4 VIE TO REPLACE HIGUCHI IN UTLA CHERRY, FLETCHER, PEREZ, ROBINSON TEACHERS UNION CANDIDATES; VOTING STARTS TODAY.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Staff Writer

Ballots will be distributed today to more than 44,000 teachers, counselors, child psychologists and school nurses in the Los Angeles Unified School District, who will elect a new teachers union president.

Day Higuchi, president of United Teachers Los Angeles for the past six years, is barred by term limits from seeking re-election a third time. He will give up his seat July 1.

Four candidates, who represent a full spectrum of political issues, have entered what promises to be one of the most contentious races in recent memory. This election year, the union is engaged in tense salary negotiations with the school district during a tight budget year after winning an 11 percent pay hike last year.

``You have people who are very militant who think every issue should be taken to the streets,'' Higuchi said. ``You have people who think we're co-partners in managing the school district and that our main focus should be educational. We have people in the middle.''

The four candidates include three current UTLA vice presidents and one teacher who serves as a UTLA chapter chair. They are:

--Mike Cherry, UTLA vice president, American Federation of Teachers.

--Warren Fletcher, a teacher at City of Angels School in Highland Park.

--John Perez, UTLA vice president, National Education Association.

--Becki Robinson, UTLA vice president, elementary division.

If elected, Cherry said, he would urge the union to do more to organize its members to rally for the programs and support they need to do their jobs.

``I firmly believe we need to work with the district to solve problems - but that will not happen unless that's done from a position of strength on our part,'' Cherry said.

``We need to sit at the table but I don't believe the district respects us right now. Everything is top-down,'' he said. ``We need to do something about salaries. If that means being more militant, that's what I'll do.''

In recent years, Fletcher said, the union has become too bureaucratic and ``too cozy'' with school district administrators.

``We stopped acting like a union and started acting like a personnel department,'' Fletcher said, adding that administrative expenditures have spiraled out of control. He supports hiring professional union negotiators to work out stronger contracts with the district.

``Every year we send them to market with the family cow and every year they come back with magic beans,'' Fletcher said.

Perez said he will boost training for chapter chairmen to help them better implement union contracts. He will push to improve professional development for teachers and wants to improve communication between union members at the schools and the elected leadership.

He also said the union should take a stronger stand against the growing number of administrative tasks and standardized tests that teachers must shoulder.

``The union has to make it known to the district and to the state that they are putting too many administrative burdens on the teachers, which is taking time away from their students,'' said Perez, who is endorsed by Higuchi.

Robinson said the union should be just as involved in negotiating issues of curriculum and instruction as in working for better wages, hours and working conditions for members.

``We're all here for one reason - for the academic achievement for the kids. And we can't forget that,'' she said, adding that the union must also stand its ground on traditional union issues.

``I believe in sitting down and talking about everything first before we decide there's no other alternative - and then go out with a two-by-four,'' she said.

Ballots will be mailed to union members today and will be counted March 1. The winning candidate must garner 50 percent of the vote plus one.

UTLA spokesman Steve Weingarten said the election will likely require a runoff between the top two candidates. If that's the case, a second round of ballots will go out March 20, with April 9 the deadline for returned ballots.

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4 photos

Photo:

(1) FLETCHER

(2) ROBINSON

(3) CHERRY

(4) PEREZ