Support for striking teachers from a BOT
In the days before today’s teachers strike, Paeka¯ ka¯ riki School Board of Trustees chairwoman Kirsten Ralph wrote to parents and caregivers about the board’s backing of teachers.
The decision to close the school for the day wasn’t taken lightly, and people would be under pressure to find childcare and make other arrangements, she said.
“We believe the benefits of supporting teachers in their fight for proper resourcing of your child’s education is worth it. Our teachers work long, hard days.
“Ask your child’s teacher how many hours they have put in on any given day: 11, 12 , 13-hour days are common.
“Check out the cars parked outside school on a weekend.
“It is unsustainable for our staff, and it impacts on your child — we have teachers who have dropped a day of teaching a week, and a day’s pay, in order to fit in the actual work of their job.
“Pay is not the biggest issue for teachers at our school, and we note that the offer from the Ministry of Education will actually put some of our teachers in a worse financial position: The nominal rise will mean a corresponding cut in the Working for Families credit that will see less in some pay packets at the end of the fortnight.
“What our teachers want from the Ministry are more resources and specialists to help them support the most vulnerable students and more time per student and more non-contact time so that they don’t have to work at the weekend in order to get their jobs done.
“We support them fully in this.”