Burbank Teachers Strike Over Assault Case

Teachers at John Burroughs High School in Burbank staged a one-day wildcat strike Friday to protest the Board of Education’s decision not to expel a 15-year-old student accused of hitting a teacher and threatening to kill him and another instructor.

Nearly all of the school’s 60 teachers participated in the walkout and then marched outside the Clark Avenue campus, administrators said. Some teachers carried placards saying, “Our Board Needs an Education” and “Go On . . . Hit Me!. They Won’t Do Anything.”

“It’s a crime that we have to be out here to force our school board to protect us,” history teacher Tom Marshall said. “For the school board to desert us like this when a teacher puts his body on the line to protect students and a kid threatens him, that is truly outrageous.”

Board members declined to comment, saying the alleged incident is a confidential matter.

However, Burbank Unified School District Supt. Arthur N. Pierce said Friday’s action by teachers would have no influence on the board. “The board’s decision has to be independent of all this,” Pierce said. “It’s the same as any courtroom proceeding. Once you’ve made the decision, you don’t have second thoughts and reconsider the matter.

“I share their concerns for their safety and the safety of all persons,” Pierce added. “But the broader issue is that the teachers and the board and the administration need to be working together” to improve school security.

Friday’s walkout came against a backdrop of growing violence against teachers. Earlier this year, a student stabbed and seriously wounded a teacher in Sylmar. And, last spring in La Crescenta, a teacher wrested a .357 Magnum revolver away from a student who was threatening him in the classroom.

Burroughs Principal Tim Buchanan said the school remained open Friday even though many of the school’s 1,100 students had left. He said those who stayed on campus were asked to go to the gym, where substitute teachers took over.

Officials of the Burbank Teachers’ Assn., which represents Burroughs’ instructors, advised them to remain in class Friday and declined comment on the issue of campus security.

Police said Friday’s walkout was prompted by an incident Sept. 27 in which teachers David Hermans and George Rosales tried to break up a hallway fistfight between two alleged rival gang members. Another student looking on allegedly struck Rosales in the shoulder, police said.

Rosales was not injured, but he and Hermans told police that the same student threatened to kill them.

The three youths, who were not armed, were arrested and later released to their parents, said Sgt. Don Goldberg of the Burbank Police Department. It was not known whether the student accused of hitting Rosales is a gang member, Goldberg said.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Goldberg said. “I’m looking at the side of the teachers, and I can understand why they may be upset. When a 15-year-old kid strikes a teacher, something’s wrong.”

Despite Buchanan’s recommendation to expel the student who allegedly hit Rosales, the school board decided Tuesday not to take any action after a closed hearing that lasted nearly five hours. Rosales, Hermans, the student and his parents were all at the board hearing.

Jerry Quell, faculty president at Burroughs, said teachers planned to present Supt. Pierce with recommendations on how to improve school security, including having uniformed security officers on campus and giving teachers beepers to summon help.

Sgt. Goldberg said there has been an increase in gang-related incidents reported in Burbank schools in recent years, but added that he did not believe that they pose a serious threat to campus security.

Quell said the teachers intend to return to school Monday.

“We hope we made our point. We’re not trying to shut down the school,” Quell said. “This was an informational strike, a one-day strike. It’s their move now.”

Quell said that if the board takes no action, teachers will consider launching a drive to recall the five board members.

Burroughs students, meanwhile, expressed differing views on the extent of campus violence.

“It’s not like people come up to you and beat you up or anything,” senior Lani Ortiz said. “It’s not that bad, but they got to get hold of the problem before it gets out of hand.”

But sophomore Monique Prather disagreed. “We do have a gang problem here, a serious problem,” she said. “I support the teachers.”