IDAHO FALLS — Several dozen teachers and their supporters gathered outside the Idaho Falls School District 91 office building on Wednesday to protest over the ongoing contract dispute between teachers and the district.
The Idaho Falls Education Association (IFEA) chose not to ratify a proposed contract on Aug. 6. The IFEA had several concerns with the contract proposed last week, specifically regarding teacher rights, the loss of leadership stipends, and the loss of the IFEA’s ability to give input to the Idaho Falls School District 91 Board of Trustees in public meetings.
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“(The teachers) ultimately decided to vote no for that. And so all those things combined added up to a no vote on the ratification, so here we are,” said Jake Snarr, the IFEA’s lead negotiator.
With the “no vote” on the ratification, the IFEA and the school board will return to negotiations. Snarr said as of Aug. 13, the school board had asked to return to mediation.
“We’re hopeful that the district would consider those (issues) when we return to mediation and we negotiate in good faith with them,” Snarr said.
Compared to the previous July protest EastIdahoNews covered, the most recent attracted more demonstrators. Teachers and supporters all wore red shirts saying “Use Your Teacher Voice” on the front, and many of the demonstrators had signs to voice their disapproval of the school board.
“I think the increased turnout really speaks to the engagement that people have on these issues,” Snarr said. “These are not just pet projects of any leadership or any representative of the (IFEA.) It’s really a consensus. And so these people feel like these things are important and they want to make it known to the board.”
Snarr hopes that the demonstration would serve to unify and rally teachers, and give teachers more of a voice when interacting with the school board.
“I think today is really about connecting our members with each other and unifying our message and empowering folks to take what we’re saying as leadership and turn that into their own message,” Snarr said. “And also, this is a great opportunity to just get folks out and to communicate to the district that we have a lot of unity on these issues, and this is important to us.”
Snarr wasn’t able to give a date for when a future contract may be considered for ratification. With schools in District 91 starting next week, time is running short.
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