I know a few who are against it. They feel like they are abandoning their responsibilities to their students.
It is time to take a stand for Education
- Thread starter brtinla
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I know a few who are against it. They feel like they are abandoning their responsibilities to their students.
Every teacher I have talked to is against the walkout, and I probably have more teacher friends than you. Your coworkers don’t like you.
Ten days ago, other than a couple of the union organizers I didn’t personally know any teachers for the walk-out. But momentum for the walk-out has grown a ton over last week. I still know more against, but now I also know many teachers for the walk-out.
But a couple of those pro-walkout, say they will only walk-out on April 2nd. And they don’t plan on striking, but just walking out one day and going to the Capitol. But I assume they are in the minority of the pro-walkout group.
My wife is still strongly opposed to walk-out, but she has just about resigned herself that it is going to happen because our feckless school board appears to be laying down on this.
EDIT: “feckless” was a cheap shot. I am not going to delete it because I still do feel that way, but I know school board has a tough job. I believe they feel they are supporting the teacher union and some other teachers. Plus they are frustrated with lack of legislative action on school funding and teacher pay, but I was hoping they would lead and provide an alternative direction.
But a couple of those pro-walkout, say they will only walk-out on April 2nd. And they don’t plan on striking, but just walking out one day and going to the Capitol. But I assume they are in the minority of the pro-walkout group.
My wife is still strongly opposed to walk-out, but she has just about resigned herself that it is going to happen because our feckless school board appears to be laying down on this.
EDIT: “feckless” was a cheap shot. I am not going to delete it because I still do feel that way, but I know school board has a tough job. I believe they feel they are supporting the teacher union and some other teachers. Plus they are frustrated with lack of legislative action on school funding and teacher pay, but I was hoping they would lead and provide an alternative direction.
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Glad to have a fellow wife abuser on the board with me. Feels good to have company.
Do you think Teachers get into this profession to get rich? This concern was addressed in our initial Union meeting and is being taken care of.
AS the teachers in West Virginia said: this is the best civics lesson kids could ever learn. And all the days are easily made up, as long as the legislature does it's job. If it does, no made up days will be necessary.
What does that have to do with you walking out on starving poor kids? It’s being taken care of? You guys bringing Chick-Fil-A up to the playground for the poor kids to come and eat?
So the civics lessons, if in the future for example, they are contracted to do work on someone’s house. They agree upon set price beforehand, that it is still okay and acceptable that they stop working and demand additional payment 3/4th of the way through the job. And that the homeowner should support paying you more money?
I can understand that but what other option do they have? The legislature has proven that they are a bunch of dipsh*ts with their heads up their *sses. If this doesn’t get rectified it is going to have horrible ramifications over the next 10-20 years. Again I ask what company would relocate to Oklahoma and what young couple with kids would ever want to relocate there with the state of public education? Oklahoma is trending towards “shithole” status and will continue to do so if this doesn’t get fixed. It is a big, big deal.
I totally agree with your points. I'm all for fixing this - somehow. I'm just saying that there isn't universal support for a work stoppage. It is gaining momentum.
I agree with the destination, I'm just unsure this is the right path there. Hell, maybe it is the only path. I'm just not convinced it is.
Option would be to complete their agreed upon contract and finish the school year. Too many big activities effecting the future of young people occur in April. Most, if not all, schools have required testing in April. I know a couple of schools have the ACT for all juniors on April 3rd. Screwing that up is a big, big deal.
I agree with you about teacher pay, but why not announce now that teachers won’t return for next school year if teacher pay is not addressed?
Because the legislature won’t be in session?
Edit: and nothing gets done unless there is an impending crisis??
One of the first things we did is solicit private donations and teacher volunteers so that that the meals would continue.
You apparently think we have the ability to negotiate a contract. We don't. In some states the union negotiates the contract and puts it into an up or down vote to the employee's . We have no negotiations or discussions. The amount of pay is set by the legislature and we have no recourse.
If we don't get this fixed , Oklahoma will be on a permanent declining spiral. Nothing less than the survival of our state is at stake.
That was a worthy response. The minimum salary is set by the state. And teacher unions negotiate for benefits, salaries, duties, etc with the independent school districts. No doubt that the salary amount can’t and doesn’t move much because the allocation from the state is not a large amount. I can’t argue that.
My argument is how you are going about this. Not your goal.
If you think this is “nothing less than the survival of our state”... why not entertain the idea of just not coming back next school year if legislature doesn’t meet what you want? You are not asking for an increase in pay immediately. You are requesting a pay increase for next school year. So why give the proverbial middle finger to students?
From where you said your state rep is located, I am guessing which school you teach. That school, along with others, is giving an ACT to all juniors on April 2nd. That is a huge opportunity for some that would not otherwise consider college.
You know the reason the union moved up the strike was the timing of importance of testing and graduations.
Is getting your answer now on next years pay more important than future of students?
I want to be for your walkout/strike. I want teachers to be paid more. But why go down a path that purposely places not only a major inconvenience on the young people teachers should protect, but potentially harms their future? Especially when there is a path (don’t return at beginning of next school year) that still provides what you want, more people will support you, it doesn’t require you to break your contract, it is a better example for young people, and it doesn’t place students in the crosshairs?
The date was chosen to extract maximum leverage. Make up dates on testing go to april 23. If that never happens, is it really our fault?
Last raise was 2008. We are dead last in teacher pay. Students suffer as teachers leave and funding is inadequate. Plenty of time was given for the legislature to get it's act together. After the failure of Step Oklahoma it became apparent extreme measures were needed.
If we ran out the clock in the spring it would mean a walkout in the fall. Why delay the solution by a year? We win now. NOW.
Last raise was 2008. We are dead last in teacher pay. Students suffer as teachers leave and funding is inadequate. Plenty of time was given for the legislature to get it's act together. After the failure of Step Oklahoma it became apparent extreme measures were needed.
If we ran out the clock in the spring it would mean a walkout in the fall. Why delay the solution by a year? We win now. NOW.
Thank you for your honest answer. Why maximum leverage? Children’s education as bargaining chips.
It is exponentially tougher on students in April than August, it is very inconvenient for working parents, and troublesome for the most vulnerable families.
And the hope is those bad situations will result in parent contacting the lawmakers.
The damage done in recent years has been enormous. Teacher's fleeing the state, class sizes increasing, mental health needs not met , good lord the whole thing is collapsing. It is a joke that Oklahoma even tried to recruit the Amazon HQ. The whole nation thinks we are a backward joke. No one wants to put a new business here.
We are trying, as a LAST RESORT: To save this state. Had we waited until summer, as you advocate, another group of irreplaceable teachers would have left. This needs to be fixed now
We are trying, as a LAST RESORT: To save this state. Had we waited until summer, as you advocate, another group of irreplaceable teachers would have left. This needs to be fixed now
Absolutely worthy of a special session. But that prolly wouldn't happen until teachers actually didn't show up for work. Has to be an imminent crisis to get the legislature to act on anything.
I keep hearing that....but somebody is always going to be last. We're a small state in terms of population and personal income, so without any crazy tax increases, Oklahoma will always be towards the bottom.
That being said, we keep electing stupid people that do stupid things. There's s lot of issues that need to be addressed in our education system, but if and when the teachers walk out, the legislature will talk a big game then go back to trying to unconstitutionally ban things before trying to decide if cream gravy or brown gravy or red eye gravy is the official gravy of Oklahoma.....all while procrastinating about trival things like the budget.
I called my stupid f**king conservative rep and told him what a stupid f**king moron he was for not giving teachers a $10,000 raise. Told him dumb f***king republicans are why our state is in this mess and they all need to be replaced with liberal democrats. Problem solved.
Brt, your tone on this issue has changed quite a bit. Why are we not seeing the real you on this issue? You know you want to cut loose and tell us what’s going on. Let er rip!
Given your obvious vocal support for the walk-out, do you think you are qualified to reflect other teacher's opinions? If they speak to you, do you believe that they will honestly debate with you (face-to-face) their real position on the walk-out, or would they likely take the easy road and just accept 'supporting the strike'? I'm not saying your position is wrong. Just that you are so strongly in support of that position, that others may tell you what you want to hear just to avoid confrontation.
Are you also going to provide daycare for those poor families that can't afford to have the nanny come over out of the blue because they have to go to work and their kids can't go to school?
So if they walk out...are they taking vacation? I'm hoping for a tax rebate...
lol. If this walkout is extended, I bet they complain for additional wages when they have to continue teaching through May and June. Like it or not, there are federal guidelines to a minimum number of teaching days in a year.
Bartlesville school district has been a leader in the efforts to have a work stoppage statewide. BVille is having an open to the public school board meeting to discuss what plans are being made around this effort. OEA has really hijacked this effort and tagged on other things besides teacher pay raises in their demands. I don't know that I agree with teachers leaving their classrooms in support of state worker pay raises, etc.
Not to be argumentative because I’ve posted repeatedly that I agree teachers need better compensation. But you have received a raise. The state has mandated minimum salaries that go up every year from the first year of teaching to the 25th year. The only way you didn’t receive a raise is if your school paid way above the minimum for quite some time.
And your annual raises have been better than personal household economic growth: According to federal economic statistics, the median household income in Oklahoma in 2008 was $46,111. In 2016, it was $49,307. Compare that to a veteran 10-year teacher in 2008. The minimum salary would have been $35,950. In 2016, the salary would be $39,350.
So state medium income increased 6.9% from 2008-2016, but teacher compensation increases 9.5%.
Bartlesville School Board just voted to grant teachers up to 10 days to march on OKC. More importantly, in the meeting a citizen group (BvillePoker is a member) proposed a way to pay for all the new money. I didn't like all of the proposal. But it is one I can get behind as it takes into account many items.
If the legislature wants something to vote on. We have a plan that I think the state can get behind.
This site lays out the case for change and a starting proposal to fund everything being asked for.
The Time Is Now Oklahoma
I'm not a big fan of the work stoppage. But at least this way the teachers are working with the administration.
If the legislature wants something to vote on. We have a plan that I think the state can get behind.
This site lays out the case for change and a starting proposal to fund everything being asked for.
The Time Is Now Oklahoma
I'm not a big fan of the work stoppage. But at least this way the teachers are working with the administration.
I hope you get paid more. But that is nowhere near a worthy reason.
I’m not a fan of the tobacco tax. Taxation is done to either raise revenue or change behavior, but cannot be both. If you raise the tobacco tax, behavior will change and the revenue will be lower than expected.
Also, I’m completely in favor of revenue streams, I’d like to see some structural changes in the schools as well (consolidation).
Also, I’m completely in favor of revenue streams, I’d like to see some structural changes in the schools as well (consolidation).
Going in to debt to get an education degree is not a great decision.
Commend BvillePoker for working to come up with alternatives. There is probably no funding plan that everyone will like. And I am certainly not in favor of limiting standard deduction (Note: the table calls it the Romney Plan, but the Romney Plan was on itemized deductions, not standard deductions —- what am I missing?)
And I'm not a fan of tobacco and fuel taxes. I find them regressive. But as an overall plan, I could take the good with the bad.
It is time to be pragmatic.
