Teacher walk-outs in Phoenix area (Tucson: rentals, safety, retirement)

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by jimj

On that same radio program the host said that there's more problems coming because "reportedly" the Tucson School District is diverting some of the money meant for teacher pay raises to other places. I wonder how many other Districts will do the same?

I heard about this in a bumper so I'm guessing you listen to KTAR too. I don't know the details as I didn't hear about it, but it sounds right. And I do see this happening. Chandler School District is trying to ban #RedForEd for what I'm guessing is a similar reason. The only thing I can say is that I somewhat agree with Chandler since teachers aren't supposed to make political statements or anything along those lines on the clock, though the question is, does wearing red mean you want to vote out the board if they ********* or just solidarity in general or just wearing red to just wear red?

That said I still have a problem with the legislature allowing for this. This election cycle needs to be a diaper change and for that I cannot vote for any incumbents at all. If I lived in a district where raises wouldn't be 10% for teachers and 5% for support, I would vote out the school board too.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by mkpunk

I heard about this in a bumper so I'm guessing you listen to KTAR too. I don't know the details as I didn't hear about it, but it sounds right. And I do see this happening. Chandler School District is trying to ban #RedForEd for what I'm guessing is a similar reason. The only thing I can say is that I somewhat agree with Chandler since teachers aren't supposed to make political statements or anything along those lines on the clock, though the question is, does wearing red mean you want to vote out the board if they ********* or just solidarity in general or just wearing red to just wear red?

That said I still have a problem with the legislature allowing for this. This election cycle needs to be a diaper change and for that I cannot vote for any incumbents at all. If I lived in a district where raises wouldn't be 10% for teachers and 5% for support, I would vote out the school board too.

I think banning the shirts is mostly about not risking any accusations of public school employees taking political positions on the job. I don't know about Chandler, but here the local school board was strongly supportive of the demonstrations. Several of the speakers downtown were school board members of various districts.

Personally, I do not support across the board raises in the same amount. Some teachers and some teachers of certain subjects are worth more and others are worth less. Merit, skills, and demand should factor in. I don't think that will happen though as it is difficult in a public setting where wages are known and favoritism and "office politics" is easy to factor above merit.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I think banning the shirts is mostly about not risking any accusations of public school employees taking political positions on the job. I don't know about Chandler, but here the local school board was strongly supportive of the demonstrations. Several of the speakers downtown were school board members of various districts.

Which is why I am split on the issue. It isn't a clear cut issue relating to the anti-political statements at work rules. My issue is is wearing red shirts in it of itself a political statement? I have several red shirts that I have worn on Wednesdays and even the week in the lead up to the walkout.

Personally, I do not support across the board raises in the same amount. Some teachers and some teachers of certain subjects are worth more and others are worth less. Merit, skills, and demand should factor in. I don't think that will happen though as it is difficult in a public setting where wages are known and favoritism and "office politics" is easy to factor above merit.

I agree to an extent because the issue is teachers and support staff across the board were not paid wages consistent with the cost of living the past ten years except for maybe the year prop 1-2-3 was voted and passed by voters.

[Oldhag1]

Sun City is not the topic. Quite a few of you have been engaging in thread hijacking. Any future posts that mention Sun City, implicitly or explicitly, will be deleted regardless of what else it says. Just a reminder: thread hijacking is against the TOS and may result in receiving an infraction.

PLEASE STAY ON TOPIC

[wase4711]

kinda funny, coming from an "oldhag"

[AZ Manager]

Originally Posted by mkpunk

Which is why I am split on the issue. It isn't a clear cut issue relating to the anti-political statements at work rules. My issue is is wearing red shirts in it of itself a political statement? I have several red shirts that I have worn on Wednesdays and even the week in the lead up to the walkouts.

It is now, for now. Couple years from now when this whole thing blows over, assuming it all works out as advertised, it won't be but right now it definitely is.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by AZ Manager

It is now, for now. Couple years from now when this whole thing blows over, assuming it all works out as advertised, it won't be but right now it definitely is.

Here is the thing, some people wear clothes not because they like something or support it, but because it is cool. Ever see retro shirts? I doubt everyone wearing Def Leppard shirts know their stuff beyond radio hits or listened to Slang like I did. Wearing a red shirt doesn't mean you support #RedForEd, just as wearing purple don't mean you support #PurpleForParents. Trust me, I have a few purple shirts and a lot of red and I did wear red for solidarity but there's also several sport teams that have red shirts that I do support namely the Arizona Cardinals and Coyotes. People that think that black and white are part of the problem.

Now I will say that, if you wear a Arizona Educators Association, Arizona Educators United shirt or any number of shirts that came out because of #RedForEd, then yes I can agree, but if you mean to tell me I can't wear the red shirts I've worn LONG BEFORE #RedForEd because I might be supporting #RedForEd by wearing it, I don't know what to tell you. Seriously, I've worn at least two red polos long before #RedForEd (one since 2011) at work as well as two regular shirts with red and even some flannel with red as a dominant color, for at least over an entire year before the West Virginia walkout even happened. My car is red too, might as well tell me to paint that because that's a political statement too... I never put any stickers on my car or shirts so how is a color I've worn throughout my career as an educator a political statement?

Edit: Since Chandler is a school district in question banning red, I hope they know they would ban the color of at least one of their schools. So yeah, that seems a bit too rash don't 'cha think?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

I agree with the mod. Let's stay on topic.
I wonder how many millions in revenue could be generated to increase teachers wages if the cheapskates in Sun City paid there fairshare? Specifically related to the walkout and wages, what district would Sun City pay into?

[Finger Laker]

Careful, talking about sources of public revenue in conjunction with funding public services like education are clearly a hijack in a thread about the need to fund public education

[jimj]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

I agree with the mod. Let's stay on topic.
I wonder how many millions in revenue could be generated to increase teachers wages if the cheapskates in Sun City paid there fairshare? Specifically related to the walkout and wages, what district would Sun City pay into?

Ohhhhhhh, you said the "S" word, I"m telling teacher....