Last week brought a diverse milieu, from sunny days, to rain, to low temperatures and 50 mph winds. The environmental diversity failed to change the scene in front of Kidwell Automotive in Thomas: teachers and service personnel picketed all week.
As of Friday, all 55 counties in West Virginia were still closed, marking the seventh day of the work stoppage. Governor Justice’s promise of a five percent pay raise showed a glimmer of compromise, but as the proposed raise bottlenecked in the legislature and a PEIA solution did not bloom, teachers remained out of their classrooms.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about the insurance,” Lauren Hicks, a special education teacher at Davis Thomas Elementary Middle School, said. Teachers stressed that a pay raise is secondary to securing a PEIA funding source that will be approved by state legislature.
A PEIA task force was created, but without specific details and confirmed commitments, many teachers doubt the effectiveness of the task force. “It’s to make us feel better that they are working toward finding a fix,” Val Eye, a 4th grade teacher at Davis Thomas, said. “We want to see something in writing,” Megan Helmick, a 3rd grade teacher at Davis Thomas said.
Teachers are getting paid while on strike, because they are contractually obligated to make up every day that they miss in order to fulfill their 200 days of work. Right now, make up days are continuing into the first week of June.
Tuesday through Friday of Tucker County’s schedule spring break are now school days.
In addition to Thomas, Tucker County teachers made their presence known in Charleston throughout last week. On Friday, county school board superintendents met with Senator Mitch Carmichael.
Hicks, Helmick, and Eye all expressed gratitude to the way Superintendent Campbell and the Tucker County Board of Education supported teachers through this process.
“I really have very little involvement in it, simply from the standpoint that the resolution for this is going to come out of Charleston,” Superintendent Campbell said. “First and foremost we want our kids back in school, but our board and I understand why they have taken the stance that they have taken,” he continued.
While comparing this work stoppage to the one of 1990, the biggest difference the Tucker County teachers noted was that the county administration backed the teachers’ requests and motives.
The teachers also emphasized the overwhelming support they received from parents. On Friday, when winds whipped viciously over the Highlands, the picketing teachers sought reprieve in a back room of Kidwell’s. Provisions, including donuts, coffee, and hand warmers, were brought to the teachers, many of which came from parents.
“The community has been more supportive, than not supportive,” Eye said. “Of course, there are the ones that aren’t, but there are way more that are supportive.”
Teachers throughout the state received some backlash for the work stoppage, including some retorts from Governor Justice. “We don’t want to stand out here, believe me,” Helmick said. “That first day we walked out of the classroom, it was a little sad, because we didn’t know when we would come back,” Hicks said.
As this work stoppage adds to West Virginia’s rich history of union involvement, some teachers are using this as an educational opportunity. A handful of students from Tucker County that participate in the Youth in Government program visited Charleston last week.
