You have kidnapped our children's future and are now holding that future to ransom. Instead of behaving like professionals, you are behaving like terrorists.
We trusted our children to your care and you have lined them up in the sights of your nuclear weapon and are beginning the countdown to destruction. You have made our children the victims of your dispute, hostages without a voice.
Teachers might be angry, but parents are furious. If teachers don't know their current action is wrong then they don't deserve to be teachers. There is nothing our children can do to bring any change in your pay. They can't give you more money. They can't take money away from you. So why have you declared war on them?
We have said from the beginning that you have pay issues that need to be addressed, but you have never put parents in a position where they can support you. Every action you have taken has sought to minimise the damage to yourselves while imposing the greatest possible damage to our students.
When are you going to start conducting your dispute in a manner that will allow you to achieve support? This current action is abhorrent.
We know that industrial action will hurt the students, but this goes beyond hurt. The stress you are imposing on our children is unacceptable. You have put them in a no-man's-land with your industrial action. You have taken their futures and put them on your pay scales. Now they must wait to see if those scales will tip in their favour. We urge you to regain some credibility. Pursue your claim through industrial action that is relevant to your teaching contract. Put emergency cover in place for exam students. Reinstate the exams in their entirety. Give our children the opportunity you had.
We find it hard to believe that a teacher can bring a student to Leaving Certificate standard and then pull the plug. Teachers know how important this exam is to their students' future. Each one knows that without this very exam they would not be a teacher.
The exams are a paid voluntary activity outside your teaching contract. No one can be forced to participate and likewise no one should be forced to withdraw. Each teacher can individually decide whether or not to participate. It was a union directive that you should not participate in the exam process. We are now asking the union to withdraw that directive.
We urge you to behave in a manner that allows us to support you. Behave in a manner that gives you back public opinion. Behave towards our students as you would expect them to behave towards you in your classrooms. We ask you not to break our trust in you. If more industrial action is needed, we would ask you to limit the damage to our children. Consider that you have had a chance, and this is theirs. Don't take that away from them.
The Labour Court has strongly upheld the ASTI claim that its members have fallen behind comparable groups in the public and private sectors. So both sides know teachers have fallen behind and by how much. Surely it is not beyond the Department and the ASTI to work out an acceptable offer?
We asked in the beginning that both sides should start talking, but it seems neither was listening. It is important for parents to let their children know they are there for them. Demonstrations and gatherings need to be postponed in the foot-and-mouth alert. We would therefore ask parents to write to the ASTI union representative in their child's school. State unequivocally that you do not support the ASTI's action in using the exams to bring the dispute to a head. To the students we would say that all you can do is what any hostage must do to survive. Try not to study alone. Use small groups: this will help you deal with any problems or questions you might have. Do not become distracted by your teachers' actions from what you must do. Finally we would urge all parents to respond positively to the advertisements in this week's papers and put themselves forward for the supervision of exams.
Barbara Johnston is PRO for the Congress of Catholic Secondary Schools Parents' Association