Just last week, roughly 30,000 teachers ended their strike against LAUSD. Little attention was paid to another strike, the first of its kind, at charter schools.
The eight-day strike occurred at The Accelerated Schools, a three-school network in South Los Angeles. On Monday, teachers were back in the classroom after a tentative agreement was reached Sunday.
"It was exhausting," said teacher Sarah Hidalgo, "coming here every day and seeing the kids go inside upset, knowing that they're inside for eight days without me."
This is the first charter school strike in California history. Charter schools are public but are run independently. Most in Los Angeles aren't part of unions.
Hilda Rodriguez-Guzman is a grandmother who helped create The Accelerated Schools, which serves 1,700 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
"For a long time, we've had a high teacher turnover," she said, "high staff turnover and it has caused a lot of instability."
Guzman's young grandson Adrian walked the picket lines.
"If this wouldn't have stopped, then there would have been no teachers," he said.
Striking teachers at the school said they wanted more job protection.
"Without job security, it's hard to voice your concerns or advocate for your kids without possible retribution," said Kayla Kohn, a teacher at Accelerated Schools.
The tentative agreement would increase salaries and health benefits, and gives bonuses to teachers who stay. The deal will also create a new committee to hear teachers' concerns.
"We can really look at some opportunities for healing and creating trust where it wasn't there before," said Juli Quinn, Accelerated Schools Board President.
Tensions leading up to the strike had been building over roughly the last two years, as United Teachers Los Angeles negotiated with the school's board.
Parents say the healing begins now.
"This is huge," said Rodriguez-Guzman, "and I think this is now a very important step for charter schools. It's sort of like an awakening to say you know like, 'we're important too, our kids are important too.'"