Teachers

In Looming Teacher Exodus, Who Will Be Left Behind?

June 22, 2022 Veronica Fernandez, Who What Why. Educate! Education, Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

In the midst of an ongoing education crisis that disproportionately affects minority students and faculty, more troubling signs are on the horizon. A slew of new research shows that teacher burnout is high and that staff shortages, which were already straining the system in 2021, are likely to increase. The school districts which need the most help are most likely to suffer these effects, and the children who depend on them are the ones most likely to have faced significant learning challenges during the pandemic. “I am emotionally and mentally exhausted,” said Sobia Sheikh, a teacher at Mariner High School in Everett, WA. “For some of us, we’re fighting to just make it through the day.” She is not alone.

No More ‘Normal’

May 24, 2022 Rethinking Schools. Strategize! Budget, Education, Public schools, Teachers

In Abbott Elementary, an ABC sitcom about an underfunded elementary school in Philadelphia, Quinta Brunson plays Janine Teagues, an enthusiastic 2nd-grade teacher who attempts to overcome every obstacle with her grit and determination — a flickering light in the back hallways, the perpetual lack of basic school supplies, a complicated reading software program. Barbara and Melissa, the older, more experienced teachers, remind her “to just worry about what you can control.” And for years, that’s what teachers have done. We’ve made do. Having kids paint with water, like Barbara, when there’s no money for paints. Ponying up pieces of our salaries to buy books for classroom libraries, highlighters for writing activities, pencils, food for hungry kids, printers, microphones, even textbooks. You name it, we’ve bought it.

DC Substitute Teachers Win Big, Continue Struggle

May 23, 2022 Morgan Artyukhina and Michael Bearman, Liberation News. Resist! Education, Teachers, Victory, Washington D.C., Worker Rights and Jobs

Substitute teachers in District of Columbia Public Schools have won their first raise in 14 years. This comes after five months of picketing outside D.C. government offices under the banner of Washington Substitute Teachers United, demanding higher wages and benefits amid rapidly rising costs of living in the city caused by gentrification. Although having promised wage increases since February 2022, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chairman of the D.C. Council Phil Mendelson blamed the delay on computer issues, which resulted in only a few substitute teachers receiving a raise. During the bureaucratic mess, Washington Substitute Teachers United decided the only way to win was to struggle and launched their weekly pickets outside the John A. Wilson Building, D.C.’s city hall.

How The Attack On Teachers Threatens The Future Of Public Schools

May 20, 2022 Sarah Jaffe, Rethinking Schools. Educate! Education, Public schools, Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

Two years ago, Nicole McCormick was so passionate about teaching that she ran for vice president of the West Virginia Education Association. A music teacher for 11 years, McCormick “always had high expectations of what a music teacher should do,” and on top of lesson planning and caring for her family, she put in extra hours after school to make her union stronger, too. But now she has left the classroom and is unsure if she will ever return. The increasing workload, the uncertainty and pressure of the pandemic, the combined stress of parenting her own four children, looking after her ill mother, worrying about the health and safety of her students, and the low pay and constant disrespect drove her out.

Florida Teacher Fired For Speaking About Sexuality

May 14, 2022 Emma Lee and Ezra Brain, Left Voice. Educate! Don’t Say Gay Bill, Florida, Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

Lee County, Florida - Casey Scott, an elementary school art teacher at Trafalgar Middle School in Lee County, Florida, asked students to make flags to represent themselves as part of an art project. In their discussions about identity, several of her students expressed that they were gay, bisexual, and trans. Many of them wanted to represent themselves using the rainbow flag or the pink, blue, and white flag that represents trans rights. After she hung the flags up on her bulletin board, school administrators told Scott that it would be “in her best interest” to get rid of them immediately. When she got home, she was told her contract would not be renewed. This is one of the first examples of a teacher being fired under Florida’s new right-wing law attacking educators and LGBTQ+ folks.

Teaching The Past To Improve The Future

April 21, 2022 Coshandra Dillard, Learning For Justice. Resist! culture, Education, History, Teachers

Last fall in Southlake, Texas, a Carroll Independent School District (ISD) school administrator provided baffling guidance to a group of teachers following the passage of a state law banning the teaching of critical race theory (CRT). Heard in a secret recording, she tells the teachers to present multiple viewpoints on contentious subjects and specifically names the Holocaust. “Make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust that you have one that has an opposing…that has other perspectives,” the administrator says. There are audible gasps. One teacher asks, “How do you oppose the Holocaust?” An author of the Texas bill subsequently argued that school administrators misrepresented what is in the new law.

Parents And Students Sit-In In Solidarity With Striking Teachers

April 4, 2022 Molly Rosenzweig And Emma Lee, Left Voice. Resist! California, Education, Strike, Teachers

Sacramento, California - In an incredible show of solidarity, Sacramento parents and students have organized a sit-in to support striking teachers and support staff. Parents have been camping out at district headquarters in the Serna Center, calling for the school board to meet with teachers and reach an agreement. They are watching movies and playing board games, and have vowed to continue the sit-in until the district takes action. These community-led tactics demonstrate the interconnectedness between teachers and their communities. Since March 23, 4,000 educators in Sacramento have been on strike demanding higher pay in pace with inflation, increased staffing in their schools, no cuts to health benefits, and improved support for students.

From Minneapolis To Sacramento: Teachers Teach Us How To Fight Back

April 1, 2022 John M.F. Vergara, Left Voice. Resist! California, Education, Strike, Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

Teachers have taken the lead in the fight against inflation, precarious working conditions, racist education systems, and the lack of resources for public education in America. This time it is the Sacramento teachers who have been on strike for a week. Three years ago, these same teachers in Sacramento staged a 24-hour walkout to defend the contract that education officials signed in 2019 but refused to honor. The walkout culminated in a rally at the district building where thousands of educators accompanied by the community gathered to demand that the district honor the contract. Perhaps inspired by combative teachers in recent struggles seen in the U.S., such as in Chicago and more recently Minnesota, and aware of the strength of the union and the power of struggle, this time Sacramento teachers are fighting for a wage increase in line with inflation, to keep the health care plan they have, and to increase the support available to their own students.

‘We Got Your Back’: Student Protest In Solidarity With Teachers’ Strike

March 17, 2022 Tatiana Cozzarelli, Left Voice. Resist! Education, Minneapolis, Strike, Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

Dozens of Minneapolis public school students organized a march and a sit-in to stand in solidarity with public school educators who entered their second week on strike. The students gathered at North High School and many held homemade signs, as well as some of the union signs speaking about the need for smaller class sizes, hiring more BIPOC teachers, and more. The action had been called the night before — a rally called at 5 p.m. for an action at 11:30 a.m. A student walkout in solidarity with teachers had been called and then canceled before the strike began. “We just had to do something for our teachers,” one student explained. After a crowd of a few dozen gathered, they took to the streets, walking on the road, crossing puddles of melted snow, and chanting into megaphones as a sound car followed.

For The First Time In 50 Years, Minneapolis Teachers Are Out On Strike

March 16, 2022 Kip Hedges , In These Times. Resist! Education, Minneapolis, Strike, Teachers

On March 8, around 3,500 Minneapolis teachers and educational support professionals went out on strike, effectively shutting down a system of 35,000 students. The action, led by Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) Local 59, is the first walkout the city has seen in over 50 years. Educators are demanding caps to class sizes, higher wages and more mental health support for students. While the school district is claiming a budget shortfall, union advocates have pointed to the state’s record $9.3 billion surplus as a potential untapped resource. We sat down with Beth Dill, a 5th grade teacher at Whittier International Elementary School and an active union member, to talk about the strike, which is entering its second week.

Minneapolis Teachers And Support Professionals Strike Enters Week Two

March 15, 2022 Fight Back News. Resist! Labor Unions, Minneapolis, Strike, Teachers

Minneapolis MN - Teachers and education support professionals at Minneapolis Public Schools began a strike on March 8, shutting down the Minneapolis school system. Today, March 14, the strike continues as the schools remain closed for a second week. Over the weekend a series of events were held by the striking educators; there we also several actions called by community and labor supporters in the area. On Saturday, March 12, a car caravan called by the Minnesota Immigrants’ Rights Committee (MIRAC) wound its way through Minneapolis streets to end at the Davis Center where the Minneapolis Public Schools office is located. The car caravan began on Lake Street in a predominantly Latino working-class neighborhood of South Minneapolis.

Richmond Educators Are First In Virginia To Win Bargaining Rights

February 25, 2022 Vernon Snow, Labor Notes. Resist! Education, Teachers, Virginia, Worker Rights and Jobs

Teachers and other public school employees in Richmond, Virginia, won a major victory in December when the city’s school board, in an 8 to 1 vote, approved a resolution granting them collective bargaining rights. The victory sets a precedent for other districts and public sector employees throughout the state. Richmond is the first school district in Virginia to reinstate collective bargaining rights, after the legislature in 2020 lifted the state’s 43-year prohibition on collective bargaining for local government workers. Members of the school board had made repeated attempts to delay the vote. Winning took a mass mobilization led by the Richmond Education Association, which convened district-wide workers’ assemblies, held rallies outside school board meetings, and shared dozens of teacher testimonies during public comment periods.

From Puerto Rico To Minnesota, Teachers Are Rising Up Again

February 17, 2022 James Dennis Hoff, Left Voice. Resist! Education, Minnesota, Puerto Rico, Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

In the last two weeks, teachers in both Puerto Rico and Minnesota have taken to the streets. Though separated by thousands of miles, and a temperature difference of about 60 degrees, their demands are in many ways very similar: Like the teachers who went on strike in 2018, they are marching for better pay, better benefits, and greater funding for schools. However, these struggles are taking place in a period very different from 2018. The pre-pandemic strike wave was driven by decades of austerity and rising rank-and-file militancy born of frustration with do-nothing labor bureaucrats. The pandemic has since galvanized workers even more, especially since rapidly rising inflation has significantly chipped away at already historically low wages.

Confronting Right-Wing Attacks On Racial Justice Teaching

February 15, 2022 Rethinking Schools Editors. Resist! Critical Race Theory, Education, Right wing politics, Teachers

As of the middle of August, more than two dozen states have introduced — and 11 states have enacted — bills or rules to restrict the teaching of history and contemporary social realities. Right-wing activists have mounted similar attacks at school board meetings throughout the country. This stunning barrage of legislation and policies aims to ban teaching critical race theory (CRT), and supposedly “divisive topics” in the curriculum. But the real target is the truth. The anti-CRT campaign echoes the Big Lie that Trump won the election. It is the curricular counterpart to the wave of voter suppression laws promoted by the same far-right political forces that have tried to rewrite the history of the 2020 election and cover up the attempted coup on Jan. 6.

Teachers In Puerto Rico Strike For Wages, Benefits

February 10, 2022 Claridad Puerto Rico, People's Dispatch. Resist! Debt, National Strike, Puerto Rico, Teachers

On Wednesday, February 9, teachers across Puerto Rico called for a national strike to protest the government and the Fiscal Control Board’s (FCB) cutting of wages and pensions. Other public sector workers, namely firefighters and police, have also joined them. Teachers are demanding a decent salary, an end to pension cuts, and the resignation of Puerto Rican governor Pedro Pierluisi. Teachers have been protesting since February 4. That same day, the FCB imposed by the US Congress that has been in charge of Puerto Rico since 2016, was boasting because it supposedly already put the end of the bankruptcy process on track by approving a plan negotiated with the big bondholder funds.

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