St. Paul teachers threaten strike over school violence
Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
To the president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers — and the union’s 3,800 members — the issue of school safety is important enough to call a strike.
“Ask yourself this,” said Denise Rodriguez, who has led the union for the past year and a half. “Do students and staff deserve to come to work every day and not expect to be assaulted? … Teachers want to know who has our back with this violence.”
The assault last week of a beloved teacher at St. Paul Central has shocked parents, galvanized the union, rattled administrators and is raising troubling questions about student discipline and safety in the St. Paul Public Schools — questions that have plagued the district for the past couple of years.
But, while teachers increasingly talk about being shoved, punched and threatened by students in what they call an escalating hostile environment, no one seems to be able to quantify just how often teachers in the metro area, or elsewhere in Minnesota, are assaulted by those they teach.
Read more: http://www.startribune.com/silva-to-address-questions-of-teacher-safety-and-union-s-request-for-mediation/361318431/
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