Nation : Governor of W.Va. Urges Firing of Illegally Striking Teachers
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Gaston Caperton said today that teachers whose illegal strike shut schools should be fired and possibly replaced with volunteers.
“It’s up to county superintendents to follow the law,” Caperton said by telephone from his farm in Ripley. “The law is very clear about what they should do.”
Caperton first raised the possibility of mass firings Sunday after two teachers’ unions rejected his plan to end a strike that began March 7 over pay and benefits. The strike idled half the 328,000 students and up to two-thirds of the state’s 22,000 teachers.
Atty. Gen. Roger Tompkins last week issued an opinion saying striking teachers can be suspended or fired, barred from teaching for a year or charged with misdemeanors for violating their employment contracts.
The governor said any decision of whether and when to fire teachers rests with county officials. But he went further than before in encouraging such action.
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