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Statewide teacher protests hit Globe-Miami schools

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Pictured: More than 150 teachers lined Highway 60 last Wednesday in support of the Red for Ed campaign to increase spending on education in Arizona.

On Wednesday, April 25 more 150 Globe and Miami teachers along with community members and students participated in a “stand out for students”.

Red shirts and signs lined the sidewalk along Highway 60 in front of the Cobre Valley Plaza shopping center where Judy’s cookhouse is located.

The stand out for students is to show that teachers are standing up for their students in Arizona with their red shirts on, united, asking for the government to put more money into education. Not just teacher salaries, but spending in the classrooms as well.

Andrea, who is a teacher for Miami Unified school District has been teaching for 27 years and loves her job. When she started teaching, teachers were given a budget at the beginning of the school year for classroom supplies, now it’s out of pocket. Some spend $8,000 to get what they want for their students. Some years they are lucky and get those parents who are very helpful with donating supplies throughout the year, other years they have to pay for everything.

Andrea says that her job isn’t Monday through Friday 8-5. She is at school before students and leaves school many times late into the evening, grading papers, or preparing lessons even on the weekends. School is not stop for teachers, even continuing their education. Summers are spent taking classes on the new curriculum that needs to be taught.

With the budget cuts, teachers like Andrea have taken on the roles that many teachers, especially in rural schools, that aren’t in their job description. Such as counselor, art teacher, music teacher, and anything else the child might be in need of that the school has had to cut because of budgets.

The Red for Ed movement has been making its way through Globe-Miami and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.