*wow* Did we have a rally this week! Thursday evening all 700 teachers in my school district, plus another 200 supporters, including teachers from other districts, secretaries, students and parents, met in the parking lot of the high school for a rally urging the Board of Education to give up their position to force us to pay part of our medical premium. Then, with a police escort, we marched three blocks to the Board of Education meeting where we stood and cheered as the Board members entered the meeting one by one. It was a spirited but polite rally, since we were determined to impress people with our strength, not antagonize anybody with actions unbecoming of teachers. As one of the organizers of the rally, I was thrilled at how successful it was.

In the same spirit of professionalism, district teachers have not let the unsettled contract negotiations affect our job performance in any way. We still perform all our after-school tasks such as writing student recommendations, attending student activities, giving long hours of extra help, and surrendering our weekends to grading papers, writing assessments, and preparing lessons. Over the years a trust has developed between teachers, students and parents, a trust which should not be affected by a small number of greedy Board of Education members determined to use teachers to make political points with the community. Our pressure is on them alone, and we will see if such demonstrations of unity as the rally have any affect on them.

But for one evening Joe and I felt like the famous labor organizers of American history. It is really satisfying to pull off something as large and impressive as the rally.