A majority of teachers at one Compton high school failed to show up for work today, causing some reported chaos on campus.

Compton Unified School District Superintendent Darin Brawley said in a statement this afternoon that 55 educators at Manuel Dominguez High School “called in sick today.”

See also: Compton's Parent Trigger Feud

Reports indicated that students running around unsupervised on campus had to be picked up by their parents early:
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Brawley blamed a “lack of progress” in contract negotiations with the teachers union known as the Compton Education Association. 

We reached out to two officials at the union but had yet to hear back.

A Compton Unified spokesman wouldn't answer the question of how many teachers, in total, serve at Dominguez, but we ended up with a good idea:

*The school's website lists 78. So the sickout left a skeletal staff of 30 percent of the listed educators to deal with an estimated enrollment of more than 2,500 students.

Oops.

Brawley said the sickout was …

 … a concerted work stoppage effort at Dominguez High in violation of Article 25 of the Compton Educators Association's Collective Bargaining Agreement. 

He said the district would launch an investigation into the sickout:

Regardless of the reason for today's event, students should never be used as pawns in conducting the business of the District. Our students' success is our main priority here at Compton Unified School District and we intend to ensure there are no further disruptions. ?

*[Added at 3:42 p.m.]: A district spokesman said there are 85 teachers and about 2,200 students at Dominguez, making the proportion of instructors on campus today about 35 percent.

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