Eastern Pulaski, O-D, West Central Announce Closures for Tuesday’s ‘Red for Ed Action Day’

Posted on November 14, 2019
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI

The list of schools closing for next Tuesday’s Indiana teachers rally continues to grow. The Indiana State Teachers Association is hosting a “Red for Ed Action Day” at the Statehouse on November 19.

During Monday’s Eastern Pulaski School Board meeting, Interim Superintendent Dr. Gib Crimmins announced that the school corporation will be closed that day, with classes to be made up on May 1. “Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation is not directly involved in this day,” he explained. “However, due to a large number of anticipated absences, we will not be able to provide a safe and meaningful educational experience for our students on November 19th.”

The Oregon-Davis School Corporation is also canceling classes next Tuesday, with a makeup day on February 14th. Superintendent Dr. Don Harman says at least nine O-D teachers plan to attend the rally. “The corporation supports our teachers in going down there, but we also prioritize our safety for our students and the education for our students,” he says. “We have many teachers who are going, and we also, then, are limited with our substitute teachers.”

Also canceling classes on November 19th is the West Central School Corporation. West Central’s makeup day will be January 20th. Culver Community Schools will hold an eLearning Day next Tuesday, and North Judson-San Pierre has moved classes to President’s Day.

As part of next week’s Red for Ed Action Day, the Indiana State Teachers Association is calling on lawmakers to raise teachers’ base salaries using the state’s budget surplus, hold schools and teachers harmless from ILEARN scores, and repeal recent changes to teachers’ license renewal requirements.

Some of the challenges and successes of public education were addressed by Interim Superintendent Crimmins during Monday’s meeting. “In so many words, we need to stand up,” he said. “We have challenges. Eastern Pulaski has challenges. The State of Indiana has challenges. But there’s a whole lot more good things going on, and at some point, we need to probably say enough’s enough and toot our own horn a whole lot more than what we do for what’s happening in public education.”

Some of the Eastern Pulaski School Board members voiced their support for teachers’ participation in next week’s rally and offered the use of one of the corporation’s buses to take them to Indianapolis.