Walkouts are not imminent in Tulsa Public Schools, but, starting Monday, teachers are encouraged to "work to contract" for the rest of March to push lawmakers to implement a statewide teacher pay raise.
Teachers are paid for seven hours and 50 minutes a day, so things they commonly do at home, like entering grades or planning lessons, they effectively do for free.
Working to contract means those things that can't be done inside the time teachers are paid for won't get done.
It's something TPS teachers haven't done in roughly 20 years.
"We have reached a point where everyone understands that something dramatic needs to happen, but we also have to know that in order to get the end result, we need to have a specific plan and we need to all be operating in concert," said TPS Superintendent Deborah Gist.
Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association President Patti Ferguson-Palmer said teachers will continue doing things outside of school hours they’re paid for, like coaching.
"Our goal is to show everyone — the legislature and the public — what a bargain they’re getting from the teachers. They think they work six hours. They don’t. They work 24/7 in a lot of cases," Ferguson-Palmer said.
TPS Board President Suzanne Schreiber said the move means parents like her will have to be ready for some inconvenience if their kids' grades aren't available when they used to be or calls or emails go unreturned, but teachers deserve their support.
"Teachers have made this sacrifice longer than anyone else, and if we want our children and our children’s children and our city and our state to be educated, this is something that we’re going to have to tolerate," Schreiber said.
Walkouts discussed on social media are not being planned by TPS, but district officials are not ruling them out if lawmakers can’t come up with a plan to give teachers a raise.
District officials said teachers will be encouraged to work to contract through March. An organized one-day walkout could follow next month, and a longer statewide walkout could follow in May if lawmakers don’t work toward a teacher pay raise.
