“Fund our future! Fund our future,” chanted infuriated Westmont students as they participated in the student walkout during 5th period on October 1st. In solidarity with their hardworking teachers, many walked out of class at 11am to raise awareness and protest the poor treatment of their teachers by the Campbell Union High school district management. Along with all other schools in the district, Prospect, Branham, Del Mar, and Leigh High school, students were all encouraged to wear red in support of this cause. Posters were held high and chants were repeated as attention was brought to an issue that has long been affecting the education system; teachers are not paid enough.
The significance of protesting on October 1st was that many teachers began a new work to pay contract agreement starting at the beginning of that month. The agreement, another form of protest by the teachers, means that teachers will be refusing to do any work outside of exactly what they are paid to do. This includes tasks like writing senior letters of recommendation, hosting club meetings, attending school events, opening classrooms during lunch, and arriving at school early or staying late to accommodate students. While some students may not be affected much by this new contract, seniors in particular will catch the brunt of it.
In response to the protest, superintendent of the district, Robert Bravo, sent out an email. In this email was a chart listing the percent raises given to our district’s teachers compared to those at districts around us.
This misleading viewpoint, at first glance, makes it seem like CUHSD teachers have it best. However, the chart failed to mention what their actual salaries are. When comparing the salaries of CUHSD teachers to teachers from other districts, ours place at the bottom of the list. If you are curious to see how much one of your teachers makes you can visit https://transparentcalifornia.com/ and simply put in their name! This goes to show even if our district managed to issue one of the largest percent salary increases, they are still lacking in giving our teachers the support they deserve. With such a high cost of living in the bay area, teaching does not earn one enough to support a family. As a result, many CUHSD teachers reside in Santa Cruz or even further away in Morgan Hill where they have to commute to work everyday.
If you wish to continue following along in their journey, make sure to follow @chstaunited and @students4chsta on instagram for more information on how you can better support your teachers!
