School District Drama

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I've described the chaos of a school district I live in. Well, teachers here have been protesting their proposed raises. In a nutshell, their "raise" along with adjustments in their benefits actually would decrease their take home pay. Negotiations stopped some months ago and there have been picketing and such, off campus and off hours. Well, yesterday I got two letters in my son's backpack.
One letter was from the district stating there might be a "sickout", where the teachers call in sick en masse. The district insisted that it was safe to send kids to school and to do so, there would be substitutes and district employees to ensure a schedule and safety. The other was from the school psychologist (who oversees the special ed classes) saying that the autism clinic staff will be there and that the buses might not bring my kid home.
I called the school to double check, mainly because I was concerned about transportation. If the bus wouldn't come, I needed to know ahead of time so that I take my husband to work and keep the car. The office secretary said, "no bus, no teachers, don't bring your son to school".
Now I was mad. I called the district, not realizing I actually called the superintendent's line. They acted shocked. They maintained that I should bring my son to school, they would staff the special ed rooms with their autism team. I said, "no, I won't bring my son in".
I typed a "comment" in reply to the online story about it.
Well, today I get an email from the paper saying they liked my comment, asked for more info and said it will be included in another story. [/fallsonfloor] In the paper. Now I have second thoughts about saying all that. I mean I support the idea of protesting for more pay, but this last minute stuff is crap. All in all, the city was flooded with students with nowhere to go. 6 high schools were shut down, middle schools and quite a few elementary schools. Shut down, sent home after spending hours in combined classrooms, basketball courts, cafeterias, etc.
The district maintained that they would cover the teachers. Today they admitted they knew they didn't have enough subs or employees.
My husband thinks I "overstepped my boundaries", that I shouldn't have said anything publicly. He thinks it might affect our relationship with the school.

I don't know. Too late now, innit?

I'm not a big believer in the whole "don't rock the boat" thing. I say kudos to you! Maybe if more parents start voicing their opinions, they won't be able to herd us like sheep anymore. Change doesn't happen by sitting back and hoping, change is born of action.

KimJ, How often do we act without thinking? I have many times and sometimes with undesireable results, but I can think of at least two occaisions when that unthinking action saved lives. It sounds to me as if you reacted properly. The welfare of your son is your first priority, concern and action on behalf of other children in the school system is never misplaced. Actions such as "sick-outs" put children in jepardy and are irresponsible however valid the cause. Teachers should know better.

"you have done well, Grasshopper."

Well, thanks. I scanned the paper and didn't see me included. Who knows, maybe they had second thoughts too.

The funny thing is, I was involved in a teacher protest 20 years ago when I was in high school. I attended a district board meeting to support the teachers and wrote a letter to the editor (that was published). They were complaining about the same thing (negotiating for better raise). However, what those teachers did was more logical and effective, but safer for the schools. They didn't work "overtime". They stopped sitting on committees (they were club supervisors, unpaid), stopped taking work at home and completed all prep work, test corrections at school. One dance was cancelled (they were put together by clubs) and the protest went on for months. It angered a lot of people that didn't already support the teachers' complaints. But no one was hurt. They proved their point. The teachers do a lot of mandatory work off hours.

The sick out was just, to me, a cowardly way create a massive problem. And the district just thinks of $$$. Yet another argument for home-school.

As a teacher, I've got to say that if you're not being heard or valued, you may need to do things to make a statement. It sounds like the teachers union was very upfront about what they were going to do. It was the district who dropped the ball by insisting that they had the coverage when they most certainly did not. I've heard of the no overtime kind of stand, but it's hard to pull off because most teachers I know would still do the work they need to do to be ready for their students and the point would not be made.

Maureen

Well, the way the "no overtime" policy worked was to conduct classes as usual. No afterschool tutoring, no club supervising, no taping a program at home to bring in. So, it took longer to get tests back and we didn't get as many videos or dittoes as we could have. Most high school teachers get an hour period for prep and some teachers had student aides to help. So, we didn't academically suffer for the protest, but the overtime work was greatly missed. It may have been hard to do, but it was done then.

Actually the teachers' union denied the whole thing. They denied knowing about the sickout and denied involvement. It wasn't a teacher who initially notified us about the sickout, but the district and an incorrect but well-meaning note from school psychologist. (the teachers told her that they would be in) Nevermind that this whole event happened after school hours, I had no idea if anyone was still at work to answer questions.

Kim, let me add that I didn't mean to say that you shouldn't be frustrated with the teachers, the district, and the whole situation. I would be very upset if I was in that situation as a parent. But if the district isn't coming around after months of negotiation and their best proposal is less take home pay than before, I can understand why the teachers are frustrated. My union voted to strike years ago during very tough financial times, and that at least caused a settlement before any school days were lost. I don't understand why the teachers would do a "sick out" and not just strike, but there must be some reason. I sure hope this gets resolved soon for everyone's sake.

I think they wanted to do what was easiest and what would have the least repercussions for them. A strike requires negotiations within the union (meetings, votes) and may have legal consequences. Union compensation for striking is a whole other ball of wax. Sick pay is 100% and the damage to the district is swift and sure. After hours planning, press releases, substitutes, redistributing employees to affected schools, rescheduling bussing. And of all things the high schools had feature movies to show in the auditoriums.
This is just one story in the local paper. I'm still waiting to see if my quotes will be added.
Tucson Citizen
If I'm included, my name is Kim Jackson.

KimJ, I guess i'm going to have to get som Tucson newspapers to see if you achieve well deserved notoriety.

They haven't updated so far but the link "Tucson Citizen" up there will show the story. I'm reminded of a teacher's saying, "Don't do or say anything that you wouldn't want on the Front page of the paper". Well, let's take that thought on a test drive!