‘A royal pain’ Walkout a burden for some parents
Staff Writer jdulaney@oklahoman.com
While hundreds of Oklahoma schools remained closed as the statewide teacher walkout entered its fifth day, class was in session Friday for the Chandler kids in Edmond.
By 10 a.m., the computer was on, science books were open, and math sheets were stacked on a table surrounded by students from first to ninth grade.
“There are days I want to go on strike, but it’s usually to the science museum, the zoo, or other places where the kids can learn,” said Geri Chandler, a homeschooling mother of three daughters and a son. Chandler has home-schooled her children in different states. Her husband works in sales and the family has moved several times. They didn’t want to repeatedly uproot their children from public schools.
Home schooling gives the Chandlers flexibility in curriculum and in the family schedule.
“I really believe how you educate your kids is going to be different for each parent,” she said. “People need to make a choice by design, not by default.”
The teacher walkout, resulting from the dysfunctional relationship between Oklahoma legislators and educators, is another confirmation for Chandler that she made the right choice for her children. “I feel so bad for parents who work full-time jobs,” she said. “I can’t imagine. It’s gotta be so stressful for those parents. I don’t think they deserve to deal with the chaos they’re dealing with this week. I can empathize too with the teachers. But my taxes help pay for (public school) too.”
The teacher walkout is the first in Oklahoma since 1990. It followed the Legislature approving more than $400 million in new spending for teacher pay raises of about $6,100.
With raises scheduled, teachers walked out of class, marched to the Capitol and called on lawmakers to increase education funding for better classroom equipment, support staff, supplies and other resources. As legislators and educators square off, public school parents are caught in the crosshairs. That is especially true if they are without a partner in the home. Some have grown furious over the teacher walkout, saying the protest has thrown their schedules into disarray, cost them money, and in some cases, prompted worry from their children.
Brian Graham, a single father with two elementary-age children in the Moore School District, has been dropping his kids off at their grandmothers’ homes. “It’s been a royal pain in the butt for me,” Graham said. “I’m a single dad working full time. Day by day I have to figure out what to do with the kids because they’re not telling us anything. Around 4 or 5 p.m. each day I get a text from the district. It’s really day by day. I had to be a little bit late to work every day this week. I know some single moms that are really getting some flak at work.”
Graham, who in 2012 ran an unsuccessful Republican campaign for House District 53, said he supports the raise teachers received. In light of the pay hike, Graham doesn’t support the walkout.
“I don’t know what they expect at this point,” he said. “Most of the parents I talk to are single parents these days. It’s killing our routine. It’s costing hours a day, not to mention shuttling them around. I know one mother paying $100 a day for someone to watch her kids. We’re all ready for them to get back to school. Our kids love school. My daughter is in third grade, and she is really concerned about the standardized testing that’s happening. She told me ‘Daddy if they keep striking will I have to take third grade again?’”
Public school officials say they share the concerns of parents frustrated over the walkout. In an interview this week with The Oklahoman at the Capitol, state schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said teachers are torn between “fighting for students” and getting back to the classroom.
“I know that that is on the mind of the teachers who are here,” Hofmeister said. “This is something that I think has been very effective. I think there’s gotta be an opportunity to ensure that our kids can continue learning — that that’s not disrupted. For me, the advocacy is very important and I want to ensure though — just like I think everyone in the building wants to make certain — that our kids have what they need. And we know they need to be able to finish the school year.”
How much of a burden?
The Oklahoma Education Association has received public support at its teacher rallies and online. This week, OEA released a self-commissioned poll showing 68 percent of Oklahoma midterm voters supporting the walkout, up from 58 percent the previous week. Just 22 percent of poll respondents said they have children in Oklahoma public schools.
The poll asked public school parents “how much of a burden is it on you and your family with your children out of school for this walkout — a huge burden, a big burden, a medium burden, a small burden, or not really a burden?”
Sixty-one percent said it was not really a burden. Thirty-eight percent said it was either a small, medium, big or huge burden. Cherelle Graham has relied on support from her family to figure out child care arrangements while her son’s school is closed for the teacher walkout.
“We’ll communicate pretty much each day, ‘Where are your kids going?’ ‘Where are they going?’ ‘Do you want your kids to come with me this time?’ That’s just kind of how it’s been,” said Graham, 32, of Oklahoma City.
On Monday, her oldest brother took off work to watch seven kids in the family, including Graham’s 8-year-old son. On Tuesday, her mom took the day off to care for the kids. Wednesday and Thursday, her brother and her dad pitched in. On Friday morning, Graham made arrangements with her employer to adjust her work schedule so she could drop her son and several of his cousins off at Southern Oaks Recreation Center in south Oklahoma City when the building opened. The center is offering extended hours to give children a place to go during the teacher walkout.
Graham said she had a plan in place for the first couple days of the walkout. Once it became clear that the walkout would last longer, she made additional plans. On Friday, she was weighing options for next week, including taking her son back to the recreation center or having him finish out the school year in Texas where his father lives.
Graham said working out child care arrangements hasn’t really been a burden for her, especially because her company has been supportive. She wanted to make sure her son was still learning every day during the break from school, so she found English and math documents online for her son to review until school starts back up.
Graham said she’s in full support of the teachers.
“I think the finances are needed for the schools, for the kids and for the teachers,” she said.
Still, some who have watched the walkouts warn that public sentiment could go against teachers if the protests continue.
“Having lived through a school strike as a student, public opinion does shift, because when kids are actually out of school and all of the sudden you have that unpredictability, it really bites into parents’ plans,” said Trent England, executive vice president of strategic initiatives at the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs, which advocates for school choice.
The public supports teachers, but that shouldn’t be equated with supporting school closures, England said. And if the walkout drags on, the public will increasingly question why teachers have done so after getting a raise.
“The OEA has done a master class in political marketing,” England said. “For years in Oklahoma, nothing has been more important than raising teacher pay. And then the message this year was, ‘if we don’t raise teacher pay, we’re going to strike.’ The Legislature passed the raise, and the next week they’re closing down schools. And over the weekend they pivot, so that that teachers ‘don’t teach for the money, it is about making sure we have good desks and textbooks.’ It really is a stunning work of political communication to pivot the messaging over a single weekend so fast.”
Packing up the school
This week, Chandler has watched friends with kids in public school struggle. Business and personal appointments have been canceled. Parents scrambling to find sitters for their children.
Meanwhile, at the Capitol on Friday, teachers continued their protests. By noon in Edmond, the Chandlers were wrapping up their studies, which started around 6:30 a.m. Space exploration. Art. Math. Sharks. Naomi Chandler, 12, wants to be an oceanographer when she grows up. Asked if she has homework, Aliya Chandler, 10, responded: “Yes. All of it is.”
Geri Chandler enjoys the freedom to teach her kids at each of their learning paces, with an eye on how they learn best, and what they are interested in most.
She respects public school educators and their ability to teach dozens of kids in a class, each with different abilities and temperaments. But dealing with parents, teaching to tests and not having enough time with each student are difficult challenges. “I don’t think you can pay me enough to be a public school teacher,” she said.
The family will move to Texas soon. The house is up for sale. Teacher walkouts or not, wherever the Chandlers land, class will be in session.
“We’ll pack up the house, take the books with us and continue school,” she said. “You can take it wherever you go.”