A small group of Westlake-area educators braved the rain Tuesday afternoon to line Sampson Street in protest of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education reform proposals. The group gathered in front of Westwood Elementary School holding signs that explained their stance and inviting the Westlake community to stand with them.

The group’s slogan is “Responsible reform, not radical reform, is the best course of action.”

The protesters hope to show this reform package is not just opposed by educators who traveled to the Capitol last week, but by a larger group of the education community.

“We strongly disagree with the education reform package, but we just felt like we needed to be at school at this time,” said Marilyn Reed, a second-grade teacher at Westwood. “We have a commitment to our students and community and with the start of testing days, we needed to be in the classroom. We felt that a peaceful protest after school was the best way to get our message out there.”

The group specifically takes issue with the part of Jindal’s plan that calls for 50 percent of teacher performance evaluations to be based on student growth. They sent home a letter to parents explaining their position.

“We just feel like sometimes the public and parents are misinformed by the media, and we just want to make sure that everybody understands that we are not afraid of being held accountable for our work and the job that we do. As in any job, everyone has to be accountable,” said Keri Burleigh, a ninth-grade English teacher at Westlake High School.“We just want to make sure that everybody understands that it needs to be a reliable way to find out if we’re doing our job and not with one test.”

The teachers at the rally strongly believe the Westlake community will stand behind them.

“We are so blessed in Westlake to have tremendous community support, but the Legislature is painting this negative picture of teachers,” said Sissy Elliott, a fifth-grade teacher at Westwood. “It’s driving a wedge between what we’ve worked so hard to build up. We depend on our community.”

Elliot added the Westlake community has played a tremendous role in the success of her school.

“Westwood Elementary has been growing for the past seven years in a row,” Elliott said. “We challenge the Legislature to come out and see for themselves what is being done in classrooms.”

(BY KAREN WINK / AMERICAN PRESS)