LA "Zoom blackout" school reopening protests on February 2, 2021 (Photo: screen capture Youtube)
CA Parents Seek to Abolish the California Teachers’ Association
‘The teachers unions have been holding us all hostage, refusing to teach our children’
By Katy Grimes, May 10, 2021 1:29 pm
California’s 6 million public school students have been “distance learning” from home since California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered statewide business and school closures in March 2020 – more than 430 days ago.
A group of parents have started a petition to rid California of the California Teachers Association (CTA), the largest statewide teachers labor union. Across the state, parents and students have held protests and rallies against teachers unions and public school districts for not reopening.
A coalition of students, parents, and school leaders even filed a lawsuit last year to stop the CTA-backed effort to defund public charter school students in California – while schools were closed and children stuck at home learning on a computer during Zoom sessions.
More recently, talk of a full reopening of California’s public schools was quashed when the California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers quickly mobilized members and made clear that they opposed any state attempt to override local decision-making, the Globe reported recently.
Why are parents mad enough to start a movement and petition to eradicate the state of a teachers union? Read the change.org petition statement:
FIRST, let me say, this is not about teachers!! This is about the unions! Almost every teacher I know wants to be back in the classroom with the kids. They are being prevented from doing so because the union is speaking for them! I love and respect all my kids teachers!! This is not about a virus.. this is about the well being of our kids! Who are killing themselves because they have been isolated for too long! It’s time to change that.
Two weeks to flatten the curve! That’s what they told us it would take a year ago! They told us that keeping kids out of school was temporary! A YEAR AGO!! The teachers unions have been holding us all hostage, refusing to teach our children. A basic constitutional right! They said “Follow the science”, well, the science said there has been 0 documented cases of covid transmission of child to adult! The science says that having kids back in school does not spread covid!! The science says that these continued lockdowns DON’T WORK!!!! The science says that keeping kids at home is causing more harm than good.
Kids are killings themselves from depression and isolation and the teachers union is refusing to acknowledge their culpability in this! My children have never been allowed to be online for hours a day on end…. but since this lockdown began, my children are averaging 5-8 hours a day online. My son was recently the target of an online predator who was obviously grooming him. We’ve taught our children about talking to strangers on the internet and the warning signs to look for… but my son was so desperate for human contact outside of our home, that he let himself be targeted by this person. THIS MADNESS NEEDS TO STOP AND THOSE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! The teachers union has to go! We need a constitutional amendment to abolish collective bargaining in our public school systems in California! PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE!
“I’m so thankful these parents have awakened to the evils of the so-called teachers’ unions, and I hope they achieve their goal of abolishing the CTA,” said Rebecca Friedrichs, nationally known when her case fighting for the right of teachers to opt-out of union membership, Friedrichs vs. the CTA, made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. “The CTA has been using and silencing good teachers for decades while severely damaging our educational system. CTA does not speak for good teachers; instead CTA abuses us and uses America’s kids as pawns in their radical political games. Every good teacher I know wants to be in the classroom working in-person with children every day. It’s definitely time to abolish the CTA, and while we’re at it, let’s abolish the national teachers’ unions, and all of their affiliates in all 50 states.”
Following the untimely death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Friedrichs’ groundbreaking case was tabled, and Mark Janus a few years later prevailed in a similar case.
Fits and Starts and Union Meddling
After several fits and starts, in December 2020 – nine months into the lockdown – California Gov. Gavin Newsom told the state’s parents that he was aiming to have the youngest kids back in school by February, but not the state’s middle and high schoolers.
Immediately, the California Teachers Association jumped in and said campuses should not reopen until counties reach the state’s red tier of infections.
The California Federation of Teachers also added a new caveat: classroom, in-person instruction would hinge on the vaccine rollout and timeline.
What we didn’t know, was at the same time, the national teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, had been lobbying the Centers for Disease Control on, and even suggested language for the federal agency’s school-reopening guidance released in February.
As the petition states, “Kids are killings themselves from depression and isolation.”
One parent explained in a comment, “the unions have shown they care more about money and power than they do about our children.”
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I wish them much success!
I think what would be really impactful, is for the teachers across this state to break away from the unions en masse! No more dues, no more votes. Many years ago, some smaller districts had a Parent Teacher Association where all stakeholders worked together. Wouldn’t that be nice!
Thanks for your coverage on this critical issue. As a public school teacher and frequent reader of the Globe, I can tell you this school year has been a great loss in so many ways to our students. I do want to point out, that districts in my area have now been open for in-person instruction in grades K-12 since mid March. Not all public schools are still closed.
I support these parents 100%! It must be so frustrating as a parent, having to FIGHT for your child’s right to education.
Love it!
The problem with teachers is the way they think. They are indoctrinators who do not question authority or the curricula. They teach an “official history” and an “official curricula” and they never challenge what is in the textbook. That’s why prosecutors love to have teachers on juries – they believe everything an “official” says – including corrupt police officers. If a teacher tries to fix the incorrect textbook, say on the Kennedy Assassination or 9/11 or on vaccine “science” or on what the Military does in the world, then the teacher can get fired or worse. They’re so arrogant, they buy the whole Corona narrative and think they are “teaching” by example, when really they are hurting the very students they pretend to care about.
What teacher hurt you? Don’t make generalizations about a very very large group of people when I can tell you that you are basically talking out of your ass!!! Every teacher I know , myself included , is already back in the classroom and has been back for a long time. Thomas hate to tell you but almost all teachers go into teaching for the love of children and I speak for myself but I will match my IQ and doctorate in pharmacy with whatever degree you have any day. ( that is because you seem to think teachers are so intelligent) Thank a teacher for being where you are today!!!!
CTA view undocumented as a way to increase numbers – and lower standards. As for ZOOM teachers like this more than inclass learning, so as long as they can control it they will.
CTA is NOT about “EDUCATING the Children” – its all about $$$$ and increasing numbers
Teachers are basically immune from discipline. They can do whatever they please because they do not have to account for their poor performance. Try to fire a teacher! As with so many bureaucrats there is no accountability. Things will not change if they can act with impunity. I hope these folks can change that.
Tell me how I can get involved. The union cares less about our kids.
Parents must take control of their local, county school boards. Find like-minded parents/grandparents, get together, attend meetings and run for these positions as a group. The problem is that school boards are occupied by former teachers who are beholding to the unions and state (retirement system). They are union members themselves. Parents in Utah closed down a school board meeting with a protest of the board’s masking requirement for students. Board members are elected, they have to answer to the parents one way or another.
Mathew S, see the article by John Moorlach and my comment here.
“FIRST, let me say, this is not about teachers!! This is about the unions!” FIRST, let ME say, there has never been a statement that proved ignorance as much as this statement does. The teachers are the unions. The union is the teachers. When you say these nasty things about unions, you are saying nasty things to the teachers. So don’t give us that crock of crap about “it’s not about the teachers, it’s about the unions.” Everything you say damages the teachers and drives more of them (good ones, because they are the ones who will not stand for being treated this way) out of the profession. If you are okay with the teachers but not the unions, then you don’t really know what unions are. Who are the mysterious “union people” you might be thinking of? I have no clue, because in my union the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, elementary rep, middle school rep, high school rep, special ed rep, psychologist/counselor rep, TOSA rep, and site reps are all democratically elected TEACHERS who are not only union leaders, they are also still teaching in classrooms. Who are these mysterious union thug strangers you think must be waltzing in and doing all of these terrible things? Why is it wrong in your eyes for teachers to stand up for working conditions that allow them to do their jobs well, such as living wages, prep time, small class sizes, and the right to be able to be vaccinated before going back to school – because the right for teachers to survive and have family members survive is also something that helps your children in the classroom. Dead teachers can’t teach. Permanently disabled teachers can’t teach. Teachers who have to care for disabled family members can’t teach. Those of you who are certain that teachers only indoctrinate children, I’m pretty sure you are already doing a fair job of that yourselves.
Geesh Chumps
This going to get messy…when the last time a union went down……in meantime……….finally …..mom’s are finding out “it takes a village” is a crock/load…..
It’s been a long time since I was in the public school educational system, but I VIVIDLY recall how liberal the majority of my teachers were, and how they tried to work their indoctrination curriculum into their lesson plans…
I’m quite sure that two generations later, that is so much worse now, given the cultural slide that we’ve enjoyed just over the last 20 years…
The unions have always been about power and control, not over what’s best for the students…
BREAK THEM UP and free the teachers to be accountable for their performance and do what’s best for their students, not their union, which is just a fundraising arm of the Democrat political machine…
CriticalDfence9, I have had some excellent teachers, average ones and poor teachers. Overall, my teachers must have been okay judged on my education attainment. Or maybe I learned MAINLY because my parents made ME responsible for MY OWN learning. The home environment is very much the key, imo. The strength of the nuclear family and how much the home environment emphasizes education. My dad was military and my mom worked many different jobs (home maker, maid, sales) putting four kids through college.
First of all if children that are suppose to feel safe and happy in there household ” feel isolated and depressed” this is a wake up call for parents to start Being PARENTS. Get your children off phones and electronic devices, stop taking ME TIME to go out by yourselves take your kuds with you. Start parenting stop buying them phones which you dont monitor and they go into social media and sites that are beyond their ages. Many say teachers are not doing their jobs in 1 year , you the parents have caused this depression talking and belittling your parents on social media, talking in front ofthe kids anout cheating/ divorces yet teachers are to blame. This pandemic should have taught you to truly love your kids, listen to them dont be there friend drinking and smoking with them trying to be the ” cool parent” be a parent and learn to say NO. Stop buying their love , start focusing on them put them in sports, if you can afford it now with Bidens $ he is giving you. Start being a family, stop using the I have 2-3 jobs get your rear end up and check their work, read a book with them . STOP BLAMING COVID, TEACHERS AND START TAKING ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE HUMAN YOU HAVE CREATED . Go to church our world has forgotten GOD.
A MESSAGE TO TEACHERS: YOU DO TO MUCH AT TIMES AND SOCIETY WILL NEVER VALUE YOU.