Hi all,
There is a very real chance that our teachers will go on strike next week. There was a strike vote taken last week-- it passed, and there will still be some attempts at mediation, but the district is not acknowledging some very unmet needs. Without going into too much detail, I am in support of what the teachers are asking to be addressed and understand that they very much care about our children; I have been following this closely over the past several months.
Without discussing the details of the negotiation~
I would like to hear from parents who have dealt with their district's/parish's teachers striking. I am wondering what to expect and we are noodling on the idea of keeping our son (first grade) home.
In particular:
Did classes and curriculum continue as planned, or were the services offered more like organized child care? Our district is promising to have subs available for the younger students (to lessen the impact of the strike on working parents who have very real child care concerns), but I don't know any more than that. So, I'm wondering if combining classes is common practice with subs during a situation like this.
I also know that teachers may strike near the school, but not on school grounds. Has anyone had any experience with bringing their child into that sort of situation? How emotionally charged does this get?
Any other insights/input would be appreciated. Thanks!
Marla-- thank you so much for that information. Please believe me, it is valuable. PPS has been stating publicly that it is in their subs' contract to work during the strike, so this is a bit of a revelation.
I wish I could send you multitudes of flowers. I really appreciate this.
In regard to other comments about striking-- of course, this is not what we as parents *want*, nor is it what the teachers would prefer. They are very committed staff and would far rather teach than strike. I have been nothing but impressed with their willingness to help parents help their children, on a daily basis. Without going into all of the issues, I think the strike is the only way the teachers are going to make the district acknowledge some very specific and relevant needs which aren't being met. The kids are the ones suffering under the current circumstances and frankly-- losing a few weeks of school is hard, but perhaps this will motivate the parents to stand up for their kids. Right now, there are some vicious cycles which only make school and learning harder for students and this does have a very real consequence: we have a quarter of our kids dropping out.
I think it would be worse NOT to address these issues, most of which have a detrimental impact directly on students. My kid is not going to be so directly affected if these demands are not met, but the kids two neighborhoods over are going to continue to have schools which are not setting them up for success-- and I want *every* student in our city to have the opportunity and support to succeed.
All I can say is that as an experienced sub, I would not break a picket line either. I feel for the parents who can't keep their kids home, but as Marla has said, I'd do that.
I don't know exactly what the district is going to do. I work as a sub, but not for Portland, and I was asked to break the strike line. I have since declined to do so because I believe in unions. The hard part is that Portland's subs are also unionized, so they will be striking along with the teachers. So, the kids will not be getting subs who are familiar with the particular schools. Portland also isn't paying any extra for subs to break the strike.
I received an email from Medford who is in the same boat, but, they are paying $340 a day plus travel and room/board. So, if I were going to break a strike line, I would be much more inclined to do it there.
So, I can't really answer your questions, but I am highly doubtful they will have enough subs to run the schools at full capacity. I am also doubtful that the teachers will spend extra time to leave detailed sub plans for the kids and subs. If you can, I personally would keep my kiddos home. But, just as I won't break a picket line, I wouldn't want my kids to either. I guess that is just me. And, by striking near the school, sometimes that is just on the sidewalk which is not school property, but the kids may have to go through the lines to get to class, I don't know.
This is a hard situation for all of us, and I wish you the best.
I am a teacher and we have a no-strike clause. I am in support of the teachers that do strike. The fact that we have a no-strike clause has been been detrimental to us and especially our part time teachers who are horribly exploited. Although you do not mention the details, I am fairly sure that there must be some serious issues for the teachers to vote for a strike.
When I was in elementary school and long before I knew I would be a teacher, there was a teacher strike. I was sent to school (I had a crappy home life so it was sort of the only option). I do remember seeing my striking teachers. They were kind to me and I do not at all recall any aggressive arguing or anything like that. In fact, I ended up learning about protest and advocacy from them. (This was during the Prop 13 period in CA and they were protesting, among other things, the decimation of the arts and music programs).
The classroom situation I do remember as being a free-for-all environment. Chaos. No learning. On a couple of occasions several classes were grouped together because there were not enough adults.
Recently our local k-12 teachers went out on strike, briefly, and they were able to achieve their goals. My guess is that the other nearby districts will also be considering strikes, but that their administrators will be more inspired to negotiate due to the recent strike.
I would do school work at home with my kids. We do Kumon work books. My kids also do IXL math on the internet all year...including summer. I would also have them do journal writing.
I would email your kids teachers. I would ask them what they need to be working on at home.1st grade is most likely basic addition and subraction.
It has been quite some time but my son's school went on strike for about a month. He had all of his books sent home and a list of things they were studying in the classroom. It became the parent's job to teach their child/ren to keep them current. When the strike was over his teacher said she could see that he had help as he was ahead of the class in his math where he was behind before the strike.
I know that this is not what every parent can do now days. We were stationed out of the country and we had to do what we had to do to keep our kids current.
Good luck. If there is a strike, I hope it does not last very long and that all sides agree or compromise for the sake of the kids.
the other S.
Years ago I was in middle school when the teachers went on strike.
It lasted for about 3 weeks.
We didn't really do any work.
Anything they had us do in class was busy work - word puzzles, reading and such - and nothing was graded.
They brought in anyone who would babysit in the classroom - some were parents - it was a total joke and it was barely contained chaos.
Being there was fairly pointless but the only thing they did was keep attendance and too many absences for any one person was a problem.
I have not had this happen to at my children's school, but I would be very, very upset. I understand that teachers have very real concerns that need to be addressed, but I do not feel that striking is the way to do it. The people that get hurt the most by a strike are the kids and that just isn't fair....nor is it professional for someone who is truly an essential service to refuse to do their job.
I would expect the Union and the District to come to a resolution immediately. I pay a lot of taxes into the school district and would not appreciate it if my child was not getting educated. I don't know how the kids wouldn't get behind in a situation like that. And yes, as a working parent, this would be devastating for me from a childcare perspective. I cannot just take off work because a bunch of grown people can't agree and refuse to do their jobs.
I truly do appreciate the jobs that teachers do, but I do not think that going on strike is appropriate.
Tracy M. Nothing gets attention like a strike. Let garbage workers strike and the whole city feels (smells) it.
