Students wear black to school in support of teachers
November 8, 2021
Last Thursday, students at Amador dressed in black to show support for teachers as tense contract negotiations with the district continued at a stalemate.
“As of Thursday, November 4, the teachers are currently asking for a pay raise and a few other things, such as more counselors. I feel like our teachers do deserve a lot better than what they have right now, and giving them a pay raise is a step towards the right direction,” said Keith Li (‘24).
An Instagram story called students to rally together for the teachers upon hearing about a potential strike. The story listed reasons such as insufficient pay and a better schedule that were motivating the teachers’ campaign.
“People are wearing black today because the teachers have been treated not great by the school district, and they haven’t gotten the benefits they’re supposed to be getting while the district office has been getting them,” said Taylor Cohn (‘25).
Students quickly reshared the story and circulated it among themselves.
“I remember seeing an Instagram post, and it was about people trying to get shorter times in school… and also benefit the teachers as well. In general, we just want to protest,” said Jeannie Han (‘25).
Beside the black clothing, which resembled Association of Pleasanton Teachers (APT) shirts, some students also picked up APT badge stickers to add on.
“We really respect our teachers here at Amador and we’re very grateful for everything they do, so hopefully everything gets worked out and they keep doing what they do best,” said Marc Altherr (‘22).
Beyond the potential work stoppage, students expressed their gratitude for teachers’ efforts overall.
“I really want to thank them for sticking through COVID and being here for us this year, doing all the work, getting school back running, so I’m really thankful for them,” said Ishan Duriseti (‘22).
The brunt of readjusting to a packed in-person schedule may have fallen on teachers’ shoulders, but students are appreciative of everything they’ve done nonetheless.
“To all of my teachers, I want to say a big, big thank you… I know many of you guys don’t think so, but there are students watching, and students that really do appreciate all of the effort you guys are putting in, so go teachers,” said Keith Li (‘24).
Check out our gallery below to see some of the looks people rocked dressed in black!
Nikita Jayaprakash, class of ’22
From left to right: Ellie Huang (’22), Deanna Wood (’22)
From left to right: Sarah Chen (’22), Leila Brown (’22)
From left to right: Julia Buteau (’22), Jacqueline Lee (’22), Ahona Das (’22), and Negar Morshedian (’22)
From left to right: Matthew Nader (’23), Jeanette D’Addabbo (’22)
Audrey Combs, class of ’24
From left to right: Renna Popli (’23), Sean Brown (’23)
Lance Pajarillo (‘23), Saniya Vaidya (‘23), Dahlia Versteeg (‘23), Renna Popli (‘23), Rachel Zhou (‘24) and Aubrey Tran (‘23) show their solidarity for Mrs. Ogle and their other teachers by wearing black.
Morgan Notari, class of ’22
From left to right: Sara Kracke (’22), Leila Touati (’22)
Vaishali Sukumar • Nov 13, 2021 at 7:34 pm
Thank you so much for sharing this! I’m actually @archer_riya17 on Instagram, the original creator of this Instagram story and my real name is Vaishali Sukumar, class of ’23. I am so incredibly thankful for everyone who helped me spread this information and to those who stood in support of our teachers. Also huge thank you and so much love to our teachers who work so hard to give us the best education they possibly can.
Elyssa Lieu • Nov 15, 2021 at 6:03 pm
Hi!
The story has now been updated with the correct attribution, so thanks for the correction! Hope you enjoyed this story, and have a great day!
– AVJ
LF • Jul 1, 2022 at 10:54 pm
This is such a cool idea! Will be sure to share it with my school! -LF