GRPS teachers, students, parents and community members speak up at Board of Education meetings to demand that teachers get paid what they deserve

Over the past two Monday’s, hundreds of people showed up at the Grand Rapids Public School Board of Education meetings. 

On Monday, September 8th, so many people showed up that they all could not fit into the Franklin Campus Administrative building where the School Board meets, thus leaving over a hundred either waiting in the lobby or outside.

The September 8th School Board meeting received a fair amount of news coverage, but as of this writing there was only one story from the 4 major commercial media outlets in Grand Rapids. The story was from WXMI 17, which only provided a comment from someone with the teachers union, followed by a comment from a GRPS spokesperson. This type of coverage does the public a disservice, since it doesn’t reflect the overwhelming amount of public comments calling for GRPS teachers to get paid that they deserved. By comparison, all 4 major commercial media outlets in Grand Rapids reported on the Grand Action 2.0 push to get the public to cough up even more money to fund the downtown amphitheater. 

At both the September 8th and 15th GRPS Board of Education meetings public comment was reduced from 3 minutes to 2 minutes. You can watch the School Board meetings from September 8th and 15th by going to this link.

During the September 8th meeting there were 24 people who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. There were over 50 people who had submitted cards, but the School Board decided to adjourn the meeting early since there were so many people who wanted to be there, but were prevented from speaking because of space issues. 

Those who spoke during public comment on September 8th were GRPS students, parents with children in GRPS and GRPS teachers. All of them had similar messages, which were centered around the demand that the Grand Rapids Public Schools needed to pay teachers what they are asking or they will risk losing more teachers to other districts.

Some of the GRPS students talked about how the teacher(s) they have had have had such a positive impact on their lives, which is why they were speaking up for teachers to receive a just salary. Another person said that GRPS claims they want qualified teachers but last year ended with 87 empty teacher spots while having a record fund balance.

One teacher who spoke during public comment shared that they noticed right before school started that their paycheck was pending, which was followed by an email apologizing for the delay. This dynamic took their focus away from prepping for their classroom, since they were worrying about getting paid. During the next pay cycle, the same thing happened again. Another teacher said that the district was acting like a dragon sitting on top of a mound of gold. 

There were also several comments from people during public comment expressing their disgust that people were being locked out of the building and that everyone who came out should have an opportunity to speak. There were also calls to provide a larger venue, in order to avoid what was happening that night. One GRPS School Board member said, “this space has been sufficient for all meetings thus far.” This statement was inaccurate, as I reported in 2010 that there was insufficient space for the public speak during public comment, so the district moved the meeting to Ottawa Hills High School. 

Round Two – September 15th GRPS School Board meeting

During the September 15th GRPS School Board meeting – which was held at Ottawa Hills High School. The School Board read a statement which essentially said that if anyone was being disorderly or breaches the peace, school board can take steps to remove individuals from meeting, using law enforcement officers. Not exactly setting an inviting tone that welcomes public input.

There were a total of 62 people who spoke during the public comment period, again with a reduced time to speak from 3 minutes to 2 minutes. There were GRPS parents and community members who spoke, but the overwhelming majority were GRPS teachers.

One teacher stated that the Special Education program was not only understaffed but the district was using non-certified teachers. One Special Education program teacher said their students are getting a revolving door of unqualified subs and understaffed support system that makes it unsafe for these students. Parents are also leaving the district because they know their kids can’t get fair and appropriate public education.

Several teachers pointed out how the GRPS pay for teacher was one of the worst in Kent County, which not only devalues teachers, it contributes to GRPS teachers leaving the district for nearby districts. A GRPS parent also addressed the low salaries of GRPS teachers compared to other districts, while pointing out the fact that GRPS Administrators gave themselves double digit raises.

There were other comments made about the low GRPS teacher salaries, which not only undervalues those teachers, it negatively impacts students, which the the district continues to claim is their priority. Another teacher said that he shouldn’t have to be the sole dad of 2 teenage boys and have a take home pay that is 2/3 of what it costs to rent a 3 bedroom apartment in this city. Another teacher shared a story about a parapro who had their lights turned off at Christmas because they couldn’t pay their bills off of what the GRPS paid them.

One last comment that I want to highlight was from a 7th grader at City High. This student said, “You talk about how GRPS is my choice…well,  my choice is to give teachers more money!”

After two and a half hours the message was crystal clear – value the teachers, pay teachers what they deserve, and if you want to retain teachers pay them what they deserve. The students will benefit, the parents will commit to staying in the district and the community as a whole will benefit from having a robust public schools. Will the GRPS Administrators and School Board members not only hear this, but meet the demand to pay teachers what they deserve?