School Employees

Seeking to cement her support among school employees, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dianne Feinstein pledged Wednesday to replace $462 million in education money slashed from the state budget by Gov. George Deukmejian. "When I'm governor, if this situation hasn't been rectified by then, I intend to sign legislation that will restore the education funding cut by Gov. Deukmejian," Feinstein told cheering supporters at a convention of the California School Employees Assn.

About 10,000 teaching assistants, 70% of whom are bilingual Latinas, won their bid for union representation on Monday when the Los Angeles Board of Education agreed to let them organize. The teaching assistants, who work three to six hours a day, five days a week, earn less money than a similar group, teaching aides. They also do not receive any benefits, such as sick pay, vacation or medical coverage.

The California Teachers Assn. announced a statewide bus tour to protest 18,000 layoff notices sent to school employees in March. Union officials will travel over six weeks to at least 10 schools around the state, starting today at Monroe Middle School in Inglewood and Simpson Middle School in Rialto, to raise opposition to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to cut $4.8 billion from education. Districts have until May 15 to notify teachers whether their layoffs will go through.

Five New York City school employees, including teachers and a food-service worker, are on medical leave because they have AIDS, and three others who worked in the system last year have died from the disease, Schools Chancellor Nathan Quinones disclosed. Three additional employees also may have AIDS, Quinones said. The system, the nation's largest, has 100,000 workers.

Suddenly, no one wants to claim hundreds of paychecks issued by the New Orleans public school system. The paychecks were being cashed regularly until a few weeks ago, when employees were required to provide identification to pick them up. Since then, checks made out to more than 300 names have not been picked up, and the names have not been verified as school employees.

Spanking and other forms of corporal punishment will be outlawed in California public schools under provisions of a bill signed today by Gov. George Deukmejian. Beginning Jan. 1, the law will bar teachers or other school employees from spanking youngsters even if the schools have written parental permission, as the current law allows. Private schools are exempt from the ban. Proponents of the spanking ban include the National Education Assn., the California Medical Assn.

A policy that would prohibit parent groups from directly hiring or paying school employees, such as band assistants and athletic coaches, is being considered by the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Trustees. The policy would address school-connected organizations, such as booster clubs, that raise money for athletic teams, school bands, dance and cheerleading teams and other extracurricular programs.

I was deeply offended by the article regarding bisexual men and how to "spot" them ["When 'Brokeback' Leads to Heartbreak," March 2]. I am an educator for the Los Angeles School District. One of my job responsibilities is to educate administrators, teachers, students and parents in regard to the rights of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) population. I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but in public schools across the country LGBT persons are the main target of bias, bullying and harassment.