240,000 teachers. 32 kids per class. What happens if all the teachers call in sick on the same day?
Miami-Dade schools officials are preparing for widespread teacher absences on Monday, a district spokesman said.
Late Friday, rumors swirled that many teachers would not attend school to protest proposed legislation on teacher pay and tenure.
``Wow, wow, that's incredible,'' said Gov. Charlie Crist upon hearing of the plan.
``If that happens Monday, I can certainly understand it,'' he added. ``The vast majority of what I've heard today is strongly adverse to the bill. It's been pretty overwhelming.''
From the Miami Herald.
To send a message to Crist, hundreds of teachers are planning on taking a personal day or calling in sick on Monday. A group plans on meeting at Tropical Park in West Miami-Dade to rally against the bill, said Francie Diaz-Escoto, a kindergarten teacher at Kenwood K-8 Center in Kendall.
District spokesman John Schuster urged parents to bring their children to school as usual on Monday.
``The district has a plan in place,'' he said. ``School will be in session. Students will be learning.''
Teaching in Miami is a tough job. Some parents teach their children to get very angry and confrontational when anyone bumps into them accidentally in public. Some kids learn manners from television shows like Divorce Court and the multitude of Jerry Springer clones. Personal responsibility is often not learned at an early age, unless you count video games like Grand Theft Auto. The teacher is assigned the task of trying to form a functioning citizen from a deeply ingrained bad attitude.
And then they threaten to take our jobs away if those same children don't perform well on a standardized test.
We have students who tell us to take that test and shove it. We have students who tell us they are going to get us fired. We have students who tell us they are going to kill us.
And now our job security is going to be put squarely into their hands?
Under Florida law, teachers cannot go on strike.
There is no law against teachers taking sick or personal time.
This has gone way beyond a union thing. This is personal. The sickout has gained big support through text messages, since people do not want to be scapegoated. The school board has already cancelled all activities during the day and pulled all the administrators back to the schools from all off-campus meetings. The superintendant recorded a soothing message in an attempt to calm things down.
Things are not calming down.
There was surprise at the bold plan, but also recognition of the angst many teachers are feeling.
``While I'd rather have them in the classroom, there's a side of me that understands how they feel,'' Crist said. ``I imagine it's borne out of frustration, out of a hard time being heard in the Legislature, and I'm sympathetic to that side of it.''
Dear Governor, please continue to feel our pain and veto Senate Bill 6. It is not only your last hope in November, but you will have a million children unsupervised to take care of. And they are very difficult to take care of.
Crist said he has gotten more reaction about this piece of legislation than he did in 2005, when as attorney general he was asked to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case. He ended up resisting getting involved in the end-of-life issue.
Check that quote. More reaction than Terri Schiavo. The most political pressure that Crist has ever felt. This is not a local issue. The Teachers of Florida are making national ripples and it is about time everyone noticed.
Senate Bill 6 is a litmus test that America cannot afford to fail.
Please contact Governor Crist immediately at 850-488-7146 and 850-488-4441 and charlie.crist@myflorida.com to urge him to veto Senate Bill 6.