A campus with no clubs, no teachers and no real learning. This is what school would be like if the teacher strike goes through.

“We don’t have a strike vote day set, but it will be soon as far as the vote. But just because you vote doesn’t mean you have to go on strike,” said Mrs. Colleen Crowe, government teacher and president of the Rocklin Professional Teachers Association. .

With the possibility of strike on the horizon, the Rocklin Unified School District was forced put together a plan of action.  For starters, the substitute daily pay would increase. Instead of making about $120 a day, their pay would almost quadruple, going up to an average of $425 a day serving during a strike. By doing this, they not only make the job more desirable, but make a statement to the teachers on strike.

In order to receive this payment, substitute teachers must go through an extra registration to receive the credentials to be Special Circumstances Substitute.  

As for the students, based on what we know they would  be organized in the gym alphabetically then separated into groups of roughly 60 (depending on classroom size) . Each group of 60 or so would  be assigned one Special Circumstances Substitute who would take them to a classroom.

“They are going to combine classes. From what I understand there will be no APs and there will be no electives…You will be divided, the substitutes will have a box of curriculum, nothing you are working on now and nothing that will count for whatever your teacher decides to do when they come back. It is just sort of ‘here is something for you to do.’ The District has that all planned apparently and has been avidly making copies, etc,” Crowe said.

The district has twice paid substitutes $100 a day for special training days.

As for the reason for the strike, it is not only about the money.

“It is also about contract language, it is about being treated with respect. It is more than just the money…it is the language [that] is so important to making thing better for them and for us.” Crowe said. “We tried to propose language we thought they would be excited about, that would benefit them because it was based on a report they commissioned. We kind of thought, ‘Oh we are doing them a favor,’ and they basically just said no. No is not negotiable.”

The District and the Union have a planned negotiation meeting for Friday to begin negotiations on the 2018-2019 contract.