Photo: San Pedro High School teacher Maya Suzuki Daniels testifies at the school board realities of being a working parent in LAUSD.

A support group within UTLA for working mothers scored a win at the LAUSD School Board this week, when board members unanimously approved a resolution to support employees who are parents.   

The resolution calls on the district to come up with a plan by November to address issues such as family planning, pregnancy and parental leave, and childcare. In the meantime, the district is directed to work on providing adequate lactation spaces, finding liaisons to support parent employees, and identifying affordable childcare providers.   

UTLA members testified to the board and spoke to the media about the realities of being a working parent in LAUSD.   

“After the birth of my first daughter, I returned to the classroom happily, excited. I nursed my baby, and during my unpaid lunch break, that was fine, until it wasn’t,” said McAlister High School teacher Tanya Reyes. “After the disagreement with my administrator, I was told my daughter was a liability. My pay was docked. Not once. Not twice — but three times.”   

On a related front, in current bargaining, UTLA is pressing a bargaining proposal that would delete language limiting the use of Personal Necessity Leave and instead allow it to be used “as needed.” This would give educators access to accrued time without needing to prove a reason or jump through hoops at the principal’s whim.  

The work on the local level connects with a statewide push for pregnancy leave for educators. Under current California law, educators are not eligible for state disability, which means they must use accumulated sick leave to stay in paid status while off work or try to align their pregnancy with a summer delivery. 

“It seems crazy to time a reproductive choice around your work schedule,” San Pedro High School teacher Maya Suzuki Daniels told the LA Times. Suzuki Daniels gave birth to her son in July and had to go back to work just two weeks after school began because she couldn’t afford to take the time off.  

Assembly Bill 65, the Pregnancy Leave for Educators Act, would grant public school employees up to 14 weeks of leave with full pay when an employee is pregnant or experiences pregnancy-related health issues. This important legislation is long overdue, CTA Secretary-Treasurer and UTLA member Erika Jones writes in a new op-ed. 

“I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had in the teachers’ lounge with female teachers still recovering from childbirth — or a miscarriage — who are forced back to work,” Jones says. “Or mothers who are sick and should be home but are working because they don’t have enough leave to fall back on. The bill would bring California into alignment with a worldwide, fundamental standard for reproductive rights.”