Barbara Culpepper

Teachers send strong message in strike vote

The Oregonian, Portland, OR
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
News, Page: 1
By Aimee Green

After a sleepless night, Wilson High School math teacher Barbara Culpepper awoke at 5 a.m. Tuesday -- angry that Portland school officials hadn't budged in nine months of contract talks with teachers.

"I haven't slept in weeks," Culpepper said.

She arrived at school at 7 a.m. to scrawl out a large sign -- "What's next? A pound of flesh?" -- to bring to the evening's strike vote at the Oregon Convention Center.

After chuckling over the latest Doonesbury comic strip depicting Portland schools' dire situation, Culpepper dove into the precalculus problems of the day with her first batch of 30 students.

At 6:30 p.m., Culpepper and most of her Wilson High colleagues voted overwhelmingly to reject the district's latest contract offer. Culpepper said teachers wanted to send a strong message to the district.

By 7:50 p.m., apparently their message had been heard: School district leaders announced on television that a tentative deal had been signed by district, union, city and county leaders.

Tuesday was a roller coaster of a day for Culpepper and Portland's other 3,700 educators. Though she and others haven't seen the details of the agreement, she feels optimistic about the deal.

Culpepper, a 22-year teacher, heard inklings of the preliminary agreement even before the strike vote. No cap on health care benefits. Teachers will work 10 days without pay this spring. And no changes to contract language, such as a new rule to involuntarily transfer teachers among schools.

She said a strike would have been the last resort. But she said they wanted to send that message because they felt disrespected. At lunch Tuesday, about a dozen math and science teachers gathered in Culpepper's classroom, as they do almost every day. With no knowledge of any pending deals, they were eager to share why they think district-teacher relations have been at an all-time low.

"There's so much mistrust at this point," said teacher Diana Fisher. "We feel like the district is trying to fill the hole on the backs of the teachers. . . .We realize the district has money issues, but we've moved a lot."

Culpepper was particularly upset about the district's proposal to cap health care premiums at $600 a month. Culpepper said under that proposal, she would pay $170 a month out of her own pocket, to cover the difference. Plus, the new health plan would offer her less benefits: It would pay for only one dental cleaning a year instead of two, which the dentist recommends.

In the end, the district shelved the proposal to cap health care premiums for teachers and agreed to revisit that later this year.

Sherry Clyman, an English teacher and union representative for Wilson High, said earlier in the day that teachers at the high school supported a strike vote. They wore buttons: "Working Without A Contract." Or red ribbons: "We are the heart of PPS." Neatly pasted next to some classrooms are bright yellow signs: "We support our teachers."

And students have been aware of district-teacher conflicts. Students peppered teachers with questions: So why do you want to strike? Is there going to be a strike? Are you going to vote to strike?

"To the kids, it's like their parents are arguing," Clyman said. "The kids want to know it's not their fault."

And some Wilson families have been thinking of leaving the public school system because of all the turmoil.

Eileen Rogers, a math teacher, said she's been asked to write one or two recommendations for freshman who are applying to private schools. In a normal year, she only receives one or two recommendation requests a year.

"I feel like I'm being asked to assist in the demise of public schools," Rogers said. "It makes me cry."

And so Culpepper says all this helped explain why this has been one of the roughest episodes of her life.

"Other than my child dying," Culpepper said, "This is the worst thing I've gone through, because teaching is my life. To go through this and say 'I'm not going to teach' is the toughest thing a teacher can do."

Culpepper Ancestry. Barbara is the daughter of James Marvin Culpepper, son of John Marvin Culpepper.