Temporary licenses for strike-replacement teachers illegal: Hatch (MN)

[struggle4progress]

Associated Press
March 30, 2005 STRIKE0331

IRONTON, Minn. — The state Board of Teaching can't issue temporary licenses to replacement teachers on the basis of a district's hardship, Attorney General Mike Hatch told striking teachers.

The opinion from Hatch's office effectively throws Hatch's weight behind teachers in the Crosby-Ironton School District who have been in strike since Feb. 9 in a dispute over health insurance benefits for retiring teachers.

The district hired some replacement teachers during the strike, then said they won't teach unless they are licensed by the state. The teachers union had been seeking a temporary restraining order to prohibit the district from using unlicensed teachers, claiming they were unqualified.

Hatch, speaking to about 240 people at a bar here, said a strike is not a hardship in the same respect as a district's difficulty in hiring teachers because of an auto accident or an illness. He said it's not an event that's beyond the control of a school district. <snip>

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5320553.html