As leaders of Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles remain locked in an impasse over a new contract, the district has hired hundreds of substitute staffers to replace picketing educators in the event of a potential strike come Jan. 10. But the move has sparked outrage from the union.

The districts’ preliminary move, alongside the union’s strike preparations, is a sign of the increasing likelihood of a strike that would be LAUSD’s first since 1989 and stands to impact the daily operations of hundreds of schools in the country’s second largest district.

LA Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner said Thursday that the district remains “at the bargaining table” but is actively preparing for teachers’ absence by hiring approximately 400 substitute teachers and fallback instruction for students.

“We have hired substitutes, we have made plans as to alternate curriculums for days that there is a strike but our goal is to make sure schools are safe and open so kids continue to learn,” Beutner said on Thursday. “My concern first and foremost is the safety and well being of our students.”

The move to hire replacement staff drew a sharp rebuke from the union over the last two days.

“It is outrageously irresponsible for Supt. Austin Beutner to force this strike when the district holds $1.9 billion in reserves and it is even more irresponsible to think that 400 substitutes can educate more than 600,000 students,” UTLA said in a statement Friday. “We believe that it is illegal for the district to hire people outside our bargaining unit to teach in LAUSD classrooms.”

Union officials said they were exploring “all options” for legal action in an effort to protect UTLA substitute teachers, 2,000 of which the union also represents. There are more than 2,000 subs in the UTLA bargaining unit, according to union officials.

According to union members, in the event of a strike teachers are slated to report to schools around 7 am to picket and then again in the afternoon with the school day’s end with local rallies during the day.

“The rumor,” said UTLA member kindergarten teacher at Colfax Charter Elementary Kimberly Slater Haim “is the district is apparently hiring subs at a very rapid rate and paying them $400 to $500 a day to cross the picket lines, and that’s a lot more than we make.”

In a response to UTLA’s denunciation of hiring substitutes, LA Unified said “We have a duty to provide an education to our students, and we will take appropriate measures to do so.”

The district did not respond for comment on substitute pay, or whether those hired are from outside LAUSD.

Although both parties appear close to a consensus on a 6 percent wage increase retroactive to 2017, UTLA maintains— despite rebuttals from the district that it faces insolvency and a state takeover if it doesn’t rein what is already a $500 million deficit spending — that the district can afford to cede to other demands, including smaller class sizes, more campus staffing of counselors, librarians and nurses, and limits on standardized testing.

District officials previously said the union’s contract proposal would increase the district’s $500 million deficit during the current school year by another $813 million.

UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl also said the union has taken a host of strike-preparation measures and called on parents to consider keeping students at home or join the picket lines in the event of a strike.

“Our members overwhelmingly are supportive and energized by the stand we’re taking after years of taking punches to the gut and the jaw,” said Caputo-Pearl.

In a family resource guide released in August following a union vote to approve the strike, the district called on students to attend school as normal in the event of a strike and that school hours will operate according to regular schedule.

Regular meals, added the guide, will be provided to students. Whether cafeteria and other non-educator workers represented by local unions will strike in solidarity remains unclear.

Some LAUSD parents have also begun to organize in support and encourage families to keep their students at home. Dozens of parents at Colfax Charter Elementary, for example, are organizing a child daycare cooperative and plan to open their homes as rest stops (and restrooms).

“I’ve already told all the teachers they’re welcome to my home,” said PTA president at Colfax Charter Elementary Jenna Schwartz, whose child is a fifth-grader at the school. “We’re asking a local church if they’ll store non-perishables and water and then we’re planning for Jan. 6th a big picket sign-making party.”

In a video posted to supporters on Facebook, Caputo-Pearl said “every parent is going to make their own decision because each family has different circumstances, about whether your child goes to school or not in the event of a strike.”

“But we need the whole city of LA out at these activities because we need the strike to end quickly,” he added.