Nov 14, 2015 2 min read

As the strike by Peters Township teachers continues, I feel compelled to finally put into words how I feel about it.

I have always found it interesting that the lessons we would have our children learn never seem to apply where adults are concerned. Compromising, no bullying, no temper tantrums, sharing, and using common sense are obviously lost on the administrators and teachers in the Peters Township School District. Having lived through more teacher strikes and threatened teacher strikes then I wish to discuss, I find this one particularly distressing. This strike has been poorly thought out. The majority of these teachers are too young to have ever experienced what a strike means. The administrators, unless they were here 15 years ago, don’t either.

They were all somehow deluded into thinking that this community would be behind this. What the teachers and school district don’t get is that this is a conservative township. The folks are, by and large, Republicans. They are young, middle-aged and seniors who are professionals, business owners, doctors, lawyers, bankers, insurance people, and yes, some teachers. They don’t get strikes, negotiations, contracts, the art of give and take, because most of them do not have unions. This has caught them off guard.

It is already getting ugly. It is within the power of the teachers to decide to go back to work. If the choice is to continue the strike, they should be prepared when it’s over, because having lived through this many times, the atmosphere will be changed. The happy, friendly school and district we all have known will be gone. People are angry, disappointed and hurt that teachers chose to respond in the manner they have and that doesn’t just go away quickly.

Jill Baer

McMurray