Monday, 4/7/97
Teachers union leader struck, killed while crossing street
UCLA alumna led L.A. teacher’s unions, school reform efforts
By Marie Blanchard
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Helen Bernstein, the former president of United Teachers Los
Angeles and a UCLA alumna, was fatally struck by an automobile
while walking across a street last Thursday night.
Bernstein died shortly after 8 p.m. after being hit while
crossing Olympic Boulevard near its intersection with Curson
Avenue, said police officer Don Cox.
A preliminary investigation gave no indication of wrongdoing on
the part of the driver, Cox said. Bernstein, 52, apparently was in
the area to attend a meeting, Cox added.
KCAL-TV reported that Bernstein was on her way to a meeting to
seek an endorsement for her candidacy for the city’s charter
commission.
Bernstein stepped down as UTLA’s chief executive last year after
six years at the helm.
Since then, she worked as director of the Teacher Union Reform
Network (TURN). The privately funded, multistate project is
designed to organize school reforms, improve student achievement
and smooth relations between teachers and administrators.
Last November, Bernstein also became Mayor Richard Riordan’s
first education adviser.
"It hit me like a ton of bricks," Riordan said to the Los
Angeles Times after hearing of her death. "I was with her this
morning. I’ve never seen her look better. She was so vibrant. A
wonderful leader of teachers and school reform. A warm and
wonderful friend. I can’t believe it."
Bernstein was a product of the Los Angeles school system,
graduating from Hamilton High School in 1962 and then going to
UCLA, where she was active in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War
movements.
After briefly working for a a congressman, she decided instead
to teach and in 1967, she became a history teacher and
counselor.
She became involved in union activities and, as the UTLA vice
president, served as a member of the negotiating team during a
nine-day strike that obtained a 24 percent pay raise for
teachers.
Bernstein became UTLA president in 1990. UTLA represents about
32,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors in the Los
Angeles Unified School District.
In 1996 Bernstein left the union to head a national network on
teachers unions which was dedicated to school reforms.
She was one of 51 candidates who qualified last month for a seat
on a panel to overhaul Los Angeles’ governing charter.
Bernstein, who is survived by her daughter, had returned to UCLA
to do research for the School of Education.
"What a huge loss this is for all of us," said Kay Cooperman,
UCLA communications director of the Graduate School of Education
and Information Sciences.