The New Haven Unified School District strike was a horrific time for many individuals: some weren’t able to secure the money to pay their rent, others couldn’t guarantee safe returns to their jobs. Characterized as the longest education strike to ever take place in the state of California, the 14-day walk-out was worrisome as well as wearisome to many integral parts of the Union City community. Teachers paraded for a gruesome 8 hours per day, taking shifts at various key stops around the NHUSD campuses of Union City.
But you probably know this already.
The current narrative seems to be missing the details, the stories that mesh those details together into the intricate web of what truly happened.
Ms. Mani Allen, current Freshmen Ethnic Studies teacher at James Logan High School and daughter of retiree Mrs. Allen who taught at Logan for nearly 40 years, is one who is still searching for answers.
“It was my first year and I didn’t get to say goodbye to my seniors. I feel incomplete and I’m trying to find that now,” Allen said. Mrs. Allen’s background as a disability aid in elementary schools as well as a current high school teacher has provided a unique perspective on the situation.
“In high school, there was an understanding between the students and the teachers. We could talk about it freely. But the [elementary] kids were hit harder. They didn’t understand why their teachers had to parade around their school to ask for more money for their work,” Allen said.
She also believes that elementary schools are centered at the core of the community. Parents, children, and teachers are greatly intertwined with each other from daily communications and rendezvouses.
“We were dealing with young adults, on the more mature side of the spectrum. However, those teachers were dealing with babies,” Allen said. This aspect of the situation can be correlated to why the majority of elementary school teachers voted for the option to accept the deal and return to school prior to the end of the year.
However cruel, the strike had its benefits and little victories that were celebrated by teachers and staff members alike. Many stories have circulated as teachers and students have sought the positivity in an otherwise negative scenario. One such story was told by Ms. Abigail Noche, previous JLHS student and long-time teacher of (AP) Biology and Honors Anatomy & Physiology at James Logan.
Ms. Noche told her students in early June as everyone returned to school after the strike about the bonds crafted among her fellow employees. Even after teaching for over a decade at Logan, Ms. Noche believes she missed the diversity of her co-workers, enriched people whom she hadn’t yet gotten the opportunity to speak with, communicate with. She stated that one day, as she was marching, she keenly noticed that there was a heightened number of security personnel near the District office entrance where her booth was centered.
She felt that there was a significant reason to protest strongly in that area because there was some incentive towards blocking that entrance. Sure enough, she was correct. The Garbage Disposal trucks were to pick up from the District office from that entrance. By collaborating with her team members and initiating a movement, Ms. Noche was able to use her classroom book skills in the pursuit of justice during the strike. This little victory brought hope and a renewed sense of optimism to her and her colleagues as they continued on to fight for what they believed in.
As we all returned to school, many students were conflicted with the decision of the strike. After the settlement, it was clear that many teachers were disappointed that the votes settled for less than what they were expecting. One student claimed, “I can’t believe my teachers wanted to stay out of school for longer. I thought they liked their jobs.”
However, this student failed to recognize the reasoning behind the teachers’ claims. In their pursuit of this dream of more recognition and equality in education, the teachers were striving to unbind themselves from the ties of higher authority in bringing education to a capital level. In pursuing personal interests, they kept those interests of students and community members at heart. It is inevitably important that we understand the fact that our teachers adore their jobs greatly, or they wouldn’t attend work every day. Another fact that cannot be disregarded is that the strike, as uncomfortable and pressing as it was, can be counted as another learning opportunity and stepping stone to a better future for education overall.
This strike was nationally recognized by some important figures such as President of the California School Board: Mike Walsh, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. The media and attention on our little city were greatly warranted by the fact that this strike was revolutionary and eye-opening in many ways. What remains to be seen is if the strike created a discordant ending or a passionate beginning.
