier in the day that he hoped formal talks between the union and the district would resume Thursday.
"I urge both sides to keep working around the clock," Garcetti said.
Meanwhile, as the strike continues, LAUSD is losing millions of dollars each day because a lot of students are not coming to school and state funding is tied to attendance. The district reported that 143,993 students _ about a third of the district's total enrollment _ attended class Monday, resulting in a net loss of $15 million after subtracting the unpaid wages of strikers. Attendance ticked up slightly on Tuesday, the district said, with about 20,000 more students on campuses.
Given the amount of money the district is losing for every day of the strike, there could be pressure on the union to settle soon if it wants to achieve any of its big-ticket goals.
Striking in the rain, meanwhile, hasn't been the easiest on teachers. On Wednesday morning, an English teacher at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood was hit by a car while picketing outside the school. The extent of his injuries was not immediately clear.
Banning High School English teacher Lucia Rodriguez, who has been out each day before sunrise, said she was beginning to feel the strain as the strike stretched into another day.
Rodriguez, 46, stood by the gate outside the Wilmington school on Wednesday, holding an umbrella and wearing a poncho covered by a sandwich board listing the union's demands. She had covered her posters and sealed them with tape to try to protect them, but red ink was running off the edges.
"After the first day, it was so hard to get up," she said.
Her lower back hurt and the joints in her legs felt sore, but she continued to come out, she said, to try to get her students what they need _ smaller classes and district funding for extra support staff. Rodriguez said she was concerned that the two sides still aren't talking.
"I need them to get to the table," she said, adding that she'd be willing to compromise on salary, but not on her core issues.
Union members gathered outside the school district's various regional offices on Wednesday.
The mood outside the office in Gardena was more celebratory than the downtown marches of the last two days. By 11 a.m. at least 1,000 people filled the parking lot in front of the office.
Julie Hidalgo, who teaches kindergarten at Chapman Elementary, said the rally was "like coming to a Thanksgiving dinner," giving teachers who haven't seen each other the opportunity to catch up and offer support.
"We're energizing each other," she said.
The strike has put parents and students in a challenging spot, forcing them to decide whether students should go to school, stay home or join their teachers on the picket lines.
Angel Solorio, 18, went to school Monday and Tuesday at Banning High, afraid that absences would be held against him. He spent those days watching movies in the auditorium with hundreds of other teens. They watched "Green Book," "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Selma," then were given worksheets to fill out, summarizing the plots. Solorio said he refused to do so, "in protest."
On Wednesday, he decided to up the ante on his protest and join his teachers on the picket line with his marching band drum. He stood on the corner with more than 100 picketers and led chants of "UTLA" to the beat.
Solorio said his statistics class has more than 50 students, which can make group discussions challenging.
"I agree with what the teachers are doing," he said.
