In a statewide vote, teachers across Arizona decided last week to move forward with a planned walkout, set to start Thursday, April 26. Teachers across the state supported the measure at a rate of 78 percent, leading to strikes and school closures statewide.
Camp Verde Unified School District has not officially announced a specific plan for Thursday’s walkout, but the district’s website posted a notice reading “All schools will be closed April 26th and April 27th. No Friday Camps this week.”
CVUSD administrators meting Monday afternoon to determine a plan of action. Consult the school district or The Camp Verde Journal website for the most up-to-date information.
Clarkdale-Jerome School District announced a full closure of all school services on Thursday in response to the walkout. All Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District schools will be closed, though Bright Bears preschool at Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School and Casper at Oak Creek Preschool will remain open. All extracurricular events or use of the facilities at COCSD will be canceled, as well.
District administration intends to send out letters and phone calls to parents in order to ensure that there is as little confusion as possible.
Ninety percent of COCSD teachers voted for Thursday’s walkout, according to teachers involved in organizing the Red for Ed movement in Cottonwood.
“The sleeping giant has awoken,” said Brenda Lewis, a fourth-grade teacher at Cottonwood Elementary School who has become an informal leader of COCSD teachers joining the statewide movement. “Teachers have been sitting down for a long time, but enough was enough. It was time to make a move.”
The walkout vote signals a rejection of a proposal by Gov. Doug Ducey to raise teacher pay by 20 percent by 2020. The teachers expressed three issues with Ducey’s proposal: They do not trust that he and the legislature will follow through on their promise; they worry that, without having specified new tax increases, the state government will finance teacher raises through cuts to social programs that help communities; and, perhaps most of all, they have a concern that raising teacher pay does not address the more serious issue of school funding across the board.
“This has nothing to do with raises,” said Mike Gilboy, a seventh- and eighth-grade math teacher at Cottonwood Middle School. “This has to do with school supplies, with paint on the walls.”
Teachers frequently expressed anger at the cuts to education funding that came when the economy crashed in 2008, but have not rebounded in the years since then. Many expressed solidarity with non-teaching support staff at schools, who have often been left out of previous teacher pay raises, and have been cut in large numbers over the past decade.
“We found ourselves with teachers and then a principal, and nothing in between,” said Cottonwood Elementary School Principal Jessica Vocca, who maintained that she was officially taking a neutral stance on the teacher demonstrations but was giving out high fives and hugs to her school’s teachers at a walk-in on Monday, April 23.
COCSD is trying to find a way to avoid closing school on Thursday, hoping to have it serve as a nonacademic day of school with alternative programs. Cafeterias will be open for lunch, serving kids in the community even as teachers strike.
“This is the most passive walkout ever,” said Sara Bowers, a sixth-grade math and science teacher at CMS. “We’re going to do everything that’s needed of us except teach.”
Teachers at Mingus Union High School have fewer options to keep things functional during the teacher walkout on Thursday, due to concerns about upcoming AP testing and graduation, which could be disrupted by closing school for a day.
“It weighs heavily on us because it would really affect these kids,” said Jason Teague, an art teacher at Mingus who has become his district’s informal leader. He points to plans students have made for graduation, with family members already having booked plane tickets, and not wanting to have to postpone the end of the school year by shutting down the school for the day.
Unlike the near-unanimous support from COCSD teachers, 54 percent of MUHSD teachers supported the walkout. Staff at Mingus have been widely supportive of the Red for Ed movement, participating in walk-in demonstrations and intending to join teachers statewide. Nevertheless, they expressed concern at the impact it could have on students.
“It’s not a decision being made lightly,” said Cindy Forsythe, a counselor at Mingus who voted in favor of the walkout. “It’s not our intention to disrupt celebrations of students and parents of graduation.”
Teachers at schools across the Verde Valley will be joining together for a demonstration on Thursday at the intersection of State Routes 89A and 260 to fight for the goals of the Red for Ed movement. In addition, teachers will carpool to Phoenix to join the statewide protests at the capitol to push for increased education funding. Teachers are also continued walk-in demonstrations before school begins on every morning this week.
“We’re going to be there en masse with our school district banner behind us,” said Pam Costello, who teaches music at Cottonwood Elementary School. “The governor and state legislature don’t recognize the dire needs. We are in dire straits.”
Many teachers expressed hope that a resolution could be reached before Thursday, eliminating the need for a walkout. But they have taken a big step to support one, in a movement that is already changing Arizona politics.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
