drst:
I got to Oklahoma about six hours ago after many hours on the road, so my memory of this news item is a bit fuzzy, but here goes.
Oklahoma City isn’t that far from any part of the state, so teachers (including a couple of my relatives) are literally commuting to and from the state house every day. There was an estimated 36,000 teachers on the grounds yesterday. For reference, in 2013 there were about 40,000 teachers in the entire state.
Teachers are coming by the bus load. Today I heard three really awesome things. First, some Tulsa teachers (Tulsa being the other big city in the state) are traveling down in busses provided by the Cherokee nation (here’s where the fuzzy memory kicks in, I might have the wrong nation in my head, as it was a blip on the news). I don’t know if any other civil government groups are providing logistical support but I was really happy to hear that assistance was coming from tribal leaders.
Other thing? The state house is under construction right now but steel workers were standing outside, refusing to cross picket lines.
They’ve also been getting advice from West Virginia teachers on maintaining public support (evidently goodwill dried up when athletics got affected in WV, so they’re keeping varsity athletics and events like the state science fair running), and they’ve been passing along advice to Arizona teachers too.
Solidarity, my friends.
OH! Thing I forgot! (Seriously, it’s been a long day.)
Many Oklahoma tribes own casinos, and they’ve been wanting to add roulette and craps games for some time. They’ve tied this to the teachers, as the bulk of the revenue the state gets from it would go to education.
Solidarity.
Hearseeno 