LFHS Student to Teacher Candle Light Gathering from Strawn Dixon on Vimeo.
Hours before Lake Forest Education Association reached a tentative agreement with the District 115 Board of Education, LFHS students held a candlelight vigil to let their teachers know they missed their instruction and wanted them back in the classroom. Junior Strawn Dixon shot a video of the gathering, which took place in front of the high school’s east campus on McKinley Road.
Nice gesture, but let’s get real. Kids have no idea about the financial issues involved here . They should hold their little vigil when they start paying the bills. I heard there were less than 20 kids. Let’s not overblow this, as I have seen some people, do as signaling a legitimate show of support for their desired increases in pay. I really I don’t care what the kids think about the appropriateness of the strike. They can want to be in school, and they may miss their teachers, but let’s not pretend that they are legal voters regarding tax issues. For additional perspective, I have a relative who has been teaching in a nice suburb in California for 25 years. She makes $90M and certified teachers have not received an increase in salary for 3 years consecutive years! Additionlly, the district HAS mandated furlough days, so they are now experiencing an actual reduction in salary! I’m not impressed with the little vigil. Who cares.
We are very proud of our son for organizing this vigil as well as all the students that participated. It was arranged in a few hours time and was in support of BOTH the Teachers Union and BOE. It was an opportunity for students to really let the community know what they thought about LFHS teachers. After all, they’re the ones sitting in the classrooms and in the position to best evaluate the quality of our teachers. Their comments were a reminder of what a great high school we have filled with caring professionals. Our only wish is that you would have taken more time to understand this instead of being so quick to judge it so harshly.
I believe most would agree SJN is right on point. Judging by the posts I have read and discussions with a lot of parents, the teachers have very little support around the community.