Protest Successful!

Friday was an in-service day, which meant that all teachers were supposed to gather at Lathrop at 8am for seminars and lectures related to teaching.

We showed up at 7 instead. Teachers gathered, picked up signs, and picketed up and down in front of Lathrop High School for a hour. There were 200 to 300 teachers walking, so many that we ran out of signs early on and started splitting double-sided signs so two people could carry them. We walked from the corner of Cowles down to the walkover bridge and back. Hundreds of teachers stood out in the cold morning air and waved at passing traffic. A solid line of people stood from the traffic light to the first light pole on the side of Airport road, with enough people left over to stand along Cowles and to march up and down in front of Lathrop, careful to never step foot on district property.

Signs like "Richest State, Poorest Teachers," "How do you spell relief? CONTRACT," "Working without a Contract!," and mine, "Will Teach for Fuel" dotted the morning air. I got several chuckles from fellow teachers, and one fellow told me I won the prize for the best sign. (Thank you!) I hope I made my point. Cars and trucks honked their support as they drove by, and we traded stories amongst ourselves (What are you doing at your school? We're walking in together at 7:30 at mine...) while we stood and waved.

Right before 8 o'clock, we put away the signs and gathered in front of the school, covering the front walk, the hill with the rock, and the lawn until, at a sign from our union president, we all began to file into the building. Hundreds of us bottlenecked at the doors until we had all passed through the entry and into the auditorium for the first meeting.

Looking around I saw so many union shirts (blue with our logo on the pocket), so many smiling but determined faces. When all of us gather like that, so much strength in one place, how can we help but win?

We spent the next two hours watching a couple of presentations on the anniversary of Alaska statehood, and then breaking into smaller seminars on interest topics. Two of the seminars I attended were very interesting, and the opportunity to talk with other math teachers about content is always helpful. None the less, I'd have rather been in the classroom with my kids.

The in-service was missing several presentations. People didn't feel comfortable presenting in the current climate. It was unfortunate, since I'd really wanted to see one of them, but I completely understand their feeling. It was a little uncomfortable being addressed by the district administration, and being at the conference at all. I can't imagine presenting at it. I didn't see it, but one of my friends said that as we all walked into the building that morning, the Superintendent (Dr. Nancy Wagner) tried to greet people. Apparently the crowd simply split and went around her, with an area of dead space surrounding her as she tried to make eye contact with the teachers. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say she is a very brave lady to try it. One would think she'd know better, but maybe she really doesn't understand that we are that upset. Dr. Wagner, we are very upset.

Maybe, just maybe, the sight of hundreds of teachers on the march will convince them.