back-pay as a result of Act 35 layoffs, while a third sought contractually required disaster pay, lost sick days, employer-paid health care premiums, and additional employer contributions to the union's health and welfare funds. When the union's collective bargaining agreement expired in June 2006, the OPSB declined to renegotiate the agreement. As of late December 2006, only 27,066 of New Orleans' pre-Katrina student population of 66,372 had returned. Only 54 schools were open, with 20 of these operated by OPSB, charter schools approved by OPSB or charter schools approved by the state board of education. The remaining 34 schools were operated by the RSD, and 74 schools remained closed. Post-Katrina collective bargaining As New Orleans and other nearby cities struggled to recover from Hurricane Katrina, UTNO sought to reinsert itself into policy- and decision-making in the OPSB, RSD, Algiers Charter School Association and other independent charter schools. With RSD facing a shortage of 500 teachers in the 2007-2008 school year, UTNO pledged to help recruit teachers. UTNO tied its cooperation, however, to increased job security for teachers. In April 2007, UTNO attempted to re-establish a collective bargaining relationship with the Orleans Parish School Board. Although the union represented 170 of the parish's approximately 245 teachers and other employers, the school board declined to open negotiations, citing the continuing lawsuits against the school board. The union also undertook a number of initiatives in 2007 to rebuild its influence. When a charter school board suspended its director, principal and four others after parents and teachers accused them of inflicting unduly harsh corporal punishment on students and summarily firing teachers, UTNO argued that the incident was a prime example of why a collective bargaining agreement with due process and grievance provisions was necessarily. The union also began staging small, regular demonstrations throughout the city to protest the lack of a contract and publicize problems in the various public and private schools. The union also began pushing for re-unification of the various schools and districts under one management structure, which the union claimed would help stabilize the district and provide more uniform administrative and teaching policies. It would also help rebuild union membership more quickly if collective bargaining resumed. The union's actions appeared to pay off. OPSB Superintendent Paul Vallas made public appearances with UTNO President Brenda Mitchell, and asked for the union to partner with the district in improving education. Mitchell offered a