By Randy Nelson
A historical first in the Minnetonka School District occurred January 22 when over 400 teachers went out on strike. At the high school, classes were suspended for two days because of a “cooling” off period and the lack of substitutes to cover the classes. Under the able leadership of picket captains, John Peterson and Doug Berg, the performance on the picket lines was carried out flawlessly and without incident.
Doug felt the weather could have been 50-60 degrees warmer, but was thankful it did not rain during the two days of the strike. Linda, a team captain, gave the Mini-School teachers good representation in the leadership area. Nick marched in front of the school for 2 days telling everyone they were cool and that the whole thing was far out.
Several Mini-School students drove past the school and stopped to talk with the teachers. Tom Cameron and Tracy Messer thought the strike was a good idea so they could miss their classes (the staff wondered if the strike made any difference). Tim Hagen and Greg Farr were looking for each other and spent $10 each on gas doing so.
After two days of cold feet and warm comradery, the strike was settled early Monday, January 26. Classes resumed later that day with approximately 20% of the Mini-School students coming to school. However, on Tuesday, the majority of Mini-School students returned enthusiastically to classes, overjoyed that the strike had ended.