Local News in Brief : Burbank Teachers Cancel Their Boycott

Burbank teachers on Thursday called off their planned boycott of open houses at their schools this month after school district officials threatened them with suspension.

Liz Burroughs, assistant superintendent of personnel relations for the district, said in a letter to Burbank Teacher Assn. President Maureen Doyle that teachers are required by contract to be in their classrooms on open-house nights.

Any teacher boycott of open houses would be considered “a refusal to work,” and could be punished by a 15-day suspension, the letter said.

In an interview Thursday, district Supt. Wayne Boulding said, “It did not seem appropriate for the teachers to unilaterally change the terms of the agreement.”

The boycott was planned to protest the nine-month stalemate in contract negotiations between teachers and the school district.

Teachers were planning to gather outside their schools, hand out leaflets and talk to parents about their frustration over the lack of an agreement with the district on salaries and the use of lottery funds to pay them.

“We want the crisis resolved, and we decided that continuing with the boycott would add another crisis, which would confuse the issue,” Doyle said.

Open houses are scheduled for Monday at elementary schools, Wednesday at junior high schools and April 30 at high schools.