A teachers’ association that calls itself nonpartisan says it is organizing thousands of teachers to march to the nation’s capital this Saturday to protest “teacher abuse” by administrators.
Myra Sawyers, who heads the Virginia-based Educators for Progressive Instructional Change, says that teachers are tired of being “not respected and the poor compensation.” With the elections around the corner, this appeared to be a good time to draw attention to the topic, she said.
“Teachers are being harassed, demeaned, and they are never given serious attention because the powers-that-be shut them down,” she said.
Now while none of those sound like new complaints to us, nor—we expect—to the powers-that-be, Sawyers hopes that the rally, which the teachers plan to hold at the foot of the Capitol, is going to shake lawmakers into giving teachers a greater role in influencing standards and policies.
She said more than a thousand teachers have registered on EPIC’s Web site, and she has heard from hundreds more from around the nation who plan to attend.
And in case some teachers are worried about retribution, EPIC will provide paper bags so they can cover their faces.