Although most of the teachers the Source has spoken to since the AFT strike started last week have an overwhelming number of years in the system—23 on average—one teacher doesn't. And she is paying a high price as a newcomer.
Kim Wishneyer, a new teacher at Ulla Muller Elementary School, has been teaching for six weeks and has not received any pay. "Not one penny," said Wishneyer, one of about 150 teachers attending rallies this week in Emancipation Garden. "They keep telling me the NOPA is 'in the process,' but I have yet to see anything." NOPA is the government's Notice of Personnel Action, which must be processed before an employee can be paid.
Wishneyer is distraught. She is diabetic and will run out of insulin on Friday, and she has no money for rent. "I don't know what I'll do," she said, and then thought better of the remark. "I know what I'll have to do—go to the drugstore and ask for credit."
"Nowhere else in the U.S. could this happen," Wishneyer said.
When reached at the Department of Education, spokeswoman June Archibald said Thursday that because of the need to get new teachers into position immediately, the governor had allowed them to start while NOPAs were still being processed.
"It's my understanding that it can be a lengthy procedure," Archibald said, "but I have checked on Miss Wishneyer's NOPA in particular, and it is in a group which should be completed soon."
