Rez districts support strike, but in different ways

Posted by Cindy Yurth | Apr 26, 2018 | News |

CHINLE

While public school districts in border towns like Page, Flagstaff and Winslow are shut down for the Arizona teachers’ strike today and Friday, Kayenta is the only one of the larger school districts on the reservation that is joining them.

“The decision was made by a certain number of teachers and staff to walk out,” explained Kayenta Unified School District Superintendent Bryce Anderson on Tuesday. “We just will not have enough certified staff to keep the schools open.”

Teachers in other districts were planning more mild forms of protest. Chinle teachers and staff staged a “walk-in,” with a “Red for Ed” rally early in the morning before walking into their classrooms to teach, while Window Rock faculty and staff who support the strike simply wore red through the work day. As of Tuesday afternoon, Tuba City educators were still debating what to do.

The lukewarm reaction to the statewide strike may be because rez teachers are actually not faring that badly salary-wise. “We’re the best of the worst,” quipped Chinle Education Association President Jeff Fowles. While Arizona ranks 51st among the 50 states and District of Columbia in teacher pay, the pay scale varies widely between districts.

In Chinle, the second-highest-paid district in the state, the average teacher makes $60,899 — nearly twice what the average teacher in Bouse, west of Phoenix, the worst-paid district, makes. Plus, circumstances in the rez schools are just different.

A first-year teacher in Chinle posted on her Facebook page she felt “conflicted” about the strike and sought the advice of other educators. “Whether or not I am on strike, the kids are still there, desperately trying to pass their classes in these final weeks of school,” she wrote. “I have issues with our district, but is it fair to complain about my pay when many members of the community are unemployed?”