Thoughts on teacher strike

Our teachers were on strike for about three weeks a couple of years ago and children did not go to school. Only administration was onsite and certainly not enough administrators to adequately supervise children. What is the purpose of sending children to school when there is a strike?

Whenever there is a strike, there are not any classes.

So if teachers and support staff are on strike, AND school is open, who is watching/teaching the kids?

In our area there would be school wide subs.  How they would have enough to staff all the schools I don't really know, but when our teachers threatened to strike a few years ago that is what we were told would happen.  

Unless there is an official announcement that school is closed I would probably send my kid to school.

We are allowed very few missed days, excused and unexcused - it doesn't matter, so I would be concerned about it taking one of those few days and that later in the year he/she might get sick or have a dentist apt. or something.

college teachers are currently on strike here & it is supremely pissing me off. My son would dearly love to be receiving the education THAT WE PAID FOR!!!


and around here, if teachers are on strike, school is cancelled

Totally depends on the state laws. Some states require a bachelors degree and background check.  Other states just want slightly more than a breathing adult.

I voted send them to school, but I guess I would only do that if she was still getting an education and not just sitting around talking with friends/goofing off for 6 hours a day while a sub sat up front and did nothing.

Being a sub is so hard on a regular school day (I've been one!) that I can't imagine the chaos that would ensue when kids felt like they had free rein!

Melissa

I always thought schools were closed when there was teachers were on strike. If ours were on strike and the schools were open I would not send my kid. First, as others have said, who is supervising the kids? Obviously no real teaching would go on even with subs because I'd bet that a lot of kids would still be absent. So the teacher wouldn't leave anything new since the absent kids would miss it. 

The thing about subs also...I'm a substitute teacher and I would never cross the teachers' picket line anyway. We are only required to work a certain minimum number of days per quarter and I go over that by a lot. So stepping in for teachers who are on strike is not something I would do, because they are on strike for a good reason. Teachers are so underpaid and underappreciated that I do what I can to support them and crossing their picket line wouldn't be on my list.

And, by sending my kids to school I'd be asking them to cross the picket line. Instead of doing that we'd have a lesson at home about the history of unions in our country, labor laws, etc.

I come from a good old union town (Pittsburgh) and it's kind of ingrained that you don't cross picket lines. 

Would the schools actually be open if the teachers are on strike? I can't see it, we had a strike in our district when I was in high school and school was cancelled until it ended.

eWow!  As a sub, I'm pretty offended by this statement.  In my district, subs are educators with teaching degrees and we are fully capable of working without someone "keeping an eye" on us.  However, school would be closed if the teachers went on strike (and I wouldn't cross their picket line anyway).  

I would send them. The labor concerns are between the teachers and the admin. I pay a lot of school taxes and expect that accommodations would be made. And I have no issues crossing a picket line. If those picketing cannot act like adults then any improper behavior lessens their bargaining position, IMHO.

In NYS we have the Taylor law which prohibits strikes by public employees. Of course the idiot Union President for the City of Bflo schools has ignored that in the past and been jailed. TG I am NOT in that shitty district.

not all states/district's require teaching licenses. Some are a diploma and a background check (either high school or bachelor's)

Question : Why does support of the teachers trump my kid's right to be educated? Again I don't believe in strikes and live in a state where contracts that have expired stay in place until an new agreement is reached. It is against the law for public employees to strike in NYS. Strikes disrupt many for the alleged benefit of few. Have a rally after school or at a school board meeting. Not reporting to work and disrupting kids education - and disrupting families who have to scramble for care - does not warrant support in my opinion.