East Lansing Parents and Students Plan Pep Rally to Support Teachers

East Lansing teacher contract negotiations have extended into November, and some East Lansing parents are looking for ways to support teachers during a tumultuous time. Jodi Spicer, parent of children at Marble Elementary School and East Lansing High School, created the public Facebook group “We Support ELPS Educators” on October 31 as a way to share ideas. As of Sunday morning, 500 people have joined. The purpose statement for the group reads: “Let’s come together and show solidarity and support for the amazing educators who positively impact our students, families and community every single day!!”

Spicer indicates her primary motivation “was to simply provide a space for people to show their support for our educators, and learn more about the issues at hand.” She noticed the buttons many ELPS teachers are wearing that say “No Contract, Still Teaching” when she attended conferences two weeks ago and began to ask questions since this “was the first she had heard about anything related to teacher contracts.” Spicer states, “That same week, I attended the Marble Parent Council meeting [during which] one of the parents asked our Board Representative (Babs Krause) to comment on what was going on with teacher contracts.” Ms. Krause was not able to provide much information, but communicated that ELPS teachers did have a contract, albeit expired. Spicer left that meeting feeling confused by the comments and lack of information available. She spoke with several friends who are ELPS educators and says that she “began to realize through our conversations that morale is very low for teachers.” Spicer added, “I felt that collectively they were feeling undervalued and unappreciated. I was not alone in feeling that way, and began talking to others about how we might be able to show that parents support and value our educators.” The Facebook group was created based on these talks.

A similar group has started in the Dewitt area. The “We Love DeWitt Teachers” Facebook page began October 4, indicating the page is a place where “Dewitt teaching staff and community members can share the great things happening in our classrooms.” That page “is NOT run by DeWitt Public Schools, but moderated by teaching staff outside of school hours.” Okemos and Haslett school districts have completed contract negotiations.

ELHS Senior Savannah Sodeman is one of the students who has joined in the efforts to support ELPS teachers. “I became aware that this was an issue through the Facebook group,” Sodeman said. “The group asked everyone to wear red, and I thought it would help if there were shirts available that we could all wear.” Sodeman designed, advertised, and took orders for “We Support ELPS Educators” T-shirts. The Facebook group has encouraged students and parents to wear these shirts to a "pep rally" at 6:15 pm on Monday, November 10, prior to the East Lansing School Board meeting at 7:00 pm. Approximately 150 shirts have been sold to teachers, students, parents and others in the East Lansing community. “I’ve seen a real growth in awareness of the contract issue, even in the past week. Students who didn’t know anything about it last Monday are now talking about the rally and supporting their teachers,” Sodeman said.

A few ELPS parents sent requests for the school board meeting to be moved to a larger location to accommodate the expected turnout of parents and teachers at the rally. An email reply earlier this week from Office of the Superintendent Administrative Assistant Gail Gillengerten stated, “We appreciate your comment. We will make sure everyone has an opportunity to be heard. We are not in a position to change the meeting location.” Apparently the request was reconsidered, because on Friday it was announced that the meeting has been moved to MacDonald Middle School to accommodate an expected large audience and rally. A request for comment on the Facebook group and rally was sent to East Lansing Superintendent Robyne Thompson who indicated, “We appreciate everyone's interest in this issue, as we all want an agreement, however, we cannot respond to the questions because we are still in the midst of negotiations.”

Marble and MacDonald parent Erin Graham is a member of the Facebook group and says she hopes to see an amicable end come of the contract negotiations. Graham worries that when teachers are feeling discouraged and undervalued, that ultimately impacts the students. She says that, “regardless of what the negotiations entail, that’s how [teachers] are feeling.” Graham points out that state funding has been cut, and says, “we probably, as a group of parents, need to reach beyond the school board level.” She also sees “a lot of great teachers are doing the best they can despite the negotiations.”

David Stroupe is parent of students at Marble and MacDonald schools, and an assistant professor of science education at MSU’s Department of Teacher Education. He cites two potential impacts of prolonged contract negotiations. “The tensions that arise around contract disputes, especially prolonged contract disputes, erode teachers' professional identity.” Stroupe adds, “Prolonged contract disputes portray an image of school districts out to the community. Fair or not, people see an image of a school district that has tensions with teachers.” He summarized his comments to ELi by saying that “to me, both issues take away from the work that teachers want to do--provide great learning opportunities for all kids.”

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