Rally for Education held in Carson City

(KOLO)
Published: Feb. 18, 2019 at 4:46 PM PST
Email This Link
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

The steps of the Nevada legislature were packed Monday, with teachers hoping Nevada will soon no longer be at the bottom of lists in education.

“We were so enthused by what happened in places like Oklahoma, Arizona, and West Virginia, we started thinking we need to get our people involved too,” said Natha Anderson, President of the Washoe Education Association.

Teachers from all around Northern Nevada showed up on their day off to take part in the “Wear Red for Ed” rally to help everyone who works in our schools.

“I am wearing red for our bus drivers, our nutrition service members, our custodians, and our secretaries,” remarked Melissa Boesen, President of the Washoe Education Support Professionals Association.

The Nevada State Education Association says the priorities it is fighting for are funding, improved school safety, fewer tests and more teaching, as well as the most common complaint amongst teachers – class sizes.

“My school works really hard to provide what we need, but it’s just not enough,” said Pine Middle School teacher Susan Kaiser. “I need to have fewer students to be able to give them the education they need.”

“Right now I have 35, last year I had 35. The average is 15.96 students per one teacher,” said Annie Polak, a 6th grade teacher at Jessie Hall Elementary. “I spent a lot of my time with classroom management instead of classroom instruction.”

The rally didn’t consist of just teachers; students such as Nathan Noble made a point to show us to give his perspective.

“One of the things that bothers me the most is that teachers aren’t paid a living wage,” said the junior at Wooster High School. “They can teach full-time and still live below the poverty line. That doesn’t seem right to me. Teachers have one of the most important jobs. I’d put it up there with doctors and other professionals, and yet they are not valued, they are not treated fairly.”