Chandler teachers latest to rally for school issues

Hundreds of teachers wore red and marched together in Olympic-style procession with their schools along Arizona Avenue before a Chandler Unified School District rally Monday morning at the Chandler Center for the Arts.

The march follows a wave of teacher protests across Arizona, which included nine West Valley schools closing after teachers called in sick last Wednesday.

The Chandler district was holding its 22nd annual staff rally, which honors employees who are celebrating their 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th and 35th anniversaries with the district, according to district spokesperson Terry Locke.

The district held one session at 7:30 a.m. and another at 10 a.m. for teachers, support staff and administrators. As many as 1,600 employees were expected at each session, according to Locke.

Large contingents of faculty were present from Hamilton and Chandler high schools.

The district serves about 45,500 students and employs approximately 5,000 employees, including teachers,

administrators and other staff, according to a district spokeswoman.

Chandler students were on spring break during the rally.

For organizer Katie Nash, a biology teacher at Chandler High School, the march was an opportunity to shine a light on issues that she says have gone unaddressed in schools, including huge class sizes, pipes leaking lead and playgrounds falling apart.

Teacher Alex Kimble from Willis Junior High called attention to low salaries, holding up a piece of paper that read “Can’t afford a sign.”

Nash is Chandler High School’s liaison for Arizona Educators United (AEU), a three-week-old private Facebook group of teachers and administrators that now has more than 34,000 members.

The group’s goal is to ensure that students have access to experienced teachers and that educators are compensated fairly, according to its mission statement.

“We’re just trying to shine a light,” Nash said. “Teaching is an actual profession, we have ongoing professional development, extra certificates that we need to get. All of those things cost money but we don’t see the return in our paycheck.”

Nash moved to Chandler three years ago after teaching in upstate New York. There, she says, her daughter had 24 students in her class with one teacher, one full-time aide and one part-time aide. In Chandler, her daughter has 32 kids in her class with no aides.

Nash says her own classes have up to 35 students.

“It’s really hard for you to develop a relationship with your students and reach them as effectively as you can when you have such large numbers in your classroom,” Nash said.

In a poll asking education professionals in the AEU Facebook group what they need most, the top responses Monday morning include: a 10 percent pay increase. better health care insurance. keeping Prop. 301 money. smaller class sizes.

A majority of the respondents say they earn $38,000 to $40,000 a year.

Nash said she is happy with her experience in the Chandler district as a whole, where her family chose to move after reading reviews from teachers and community residents and seeing the district’s positive standing relative to the rest of the state.

“I think we’re doing the best we can with what we have, but it has to come down to what the state is giving us,” Nash said. “If we’re in the bottom 5 percent, that’s terrible. Why are we okay with the fact that we’re so low?”

The teachers will reconvene at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday for the “Day of Action for Education,” where the AEU and other grassroots education groups will outline their goals for state lawmakers.