Hundreds of Moore teachers skip school

MOORE — Hillary Price and her colleagues marched to the Capitol on Thursday with purpose. But inside, the Brink Junior High teacher felt conflicted.

Price and hundreds of other teachers skipped school to continue participating in the teacher walkout, defying a directive from Superintendent Robert Romines to return to the classroom.

“I was torn, obviously, because I miss my students,” she told The

Oklahoman. “My first reaction to going back to school was frustration, because I didn’t feel the battle was over yet and we’d come so far.

“But the more I thought about it, the more I started thinking about my students. To me, it became an issue of not wanting to go back and look them in eyes until I had seen this through, I guess. I just felt like we weren’t ready to go back yet.”

Moore Public Schools opened Thursday as planned. About 500 of the district’s 1,500 teachers were out and about 100 substitute teachers were needed, said Dustin Horstkoetter, director of safety and security.

“We knew that there were going to be a number of teachers that would be gone, but we also knew we would be able to cover those absences,” he said.

“We are behind them, we encourage them. If they have the leave and they want to advocate at the Capitol, we are very much supportive of that choice.”

Horstkoetter added that not all of the teachers who took leave Thursday did so to advocate for classroom funding.

Romines came under fire Wednesday from teachers who said they were not consulted about the decision to reopen schools.

Meagan Klein, a school district psychologist, said she understands the reasoning behind his decision.

“They are doing what they think is right for students, but at the same time, it could have been communicated more clearly with the staff beforehand,” she said. “But we respect them and we hope that they respect our decision to continue to walkout to support the kids.”

Klein and Price were part of a group numbering 100 that walked about 11 miles to the Capitol on Thursday.

Price said they were warmly received upon arrival.

“I felt like I made the right decision today, because I felt like Moore Public Schools’ presence needed to be known today. Every day was important, but I felt like we made a statement today.”

Klein said: “I don’t feel like our fight is finished. If we quit now, it would feel like we just walked out for nothing.”