Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Joan Bowersock, 57, has been the applied arts teacher at Kennedy Middle School for the past 11 years. Bowersock and her fellow teachers have been on work-to-rule for the past month.
Overruled
For some, participating in the work-to-rule schedule was difficult, but necessary
By Jennifer Zhang
Joan Bowersock, a teacher at Kennedy Middle School, has cancelled her weekly open studio, during which students catch up with their schoolwork and ask questions. Judy Pierce, a teacher at Hyde Middle School, has cut back on her workload by giving her students a type of work that does not generate a lot of paperwork for her. Sylvia Kyle, a teacher at Nimitz Elementary School, grades papers during her lunchtime.
These teachers, like many others in the Cupertino Union School District, have been cutting their workday down to 71/4 hours since April 1 as contract negotiations have failed to reach a resolution.
Negotiations began last September. On March 20, teachers and the district reached an impasse. To show their disappointment and frustration in the situation, many teachers have decided to take action, and they declared that they would work no more than 71/4 hours per day.
Their work-to-rule schedule is 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., during which participating teachers try to squeeze in all their work. The number of hours might seem normal to some people, but it is a major cutback for many teachers as they struggle to make changes to adapt to the new schedule.
Many are participating unwillingly.
"Work-to-rule runs against the very makeup of a teacher," Pierce said. "It's not in our nature to leave a classroom with papers not graded and students not assisted."
However, many feel they have no choice.
"We're doing this to make a point," Bowersock said. "We want to be dedicated, but we also want to feel appreciated and respected. Some teachers simply don't earn enough money to live in this area."
A careful look at an individual teacher's work-to-rule day reveals the impact that the schedule has on the CUSD communities.
Bowersock has been teaching arts and journalism for 11 years at Kennedy. Before that she taught at various schools in San Jose and Palo Alto school districts. She started her teaching career in Michigan after graduating from Kansas State University.
Before work-to-rule, Bowersock worked on and off throughout the day, including weekends. Her typical workday starts at 5:30 a.m. She grades papers for an hour before breakfast. She gets to school at about 7 a.m. and starts teaching at 8:20 a.m.
School is out at 2:48 p.m., but Bowersock's workday is far from over. She stays in her classroom to prepare for the next school day. She goes home at about 5:30 p.m., but still her work is not done. Bowersock usually takes papers home and grades them after dinner.
Since participating in work-to-rule, her schoolday workload has decreased. She still gets up at 5:30 a.m., but she does not engage in any schoolwork until she gets to school at 7:30 a.m. Her workday ends at 3 p.m.
Many changes had to take place, some of which Bowersock is still struggling to get used to. It takes longer to grade papers and return them to students. Students have no room to go to at lunchtime, as open studio is now closed. There is no help available after school for students with questions.
One of the most difficult things for Bowersock is learning to say no to children.
"I feel sorry for the needy kids," she said. "Sometimes I can't help them because they come to me after working hours and I have to tell them 'I can't do that.' It's a little frustrating because I am not able to do things I want to do."
Bowersock now spends her free time after school and on weekends attending to her family and her own interests, such as gardening and visiting neighbors. As much as she enjoys her free time, Bowersock said she hopes the situation will resolve soon so she can get back to what she really loves to do--teaching and helping her students.
Pierce is an English language development teacher. She has been teaching at Hyde for five years. Pierce started her teaching career in Colorado after graduating from West Texas State University. She then taught in Palo Alto before putting her teaching career on hold to become a full-time mother. After 15 years, she returned to teaching at De Vargas Elementary School, teaching there for six years before coming to Hyde.
Pierce works with students whose first language is not English. She teaches six classes every day. Her work schedule before work-to-rule was similar to Bowesock's. In addition to teaching, Pierce squeezes in other responsibilities, such as curriculum planning and grading papers, during regular school hours.
Previously, she always stayed after school to work on more papers and prepare for the next school day. And about three times a week, she met with other language development teachers for at least an hour to discuss their students' progress.
She would then go home at about 6 p.m. and spend about three hours after dinner reading, commenting on and editing papers.
Since work-to-rule, Pierce tries to assign her students activities that do not require grading or assignments that can be graded in class.
"It's hard to let go of the things that I normally do," she said. "There's an incompleteness, like I am not giving 100 percent."
Compared to Bowersock and Pierce, Kyle's transition to work-to-rule has been quite smooth. Her teaching style has not changed much at all.
"It's not very difficult for me," Kyle said. "I try to keep things the same way. It just takes more organizing and preparing."
But it is not without changes and difficulties.
"My day is definitely busier," she said. "There's no time to relax and have a cup of coffee. I grade papers during lunch."
Kyle has been teaching at Nimitz for 33 years. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Before making Cupertino her permanent home, she lived and taught in Decatur, Ill., for five years. Kyle plans to retire in June.
Although all of these three teachers plan to stay, they all know others who either have left or are thinking about leaving CUSD.
"They are questioning why they should stay," Pierce said. "Many are not happy with things happening on the district level."
All of them hope the situation will end soon so that teachers can get back to more important things.
"If work-to-rule continues for a long time, then it will have some negative impacts on students," Pierce said.
Cupertino, California Since 1947
