standoffs do end. straight lines curve and sometimes there are surprise endings. today, after an all-night negotiation session, the l.a. teachers strike came to an end. it was six days, more than 30,000 schoolteachers on strike. the second largest school district in the country. those teachers are now expected to be back at work tomorrow morning. the strike will end with the teachers having achieved a modest pay raise for themselves, but also a start on smaller class sizes, a guarantee for nurses in the schools and linians in the schools and counselors in the schools. the schoolkids wanted an end to the random search policy in the l.a. school district, where kids at some schools were being stopped and frisked like criminal suspects just for literally showing up to school. the number of schools where that sort of policy is in effect will be significantly reduced because of the ending of the strike and the terms on which it will now end. standoffs do end.