In a bid to stop some Los Angeles Unified School District teachers from striking on January 10, LAUSD filed a legal application on Thursday to move forward with a complaint to prevent special-education teachers and support staff from leaving the classroom if a compromise is not met within the next week.

The legal application asks U.S. District Judge Ronald S. W. Lew to prevent any member of the United Teachers Los Angeles who provides services to special-needs students from going on strike with more than 33,000 other teachers and staff in the union.

“To protect more than 60,000 special-needs students, Los Angeles Unified is seeking approval to move forward with a complaint to prevent UTLA leadership and its members from engaging in a denial of services to special needs students during a strike,” General Counsel David Holmquist said in a statement from LAUSD. “A strike would be detrimental to students with disabilities and their families, depriving the students of the special-education support and services they rely on each day.” 

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The statement from LAUSD states that a strike would deprive special-needs students of the special-education support and services they rely on each day and says that in the event of a strike, special-needs student's health and safety would be in jeopardy.

"To ensure that these students do not lose access to the critical services they need for their health and safety, and so that Los Angeles Unified remains in compliance with the MCD, Los Angeles Unified is seeking permission to move forward with a complaint to prevent the denial of services to students with disabilities during a strike," the statement says.