North Dakota School Kids Off For Teachers’ Convention
According to the Minot Public Schools website all K-12 students in North Dakota will be getting today and tomorrow off so that teachers can the NDEA convention.
Back when I was in school I always just assumed that teachers were off getting some sort of additional training. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I learned that these conventions are really union meetings. The North Dakota Education Association is just the local chapter of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union. Which means that North Dakota’s students will be out of class for two days this year, as they are every year, while North Dakota taxpayers pay North Dakota teachers to attend their union meeting.
These days off are written right into the teachers’ contracts. They get two days off every school year to attend their union meeting at the taxpayers’/students’ expense.
Because its not like they could hold this meeting during the 3 or so months teachers aren’t working every year.
Aren’t unions wonderful?
Update: Just got this from a reader:
The legislature did in fact pass that law last session, requiring the school to basically add days to their school year. They added two days to the year at my wife’s school and thus no longer require them to come into the school or go to the convention. Since they previously counted those days as school days, they no longer do that. My wife does not get paid any more money because they are not actually teaching anymore in the classroom.
Still seems silly to hold the convention in the middle of the school year given that there’s three months when all teachers can attend without having to disrupt the school schedule.
