Portside -When West Virginia teachers walked out of their classrooms last month and swarmed the state Capitol in protest, it almost felt like déjà vu. The two-day statewide strike was nearly a year to the day after teachers from the Mountain State staged their initial walkout over low pay—and lit the match for what became a wildfire of teacher activism.
But this time, teachers' demands were different, a reflection of the changing flavor of strikes nationwide. While last year's teacher walkouts were focused primarily on stagnant wages and crumbling classrooms, the strike demands now are more far-reaching. Teachers are pushing back against education reform policies such as charter schools and performance-based pay. They're also fighting for social-justice initiatives like sanctuary protections for undocumented students.
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