Fourth Teacher Sickout at Capistrano Unified

With their students’ Stanford 9 tests completed, more than 50 teachers at Dana Hills High School in Dana Point did not show up for class Thursday, staging the fourth sickout in a week at Capistrano Unified School District campuses.

Teachers are frustrated by protracted contract negotiations with the district over salary and benefits. The sickouts, though not a sanctioned action by the teachers union, have disrupted classrooms, and several students have walked out or skipped classes.

“Today’s events are more telling than last week,” said Frank Weirath, president of the Capistrano Unified Education Assn. “The teachers are just really upset about how this bargaining process is going. It’s really hit their morale.”

About one-third of Dana Hills teachers called in sick or absent because of family necessity Thursday.

Last week, dozens were absent from three campuses.

The sickout prompted about 200 students to try to walk out of class at Aliso Niguel High in Aliso Viejo before Orange County sheriff’s deputies escorted them back.

The district’s latest offer is a 2% increase in the teachers’ salary schedule, half of what the union is demanding.

Letters were mailed to all 2,400 teachers in the district’s 49 schools, reminding them of the sick-leave policy, district spokesman David Smollar said.

Teachers also are restricted from striking until their contracts expire at the end of the school year, he said.

“This is the first time in about a decade ... we’ve had this kind of teachers’ sickout or protracted negotiations,” Smollar said.