I just sent this letter in an e-mail to the board, I hope it helps you. I tried to make it as accurate is possible. Hopefully I succeeded. Stay strong. (Please excuse any grammar errors, I am a math person, not an English person :) ) Dear District 205 Administrators and Board Members, My name is Peter Kay. While I am an educator, I am not in (and never have been) involved in your district, nor am I a resident of Galesburg. I know you are receiving many e-mails, letters, and phone calls at the moment. You may be thinking why should I even read this e-mail? What can a person like me have to say? Why do I even care? It turns out I can say a lot. While I have not been involved in or seen a teacher’s strike as an educator, I have seen it as a student. I know what they are going through, which makes me care a lot about what is happening. When I was a junior in high school, the teachers in my district went on a strike that erased regular classes for the last two weeks of the school year. The result: mutual distrust and hurt by everyone involved in the district that lasted for many years. While watching this strike, I cannot help but witness history repeating itself in your district. I see teachers standing up not just for their rights but for the rights of their students to be educated in a safe classroom environment by qualified, respected individuals. I see teachers willing to compromise by giving up key provisions they were fighting for in hopes that the board will compromise on the key issues that truly matter to the teachers. I see students who have lost (or at least delayed) their first day of kindergarten. I see seniors who have lost the first days of their final year of public schooling. I see all the other students in between who may or may not understand what is going on. I see the student athletes that you used as pawns in your sick game to win concessions from the GEA without regard for anyone but yourselves. Lastly, I see you, the board and administration, repeatedly reversing your promise not only to the GEA but the press as well to meet with the GEA and negotiate “when the union decides they want to” and that your “door is open.” Not only do you choose to drag this out by refusing to meet regularly, but you also choose not to negotiate. In my opinion, you choose not to compromise. We have seen and heard what the GEA has compromised on. What have you compromised on? They have addressed your monetary concerns (from what I have read), what have you addressed of the teachers’ concerns? Honestly, how can you compromise by refusing to meet regularly? How does this do any good or show you have any concern for getting students back in the classroom where they belong? I hope that you have an answer because I certainly do not. The only thing I can gather from all of this is a childish attempt to prolong the strike in hopes the teachers will get tired and give up. I do not see that outcome happening. Not only are these teachers strong, but they also have support from many members not just of your community, but also from people in surrounding communities as well. While you hide in your offices and homes, these teachers stand outside, day and night, rain or shine continuing to teach their students. Teaching them by setting an example. Showing students to stand up for what they believe is right, to not give in to frustration, and to compromise to get what is important. Now what have you shown? What example have the administrators and board members supposedly managing this district shown to all these students? You have shown it is okay not to answer or respond to all of a person’s (or in this case a group’s) concerns. You have shown that it is okay to be inflexible and refused to compromise. You have shown it is acceptable to try to use other people as pawns to get your way. You have shown that it is okay to sacrifice the education and well-being of your own students in the hopes that the teachers will back down and you do not have to compromise. While the examples above are less than ideal, you still have a chance to do some good. You can do this by meeting with the teachers and actually compromising instead of trying to just get the GEA to give in to everything. There is still time. I would be lying if I said the strike that I witnessed when I was in high school did not affect me to this day. It did as it will everyone involved in your current strike. Please do not prolong this and make it worse. Please set a good example for all your students and employees. Please show me and the community there is still good in, and also a reason to, trust that the school board and administration actually is concerned about their students and employees and wants them back in the schools as soon as possible. Thank you for your time, Peter Kay
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 08:29:50 +0000
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