Lawmakers spend the day in the classroom
Science teacher Clay Good starts his workday at Juneau-Douglas High School at 6 a.m. and sometimes stays as late as 4 or 5 p.m. to finish up paperwork and lesson plans.
On Monday, Juneau Rep. Beth Kerttula, a Democrat, did the long haul with Good as part of the National Education Association-Alaska's Legislators Back to School program.
Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, a Juneau Republican, spent the day at Riverbend Elementary with fifth-grade teacher Carolyn Kelley.
The Back to School program partners lawmakers with teachers in an effort to give them firsthand knowledge of the challenges teachers experience in the classroom.
Rich Kronberg, president of NEA-Alaska, a teachers' union, said 40 of 58 state senators and representatives agreed to participate in the event.
"I think the goal is to make sure legislators have a deeper understanding of what happens on a day-to-day basis," he said. "Teachers deal with a lot of challenges that a lot of people never see."
Kronberg said he, like many legislators, went to school in the 1950s. He said now "schools are a whole lot different."
"One of the main differences that teachers have to deal with nowadays is No Child Left Behind," he said. "We want legislators to see what impact that's having in the classroom."
The No Child Left Behind Act, passed by Congress in 2002, requires states to test students in math and language arts. Teachers must hold degrees in the subjects they teach.
Surrounded by test tubes, glass beakers and various world maps, Kerttula sat through five periods with Good in the same classroom where she studied science as a teenager.
As a state lawmaker, Kerttula said she visits schools regularly, but it's been almost 30 years since she spent the whole day in the classroom.
"It humanizes it and makes it more understandable for (legislators)," she said. "Some of these legislators haven't been in a school for a long time."
Following a 45-minute morning class, Good, who has taught science at JDHS since 1985, skipped lunch to attend a meeting in the teachers' lounge with about 50 faculty members. They discussed upcoming contract negotiations with the Juneau School District.
Juneau teachers are asking for 250 minutes a week of preparation time for elementary teachers, a 2 percent pay increase and an increase in health premiums to $635 from the $550 they receive now.
Ben Kriegmont, president of the NEA-Alaska affiliate the Juneau Education Association and a fourth-grade teacher at Gastineau Elementary, said JEA will meet with the district at the end of this week to come to a resolution on the contracts.
Teachers have promised to strike if contracts are not negotiated soon.
On the door to Good's classroom a sign reads: "I don't want to strike but I will."
Good said he hopes the Back to School program sends a message to lawmakers not to shortchange public education.
"My message to them would be that you can't expect public schools to improve by doing more with less," he said.
Weyhrauch, who has three kids of his own in Juneau schools, said it is incredibly important for legislators to know what teachers do.
"I think anybody who thinks they have a hard job ought to spend a day in a classroom of 10-year-olds," he said.
Weyhrauch said fiscal responsibility is the overall issue in education funding and all state government funding.
If the people don't want to use the Alaska Permanent Fund or the state savings account or raise taxes, how should the state increase funding, Weyhrauch asked.
"Everyone needs to be concerned about adequate and fair funding," he said. "How do we get the money and how do we get the political will to pony up for what we need to finance education?"
• Timothy Inklebarger can be reached at timothyi@juneauempire.com.