A letter from an Arizona teacher

 

“Teachers across this country need to organize a national strike”

A letter from an Arizona teacher

14 May 2018

The WSWS is publishing a letter it received from an Arizona teacher who participated in the state-wide walkout from April 26 to May 3.

Arizona teachers have been punished by their local school districts this past week for their walkout. On Friday, May 4, teachers returned to their classrooms knowing the decision had been made to close schools for the summer on the same scheduled date. Local school districts emailed staff on Monday to let us know that students do not have to make up days missed from the walkout, but the teachers do.

Mesa Public Schools, which is the largest district in Arizona, announced that teachers will be held accountable to work the extended six days. School principals advised staff that we are not allowed to use personal or sick days during the six-day time period. Staff will be required to make up every day missed due to illness, planned vacations, or doctor appointments. Teachers will also have to sign in when they arrive to school and sign out at the end of the day. Staff that teaches summer school will lose 20 percent of their pay because the district states they cannot be paid simultaneously for two different jobs.

At a recent school meeting, we were told Arizona school districts will be monitoring our personal Facebook pages as well. Teachers were warned that we need to delete any reference of working for our specific school districts on our personal Facebook site if we have posted photos, comments, or videos of the RedforEd movement. A school principal warned that the district is looking for anything on teachers’ Facebook that would discredit us personally and give them reason to fire or sue us.

Last Friday, Mesa Public School…

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