Strike Blogging

I hope to have more news on the Marysville Teacher Strike later today, as I hope there will be news after the mediation session. I also expect to hear more about some proposals made over the weekend. We'll see. In the meantime, this note was written by a teacher on the parents' message board in response to a person who said, "The only people being hurt at this point are the students and the community itself." Bull, says I, but I'll let a teacher take it from here:

I am a teacher. I am being hurt by this strike. I am being villified by the people I have dedicated to serve. I have been mocked, verbally attacked, abused, called names, and treated like garbage by my own district. People who claim to be "together for children" with me.

I've been told I make too much money, I have too much extra time, I don't care about kids, and my salary is a waste of educational dollars.

I am denied my right to work. I have no voice right now except when someone actually stops long enough to actually ask me my point of view.

I go to the store and overhear people saying that I should be thrown in jail. I sit in a restaurant and overhear people saying that I'm so greedy, I've turned down a 10% raise (a complete lie).

I go to my mailbox and receive letter after letter telling the people in my community that I'm not worth anything, that I'm a pox on the district.

What have I done to deserve this?

When someone said to me "I'm going to cut your pay substantially and make you work extra days, overload your classroom, remove your aides, and lower your budget" I said "I won't stand for it!"

I'm a dedicated, hard working teacher. I honestly believe I have brought a lot to this district. I am not in it for the money. If I were, I would have left a LONG time ago...trust me. But I want a little bit of respect and I'm not getting it from my administration, my school board (who I helped elect), nor from many members of my community. Blessedly every ONE of my former and present students has been caring, kind, and supportive.

So make no mistake about it. The students are being harmed. The community is being harmed, and is part of the harm. The teachers are ALSO being harmed.