Student Teacher Perspective on School Strike

One interesting and unexpected lesson that I have taken away from student teaching is that there is a lot of politics in education. I'm not saying it's good or it's bad, but there are a lot of people involved! Between teachers, students, taxpayers, unions, school boards, and administrators, there are many different people coming to the table all to serve the community through education.

My last week of student teaching involved a three day strike. The teachers at Athens Area High School have been without a contract for 3.5 years, and negotiations sadly were not going very well.

I was able to attend a school board meeting held the Tuesday night before the strike happened, and it was very interesting to hear the many remarks from teachers, parents, and taxpayers. Unfortunately, the school board was not answering questions at the meeting, but it was eye-opening to hear all of the different viewpoints.

Here is a newspaper article from the school board meeting.

 There are so many items to consider: Changing graduation, halting state testing, changing the school year, what about childcare, how can students get lunch if they need it? Many different items were brought up, and I was very glad to be at the meeting  but could certainly understand the frustration of not having very much information. As a student teacher at the High School, I work with the students everyday who were just as confused and apprehensive as I was, and also with the teachers who were unable to talk about the situation. I definitely understood and appreciated the struggle for the teachers who wanted to share but could not.

The strike went from Monday to Wednesday.

 One stressful part was figuring out the logistics for our field trip on Monday. We had six students competing in the Regionals Public Speaking competition. After several phone calls and emails, Mr. Steinfelt and I were both able to go on the trip as long as the FFA paid for the transportation. This was very exciting, and I was glad to see the Union and School District all working together for the students.



Some of the teachers logged it and walked around 45 miles in the 3 day strike!

Throughout the strike, teachers picketed in the morning and performed community service in the afternoon. From helping out at the firehouse to providing free lunches for students, the teachers gave back to the Athens community.

While the school board and union still have not been able to reach an agreement, the School Union decided to end the strike for the students. In order to maintain a speedy graduation and continue with the school year the union agreed to end. However, we are all hoping that the negotiations committee will continue to work hard to write a fair contract!

My biggest take-away from this experience and other conversations with Mr. Steinfelt is to be involved in the community so that they will come and support you if things like this happen. It is also important to be involved and aware about school board happenings and what the union is doing. We are all hopeful that this will not cause major rifts in the lovely community of Athens.

Best
Sarabeth