4-A Baseball Coaches to Skip Games : They Vote to Boycott Season Until Teachers’ Strike Ends

Coaches of 15 Los Angeles City Section high schools, whose baseball teams have qualified for the 4-A Division playoffs, voted Monday to boycott the high school season until the teachers’ strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District ends.

The 4-A coaches’ move comes despite a recommendation last week by the Los Angeles City Coaches Assn. that would allow coaches to honor picket lines and direct their teams after school. Coaches of the 3-A baseball teams and other spring sports such as golf, softball, track, swimming and volleyball have indicated they will make their decisions individually.

All of which leaves the fate of today’s 4-A baseball games unclear. Some teams already have turned in uniforms. Still, school district officials aren’t saying who will direct teams in the absence of coaches. District rules say that the school official running the team must have a teaching credential.

The state education code says that every team must be coached by a credentialed employee who carries a certificate in first aid and CPR. But City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness said the district will waive that requirement.

Teachers walked out Monday in a dispute over wages and other issues, marking the first strike since 1970 for the country’s second-largest school district.

The district issued a directive last week that would allow coaches to continue to supervise their teams even if they participate in the strike. The 4-A coaches have since proposed that they would suspend practices until after the strike and then hope to pick up the season if the strike ends before the traditional school year does. Harkness, however, rejected that idea and said that if no teams participate when the playoff dates arrive, the season will be canceled.

“We’re not going to extend the season,” Harkness said. “Why should this whole system make an accommodation for one group of people to satisfy their needs?”

The 4-A baseball coaches announced their decision after a one-hour meeting at an Encino coffee shop that drew 30 coaches from 20 schools plus a representative from United Teachers-Los Angeles.

If the strike were to continue, the boycott by the coaches would involve today’s final regular-season games, Friday’s wild-card games and the rest of the playoffs that continue until May 24.

Bob Lofrano, the Chatsworth coach who acted as a spokesman for the baseball coaches, expressed little surprise at the district’s position.

“We realize this could mean the end of the baseball season, but people have to make sacrifices,” he said. “I was sure we weren’t going to get any cooperation. Are they saying we don’t have time left? That doesn’t make sense.”

The school year ends June 23.

Bob Grakal, coach of Marshall, a 3-A school, backs the decision by the 4-A coaches. However, his position is one in which many coaches find themselves.

“I am between a rock and a hard place,” said Grakal, whose team is scheduled to play Belmont today. “The school’s administration has already decided to send the team to play regardless of my position. We could possibly lose the (Northwest) league title on a technicality if we lose and Lincoln (the second-place team) wins despite us having defeated them last Thursday.

“I need to have all of the coaches in the league in agreement in order to have the games canceled, but that is hard because not all of the coaches have gone on strike. Some coaches . . . just want to win the league title at any cost.”

Paul Knox, who is president of the coaches association and also coaches the Dorsey football and girls’ track teams, said he will honor picket lines this week and also coach his athletes in Thursday’s City track semifinals.

“I am in support of the strike,” he said. “But, I still have a responsibility to the kids. There are various views on the situation, but it all depends upon the individual.”

UTLA representatives have endorsed the baseball coaches’ position.

“The UTLA had hoped that all of the coaches would stick together with the teachers in the union and remain in solidarity,” UTLA spokesman Don Schrack said. “We hoped that their loyalties they have to students would be the same with the scholar-athletes.”