{"id":29450,"date":"2018-03-08T12:03:35","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T18:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=29450"},"modified":"2018-03-14T16:14:15","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T21:14:15","slug":"ready-to-walk-out-oklahoma-teachers-say-enough-is-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/03\/08\/ready-to-walk-out-oklahoma-teachers-say-enough-is-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready To Walk Out: Oklahoma Teachers Say Enough Is Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_29453\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29453\" alt=\"Oklahoma teachers rallied for a $5,000 pay raise at the Capitol on February 12, 2018. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/03\/180212_StepUpOK-WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/03\/180212_StepUpOK-WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/03\/180212_StepUpOK-WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/03\/180212_StepUpOK-WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/03\/180212_StepUpOK-WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Emily Wendler \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oklahoma teachers rallied for a $5,000 pay raise at the Capitol on February 12, 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Many Oklahoma educators are fed up with state lawmakers who have promised teacher pay raises for years but have failed to actually deliver. At their wits end, these teachers are now planning to walk out of their classrooms to push legislators to act.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/413732391&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more--><\/p><p>The Superintendent of Bartlesville Public Schools, Chuck McCauley, says the idea for the walkout started in his district in September. Staff that participated in the last Oklahoma teacher strike in 1990 proposed revisiting the tactic at a school board meeting.<\/p><p>\u201cThere was a lot of support for the idea, from staff, teachers, and parents,\u201d McCauley said.<\/p><p>Talk of a walkout quickly faded because it looked like lawmakers had a plan to raise teacher pay. They introduced a bill to raise taxes during a special legislative session in November, but <a href=\"http:\/\/kgou.org\/post\/capitol-insider-plus-plan-fails-special-session-enters-week-eight\">it failed.<\/a><\/p><p>Lawmakers tried again in February to raise taxes for teacher pay, but <a href=\"http:\/\/ktul.com\/news\/local\/step-up-oklahoma-plan-fails-to-garner-enough-votes-to-pass-house\">failed again<\/a>.<\/p><p>After this second defeat, McCauley says some teachers and staff members were so angry they were ready to walk out right then. He asked them to be patient, and sent around a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tulsaworld.com\/news\/education\/teacher-walkouts-in-oklahoma-public-schools-under-consideration\/article_643d2297-d01c-5d60-9b5a-a0850d0105d0.html\">survey<\/a> to other districts to gauge their interest in suspending schools.<\/p><p>\u201cIf we do this there has to be broad support,\u201d he said.<\/p><p>McCauley quickly learned that the people in his own community were on board.<\/p><p>At a jam-packed school board meeting, teachers, students, parents and business leaders stood side-by-side and voiced their support for a teacher walkout.<\/p><p>Bartlesville Government teacher Bon Bennett said enough is enough.<\/p><p>\u201cPeople have to let their voices be heard, they have to take to the streets, and they have to demand change,\u201d he told the crowd.<\/p><p>High school senior Chloe Cunningham said the only way to stop this statewide problem \u201cis to suspend school and show our representatives that we mean business and we want change.\u201d<\/p><p>The passionate discussion in Bartlesville caught the media\u2019s attention, which prompted similar meetings to play out in other districts and communities around the state.<\/p><p>The teacher walkout idea also exploded on social media.<\/p><p>A Facebook page called \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/257970398074287\/?ref=br_tf\">Oklahoma Teacher Walkout \u2013 The Time Is Now\u2019<\/a> popped up, and a week later has nearly 60,000 members.<\/p><p>Broken Arrow teacher Milli Reynolds is one of the Facebook page members. She says teachers have been fighting long enough for more pay, and more school funding.<\/p><p>\u201cWe have tried phone calls, we have tried emails, we\u2019ve talked to people at the Capitol. For years! Not for just a week or two. Not for just this year,\u201d she said.<\/p><p>At this point she thinks a walkout is the only way to force legislators to act.<\/p><p>West Virginia teachers even joined the Facebook conversation. Educators from the Mountain State <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/03\/06\/us\/west-virginia-teachers-strike\/index.html\">just called off a nine-day strike<\/a> over teacher pay, which pushed lawmakers there to give them the five percent raise they were fighting for.<\/p><p>They\u2019ve been showing solidarity for Oklahoma teachers with comments like, \u201cWest Virginia teachers support you!\u201d And \u201cStand strong!\u201d<\/p><p>A few Oklahoma school boards have already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TulsaPublicSchools\/posts\/10156134244534941\">introduced measures<\/a> supporting their teachers in any protest actions deemed necessary.<\/p><p>While all this buzz was happening, the state\u2019s largest teachers union, the Oklahoma Education Association, was trying to organize a date for the walkout.<\/p><p>The union initially gave lawmakers a deadline in late April to increase teacher pay and school funding or face a statewide school shutdown. That was rejected by throngs of teachers across the state. They said it was weak. They wanted lawmakers and their union to move faster.<\/p><p>So, under the pressure of thousands of educators, union president Alicia Priest announced a change in plans on the OEA\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p><p>\u201cI have listened to the anger and frustrations of teachers from Atoka to Enid\u2014Bartlesville to Altus,\u201d she said in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Oklahoma.Education.Association\/videos\/10157664876594848\/\">online video<\/a>. \u201cOur members are ready to act now. And so we are accelerating our strategy. Today, we are putting lawmakers on notice. They must work swiftly to follow the law and pass an education budget by April 1<sup>st<\/sup>.\u201d<\/p><p>If nothing is done, the union will call for statewide school closures beginning April 2<sup>nd<\/sup>.<\/p><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many Oklahoma educators are fed up with state lawmakers who have promised teacher pay raises for years but have failed to actually deliver. At their wits end, these teachers are now planning to walk out of their classrooms to push legislators to act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":29453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[780,781,779],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29450"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29497,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29450\/revisions\/29497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}