District Urges Teachers To “Turn Up The Heat”

Before students hit the books on Thursday, teachers in the Pocatello-Chubbuck School District broke in one of the high schools for them. The district prepped teachers at Pocatello High School in its annual all-staff meeting Monday.

It started with one, then more appeared. Suddenly, it is a flood: 1,400 people, all walking to the same place at the same time.

It is the annual convergence of the Pocatello-Chubbuck School District’s teachers. And though this walk is a ritual, this year proves to be a different one.

“I’m not nervous, just go get it,” said Hawthorne Middle School teacher Cammile Cooper.

“I’m nervous, just because I teach special ed and there’s always a lot of new regulations and paper work and those kinds of things,” said Terri Caulson, also a teacher at Hawthorne. Caulson is rearranging her day to make sure that new requirements do not take away from class time.

Both women are concerned about their slipping salaries, and said students picked up on the controversy.

“Because they’re always asking me, are you going to quit? Are you going to go on strike?” Caulson said.

Superintendent Mary Vagner pushed the idea of working at 212 degrees, the boiling point of water, and encouraged her staff to “turn up the heat” this year.

“We are embracing our challenges and we will comply with Students Come First legislation with excellence and with energy,” Vagner said.

Vagner added that she has the best teachers in the state.The teachers said they are in for the long haul.

“I say, ‘No! I love you too much, I’d never leave you!'” Caulson said in response to her students asking if she was going to quit.

The district had been previously outspoken about disagreeing with Students Come First, but Monday appeared to be turning a page.

Vagner also affirmed that the district’s successes in test scores and growth last year mean schools and teachers are on the right track.