Akimi Sujishi-Watson is preparing to grade her fifth graders' projects as she gets ready to return to school from holiday break.

“Last year I had 29, and it was like a vacation, 29 students was like a vacation who would’ve thought,” said Sujishi-Watson.

She’s talking about class size, which is one of the reason why she and more than 30,000 other teachers across Los Angeles are prepared to strike on January 10 amidst heightened tensions in contract negotiations.

Akimi has been teaching at Canyon Charter Elementary, a conversion affiliated charter school, for 15 years.

But she has concerns about the current pro-charter majority school board and superintendent who seek  to privatize the district by moving toward a “portfolio” model, and dividing the school system into 32 networks that are run separately.

“You reinvest in your schools you don’t re-imagine them, you know and break them apart into a lot of different strategies," she said.

But some feel the strategy works and they want choices when it comes to their children’s education.

“I care about what school is best for my child to go to where she’s going to get a good free education, because as a single parent that’s our only option and that’s a right," said Roxann Nazario, a parent and education advocate.

Nazario has become very engaged and involved in the charter movement and says schools in her area of Sylmar have been struggling for generations.

Instead of seeing the teachers strike, she would like to see both sides get together and head to Sacramento to demand more funding

She feels charter advocates, or parents who are pro-school choice, are unfairly under attack.

And even though it may be tough for Akimi and Nazario to see eye-to-eye, they do have some mutual ground.

But until tensions can deescalate, the future of education in L.A. remains divided.