"Hortonville: Crisis For All Teachers" News and Views, April 1974 Teachers Face Worst Crisis HORTONVILLE–Never in Wisconsin has a dispute over a teachers’ contract produced so tumultuous a chain of events as in Hortonville. Each morning before school begins and again in the afternoon as school is dismissed, Hortonville, which is located near Appleton, resembles an occupied town. By last Thursday (April 11) riot-equipped police from three counties were on the scene to squelch any melee that might start near the tense picket lines. When the strike began on March 18, the struggle belonged to Hortonville’s 84 teachers. They had worked without a contract for seven months and were faced with a school board that absolutely refused to negotiate. But still, it was their struggle. However, now that they have been fired and are being replaced by strikebreakers, the fight to win a settlement has become every Wisconsin teacher’s concern. For if the Hortonville board is successful in its bid to replace the teaching staff here a signal will have been sent to every school board in the state. The negotiations process that teachers have come to depend on for improving their livelihood and upgrading their profession will have been weakened. In these days of a teacher surplus, school boards must not come to believe that they can replace groups of teachers rather than negotiate with them at the bargaining table. If the Hortonville board succeeds, the jobs of 84 Hortonville teachers will not be the only victims of the board’s vendetta. Board Must Not Succeed The Hortonville school board is driven by an all-consuming desire to prove itself absolute ruler of the school system, and even the village of Hortonville itself. It is supported by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards in its efforts. If the situation in Hortonville continues to deteriorate, it may be necessary for all Wisconsin teachers to act in the defense of the fired Hortonville teachers. A defeat in Hortonville could render collective bargaining meaningless in Wisconsin.

At its peak, in April 1974, daily news about the strike filled the airwaves and the pages of newspapers across the nation. The firing of an entire teaching staff in a small Wisconsin town proved to be major news. That news included stories about how State Superintendent Barbara Thompson aided the school board by not enforcing teacher licensure laws and thereby allowing uncertified and unqualified teacher strikebreakers to continue working in Hortonville classrooms.

Throughout April 1974, hundreds of police, teachers and supporters from other unions converged in front of the high school in the morning and in the afternoon when the strikebreakers were arriving and leaving. Many sat in front of schools and were arrested and carried to the county jail in Appleton in police vehicles.

After a judge issued an order restricting the number of pickets to 84, the battle shifted to the courts, where the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately said the school board had the right to fire teachers engaged in an illegal strike. But before that, hundreds of UniServ and WEAC local leaders met in Appleton to consider actions aimed at reaching a settlement in Hortonville. One of the recommendations was that a statewide teacher strike be called on Friday, April 26. Within ten days a vote on whether to support the April 26 walkout was taken by teachers in every WEAC affiliate. Public and media interest was intense.

When the voting was completed, WEAC locals, by a four-to-one margin, had voted not to participate in the protest walkout, and a statewide strike did not happen.

Winnebago County Sheriff's deputies were a constant presence in Hortonville in the spring of 1974.

The Hortonville strike occurred against a backdrop of militant political and social change. Many groups throughout society were asserting their right to fully participate in American life. On the national and state levels, governments were attempting to deal with the issues raised by the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the peace movement, the environmental movement, and many others.

Teachers, too, found the ground fertile for claiming a measure of control over their professional lives. After being dominated by school administrators since their inception, both the NEA and WEAC were evolving into powerful teacher advocate organizations.

Every Wisconsin school employee owes a debt to the Hortonville 84. Their firing heightened support among teachers for amending a bargaining law that forced teachers to strike illegally to achieve equity at the negotiating table. WEAC lobbying, along with nearly 50 other teacher strikes in the 1970s, and general unrest in teacher negotiations throughout the state, graphically revealed the flaws in the old bargaining law.

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