May Day is historically known as both the celebration of spring and the remembrance of the international labor movement. But, for members of the Waterloo Community School District, the day has become much more.
In March of 2025, the District released a plan for budget cuts, which included reducing teaching positions and laying off 11 librarians across the district. With these staff reductions, they also proposed a one-year salary freeze, which would save the district $3.2 million, where teachers would make the same amount of money for the following school year, no matter the amount of education they have.
On April 30, the Waterloo Community School District Board of Education approved a three-year contract with the Waterloo Education Association that avoids a full salary freeze for teachers. The following day, on May 1, educators across the Waterloo Community School District and community members gathered in front of their schools nearly an hour before school started for a walk-in, since teachers and unions can face severe penalties, including termination and even jail time, if they participate in strikes or organized walkouts. Prior to walking into the buildings, each school had a guest speaker. Iowa Governor candidate and current Auditor of State, Rob Sand, spoke at East High, and Dr. Rev. Belinda Creighton-Smith, a Ward four Councilwoman, spoke at both Waterloo West and Orange Elementary.
Creighton-Smith shares, “When they politicize education, it becomes political. Right, when they said we’re going to decide where your children go, this is political. When they’re going to give money to students so that they can leave public schools, divest in public schools, and pull the diversity out of public schools and pull the resources out of public schools. They made it political. So the personal is political. We cannot afford to be silent. We cannot afford not to have our issues addressed, because we the people, we the people, we the people make this nation, that’s right.”
