Photo: Scott Heins / Getty Images
Minneapolis teachers went on strike Tuesday morning and closed classrooms for about 30, public school students, according to The New York Times.
For weeks, the teachers’ union and school district officials have been negotiating salaries, hiring, and resources for student mental health.
Hello! I’m outside Minneapolis Public Schools HQ, where hundreds of teachers are rallying on the first day of the strike. Lots of honks & cheers from folks driving down Broadway pic.twitter.com/2IEj8vnLVg
— Rilyn Eischens (@rilyneischens) March 8, 2021
Talks in Minneapolis failed to reach a resolution by Monday night’s deadline, and the school district said that could not afford to meet the teachers’ demands.
The district said in a statement Monday night that he would “remain on the mediation table non-stop in an effort to reduce the length and impact of this strike.”
In St. Paul, schools opened Tuesday. A teachers’ strike was averted after the union there, the Federation of Educators of Saint Paul, reached a tentative agreement with Saint Paul Public Schools on Monday night.
“I believe we have reached fair and equitable agreements that respect our collective desire to do what is right for our students”, said the Superintendent of Public Schools of Saint Paul, Joe Gothard, in a statement, “while working within the district budget and enrollment limitations.”
Tuesday’s strike left some Minneapolis parents struggling to find child care.
When US schools returned from winter break during surge in Omicron variant Covid cases, many teachers unions raised concerns about understaffing due to diseases and the shortage of masks and Covid tests.
But Pandemic-related issues have not been the only source of disagreement between the Minneapolis teachers’ union and the district e scolar.
Members of the teachers’ union have requested most competitive salaries for teachers, a starting salary of $35,000 for the majority of education support professionals, better conditions to recruit and retain minority educators, and sufficient staffing to address the mental health needs of students.
Ed Graff, the superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools, has said the district shares many of the same goals. But the district said that had been affected by the drop in student enrollment, which means cuts in school budgets.
Total enrollment in Minneapolis public schools from kindergarten through grade 12 was reduced to just under 30,000 at the beginning of this school year, compared to almost 35,600 in the fall of 2019.
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