'Twas the night before the strike, and other thoughts from a "selfish teacher"

'Twas the night before the strike, and at each school site,

Not a sub plan was written, late into the night.

The classrooms were left with the utmost of care,

Though the district leaves buildings in severe disrepair;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds;

While visions improving their futures danced in their teacher’s heads;

And so the next morning with teacher’s dressed in black,

We’ll encourage the district to have our students’ backs,

Out on school sidewalks there will arise such a clatter,

In hopes that the news crews can see what is the matter.

Then away to the district we’ll drive like a flash,

The place with too many administrators and not enough cash.

The sun on the signs of a disgruntled union,

Will give reasons to hopefully clear up confusion,

For when the district makes decisions that seem quite ominous,

We just want them to keep their promises,

United together our union will stand,

We’ll whistle, and shout, and call our demands:

"Now, arts! now, music! now smaller class sizes!

On, psychologists! on, nurses! on, counselors and fair compromises!

So while right now it feels like our district’s the worst—

I hope we can come together to put students first!

Tomorrow my teacher's union goes on strike. We avoided one a year or so ago at the last minute. (Literally the night before we found out we weren't going to strike--the mayor stepped in and the superintendent and union signed a contract.) That was good, but now the district doesn't want to honor all parts of our contract. That was not good, so with a list of thirty odd complaints of unfair labor practices, we'll strike. But what makes me angry is the portrayal of teachers being selfish--that we are pushing for more money for us at the expense of beneficial programs for our students. That because we want our contract honored, students will lose these resources, since the district can't afford all of it. But it's a false dichotomy. The district is in a financial mess right now, which is neither the teachers, nor the students fault, and yet we are expected to carry the burden of sacrificing so the district can stay afloat. It's like when the government shuts down, and the people who shut it down somehow still get paid, while people who need the money more, and are  who the government is supposed to be serving, don't get paid and suffer for other's mistakes.

Our superintendent has a lot of talk that sounds promising--on paper, our goals are the same, to provide a quality education for all of our students, and yet the decisions I see our district make--spending lots of money to prepare for the last strike instead of sitting down and meeting with us, spending lots of money suing the union (which didn't get far, because it wasn't a valid case), calling for a meeting with the union this time around, but refusing to enter the room and talk, losing a massive surplus of money so that our district may get taken over by the county--doesn't seem to prioritize students. The first things to get cut are new teachers and district programs that are actually beneficial. They ask teachers for "shared sacrifice" but it certainly doesn't feel shared. We sacrifice enough. We work well beyond our contracted hours. We pay money out of pocket to enrich our students' education. We make far less than similarly qualified professionals in other fields. And now you want to tell me I'm selfish because I want to make sure that money saved from revisiting the teacher health care plan should go directly to services like more nurses and counselors for my students, and not so the district can squander that money away as well? That I'm selfish because I want the district to honor a signed contract? That regardless of their financial situation, I care about the precedent it could set for other districts and unions if ours can pick and choose what parts of a contract to honor and not have any consequences? If that makes me selfish, I'll be selfish, so my students can have a brighter, fairer future.