Prescott 8th Grader Meets with LD1 Rep. Stringer, #RedforEd March on the Capitol, April 30


This is my story of what happened at the Capitol on Monday....I think that this is important for voters especially to hear!

My name is Sedona Ortega and I am 14 years old. I am writing because I want to shed some light on what happened on the third floor of the House of Representatives when I went to share my opinions with our State Representative David Stringer about the #RedforEd movement and education funding. 

Our conversation began with Mr. Stringer asking me questions about what sustainable education funding meant to me. He was referring to a handwritten letter we had left for him. This was fine, however he kept referring to our letter and the meeting we were having with him as “little”. At that point, my mother (an elementary teacher who is one of the hardest working people I know) kindly asked that he not use the adjective “little” to describe our meeting because it felt belittling, and made it seem like what we were there to talk to him about, wasn’t important. He stood up and told her to leave his office and that she was being disrespectful. She explained that she was not trying to disrespect him, but that she was a strong, educated woman who wanted to have an opportunity to continue the conversation. For this he said she was combative and militant and even called for security. 

My mother and two other educators from Tucson (who were already in the room) stepped out. Everyone else I was with decided to stay, in hopes of telling the stories of our teachers, how much we love and appreciate their hard work and how they deserve more. Mr. Stringer told us that he “didn’t want to hear stories”. I thought that the job of a representative was to listen to the people and consider, or at least respect, their opinions.

The rest of the conversation was difficult. He kept interrupting us and gave many revealing comments showing his true standpoint on education and teaching. 

He emphasized how teachers get summers off and a lot of paid vacation time. As a daughter of a teacher, I tried my best to tell him that teachers definitely don’t get summers off, but he was not willing to listen. If you do the math, I can assure you that my mom works approximately a 70 hour work week when school is in session and that is not counting the incredible amount of time she puts in over breaks. If you average out the amount of hours she works over a whole year, she works an approximate 50 hour work week year round. So, Mr. Stringer don’t you dare say that teachers simply get summers off.

We told him that teachers often don’t make enough money to care for many personal needs. He replied by stating his belief that most teachers have “significant others” that bring in additional incomes. That is so disrespectful and a huge assumption. Many teachers are single and even single parents. Teachers deserve to make a livable wage, period. We tried to explain to him that even on two incomes, families like ours live simple lifestyles. He said that living simply is a “virtue”, suggesting that teachers are benefitting from living paycheck to paycheck. 

He argued that teachers had signed contracts at the beginning of the school year and asked why teachers were complaining about their pay now. He fails to recognize that educators are protesting for future generations of students and for keeping highly-qualified teachers in the classrooms. Stringer went on to say that people are “flocking to Arizona” to teach, coming from higher paying classrooms in other states. However, there is a major teacher shortage in Arizona. In fact, there are almost 2,000 teaching jobs that are not filled by certified teachers. When Arizona teachers know that they make less money than almost all teachers in the country (factoring in the cost of living), they have the right to demand more. To this Stringer commented that Arizona’s teachers are not among the lowest paid. I don’t know where he is getting his facts, but I have not heard that anywhere.

We agreed with Stringer on one point, and that is that people don’t decide to become teachers for the money. However, I believe that teachers deserve to make a livable wage and be respected for the important work they do. At this point, he made an interesting comparison, stating that he didn’t become a lawyer for the money, but for justice. While this may be true, I’ve never heard of a lawyer who makes the same amount of money as a teacher. Is this a fair comparison?

We asked Stringer where the school funding, proposed in the new budget, is going to come from. We wanted to be sure that the money wasn’t being taken from other important social services. Rather than giving us an answer, he complained that we were asking for “everything” and accused us of saying “no to a yes”. I don’t think it is acceptable to take money away from people with disabilities or from those who also need it. I wonder why the legislature thinks it is okay to take from the needy, but not from wealthy business owners and corporations, who they continue to give tax breaks to.

I left his office with tears in my eyes because I was incredibly disappointed by the person who is supposed to be representing us. Stringer was disrespectful and not willing to listen to anything we had to say.

I am grateful that after our meeting with Stringer, we were able to meet Athena Salman, District 26 Representative who reassured me that the way Stringer treated us was not normal or acceptable. She thanked my friends and me for our bravery and encouraged us to not be silent about things that we believe in. This gave me hope and inspired me to maybe even run for office one day. 

I may not be able to vote yet, but Mr. Stringer, I hope that you will be remembered in November.

[Sedona Ortega is currently in the 8th grade at Skyview School. In granting Why I March permission to share her story she wrote: "I am the daughter of a teacher. I am grateful for an education from incredible, hardworking teachers and believe that students, classrooms, and teachers all across Arizona deserve more."

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