Welcome To Your Subpar Middle School: Banning Teachers Start School Year With a Strike

10Aug
by Leticia Chavez-Garcia

Banning Unified School District in Riverside County (California) is currently on strike. The teachers chose the first 3 days of schools to strike over the districts change in hours of a local middle school without informing its teachers…allegedly. The hour change happened last year and was approved by admin and the Board of Education.

Let’s recap. The district added 8 minutes per period to the middle school schedule. This moves seems legitimate, especially given the fact that the school has abysmal academic scores. That move prompted the teacher union to gripe and complain that they had not negotiated the times or more money for the additional hour added to the teaching day. In fact, they say that teachers are now working without compensation for that time and that they shouldn’t have to work for free!

I will remind you that teachers are salaried employees and their workday (after the additional minutes) is still only from 7:45 AM to 2:40 PM. Except for Thursday, the day ends at 12:39 PM, and I suspect there is some teacher training or prep time during that time. Even though many teachers leave the site at 12:39 PM anyway on Thursday.

And finally, this is a chronically low performing school. Today is the 3rd day of the strike because they chose to strike on the first three days of the 2018-2019 school year. Nothing says welcome to your crappy middle school education like a bunch of union drama queens blocking the classrooms. Wait! Who are schools for?  

Here is the bell schedule with the added times.  

What do you think?

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Leticia Chavez-Garcia

Leticia Chavez-Garcia is a Mother, Grandmother, former Middle School Teacher, former Member of a School Board of Education and an Education Advocate for hundreds of parents and students in the Inland Empire. Having become a mother at 15, Leticia knows what it’s like to be a single mother trying to navigate the education system. Leticia received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters’ Degree in Education Technology from Cal State Fullerton in her 30’s. Leticia has used her knowledge and experience to help hundreds of families as an Education Advocate in the Inland Empire and currently works as an Education Specialist.

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