Monday, October 13, 2003

Marysville Teacher Strike Update

Since all I've been doing today is strike related, I'll stick with the topic for now. I spent three very cold hours sitting on the corner of Seventh and State in Marysville holding a sign that directed people to marysvilleparents.com for more information on the strike. The teachers were fairly supportive of my sit-in, most of them thanked me at one point or another.

A news radio reporter came over to bug us at one point, from KIRO. He tried to surprise us into a reaction by saying, "The district has filed an injunction, what do you think?" I told him I was a teacher supporter and that I think the school board is full of idiots. I don't think he used that clip.

Lots of people yelled at me while I sat on the corner. One idiot woman yelled that I was a lazy teacher because I wasn't walking. I roared back, "I'M NOT A TEACHER!" and she drove off. People who read my $300,000 sign (today's first entry) seemed taken aback. One guy parked his car and came over and asked about my numbers. He was impressed, I think, and promised to visit the website. I suspect that if most of the people in Marysville knew the facts, they would side with the teachers and demand the recall of the current school board. There are some that just don't care, but most people are good at heart and if they only realized how much money the board was wasting, they would be appalled.

After I got home, there was a message for me from my boss at work. I called her up to talk, and found out that she was concerned about me. Seems that some jerk took my curses against the school board and doctored them up somehow and e-mailed them to my boss with some sort of indication that I'm not fit to be employed. Yes, someone USED MY BLOG ENTRIES TO TRY AND GET ME FIRED. I hope she saved the e-mail, because I'd like to find the scumhole who did this and have a little chat with him and his service provider. And, who knows, maybe his boss. After all, someone who tries to get a person fired because they have differing opinions probably isn't the best person to have as an employee, don't you think?

Tony's appointment with the superintendent was cancelled because she was at the press conference announcing that the district is going to sue the teachers. Tony is trying to reschedule for tomorrow, and I wish him luck. Any kid willing to get the answers straight from the source is someone to be proud of, and I hope his persistence pays off.

I also got an e-mail from the Seattle Times, indicating that they want to print my letter, but it's over twice the limit, could I please edit it down? I've just finished a very tough rewrite, and I hope they will publish it. I believe I hit all the important points, despite having to get it under 200 words (it was at 423 words). My, I am rather wordy, aren't I?

Big rally tonight, teachers from across the state are supposed to show up to support the Marysville teachers. I'll be there, and I hope to meet some of the folks from AIMS, who are also trying to save the school district from the school board.

*sigh* I'd give a lot for this strike to be over and for Eric to be back in the classroom, teaching, where he belongs. I hope that I can someday look back at all this and laugh. Right now I'm so bitter about it that it seems like I'll never be happy again.

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