The ripple effect of teacher protests and no classes throughout the territory spread to two more schools on St. Croix Friday.
Almost all of the 70 teachers, aides and counselors at Arthur A. Richards Junior High School in Frederiksted didn’t report for work, nor did about 90 percent of the 88 teachers and staff at Elena Christian Junior High near Christiansted, according to Department of Education officials.
School principals called off classes for the 1,455 students at both schools Friday morning once it was apparent teachers and support staff were not going to show up.
Friday’s sickout followed a similar action at St. Croix’s Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School on Thursday, a full-fledged protest where 90 percent of the St. Thomas-St. John chapter of the American Federation of Teachers didn’t go to work on Wednesday and sickouts at a number of schools on St. Thomas in the last seven days.
The protests are in response to Gov. Charles Turnbull’s plans to cut government by 15 percent in order to balance the fiscal year 2000 budget. Government workers, including teachers, are owed hundreds of millions of dollars in back pay. Many teachers also say school facilities are falling apart and that supplies and equipment are almost nonexistent.
While the two sickouts on St. Croix were not sanctioned by the island’s AFT chapter, the union has done little to halt the protests.
Teachers have an ally in Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, chair of the Senate’s Education Committee and a former teacher himself.
"I empathize with the teachers and I support them," he said. "They are making a point and they are being heard."
Baptiste said Turnbull must be more "sensitive" to the plight of teachers, especially in light of the fact that over $250,000 worth of raises have been given to executive branch employees in the last nine months.
"It’s incumbent upon the governor to be more sensitive," said Baptiste. "He should not support a policy that will have an adverse effect on the government."
Meanwhile, the Department of Education filed injunctions against the St. Thomas-St. John AFT on Wednesday ordering its members back to work. According to court documents, AFT representatives must appear in St. Thomas Territorial Court on Sept. 24 for preliminary hearings on the injunctions. Collective bargaining agreements allow teachers to strike. However, the union did not give a required 72-hour notice to the Public Employees Relations Board and the Department of Education before Wednesday’s action.
