Little Rock teachers strike over state's control of district
LITTLE ROCK — Teachers picketed outside the site of a historic desegregation and dozens of other Little Rock schools Thursday, walking out for the first time in more than three decades to protest the state's control of the local school system and their loss of collective bargaining rights.
The strike in the 23,000-student district is the first in Little Rock since 1987 and follows the state Board of Education's decision last month to strip the local teachers union of its bargaining power. Though billed as a one-day strike, union leaders are leaving open the possibility that it could stretch longer.
"We know this is the first battle in a longer fight," Little Rock Education Association President Teresa Knapp Gordon told reporters as teachers, students and parents waved signs and chanted outside Little Rock Central High School, which was desegregated by nine black students in 1957.
The union has called for the return of its bargaining power, but Thursday's strike was focused more broadly on control of the schools. Arkansas took control of the district in 2015 because of low test scores at several schools. The Board of Education has voted to return the district to a local school board that will be elected in November 2020, but with the state maintaining some authority.
Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2019/nov/15/video-little-rock-teachers-strike-over-states-control-district/804233/
