Tulsa teachers walk to OKC; Fallin talks; House OKs tax
Oklahoma public schools are in such dire straits that more than a hundred Tulsa educators embarked Wednesday on a strenuous, weeklong march to Oklahoma City.
“Being a history teacher, this is what you do when you’re down to your last resort. You protest and you march. Americans have been doing this for a really long time,” said Heather Taylor, a Carnegie Elementary School teacher.
Tulsa educators and their supporters walked about 18 miles Wednesday in the first leg of the march during Day Three of Oklahoma’s teacher walkout. Not all of the marchers will be back for the second day. Some will protest Thursday in Oklahoma City and others could join the march for the second leg or any of the following days. More than 50 signed up to walk the whole 110 miles to the State Capitol, including Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist.
The marchers will sleep in high schools along the route — Wednesday night was to be spent at Kellyville High School. Bathroom breaks come at gas stations along the route. With far more women than men, the men’s room became a second women’s room at a Tulsa Quik Trip as the marchers stopped to answer nature’s call.
Drivers of hundreds of cars and trucks honked and waved their approval. Some drivers weren’t so supportive, extending their middle fingers or pointing their thumbs down. One truck driver seemed to go out of the way to belch diesel smoke on marchers.
Taylor, walking alongside fellow Carnegie teacher Cathy Essley, said what most teachers have said throughout the buildup to and during first days of the walkout: more funding is needed to shrink class sizes and buy supplies. She said she has 29 students in her class and it can be overwhelming, as well as tough to teach.
“You know what it could be with eight less students,” she said.
They, like other teachers, are grateful about the pay raise they received from state lawmakers last week and spent a few minutes calculating how much it would mean for their paychecks, but it wasn’t enough to keep them off the potholed pavement of Route 66. The marchers split into groups based on how quickly they wanted to walk. Support cars trailed the marchers, holding supplies and making sure any stragglers were OK. At least one marcher, not feeling well, had someone come pick her up.
Participants spanned generations. Mother and daughter Lynda and Rachel Holt teach at Hale and Edison high schools, respectively. Rachel Holt said she’s walking for her students and to show them that someone cares.
She said there’s a “natural human need to be cared about and they’re not seeing that from their government.”
Miles Guerra, 12, a Bixby student, walked with his mother Natasha Guerra, a Cooper Elementary teacher. Miles thought the walkout and the march is “great,” but not because he’s out of school.
“We aren’t going to quit, ”he said.
Whether or not the marchers get to Oklahoma City depends on their resolve and how long the teacher walkout lasts. But the marchers don’t plan on wavering.
“This isn’t a rally,” said Gist, who is taking personal days to participate in the march. “It isn’t a protest. Our teachers have created a MOVEMENT!”
The Oklahoma Education Association has listed three teacher demands that would end the walkout:
• Fill the $50 million gap created in hotel/motel tax the Oklahoma House repealed last week
• Pass a bill that would bring in revenue by allowing “ball and dice” gambling
• Find additional revenue sources to increase funding for schools
Lawmakers have yet to bend to those demands after three days of raucous protests inside and outside the Capitol. And most educators showed no sign of wavering, chanting at times Wednesday, “We aren’t leaving.”