Health Care Facts

“This is a mediation tactic of the District, but for us it’s life and death”: GAPS Teachers speak out after District announces plans to cut their health coverage

In heartbreaking statements, GAPS teachers share reactions and personal details about how the sudden Thanksgiving weekend loss of health coverage could impact their families

Albany, OR - GAPS teachers are speaking out, after the District attempted to silence their demand for improved learning conditions by choosing to cut off their health insurance just days after Thanksgiving. Below are statements and reactions from GAPS teachers in response to the District attempting to leverage the health and stability of them and their families, in an attempt to force them to give up on improving learning conditions for their students. 

Justin Roach, 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher at Memorial Middle School, and former GAPS School Board member:

• “This is a mediation tactic of the District, but for us it’s life and death. My wife Jen is both an organ transplant and cancer survivor, and she relies on my medical coverage for access to life saving medication and frequent medical appointments to ensure her kidneys and liver are working properly. When she was having organ transplants years ago, the District Office asked principals to donate leave days so she wouldn’t have to be unpaid. When she had cancer, they found a place she would be able to work during COVID to support kids and keep her job. Then the new District management came in, and the new School Board, and everything changed. For them to go from that to leaving us without healthcare is an astounding turnaround. I know that this is something that they’re doing purely based on the strike - they’re trying to break us apart. At first I felt anger and frustration, then comfort, knowing that OEA would support us - and now, I feel a sense of increased resolve to stay on the line, because of the gravity of disrespect we’ve experienced from this District. My wife’s health is nothing to be played with; her life is not a pawn. I want the community to know that the District gets to make choices in how they handle this, and unfortunately they’re choosing to hurt us as much as they can. The actions this District is taking are creating so much more hurt than there needs to be there. They’ve lost sight of our values and mission.”

David Tracy, second grade teacher at Liberty Elementary: 

• “There are a lot of teachers in the District who rely on life saving medications every day for themselves or their families. I was shocked that the District would do this when they have the option to continue on until the middle of December. It just seems like they are using it as another scare tactic or something to divide teachers in the union. They could continue our insurance until a time when we’ll be done bargaining, but they’re choosing instead to cut it off early to try to force us to make concessions and give up on the safe schools we’re fighting for. It’s mean spirited. This is a time to show compassion despite being in this contentious negotiation where there’s been a lot of challenging hurdles to overcome, and instead of showing compassion and trying to find common ground, they’ve basically just said ‘we don’t really value you as employees, or your families.’ There are a lot of GAPS students and families in the District impacted by this too, because a lot of students within the district are children of teachers. This move backs up that this District doesn’t have the students and the kids’ best interest in mind; they’re more interested in maintaining control. It shows where they’ve been all along, which is not as concerned with the well-being of the kids they should be looking out for more. We’re standing strong for the safety and educational quality of our students, that’s why we’re still out here and facing these scare tactics and the bullying and pushback of the District - because we want to have the best schools in Oregon and we won’t back down on that.”

Jadie Wright, second grade teacher at South Shore Elementary:

• “My 5 year old son needs surgery which I now am having to push back because the District chose to cut off our health insurance and put our children and families at risk. I’m striking in part for my son, because he is a GAPS student - his kindergarten class has 24 students in it, including one student whose IEP is being severely violated. By taking away our medical coverage, they are trying to silence us and break the strike instead of fixing the problems that caused it. Stooping to this level feels like a last resort for this District because they’re realizing they’re in the wrong, so now they’re using our health coverage as a bargaining chip. They didn’t have to end our health insurance now, the strike hasn’t even been a full month. It feels really unfair, it feels like they’re punishing us so they can have all the power again, but we’re not going to let them do that. Everyone I’ve talked to has said the District must know they have no legitimate legs to stand on, because this is one of their last bargaining chips that they had. They’re hoping that them doing this will make us cross the picket lines, but we know that we’re in this for the long run - we’re setting a precedent for ourselves, in Oregon, and maybe even nationwide. We have a lot of single parent households that are struggling, but we’re going to pull together and get through, by leaning on community. The District’s mentality is profit over people. They’re going to learn that isn’t how our community operates or the values that we hold. My union has my back and so does my community.”

Indica Stephenson, counselor at South Albany High School:

• “It’s difficult to not take the move happening right now personally. I am the new guardian of a minor family member, who I had been interested in adding to my insurance - but now it feels too overwhelming to get support in the evening exploring that process. My first thought was of my colleagues and my friends who have their kids on their health insurance, and the impact this will have on their families. This has always been about the students and the kids in this community, and so many of us have kids inside the district. Now that this is happening and about to impact so many GAPS students who are on their parents’ insurance, that’s really hard to grasp. This is a fear tactic that shouldn’t be mistaken for anything else. It’s a tactic to put people in emotional distress as a way to get us to not stand our ground, and that is flabbergasting to me, that is really hard to digest that this would happen, especially as our bargaining team and we as teachers continue to adjust and pivot to reach compromises while we also try to stand strong. I have a colleague who’s going through cancer treatment right now - what is going to happen for that individual? There is disbelief that our District would do this to us. We feel like this district has again put children last.”

Mike Garnier, freshman science teacher at West Albany High School:

• “We are disappointed and saddened to see the strike extend this long. The prospect of losing health coverage is super scary to all of us, especially for those who don't have any other options. Our schools have many couples where both partners teach and if it weren't for OEA stepping in to cover us, they would be in a very scary spot. We wish the district could show a bit more compassion, knowing this strike is temporary and all we want more than anything is to get back to our classrooms and with our students."

GAPS management announced to striking teachers this weekend that they will be cutting off health coverage for them and their families on Dec 1, in a heavy handed pressure tactic designed to leverage educators at the bargaining table. Management could cover COBRA premiums with the funds already budgeted for health insurance, and continue coverage, but they announced shortly before Thanksgiving that they are choosing not to. 

Dana Lovejoy, an 18 year math teacher at South Albany High School and President of the Greater Albany Education Association, has released a video statement addressing the attack on GAPS teacher healthcare coverage, viewable here. 

Because so many GAPS teachers have children enrolled in the district, the District is also cutting off healthcare coverage for numerous GAPS students on Dec. 1 through this move. The Oregon Education Association, the statewide parent union of GAEA, has stepped up to cover COBRA costs for all striking Albany educators. 

GAPS teachers continue to strike for an end to dangerously overcrowded classrooms inside GAPS schools, and an urgent lack of support for students with learning differences. The District has hoarded a $13 Million budget surplus by chronically underfunding GAPS schools for decades, and parents say now that their children have been left with lasting consequences. As of this weekend, the District continued to openly argue in mediation that they should continue their practice of having classrooms with 35 students in them.