LOS ANGELES (AP) - Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers went on strike Monday for the first time in three decades after contract negotiations failed in the nation's second-largest school district, but schools stayed open with the help of substitutes and district officials said students were learning.
Educators and parents wearing ponchos and rain boots created a sea of umbrellas as they packed streets to march from City Hall to district headquarters in the pouring rain, pressing for higher pay and smaller class sizes that the district says could bankrupt the school system with 640,000 students. The rain-slicked streets filled with protesters created havoc on downtown traffic.