Hitting Us With Their Best Shot

As Pat Benetar so eloquently said, “Put up your dukes, let’s get down to it. Hit me with your best shot.” Unfortunately, my employer is taking me up on it. We have been on strike for 5 days and I just got word that Day 6 is happening for sure. The sad development is that teachers are becoming the scapegoats during the strike in my district. It's easy to place the blame on the teachers because we are on the strike line and visibly NOT in the classroom. We are also the ones that the parents, kids, and community know. On the other hand, the board members and highly paid district employees might be passing you on the street and you might never know. Their arrogance and stubbornness are disgraceful, yet their invisibility during this time keeps them safely in the shadows.

In the meantime, many teachers (including myself) are becoming physically ill and emotionally exhausted over the fact that our students are STILL out of the classroom. Rumor has it that the district wants us to feel the burn by keeping us out on strike for a while longer. How selfish and vindictive is that??

The board approved administrative raises of 16.84% over the summer BEFORE looking at teacher salaries. The irony is that the administration is supposed to SUPPORT the teachers, not the other way around. We teach the children. The teachers have an enormous responsibility that should be justly compensated.

The teachers union has been trying to bargain with the district since August, while we were IN the classroom. It went nowhere. We want to be TEACHING! But we are professionals that demand to be paid as professionals. We must stand up for better wages and conditions because it has to start somewhere.



We would never have a Cesar Chavez Day off or know the name Dolores Huerta if they had agreed to accept their conditions because that's the way it had always been. Change must begin somewhere. Teaching deserves to be a socially and financially respected profession.