They Don't Care About the Children

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

With no talks scheduled and frustration growing between striking Hayward teachers and school district officials, it appears that students returning from spring break Monday will again have to cross a picket line to get to class.

And those who do will again encounter a sparse group of substitutes who have been handing out magazine articles for students to read, and having them watch documentaries.

"It sucks, for the most part," said Garrett Radcliffe, 17, a senior at Hayward High who wants to send a straight-A spring transcript to San Jose State University, and to play the last season of baseball with his school team.

In particular, he wants to ace economics.

"I need that," said Garrett, who was one of only a few dozen students to show up for school when the strike began two days before vacation, on April 5. "If I don't pass economics, an F on that transcript won't go over too well."

Last time Garrett was at school, there was no economics class. "They handed us a worksheet on Martin Luther King," he said.

The labor dispute is about salaries for about 1,300 members of the Hayward Education Association -- mainly teachers, but also counselors, nurses, and other certificated employees of the Hayward Unified School district.

Government teachers aren't altruistic.