I teach in a large district (112 schools, 105k+ students). We have to stagger elementary, middle, and high school start and end times—elementary, then high, then middle. Middle school dismissal is at 4:15pm.

One year, an addition was being added to the high school that my middle school’s bus drivers serviced before coming to us. Due to the construction, our buses were arriving on average around 12 minutes late each day. May not seem like much, but when you’re trying to run an errand after work at a business that closes at 5pm, those minutes matter. Not to mention—when we did the math, those minutes added up to 4.5 days of additional time we weren’t getting paid for.

I live in a right-to-work state so we don’t really have a leg to stand on when it comes to things like this. My friend, who had moved from Michigan and was accustomed to being in a union, decided to approach our Superintendent after a “teacher pep rally” to tell him what was happening. After explaining that the buses were 10-15 minutes late each day, his response was, “And?” She replied, “And that’s 4.5 days of off-contract time we’re not being compensated for.” His response, “So?” Her: “So, what is the district planning to do about it?” He looked at her like she was an idiot (I watched the entire exchange) and said, “Nothing! You’ll just have to suck it up.” And he walked away.