Bus drivers refuse to cross teacher picket lines in Gary

[Omaha Steve]

Copyright 2006 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved

The Associated Press State & Local Wire
August 23, 2006 Wednesday 4:33 PM GMT
STATE AND REGIONAL
584 words
Bus drivers refuse to cross teacher picket lines in Gary
By CLIFF BRUNT, Associated Press Writer
GARY Ind.

Unionized school bus drivers refused to cross picket lines Wednesday on the first day of school as striking teachers carried protest signs and handed out fliers to parents in the first work stoppage in the district in 22 years.

Teachers carrying signs that read "No Contract, No Work" picketed all three entrances to Gary Westside High School, the largest school in the district of 16,000 pupils. Teachers, who have not had a contract since December 2004, last staged a strike in 1984.

School and union officials broke off several hours of negotiations early in the morning without resolution after hundreds of people packed a union hall on Tuesday for a rally in support of the strike.

Gary Community Schools Corp. officials said they expected a full day of classes, with substitute teachers and administrators filling in for the strikers.

"We are going ahead with business as usual," spokesman Eric D. Johnson said late Tuesday.

But mostly empty buses were dropping off children further away from the school than they normally would, as drivers refused to go onto school grounds.

Teachers on the picket line said only about 100 students showed up for classes at the school, which normally has an enrollment of about 1,400. Students who were leaving the building said there were only six or 10 adults inside and agreed that about 100 children came to school.

Those who showed up were sent to the auditorium then split up by grade level to classrooms, students said.

"They have somebody so-called 'teaching a lesson' to these kids," said junior Taleesa Malone, who decided to leave.

Picketing teacher Foster Stephens, who was part of the negotiating team, said both sides are still talking.

"I'm very optimistic that something will get done today," he said. "I hope so."

Teachers began picketing Monday the day they were supposed to report to their classrooms for the start of school. More than 800 teachers and paraprofessionals voted unanimously Friday to strike.

Teachers said they hoped the work stoppage would be short, but that they were willing to stay off the job until they had an acceptable deal.

"We've reached a boiling point and when you let things go too long, then they collapse," teacher Sherrell Garth said Tuesday. "We have a collapsing system here."

State figures show that Gary teachers had an average salary of $52,433 last school year, about $5,000 more than the statewide average.

The district struggles with discipline problems and one of the state's highest poverty rates while also having some of the lowest scores on standardized tests among Indiana's schools. The district also has had small increases in state funding as the estimated number of pupils for this school year is down from some 22,000 a decade ago.

Earline Murphy, whose daughter Tamara was starting 11th grade, was disappointed.

"It's sad," she said. "They're already having trouble passing this ISTEP. The school board should have already had this taken care of by now. Our children, the black children, always get the bottom of the buck."

On Monday, school officials made a new offer to teachers calling for a 1.5 percent stipend, retroactive to 2005, and 2 percent salary increases for 2006 and 2007. Teachers' shares of health insurance premiums would rise to 10 percent from 7 percent previously.

Jeanetta Staples said Tuesday she was worried about the safety of her 10 grandchildren if they attended school during a teacher strike.

"I feel very uncomfortable about the children being there without the teachers there," she said.
August 24, 2006

[Bill McBlueState]

1. my district's teachers struck when I was in first grade

It was an educational experience for me. As a six-year-old, I was a little scared by the picket lines, but I began to get an idea of the importance of solidarity and fighting for fair treatment.

My parents decided I should continue going to school, but I remember what a lame excuse the scabs were for real teachers. We spent a lot of time on the playground pretending we were having nature walks, and we made a lot of stuff out of construction paper. I don't remember having reading or math class.

After about a month, they closed the schools outright for a week and negotiated a settlement.