OK, two days ago I was on the phone for over an hour with one of Victoria’s teachers. Here is what I got out of the conversation: Phil Long states that our kids will continue to receive a “quality education.” My response to this is” “How will my kids receive a quality education when they are being BUSSED to a DIFFERENT school for 4 hours a day! That is absolutely absurd. We are in a different society now than we were many years ago and it is very scary. What if some random act of violence happens because of this. I know this is a possibility regardless, but it could REALLY be a possibility now! I could go into all of the “what if’s” but I’m not going to. Also, our kids will be getting packets to learn with and that is not a quality education. The strike will continue for as long as there is no agreement Amber. Also, this is going to cost the school board 500k a WEEK to hire and put up these 600 substitute teachers! Why won’t the district put that money into OUR teachers instead of bullying them into signing an unfair contract!? The district also came to the Medford teacher 5 years ago and said they were going to be 11 million dollars short. The Medford teachers decided they would help the district by paying more in benefits, and making some other compromises; the district PROMISED the teachers that when the economy got better and they received more money they would go in and take care of the teachers who made these compromises in order to help the district. The district received 9 MILLION DOLLARS a little over a year ago and NOT ONE PENNY went to the teachers. INSTEAD, administrators got quite a stealthy raise, money was put into several programs, and they hired 14 new teachers! I am just sickened by what I am hearing because the media is not reflecting the TRUTH from the teachers, they are only enlightening the public on what the district WANTS the public to THINK. I am so incredibly glad that I dug deep tonight and had this in depth conversation with my daughters teacher. I have made my decision…my kids will NOT be attending school while the strike is happening. I want to keep my kids safe, and I want to send a message to the district AND my kids that you can not BULLY people into doing what you want them to do! Isn’t this what we teach our children in the first place? This isn’t about money, this is about what is RIGHT and JUST! I personally feel that this is an opportunity to teach my kids to stick up for what is right. To dig deep and find out the answers!