Survey says state’s educators are burning out fast

October 29, 2020 by

Educators from St. Paul and Minneapolis rallied together near the Lake Street bridge Sept. 30, urging their districts to engage with them in decisions about reopening school buildings.

In-person, online or with a hybrid approach, classes have resumed at public schools across Minnesota. While models differ from district to district, a new survey finds that educators are having similar experiences marked by stress, anxiety and overwhelming workloads.

Applications for retirement benefits, meanwhile, are on the rise – a troubling sign for a profession already facing worker shortages.

In light of the findings, Education Minnesota President Denise Specht, the highest-ranking officer of the statewide educators union, urged district leaders to recalibrate their models and bargain in good faith with local unions over the terms of pandemic learning.

“Our public schools won’t function if thousands of educators burn out and leave,” Specht said. “It’s time to adjust.”

The survey, conducted in September, asked members of Education Minnesota the question, “How are you currently feeling about your work as an educator?”

Among the nearly 9,500 members who responded, 79% reported feeling stressed, 73% felt overwhelmed and 51% said they worried about their mental health.

Teachers working in different education modes at the same time – both in-person and online, for example – reported the highest levels of stress and anxiety in Education Minnesota’s survey, suggesting the hybrid approach may not be sustainable over the full school year.

That’s a message Kaia Hirt, an English teacher from the Anoka-Hennepin school district, brought to a public gathering of educators Sept. 30 in Minneapolis. Hybrid learning has been a “circus” in her district, Hirt said. She pointed to constantly shifting expectations, murky health protocols and impossible workloads.

Hirt, whose district has since dialed back in-person learning, had a warning for educators from the Minneapolis and St. Paul districts, where remote learning remains the primary mode: “Don’t let them take you to the circus.”

In the metro, representatives of the school districts and educators unions have been discussing a potential hybrid return to classrooms for most students.

Both sides say in-person learning is the ultimate goal, but union members say the process has not adequately engaged educators or taken into consideration the needs of communities of color and multilingual families, who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

“We need to stop talking about equity, and start being about equity,” Lindsey West, a teacher at Barton Open School in Minneapolis, said.

Making St. Paul’s school buildings safe for in-person learning, SPFE member Linda Jones said, would require large-scale investments, particularly in a district that serves communities hit hardest by COVID-19. Funding for that work has been held up by gridlock at the federal level.

“I give our national leaders an ‘F’ because their extremely irresponsible response to Covid has failed our people,” Jones said. “It is our duty and our obligation to not fuel the fires of the virus, but rather work to slow its spread. This means we do not open our schools to in-person learning until the virus is contained.”

In addition to pumping the brakes on in-person learning, educators want their districts to reconsider expectations for remote learning that have too many staff members burning out. “It is the fourth week of school, and we are already trying to figure out how we can keep this up,” St. Paul education assistant Yasmin Muridi said.

Widespread burnout could be disastrous for the state’s education system in the long run.

Education Minnesota’s survey found nearly three in 10 respondents were thinking about quitting or retiring, a trend backed up by the Teachers Retirement Association of Minnesota, which reported to the union that applications for retirement benefits increased by 35% in August and September 2020, compared to the same period last year.

“The goal remains to safely reopen school buildings and resume in-person learning, but this pandemic has taught everyone to be flexible,” Specht said. “This isn’t the time for finger pointing, but it is time to adapt.”

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Skyway march targets tax-dodging corporations

December 8, 2017 by

St. Paul teachers and parents clogged the skyway system in downtown St. Paul yesterday. They marched from one corporate office to another, calling on Wells Fargo, US Bank, Ecolab and Securian to pay their fair share toward fully funded public schools.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 organized the skyway march. In ongoing contract negotiations with the St. Paul Public Schools, the union has proposed partnering with the district to seek additional revenue from corporations and large non-profits – health care companies and private colleges – that avoid paying local property taxes.

US Bank, Wells Fargo and Ecolab benefit from tax-increment-financing deals with the City of Saint Paul, reducing the amount of property taxes they pay to fund public schools. Ecolab, meanwhile, avoids paying taxes on over $2.1 billion in profits by using offshore tax havens, according to the union.

SPFT members called on corporations like Securian to pay their fair share toward the schools St. Paul children deserve during a march through St. Paul’s skyways last month.

The march culminated with a rally at Hamm Plaza, across from Ecolab. Speakers decried tax cuts for wealthy corporations at a time when funding for local schools is failing to keep pace with inflation – and as students’ needs continue to grow.

“I want restorative practices, not a school to prison pipeline,” said Kirinda Anderson, a parent of a child at Wellstone Elementary. “I want a counselor with a hug and social worker with a listening ear, not a cop with a gun in my kid’s school.”

Teachers noted that several of St. Paul’s corporate citizens chipped in to lure the Super Bowl to the Twin Cities next February.

“We need the large companies that are investing millions into the Super Bowl, including US Bank and Ecolab, to support public education in the same way,” SPFT President Nick Faber said.

Organizations supporting SPFT’s skyway march included Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and the low-wage worker center CTUL.

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Walker’s anti-union Act 10 dealing major blow to WI public schools, report finds

November 20, 2017 by

Working people from Wisconsin and Minnesota came together in Hudson, Wis., to protest Act 10 in February 2011. (file photo)

A new analysis of Wisconsin’s public schools reveals several alarming trends since the state adopted legislation stripping teachers and other public service workers of most collective bargaining rights in 2011.

“Gov. Scott Walker and Republican elected leaders in Wisconsin said that Act 10 would benefit schools and families alike,” said David Madlan, co-author of the report. “They couldn’t have been more wrong.”

Instead of improving public schools, Act 10 has led to a sharp decline in teachers’ wages and benefits and a troubling uptick in teacher turnover, according to the report.

Madlan and his co-author, Alex Rowell, found that by the 2015-16 school year, the average Wisconsin teacher was earning nearly $11,000 less than before Act 10 passed, when adjusted for inflation.

Unsurprisingly, teachers have been leaving the profession – or finding jobs in other states – at a higher rate since Act 10, and data collected by the state’s Department of Public Instruction shows an influx of less experienced teachers into Wisconsin’s public schools.

“We have seen turnover like we’ve never seen before,” Shelly Moore Krajacic, an English and drama teacher in Ellsworth, Wis., told reporters on a conference call unveiling the report’s findings last week. “It’s difficult for the students and for the teachers to develop teamwork and process.”

Academic research into teacher longevity backs up Moore Krajacic’s experience. “The research is pretty clear that experience and stability of teachers is an important factor in the quality of education a school can provide,” Madlan said.

Commissioned by the nonpartisan Center for American Progress Action Fund, the report serves as a warning to lawmakers in neighboring states considering similar measures.

Last year the Minnesota Legislature moved to weaken teachers’ tenure rights and loosen the licensure process, making it easier for “under-qualified instructors to remain in the classroom for several years in a row,” Rep. Carlos Mariani (DFL-St. Paul) said.

With the Supreme Court expected to deal a major blow to public-sector unions in a decision on Janus v. AFSCME next year, advocates for public schools worry that what’s happening in Wisconsin could spread to states like Minnesota – and spread quickly – if teachers’ collective voice is weakened.

“Our general approach in Minnesota has been to work with public-sector unions in order to create services that work well for the public, and we think over time that’s paid off,” Mariani said. “We watch with a lot of concern what’s happening in our neighbor state.”

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Teachers look beyond ‘cookie-cutter’ signs and banners with community art build

November 8, 2017 by

A flier for the community art build shows some of the artist-submitted designs volunteers will screen print this weekend.

Teachers in St. Paul are throwing out the playbook in contract negotiations with the district this year.

Banners, signs and posters in the union’s storage closet are on the way out, too.

Educators, parents, students and community stakeholders will work together on new, artist-designed signs and banners this weekend at a “community art build” co-hosted by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and its sister local in Minneapolis. Organizers hope the event will provide momentum – and unique visuals – for contract campaigns on both sides of the Mississippi.

The public is welcome to participate in the art build, which will take place Friday afternoon through Sunday at the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers’ offices, 67 Eighth Ave. NE, Minneapolis. (View the event page on Facebook to learn more or sign up for a shift.)

Shortly after the school year began, SPFT and MFT put out a call to local artists seeking designs that would evoke support for public education. A committee of educators selected a handful of submissions, which volunteers this weekend will screen print onto signs and paint on large banners – and even a parachute, for those looking down on a rally from above.

Sam Yelk, an art teacher at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus school in St. Paul, served on the committee. He said the submissions, particularly from student artists, left him “impressed and pleasantly surprised.”

“In a class of 28 sixth-graders, there might be 28 different ideas,” Yelk said. “Any time I’ve given an assignment to students, whatever the level, they always come back with such powerful imagery and ideas. It’s a breath of fresh air.”

Such creativity is in keeping with the spirit of SPFT’s groundbreaking contract campaign.

Rather than focusing on wages, benefits and work rules, St. Paul teachers want the district to partner with their union in pressuring corporations and large, tax-exempt organizations to pay their fair share toward closing a projected budget shortfall of $27 million.

“We have a different set of proposals than have really ever been put forth before,” SPFT organizer Mike Asmus said. “We’re trying to facilitate a conversation that’s different, and the art build gives us an opportunity to make something different from the cookie-cutter signs and banners you normally see at union rallies.”

The idea stems from an event held by public school teachers in Milwaukee last year, and at least one Milwaukee teacher will travel to Minneapolis to share advice and show solidarity.

Yelk said he envisions a powerful, positive event that brings together families who share a belief in the promise of public schools.

“We’ll be there to have fun and to express our shared hopes,” he said. “This is what’s right for our families and our students; this is what we should be doing.”

“It’s a bunch of people getting together to do artwork. I’ve never seen that turn into a brawl.”

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Solidarity puts historic referendum campaign in North Branch over the top

July 6, 2017 by

Barb Swenson, a German teacher in the North Branch Area Schools, thanked delegates to the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation for their support in the successful referendum campaign.

We all do better when we work together. That’s the lesson teachers and support staff in the North Branch Area Schools learned from the district’s first successful referendum campaign in at least 15 years.

And it was a valuable lesson, as voters in a special election May 23 approved all three of District 138’s funding requests, worth a combined $70 million for repairing the district’s facilities, updating classroom technology and building new gym space.

The successful “Vote Yes” campaign broke a streak of at least seven consecutive failed attempts to inject new funds into the North Branch Schools. But none of those referendum campaigns benefitted from the labor-community partnership educators, working through their local unions, built this time around.

“It was historic that this group of people came together,” Stacy Johnstone, co-president of the North Branch Education Association, said of the “Vote Yes” campaign. “Labor has never been as involved in passing a referendum, working as a team with the district and the community. This partnership was what passed it.”

Bargaining units within the district “have not always played nice in the sandbox,” Johnstone admitted. “But something happened this time around, and people were willing to put hard feelings aside and work as a team.”

The spirit of cooperation proved contagious.

Working together helped the NBEA and the North Branch Support Staff Association draw support from their statewide union, Education Minnesota, as well as the Chisago County Labor Assembly and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation – support that meant resources, political expertise and volunteers.

“They have experience with political strategy that no one in our district had,” Johnstone said of the St. Paul RLF. “We knew if we were going to do this we had to pull together to access those resources. We needed organizing strategy, and that’s the expertise (RLF President) Bobby Kasper and (political organizer) Vicki Beebe brought.”

The RLF hosted biweekly phone banks out of the St. Paul Labor Center throughout April, and RLF political staff helped recruit volunteers for door-knocks and phone banks on the ground in North Branch, urging union members who live in the district to support the referendum.

The RLF is based in St. Paul, but the federation represents workers in four counties – Ramsey, Washington, Dakota and Chisago – and hosts monthly meetings in each county to engage rank-and-file union members in local issues and campaigns. Beebe, who coordinates the RLF’s Chisago County Labor Assembly, said the victory in North Branch speaks to the power of belonging to something bigger.

“The district, city council, community and labor unions partnered together and made history,” Beebe said. “It was an inspirational demonstration of what can happen when people with a wide range of interests come together.”

The real winners, of course, are students in the district, which will no longer have to rely solely on its general fund to maintain and modernize its facilities.

“We have a 1960s boiler falling apart, we have windows that are outdated, we have furniture from 1975 that needs replacing,” German teacher Barb Swenson said. “It’s hard to invest in students when all these different maintenance costs are just eating away at our general fund.”

“We also needed this for our community,” NBSSA Co-President Joanne Kreitz said. “When there are strong schools, more families move into North Branch, and that means more jobs.”

The impact of solidarity, Kasper said, showed up in the increased voter turnout May 23, compared to a failed referendum campaign in North Branch just one year earlier. The number of voters jumped from 2,207 to 2,976.

“It was an uphill battle, but with dedication and hard work from so many stakeholders, we pulled it off,” Kasper said. “It’s a credit to the tenacity of North Branch educators and parents, as well as the chair of our Chisago County Labor Assembly, Michael Madden.”

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Teachers kick off contract campaign by targeting corporate tax dodgers

April 18, 2017 by

“Public schools belong to everyone in a community. So everyone who’s present in that community should contribute their fair share,” Jenna Styles Spooner, a kindergarten teacher at Riverview School of Excellence said at a rally kicking off the SPFT’s contract campaign.

 

Anticipating negotiations with a school district that seems perpetually short on resources, St. Paul teachers launched their contract campaign today – Tax Day – by calling on the city’s wealthiest corporations to pay their fair share toward local public schools.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 kicked off its contract campaign early this morning with a rally outside U.S. Bank’s operations center. Located across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Paul, the site was developed by the city using tax-increment financing – an arrangement that exempts U.S. Bank from paying about $1 million in property taxes to the St. Paul Public Schools annually, Local 28 President Denise Rodriguez told about 50 members and supporters at the rally.

SPFT President Denise Rodriguez delivers an invoice to U.S. Bank CEO Richard Davis.

“While our schools are facing a budget deficit, the CEO of US Bank earns $83,800 a day,” Rodriguez said. “When I think of what that could fund in our schools alone, that’s why we’re standing here today.”

Rodriguez and other teachers called out Wells Fargo and Ecolab for dodging their fair share in local taxes too, but big banks and corporations, they added, share responsibility for the district’s budget shortfalls with huge, tax-exempt organizations – hospitals and private colleges – that sit on massive endowments or foundations.

Nonprofit health care corporations like Allina Health and Health Partners “have $1 billion invested in stocks, hedge funds and private equity,” Rodriguez said. “Does that sound like a nonprofit to you?”

After the rally, Rodriguez and other teachers entered the operations center to deliver an invoice to U.S. Bank seeking the funds it’s avoided paying into the St. Paul Public Schools.

“I just want to say to U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, if you disagree with any of my facts, please call me,” Rodriguez added. “I would love for my people to sit down with your people.”

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Kohl’s janitors plan public action during back-to-school rush

August 17, 2016 by
A delegation of retail cleaning workers approached a Twin Cities Kohl's store in May 2015 to voice concerns over working conditions maintained by the retailer's cleaning contractor.

A delegation of retail cleaning workers approached a Twin Cities Kohl’s store in May 2015 to voice concerns over working conditions maintained by the retailer’s cleaning contractor.

Looking to build on recent victories at Target and Best Buy, retail janitors in the Twin Cities will put the pressure on Kohl’s this weekend – during the busy back-to-school shopping season – to do right by the workers who clean its stores.

Janitors organizing with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL want Kohl’s to join Target and Best Buy in signing onto a responsible contractor policy, which would ensure the chain’s cleaning contractors treat workers fairly.

CTUL, a Spanish acronym for Center for Workers United in the Struggle, plans to protest outside “various stores” locally Saturday before bringing together janitors, teachers, parents, children and other supporters for a community march in Roseville. The march will begin at 3:15 p.m. at the intersection of Fairview and County Road B2, ending at the Kohl’s store on County Road B2.

[Click here to RSVP for the event on Facebook.]

Workers have been pushing Kohl’s to address concerns about its Twin Cities cleaning contractor, Kimco, for more than two years.

At a demonstration in Richfield earlier this year, two Kimco employees and CTUL activists described the conditions they face cleaning Kohl’s stores, including long hours and low wages with no voice on the job.

By contrast, in an agreement reached with CTUL two years ago, Target pledged to do business with contractors that do not force janitors to work seven days a week, allow formation of safety committees made up of at least 50 percent workers and provide protections for workers to join a union without fear of retaliation.

CTUL announced the day of action in a press release this week:

“Retail janitors organizing with CTUL will protest at Kohl’s stores in the Twin Cities during the “Back to School” season to highlight calls for Kohl’s to implement a Responsible Contractor Policy. This policy would ensure their janitorial contractor treat janitors fairly. The protests at various stores will culminate in a community march in Roseville at 3:15pm.

“For Kohl’s, Back to School season means more money. During Back to School sales, Kohl’s rakes in about 15% of their yearly profits ($673 million last year).

“But for retail janitors contracted to clean Kohl’s, Back to School season just means extra work maintaining stores during one of the busiest times of the year. Despite the hours and effort they put in, janitors who clean Kohl’s are paid poverty wages and often can’t afford to shop at Kohl’s for their own children.

“Low wages impact retail janitors’ families throughout the year. Children living in poverty are less prepared for school because their parents don’t have the resources to give them the support that all students deserve. They may go to school hungry. Their parents may work two jobs, making it impossible for them to be home and help with homework.

“This year during Back to School season, join retail janitors, educators, and students in the fight for fair wages and working conditions for all families. When parents make a living wage, their kids have a better chance of success in school.”

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Education secretary’s ‘Tea for Teachers’ taps St. Paul educator

March 23, 2016 by
Schatzlein stands to the immediate left of Education Secretary John B. King Jr., at the center of the photo. (U.S. Department of Education photo)

Schatzlein stands to the immediate left of Education Secretary John B. King Jr., at the center of the photo. (U.S. Department of Education photo)

 

Erica Schatzlein was checking her email over lunch Feb. 23 when she found an invite to have tea with the U.S. secretary of education. The teacher of English language learners at Nokomis Montessori North was skeptical.

“At first I was thinking, ‘Is this real? It looks real,’” she said. “I decided to respond and see what happens.”

A month later she was in Washington D.C., one of 11 educators participating in a “teatime conversation” with then-interim Secretary John B. King Jr. about how to create safe learning environments where students are free from discrimination based on race, religion and national origin.

Schatzlein, who lives in Minneapolis, has taught in the St. Paul Public Schools since 2004 and is an active member of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, twice serving on the union’s bargaining team.

But Schatzlein suspects it was her ELL activism that drew notice from the Department of Education. SPFT’s 2013-15 contract established a specific committee to consider ELL policies and advocate for ELL students. Schatzlein is a member, and she’s become passionate about better serving the district’s fast-growing Karen population, which includes many students whose education has been limited or interrupted.

Schatzlein brought that passion for ELL advocacy to Washington.

“I did some reflecting on what the secretary needs to hear about the needs of our kids here in Minnesota and what the federal government can do,” she said. “There are needs for our ELL kids that are heightened based on their life experiences, and I wanted that to be addressed.

“I also wanted to talk about the need for student supports, for school counselors, social workers, mental health care professionals; support for teachers and training to make sure all staff and teachers who work with ELL kids know how to meet their needs.”

It turned out Schatzlein wasn’t the only teacher in the hour-long session hoping to raise those concerns.

“Those issues were brought up almost immediately,” she said. “We could’ve talked for days.”

King mostly listened to the conversation, but when it was over he revealed some of the department’s forthcoming initiatives. “Happily some of them aligned with the issues we had brought up,” Schatzlein said.

Still, she left the teatime conversation feeling “guarded hope,” given the political climate in Washington. But Schatzlein said it was good to know the issues and ideas she’s working on in St. Paul are also percolating in the nation’s capital.

“Right now we’re so concerned about test scores when we talk about student achievement,” she said. “What is often forgotten is if our students don’t have their safety, physical and mental-health needs met, the achievement is not going to be there.”

And if teachers don’t have a strong voice on the job, Schatzlein added, it’s harder to effectively advocate for their students – at the local or national level.

“If I had not had my union, this meeting would not have happened,” she said. “Their support of ELL issues and support of my own development – learning how to advocate and how to organize – is what made this possible.”

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Community backs St. Paul teachers’ call for progress in contract talks

February 17, 2016 by
Members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers rally with supporters before walking into the Teachers at American Indian Magnet School in St. Paul.

Members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers rally with supporters before walking into the Teachers at American Indian Magnet School in St. Paul.

 

Parents, students and community members rallied with members of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers outside school buildings across the city this morning, demanding progress in contract talks between SPFT and the St. Paul Public Schools, scheduled to resume tomorrow.

Wearing hats and scarves in SPFT’s signature red, participants chanted and carried signs expressing support for the teachers’ bargaining priorities, including measures to improve school climate, reduce class sizes and beef up staffing among school nurses, librarians, social workers and other support positions.

“I wouldn’t be out here if it was just about financial issues,” Laurel Kuhner Berker said outside American Indian Magnet School, where she teaches. “I’m out here because these issues affect the kids.”

SPFT President Denise Rodriguez outlined teachers’ bargaining priorities in a speech to supporters outside American Indian Magnet:

 

 

Other teachers outside American Indian Magnet expressed concern that the district already is disregarding some provisions of SPFT’s existing contract.

Kuhner Berker’s fifth-grade class has 30 students – up from 23 last year – and is one of four classrooms in the building with enrollments that exceed the contractual limits. The school also does not have the required number of kindergarten aides, she said.

“This is about fairness,” said middle-school teacher Bob Otto, also a parent of three children in the district. “We want a quality education for all children.”

Walk-in events took place at more than 50 school sites across the district, according to SPFT. Find photos from rallies outside American Indian Magnet and St. Paul Johnson High School below:

SPFT President Denise Rodriguez will retire June 12.
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Community support gives North Branch teachers momentum as contract talks resume

February 5, 2016 by

web.NorthBranch-line2

North Branch teachers rallied with supporters on back-to-back days this week, sending a clear message to school board members and administrators before contract negotiations resumed today.

“We’re not in this alone,” industrial tech teacher Irv Geary said. “We’re all in this together. And it’s not just a teacher issue; it’s a community issue.”

North Branch teachers and supporters line the street in front of district offices during a contract-campaign rally.

North Branch teachers and supporters line the street in front of district offices during a contract-campaign rally.

Geary, a lead negotiator for the North Branch Education Association and its 200 educator, said talks with the district on a new contract have moved at a glacial pace since teachers’ previous contract expired June 30, 2015.

The union’s bargaining team met three times with school board members before November, union Co-President Stacy Johnstone said. The board then requested assistance from a state mediator, who facilitated one meeting in December and scheduled another for today.

“Teachers deserve a respectful process and a timely process,” Johnstone said. “Here it’s February, and we’re still trying to come to the table.”

According to a tally provided by Education Minnesota earlier this week, 173 of 356 bargaining units statewide have settled contracts with their school districts, or 48.6 percent.

But Johnstone, a transition-age special education teacher, said dragging out negotiations has become “standard practice” for North Branch administrators in recent years. That takes a toll on teachers’ energy and morale, she warned.

“This is amazing energy,” Johnstone said of the 50-plus people lining the sidewalk outside a North Branch campus, holding signs and waving at vehicles as they passed buy. “But we could be home grading papers and writing lesson plans. We’re just ready to get our full focus back in the classroom.”

Pay is a sticking point in negotiations. Veteran teachers’ salaries have remained virtually stagnant in recent years as the district boosted pay at the lower end of the scale, seeking to recruit younger teachers to the area.

“Our long-term teachers who have committed their whole careers to North Branch are feeling the pinch,” Johnstone said. “We’re really out rallying for them.”

Health benefits are at issue as well, she added: “In our last round of negotiations, we were able to finally get a boost in our health benefits, and now they want to take a part of that away. It’s not sitting well. It’s a little frustrating for our members.”

Members of the Kreitz family show their solidarity with North Branch teachers: Joanne (L) a paraprofessional in the district; Susan, a member of the MN Nurses Association; and Steve, 49er. "We've got to keep together or we fall," Susan said.

Members of the Kreitz family show their solidarity with North Branch teachers: Joanne (L) a paraprofessional in the district; Susan, a member of the MN Nurses Association; and Steve, 49er. “We’ve got to keep together or we fall,” Susan said.

Cars driving by the informational picket line Wednesday honked their horns in support of teachers, who waved and held signs reading “Respect our teachers” and “My base pay has increased 2.6% in 8 years.”

Paraprofessionals in the district, also members of Education Minnesota, and several members of other unions joined teachers at the rally. Among those represented were the Machinists, Minnesota Nurses Association, Building Trades and St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.

“We want happy teachers so we have smart kids,” Operating Engineers Local 49 member Steve Kreitz said.

“I think this is the face of North Branch, and they’re out here saying, ‘Hey, we stand with the teachers,’” Geary said. “I think that says a lot.”

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