Dallas school board member Edwin Flores defended his vote to extend the teacher work day without pay. Last week’s controversial vote has led to fallout from teachers, as KERA’s Bill Zeeble explains.
Flores and 5 trustees voted for the new policy last Thursday that adds 45 unpaid minutes to a teacher’s work day. Teacher groups have complained, saying they were never consulted, and that many routinely work more than eight hours anyway. One teacher who complained to Flores in an email has been suspended. An anonymous teacher has called for a one-day sick-out. Flores says education comes first.
Flores: We have STAAR coming up. It’s a new test. It’s critical we have as many of our great educators in front of our students every single day between now and the STAAR test. I support having great educators in front of our students every single day.
Trustee Bernadette Nutall, who often votes with Flores, says she did not for this policy.
Nutall: What we’re going to have to do is come to the table, debate, discuss and deliberate on how do we come to a happy medium to make sure that the interest of the students is at hand while we support the staff.
The president of the district’s largest teacher group says she knows teachers are angry about the extended day policy, but she does not condone a sick out.
