@ Columbus, Ohio teacher strike

[katfco]

www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/us/columbus-ohio-teachers-strike/index.html

I don’t know if anyone is a following this and I didn’t see it mentioned before. This is my former school district up until this school year. The school year started today and it’s such a mess. The school board has been misrepresenting things and playing politics so hard and today they canceled the teachers’ health insurance, including their HSAs.

I feel for the teachers so much; no one wanted this to happen this way.

[bronxgirl]

My friend teaches in this district and has been posting daily from the frontlines/ picket lines. I'm proud of the union for holding strong to benefit students, as much as teachers. I hope it gets resolved soon

[cherryvalance]

I've been following on TikTok and the pictures of those buildings are just horrific.

Obligatory fuck you to the people acting as if the strike is selfish and it's a lie that student well-being is a concern.

Teachers' working conditions directly benefit students. Kids deserve safe, comfortable buildings and happy, healthy staff. Why the fuck would I want my kids' teachers to hate being at work?

[katfco]

Aug 24, 2022 20:49:40 GMT -5 cherryvalance said:

I've been following on TikTok and the pictures of those buildings are just horrific.

Obligatory fuck you to the people acting as if the strike is selfish and it's a lie that student well-being is a concern.

Teachers' working conditions directly benefit students. Kids deserve safe, comfortable buildings and happy, healthy staff. Why the fuck would I want my kids' teachers to hate being at work?

My building was one of the ones in some of the pictures being shared. At my first building, the asbestos floor tiles regularly broke free and we would just try to tell the kids not to touch them.

[bugandbibs]

I’m so sorry for the staff and students who are in this situation. I spent 13(?) days on strike a few years ago and it was hard mentally to feel so unvalued despite all of the work I do. On the plus side, it really bonded me with my coworkers and families which was invaluable heading into the pandemic. We can’t do good if we burn out and hate going to work. A broken down building is mentally draining- I just left a building full of mice and ants with snakes and other creatures living under portable classrooms.

[erbear]

Aug 24, 2022 20:49:40 GMT -5 cherryvalance said:

I've been following on TikTok and the pictures of those buildings are just horrific.

Obligatory fuck you to the people acting as if the strike is selfish and it's a lie that student well-being is a concern.

Teachers' working conditions directly benefit students. Kids deserve safe, comfortable buildings and happy, healthy staff. Why the fuck would I want my kids' teachers to hate being at work?

Yup. The vitriol directed at teachers for striking is always so disheartening. Selfish, don’t care about kids. As though we don’t know the not being in school hurts kids and that’s the last resort.

[cherryvalance]

Aug 24, 2022 20:59:56 GMT -5 katfco said:

Aug 24, 2022 20:49:40 GMT -5 cherryvalance said:

I've been following on TikTok and the pictures of those buildings are just horrific.

Obligatory fuck you to the people acting as if the strike is selfish and it's a lie that student well-being is a concern.

Teachers' working conditions directly benefit students. Kids deserve safe, comfortable buildings and happy, healthy staff. Why the fuck would I want my kids' teachers to hate being at work?

My building was one of the ones in some of the pictures being shared. At my first building, the asbestos floor tiles regularly broke free and we would just try to tell the kids not to touch them.

Horrible. And I'm sure there were so many people saying things like, "Why should we pay when these kids don't want to learn?"

[Jalapeñomel]

Hmmm, I wonder why there are so many open teaching positions…🤔

[osulori]

This is local for me too and I have a number of friends who teach in the district...I feel awful for them. It sounds like a conditional agreement was reached overnight-from what one of my friends posted, teachers return to work today, vote on the agreement Sunday, and if all goes well kids start Monday. I just hope the agreement gives the teachers what they're asking for. My late MIL taught music in CPS her whole career (up until she died) and I know she's got to be rolling over in her grave over how the teachers have been treated.

[DotAndBuzz]

I have friends and family who teach for that district. I grew up there. Many of my childhood friends' kids go there, and none "attended" school yesterday because they didn't want to cross the picket line, digitally or otherwise. Many went to join their teachers on the line.

Buildings legitimately didn't have HEAT. Kids wore coats in classrooms in the winter because while the heating system was on, it wasn't able to evenly heat all the rooms. Some would be 90, others would be 50. At one point my friend's HVAC broke in the winter, so they didn't make the kids come in, but they mandated teachers teach virtually FROM THEIR FUCKING CLASSROOMS WITH NO HEAT. They wouldn't let them teach from their homes, in the dead of winter.

The teachers have asked for more nurses, social workers, and school counselors, as well as more arts, music, and physical ed in the schools. The district's counter/solution to that was to have the funding for those come out of their 3% raise that was initially offered. So the TEACHERS would effectively be paying for those services to be in the school. Meanwhile, downtown office administrative positions have ballooned. Plenty of money for those, apparently, but none for the teacher salaries.

So yeah, this school board can go fuck itself. I'm 100% with the teachers on this. I hope the conditional agreement they have reached isn't a slap in the face.

[quesyrah]

They had a teacher and union rep on NPR this morning who said in the winter the students huddle under blankets to try to stay warm.

Horrifying. How can they honestly expect this to be ok!?

[DotAndBuzz]

Another piece of this is that the teachers wanted the district to put it in writing that they would address the building issues (infrastructure, heat, etc). The district refused, saying "we're going to do it, we don't need to put it in writing."

But given what the teachers and students had experienced, and the "fixes" that the district had provided (like giant industrial propane heaters outside of buildings, connected to classrooms via flexible metal ductwork fed in through windows), they were, appropriately, skeptical that anything would actually be done unless it was put in writing.

[Jalapeñomel]

Aug 25, 2022 17:18:32 GMT -5 DotAndBuzz said:

Another piece of this is that the teachers wanted the district to put it in writing that they would address the building issues (infrastructure, heat, etc). The district refused, saying "we're going to do it, we don't need to put it in writing."

But given what the teachers and students had experienced, and the "fixes" that the district had provided (like giant industrial propane heaters outside of buildings, connected to classrooms via flexible metal ductwork fed in through windows), they were, appropriately, skeptical that anything would actually be done unless it was put in writing.

Oh hell no. Teachers aren’t stupid. Ffs

[katfco]

Aug 25, 2022 17:18:32 GMT -5 DotAndBuzz said:

Another piece of this is that the teachers wanted the district to put it in writing that they would address the building issues (infrastructure, heat, etc). The district refused, saying "we're going to do it, we don't need to put it in writing."

But given what the teachers and students had experienced, and the "fixes" that the district had provided (like giant industrial propane heaters outside of buildings, connected to classrooms via flexible metal ductwork fed in through windows), they were, appropriately, skeptical that anything would actually be done unless it was put in writing.

That was my school! .And that only happened after we organized a walkout. It was isolated to the kindergarten, 1st grade, Head Start and special Ed rooms (you know, all the kids who can't advocate at home well) for over 6 weeks. When it spread to over half the building, they said, "Okay, we'll do remote learning, but teachers work from the buildings." 

This was in a building where we had only just gotten HVAC a few years prior. Before that, half the building would get into the 90s and 100s in August, September and May. 

I could write a megapost about this district. It's why I left, even though I didn't have a job lined up. I loved my school and union, but I refused to work for the district a moment longer. 

[aprilsails]

As a building systems engineer who does loads of HVAC update work for schools in my area, I just want to say that my jaw is on the floor that the district would allow the schools to operate in this condition. That is so unacceptable. I don’t know how anyone can call the teachers wrong for wanting to teach in a safe and comfortable environment.

[cherryvalance]

Aug 25, 2022 17:18:32 GMT -5 DotAndBuzz said:

Another piece of this is that the teachers wanted the district to put it in writing that they would address the building issues (infrastructure, heat, etc). The district refused, saying "we're going to do it, we don't need to put it in writing."

Lol, I'm going to try this with lesson plans, documentation log, data binder, etc.