Fed up with the threat of a strike, school closures have frustrated parents scrambling

For one group of mothers, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s threatened strike that will close campuses next week is raising fears.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” one woman said in Spanish Wednesday afternoon, crying.

He is a street vendor from East Hollywood who can’t find anything in this expensive city. She is a single mother of a 14 and 17 year old. And he is an undocumented immigrant.

Her children rely on school meals. But he may not go to the food distribution centers organized by the districts because he is afraid that the immigrants will head to the areas.

“I pray to God that the school district and the teachers reach an agreement so that the strike does not happen,” said one mother, who also works as a street vendor in East Hollywood. “We have no say or vote in this decision, and the children are the ones who are most affected.”

LAUSD’s historic walkout — which would for the first time involve the three major unions representing teachers, most non-teaching staff and school administrators, including principals — is expected to begin Tuesday if the unions do not reach agreements.

The families of more than 390,000 students in this region are struggling with the hope of a way of life thrown into the days of uncertainty. They are in a hurry to find a kindergarten, they are worried about food, they are worried about their ability to work.

On Thursday, the district said on its website that it continues to meet with union leaders and is “committed to reaching agreements.” They have included lists of food distribution centers and community-based “child care” centers that can accommodate a limited number of children.

As both sides prepare for a possible strike, many parents are expressing strong support for the union’s goals of providing better wages for teachers, administrators and school staff.

On Thursday, a coalition of pro-union parent groups gathered outside LAUSD headquarters to voice their concerns, with many expressing dismay at facing a third strike while their children are in school.

“Unfortunately, this is my third rodeo,” said Carmel Levitan, who has two children at Eagle Rock Elementary and High School. He said the budget cuts have left schools “without hard working people and the priorities of the districts have been misplaced.”

Levitan, an Occidental College professor, joined others from Parents Supporting Teachers, a Facebook group with 30,000 members. He has a flexible job and an older child who can watch his youngest, so he plans to join the picket line.

In conversations across the fledgling state this week, parents of all backgrounds are worried about another major disruption to their children’s education — and are calling on all parties to calm down and keep campuses open.

Some parents are stunned

At Parmelee Avenue Elementary and Dual Language School in South Los Angeles, many working parents said Wednesday they had no idea a strike was planned.

“Oh, s—!” said Jay Barnett, 36, a mother of four LAUSD students when she was told about the possible strike by a Times reporter as she walked her daughter to class. He said district communication has been minimal so far — “no phone, no text, no email” — and he’s worried about missing work at Sweetgreen, the fast-casual restaurant where he makes salads.

In San Fernando Valley, Caden Chernoff, a mother of two LAUSD students, said the timing couldn’t be worse. Friday is the deadline for parents — many who weigh public education versus private education — to accept or decline offers through the district’s enrollment lottery system for its attractive schools and other programs.

Third grader Ethan Antonio, 8, gets a hug from his father, Mauricio Antonio, as he is dropped off at Parmelee Avenue Elementary and Dual Language School in South Los Angeles.

(Gary Coronado/The Times)

“The district is making itself look bad for parents who are thinking about where they will send their children to school next year,” said Chernoff, who is an expert advisor to parents who are doing road tests. “They have options.”

Noting that the strike will come as Supt. Alberto Carvalho is on paid administrative leave following FBI raids on his San Pedro home and downtown LA office, Chernoff said, and it sounds like “the wheels are falling off the bus.”

Jen Saxton, whose daughter attends daycare in Sherman Oaks, said in an email at the time of the strike, “she will have to start spending over $120 a day to send my child to camp since my husband and I work full time.” There will be an additional daily fee, he said, to cover the extra hours of childcare after the camp program ends.

“It would be nice if LAUSD could at least provide low-cost child care during the strike, even if it’s not the teachers and the school,” said Saxton, whose daughter attends the district’s free after-school program.

Saxton posted an email sent by Sherman Oaks School of Dance and Theater on Wednesday advertising a one-day, Disney-inspired camp on April 14, “in anticipation of the LAUSD teacher strike.”

“Save your place now!” the email said, adding: “Check out our 2026 Summer Camps while you’re at it!”

Parents complain a lot about school disruption

The strike comes after years of disruption at the nation’s second largest school, where more than 86% of students are on low income.

Teachers are on strike for six days in 2019. Campuses were closed to in-person instruction for more than a year during the COVID-19 pandemic – damaging students’ academic progress and mental health. In 2023, classrooms were closed for three days because of a strike by the district’s low-wage workers — bus drivers, custodians, special education aides and cafeteria workers — who were supported by a teacher walkout.

Schools were closed during the deadly fires in Eaton and Palisades last January. And this year, immigrant families within LAUSD, whose student body is more than 70% Latino, have been gripped by fears that immigration agents will target campuses. Many students had family members and friends arrested or deported.

The timing of the strike “makes me wonder where the compassion is” from both district and union leaders, said Evelyn Aleman, founder of the nonprofit Our Voice: Communities for Quality Education, which represents low-income Latino and indigenous families.

“We don’t want a strike. We can’t face a strike,” he said.

On March 18, UTLA teachers and supporters attended a large union meeting in Grand Park as the April 14 strike was announced.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Aleman scheduled a Zoom interview Wednesday with two Times reporters and five mothers whose children attend LAUSD schools. These women, all living in the country without legal documents, including street vendors in East Hollywood. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of their immigration status.

They empathize with teachers and support staff who want better wages. But they didn’t want their children to become collateral in the workers’ struggle.

Others had children with special needs who received extra help at school, and worried about falling behind. And they were worried about losing their income while they stayed home from work to take care of their children.

“We think about what will happen to our children, the economy, the ICE raids. We always think: What are we going to do?” said one of the mothers, a woman from Oaxaca, Mexico, who sells bath products and vitamins as a street vendor.

Parents of students with special needs are concerned

Outside Parmelee Avenue Elementary in the Florence-Firestone area Wednesday morning, a woman with three foster children said the boys, two of whom are autistic, were new to school and getting used to the new routine. He didn’t know there was a strike.

“Muy mal,” he said in Spanish. It’s too bad.

At the front gate, Lorena Valencia said the school’s cuts are visible, with fewer teachers and aides for children with special needs. During the strike, she said she would carefully explain to her daughter – a 7-year-old with long, braided hair and a swinging Labubu toy in a red backpack – what the teachers wanted.

Shantal Ray, the mother of an 8-year-old child, said she supports this threat.

Daisy Rodriguez, left, and Shantal Ray, speak in front of the school after dropping off their children at Parmelee Avenue Elementary and Dual Language School in South Los Angeles.

(Gary Coronado/The Times)

“They do a lot for the children, and they are not appreciated,” she said. “Teachers are sick and tired of it.”

Roger Medina, 34, is concerned about family plans and did not know the day of the threatened strike was on Tuesday. His family has a serious schedule. She works at Vons, with a different schedule she schedules two weeks ahead of time — and leaves her 12-year-old daughter every morning. His wife, who cleans hospitals, starts work before leaving and takes the school bus in the afternoon.

He doesn’t know what he will do to take care of the children, he said with a sigh.

Her daughter started first grade at Zoom during the violence – a time so frightening that she, as a masked, important cafeteria worker – could not miss work.

Medina does not want her daughter’s education to be interrupted again.

“You worry about what they miss,” he said. “It’s important.”

Coronado is a special reporter. Times staff writers Jaweed Kaleem and Howard Blume contributed to this report.