{"id":7664,"date":"2025-05-27T13:35:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T17:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7664"},"modified":"2025-05-29T11:51:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:51:33","slug":"a-rally-in-the-snow-huron-high-school-educators-protest-accumulating-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7664","title":{"rendered":"A rally in the snow: Huron High School educators protest accumulating challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Breaking News Coverage<\/strong>
2024-25, Division 1-2, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Anjali Nadarajah<\/strong>
The Emery
Ann Arbor Huron HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the morning of Dec. 6, 2024, teachers from Huron High School adorned hats and mittens, holding picket signs and fresh coffee and hot cocoa. Educators stood in the snow from 7:30 a.m. until school began at 8 a.m to voice their concerns about increased heath care costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social studies teacher and student council advisor Jeff DeMoss came this morning to rally support for teachers who are impacted by recently raised insurance rates and contract negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe district is making it harder to be able to retain teachers and for us to be able to thrive as teachers here in the district,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re here trying to bring some attention to parents, to get them to recognize the specifics of how the district is mistreating us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeMoss feels undervalued everyday by central administrators in Ann Arbor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love it Huron High School, and I love all the people that I get to work with and all the students that are here,\u201d he said. \u201cI wish the district made my life easier to be able to keep doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychology teacher Joys Kapali held a sign reading \u201c$400 Insurance Increase Equals My Car Payment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of our insurance rates are gonna go up to and probably more for other people, $400,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of money, especially for new teachers like me. We did not get a step this year, so I\u2019m stuck on the bottom barrel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A step is an incremental raise a teacher gets year after year in their salary. The base pay for a teacher in the 2023-24 school year was $40.97 per hour according to Ann Arbor Public Schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of us live around Ann Arbor and it is very expensive,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of teachers, who are not married, live with multiple other people. $400 a lot of money, and for some of us it\u2019s a car payment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One PTSO parent part of the Staff Appreciation committee, Katie Baidel, is concerned about the financial mismanagement in AAPS and it\u2019s impact on teacher retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the teachers probably are feeling insecure about their positions being there for them year after year,\u201d Baidel said. \u201cI want to make sure that the teachers have what they need, feel valued and are compensated fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While they served hot drinks and handing out flyers titled \u201ckeep AAPS staff HERE\u201d, snow fell down quickly on the protest that took place near parent drop off. Students got to see their own teachers protesting for their fair treatment. The cold morning had mixed feelings of indignation, passion, and optimism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel hopeful,\u201d Kapali said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get the message out about how things that affect teachers also affect student\u2019s learning conditions. If we\u2019re coming to work disgruntled, that\u2019s gonna reflect in a way. Our students also feel in that classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-01. Breaking News Coverage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Coverage of an unplanned breaking or developing news event, published within 48 hours of the originating news event. Report should contain as much information as possible without editorializing or relying on assumptions. Online reports may reflect updates as the news event unfolds, but it should be noted in the story when this has occurred. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Reports as much of the who, what, where, when, why and how as possible<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Story is in the form of a short report to get out essential facts as soon as possible<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Does not sacrifice accuracy for the sake of timeliness<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sharp, attention-getting lead that underscores news story importance<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The most important, relevant and timely information is near the beginning of the story<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Emphasizes news elements, i.e. timeliness, nearness, impact, and prominence<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Avoids opinion unless properly attributed<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar; use of third person<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Breaking News Coverage2024-25, Division 1-2, News Writing By Anjali NadarajahThe EmeryAnn Arbor Huron HS On the morning of Dec. 6, 2024, teachers from Huron High School adorned hats and mittens, holding picket signs and fresh coffee and hot cocoa. Educators stood in the snow from 7:30 a.m. until school began at 8 a.m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49,4],"tags":[217,173],"class_list":["post-7664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-breakingnewscoverage","category-nw","tag-2024-25","tag-division-1-2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Mikayla Mazza","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=14"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1ZC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}