School Employees

More than 2,000 UCLA employees, including researchers, custodians, nurses and secretaries, gathered at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday to protest plans for pay cuts and furloughs proposed by the University of California. Because of the state budget crisis, UC leaders are considering three proposals to reduce payroll spending by about $195 million in the next school year.

Most University of California professors and staff would have to take between 11 and 26 unpaid furlough days a year, cutting their pay by 4% to 10% under a revised budget proposal announced Friday by UC President Mark Yudof. The UC Board of Regents is expected to approve the emergency plan next week in response to deep reductions in anticipated state funding.

Diahanne McKinley stepped off the scale and shook her head in disbelief. She tried again, this time removing a head wrap -- every ounce counts, she said. But again, the number was not good. So she shifted her weight from side to side and stepped on the scale one more time, observing the digital numbers aglow below her. "I'm not happy," said the 53-year-old, fanning her eyes to stop the tears. "I'm working out four to five times a day -- morning, noon and night. I only lost one pound."

Nearly 16,000 city school district employees -- including thousands of teachers -- may be told next month that they are in danger of losing their jobs because of budget problems, officials said Thursday. The potential cuts include 10,000 teachers, nurses and other certificated employees and 6,000 administrators. The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing a nearly $900-million budget shortfall over the next 18 months because of the state's fiscal crisis. Teachers must be notified by March 15 if they could get laid off, and final notifications would be issued late in the summer.

Jean Williams, a library technician at the Orange campus of Rancho Santiago College, has been named Classified Employee of the Year for her efforts to make parking lots safer. Williams, who joined the Rancho Santiago Community College District 17 years ago, led a campaign to install call boxes, increase security patrols and provide officer escorts for students and staff.

In his Cal State Fullerton workshop of three decades, Fred Wantz is fond these days of handing guests a quarter and pointing to a birdhouse-sized wooden box. "Go ahead," says the 62-year-old university carpenter and former Boy Scout leader. "Drop it in. It's for my retirement fund." The quarter falls into a makeshift coin slot and triggers a mousetrap inside, causing the miniature edifice to collapse. "Well, I guess I won't be getting much for my going-away party," he says with a wry smile.

Lula Cobb, a 28-year employee of Orange Coast College's cafeteria, has been chosen as the school's Classified Staff Member of the Year. Cobb, the senior member of the cafeteria's staff, was selected from eight nominees in the sixth annual competition. She has worked the cash register since she was hired by the college in 1968 and also fills in behind the counter and occasionally in the kitchen.

The Fillmore Unified School District's 385 employees will receive pay increases of about 2% this fiscal year. The school board approved the salary hikes at its meeting Tuesday. The district's 170 teachers get a 2.3% wage increase, which will cost about $170,000 more a year, officials said. Administrators and other personnel will see a 2% increase at an additional cost of about $56,000 annually. The increases are retroactive to July 1, 1995.

One of the "employees" in the custodial department was a dead man. Another was a prison inmate, according to auditors. And the Inglewood Unified School District paid them on time, every month. The district wrote checks to a total of 51 phantom janitors in the scam allegedly masterminded by a custodian supervisor.

Nonteaching employees in the Inglewood Unified School District are contesting a school board decision to give teachers a raise that is twice the amount approved for support staff. The district plans to give teachers a 6% raise next year while increasing the salaries of classified employees by 3%. Funds for the pay hike will come from the multimillion-dollar package allocated by Gov. Pete Wilson to reduce classes to 20 students.