LA teacher strike enters 2nd week after marathon bargaining

A strike by thousands of Los Angeles school teachers entered its second week today following a long weekend of marathon contract bargaining, and officials on both sides of the dispute planned to issue an update on where the talks stand.

Mayor Eric Garcetti's office said in a statement that Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner and United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl would join him at City Hall to give reporters an update on the negotiations.

Garcetti's office said earlier that the most recent talks lasted 21 hours and ended shortly after 6 this morning.

Garcetti had said yesterday that he was "optimistic that we have the momentum to take those final steps toward bringing our teachers and young people back into their classrooms."

The mayor doesn’t have any authority over the school district but the latest round of negotiations began at his urging.

Teachers walked off the job and onto picket lines Jan. 14th for the first time in 30 years following 21 months of unsuccessful negotiations.

The union and school district are at odds over issues including salary, class size and the numbers of nurses, counselors and librarians.