After hearing from teachers and administrators on Monday night, April 23, the five-member Mingus Union High School District Governing Board voted unanimously to close MUHS on Thursday, April 26. The closure is in response to plans by teachers to join the statewide teacher walkout on that day.
The canceled day of school will be made up by requiring Mingus seniors to come in for four hours on Friday, May 25, allowing them to complete their required hours and graduate on time without any issues.
The decision came with assurances from Mingus teachers that school would be open and running normally on Friday, April 27, and Monday, April 29.
“We are asking you to trust us,” said Craig Mai, a math teacher at Mingus, during the meeting.
Teachers requested the closure on Thursday to give the chance for many of them to travel to the State Capitol in Phoenix in order to join teachers from all over the state in a demonstration aimed at the Legislature.
“We will be ready to open for business, a regular school day, on April 27,” Mai said.
School board members expressed support for the goals of the teachers, though they nevertheless talked about the gravity of this difficult decision.
“This is a difficult position for me to be in,” board member Anthony Lozano said, but he utlimately supported the closure with what he later said were “no reservations.”
“You are making a statement that we’ve heard. It’s a statement that we should listen to,” Lozano said.
“If we teach our kids to advocate, are we not setting the example for what we inspire them to be?” Superintendent Penny Hargrove said, recommending to the board to close school.
Hargrove argued that while keeping kids home from school for one day would not be a benefit to their education, the lesson of seeing their teachers fight for them could be.
Kylie Densmore, a Mingus senior and student body president, spoke in favor of the teachers on behalf of the studen body.
“As a student, I see our staff that’s been so great in teaching us for the past four years and supporting us in whatever we want to do,” she said. “I’d be totally willing to give up a day of my summer, or whatever else we need, to support them.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551 or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
