Warning: I'm whining about teachers' unions again

Teachers continue to strike or to threaten strikes in districts around here. It's unthinkable that the teachers who are well-paid (Trust me on that. The cost of living here isn't that much more than where I used to live but the teachers get paid a whole lot more.) and who have tenure would be striking at a time like this. The kids' parents are working hard enough just to keep their jobs most of which are lower-paying than the teachers' salaries. Now they have to worry about their kids being at home alone because how many of them can afford unexpected day care for their elementary kids? One school district has extended the school year to June 23rd just so the kids can have a few days off at Christmas. Their strike has burned up all the kids' days off between now and the end of the year. One of the big issues? The teachers are paying more for health insurance. Hello? Michael is paying more next year and he works for a health-related company. In Texas, the teachers there had to pay more every year for their insurance. In a lot of cases it just ate up their raises. But what are you going to do if health costs are outdistancing other cost increases? Another issue was having to do extras like Open House, after school tutoring and Meet the Teacher Nights. Hm-m-m. Sounds like they're really committed to the kids, doesn't it? And the standardized science scores just came out. They looked appalling to me. If their tests are anything like the ones our kids took, these districts wouldn't have a prayer in the state of Texas where we had to meet high standards not just for all kids counted together but for all subgroups as well. Not having been a teacher here, it's easy for me to rant and rave. But belonging to a union is not on my list of things to do so I guess I'll never teach in the schools here. But I am willing to bet that their challenges are no worse than ours were in Denton with large numbers of non-English speakers and a high percentage of special needs children. It literally makes me sick to my stomach that the teachers feel the need to walk the picket line in economic times like these.