Minneapolis public school teachers and supporters marched Tuesday from the Minneapolis Nutrition Center to John B. Davis Educational Center on the first day of their strike, the first for Minneapolis teachers since 1970.
The march, held by the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, drew a crowd that stretched multiple blocks. The crowd chanted “one day longer, one day stronger” and “MFT for kids,” while also carrying signs stating their demands for better wages, smaller class sizes, mental health support and more.
“The time is now,” said Marcia Howard, an activist and Roosevelt High School English teacher. “We’re asking for things that the community agrees we deserve, their kids deserve, our colleagues deserve, this entire city deserves, in order to have equitable education across the board.”
MFT, the union representing Minneapolis teachers during negotiations with the district, has been negotiating with the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education for weeks. Monday marked the final day a strike could’ve been avoided, but the district failed to meet the MFT’s demands, leaving over 29,000 students without teachers.
“We’ve accepted contracts that weren’t the best, but we’ve had to swallow them and continue to teach because that’s our calling,” Howard said. “It got to a point where the things that we were asking for that we thought were reasonable, that we thought were decent, were being thrown back in our faces as if they were undoable.”
School Superintendent Ed Graff cited a $26 million budget shortfall for next year that would be $97 million without one-time federal funding. He said the teachers’ proposals would cost roughly $166 million annually beyond what’s currently budgeted.
“We have all these priorities that we want to have happen. And we don’t have the resources. And someone’s got to be able to say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do it,'” Graff said to the Associated Press.
As Howard spoke in front of marchers gathered at John B. Davis Educational Center, she noted that this strike isn’t just for the educators, but for the students of the district as well.
“We could be anywhere in the world but we with these kids. We love these kids,” Howard continued, asking the crowd “What about the kids?”
The crrowd responded, “Exactly.”
One of the union’s demands is to raise the starting salary for 90% of education support professionals to $35,000 from the current salary of $24,000.
“Under no circumstance are we going to back down from our eager demands of ESP’s earning a living wage,” said Greta Callahan, the chapter president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. “Everything is different today. And one day longer, one day stronger.”
St. Paul teachers nearly found themselves on strike with Minneapolis educators, but were able to reach a tentative agreement with St. Paul Public Schools around 8:30 p.m. Monday. The deal will increase wages and student mental health staffing.
While Minneapolis teachers went on strike, some parents were left struggling to find childcare for their young children.
To combat this, some community centers and Young Men’s Christian Associations in the Twin Cities opened their doors to children Tuesday to give parents childcare during the strike. Some centers, including the Blaisdell YMCA, have said they will remain open to accepting children daily until the strike ends.
“I’m thankful that the Y allowed us to continue to work and do things to take a lot of the stress off of parents,” Teresa Herriage, whose son attends kindergarten at Green Central Park Elementary in Minneapolis, said.
For some parents like Herriage, the teachers strike did not affect their daily routine.
“I’m dropping him off at the same time as normal, and I’m going to pick him up like I do, usually, with his after-school program,” Herriage said.
However, for other parents, the lack of in-school daycare has been a constant cause of stress since strike rumors began.
“(Monday), while I was supposed to be working my full-time job, I’m calling around to try to find where people are putting their kids when they have a full-time job,” a Minneapolis parent who wished to stay anonymous said.
Although the parent had to find a place to send her child, she said she stands behind the teachers and what they are demanding.
“I was kind of appalled that the teachers even had to ask for these things,” the parent said. “I can’t imagine over half of my income as a fully educated, fully employed professional going towards rent and then to have to try to make a living off of that when they’re doing some of the hardest work, and the most important work, to develop our kids.”
Cam Kauffman can be reached at kauf8536@stthomas.edu.
Scout Mason can be reached at scmason@stthomas.edu.