Dozens of Teachers in Stevens Point 'Take it to the Board'

Dozens of Stevens Point teachers took their homework to the school board meeting Monday night (November 10) to demonstrate to the school board how they typically spend their evenings.

Jenny Rice (foreground), an English teacher at P.J. Jacobs Junior High School, was among dozens of Stevens Point teachers who took their homework to Monday night's school board meeting.

Teachers packed into the board room and laid out their papers, grading materials, books, laptop computers, book bags and other materials wherever they could find space. They sprawled out in the hallways outside the meeting room. They prepared for the next day's classes, graded papers, and organized materials as the school board carried on with its normal agenda.

"Our jobs are not just the 9 to 5 or 8 to 4 types of jobs that people think of when they hear the word 'teacher,' " Gary Thompson told the board when he was called to speak. "Our day doesn't end at 4:00, because we care," said Thompson, who is coordinator of the alternative high school program.

Motioning to the dozens of teachers who were working in the room and hallways, Thompson ran through a list of the many activities teachers are engaged in long after the school day ends. In addition to correcting and grading papers and preparing for the next day's class, he said, teachers regularly stay late or take work home with them to:

• Write lesson plans.
• Serve as club advisors.
• Call parents.
• Tutor students who need extra help.
• Attend M-Team meetings to assess the progress of special education students.
• Write recommendations for students.
• Assess students.
• Take classes or attend conferences and workshops.
• Write objectives.
• Create bulletin boards.
• Clean and decorate the classroom with student work.
• Organize files.
• Write tests.
• Chaperone dances, buses, and sporting events.
• Set up labs.
• Mentor new teachers.
• Coach sports.
• Prepare rewards for students.
• Get computer training.
• Set up course work on the computer.
• Attend curriculum, staff development, equity, multicultural and many other meetings.

Teachers do not have time during the school day -- when they are teaching classes -- to perform these duties, he said.

Teachers said this is just a short list of the jobs teachers perform outside the regular teaching day. In fact, Thompson said, teachers have documented that they put in more hours during the school year than most private sector workers put in over 12 months.

Gary Thompson

"Our night work goes on," Thompson told the board, "even if other events impact on our time. Thus you see this evening, many staff members gathered here who are concerned about events outside of their normal daily routine. They are compelled to be in two places at once. Even as they meet here to voice their concerns about professional activities, they still demonstrate their concern for their students by bringing their night work with them."

Stevens Point teachers -- like teachers in 274 other school districts in Wisconsin -- have been working without a contract since June 30. The school board is offering base salary increases of 1.5%. That is on top of base salary increases over the last three years of 0.9%, 1.5% and 1.7% -- all at a time when the cost of living has been increasing at around 3%. For 67% of Stevens Point teachers, the base increase was all they received.

Prior to Monday night's board meeting, more than 200 teachers picketed outside the school administration building. It was the second time in two weeks that more than 200 Stevens Point teachers came out to protest the school board's unwillingness to negotiate a fair contract.

Posted November 11, 1997