My crappy phone only has the battery life for one photo, so I made it a selfie. Educators from St. Paul and Minneapolis marched across the Ford Bridge today in a show of solidarity before each of our unions take our strike vote next week. It was -2 degrees, but we didn’t let that stop us. I khan Omar and Keith Ellison spoke, Marsha Howard spoke, so many amazing people spoke — and the message was clear: NOW IS THE TIME to stand up for our students, our colleagues, our educators of color, our communities. NOW IS THE TIME to put it all on the line for class size caps, mental health supports for our students, maintaining contract language surrounding recess, and fully staffing our schools. NOW IS THE TIME to pay our teachers what they deserve and to pull our ESPs out of the trap of poverty wages. NOW IS THE TIME to invest in education, to fully fund our schools, and to protect and improve our children’s futures. What do we want? A contract! And when do we want it? Now! And if we don’t get it? Shut it down! What about the children? EXACTLY! #strike #mft59 #mft59esp #SPFE #safeandstableschools #shutitdown #unionstrong #solidarity #standupfightback https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ49Nctp-hx/?utm_medium=tumblr