St. Paul Educators are Striking Because their Students are Suffering
The dedicated educators in St. Paul, MN that went on strike Tuesday know full well that it takes wraparound supports for the city’s neediest children to have a fair and substantive opportunity to learn. They’ve gone on strike after ten months of failed contract negotiations because their students are suffering—and their #1 demand is more mental health supports. We see their fierce determination as an act of love.
St Paul, MN: public #schools are closed today, March 10, due to the @SPFE28 teacher's union strike.
We spoke with some of the strikers, who told us their #1 demand is more #MentalHealth support for their students, some of whom "face tremendous trauma in their day-to-day lives."
As Labor Notes reports:
“There are so many kids with so many issues,” said middle school teacher Leah Van Dassor. “Kids are depressed because they have problems at home. They don’t have anyone to talk to.”St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) Vice President Erica Schatzlein sees a wide range of needs in her work as an elementary teacher with English language learners.“A students that had a parent pass away, instead of acting out, becomes completely withdrawn,” she said. A newly homeless student “has a meltdown, and I have to evacuate the classroom.”In addition to its mental health demands, the union is asking for more bilingual teacher’s aides and limits on class size for special education.“It’s too bad that all these important social services fall on the shoulder of the schools, but they do,” said Van Dassor, who is also on the bargaining team. “We have to try to figure out a way to help.”
To systematize this greater, holistic understanding of public schools and movements working to improve them, Schott released the Loving Cities Index. The Index measures access to 24 community and school-based supports, from clean air to unemployment, from healthy food to public transit.
Key measures in the Loving Cities Index include in-school support staff and mental health supports — and it's going to take broad and dynamic grassroots movements to move the needle.
Demands like these are part and parcel of a longstanding grassroots effort to create CONTINUE READING: St. Paul Educators are Striking Because their Students are Suffering | Schott Foundation for Public Education