Before the bell today, teachers were out picketing at schools, like Richmond High, where Emilia Calderon teaches math. She’s holding a sign.
"It says one PE teacher, 255 students, because that is exactly what our PE classes look like," she says. "How do we expect PE teachers to do their job and give quality lessons with 255 kids?"
Calderon says retaining teachers is going to continue to be a huge challenge if they’re not paid more — teachers want a 10% raise. The district offered three.
"A lot of the teachers I've just seen come and go because they can't afford to live in this area and with the money that they are offering us," Calderon says.
While teachers are on strike, they are not paid.
The local Teamsters union, which represents roles like food service workers and security guards, is also striking today. It had reached a tentative agreement with the district last month, but announced on Tuesday that its membership had rejected the deal.
The district said that a strike will not fix its problems, which include vacancies, students without permanent teachers, and a budget shortfall. But the union's president, Francisco Ortiz, said this afternoon in a speech that the district had called to continue negotiations.
Schools are open and the district said that they have food, but it has only hired 200 substitute teachers, Richmondside reported. There are 56 schools in the district.
After the morning school pickets, teachers, teamsters, and families gathered at Veterans Memorial Park in Richmond.
The mayor attended, and so did three school board members: Guadalupe Enllana, Cinthia Hernandez, and Demetrio Gonzalez Hoy. Gonzalez Hoy told me that he’s here in part because the school board has failed to deliver for teachers.
Cheryl Cotton, Superintendent of WCCUSD, said in an email this afternoon that United Teachers of Richmond had agreed to "return to the table" to meet with the district at 4pm today.
