No Job Actions In Hamilton Schools; Madison Schools Shut Down

Hamilton School District teachers are at work and doing their jobs without any slowdowns or other job actions, district spokesperson Denise Dorn-Lindberg said Wednesday morning.

This, while massive protests continue for a second day at the state Capitol against Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget repair bill. The Madison School District has had to call off classes because 40 percent of its teachers have called in sick today.

"I haven't had a chance to check with all of our school buildings, but in the ones I have checked with there are no teacher attendance issues," Lindberg said. "I'm not aware of any at the other buildings."

Asked if Superintendent Kathleen Cooke was considering a preemptive memo to teachers or to building principals, as Milwaukee Public Schools did Wednesday, Lindberg said "not aware of any plans to do so."

"Dr. Cooke is a superintendent who is in our schools on a regular basis and has a high profile with students and staff," Lindberg said. "At this point, we don't have any memo going out."

The superintendent has a meeting with all the principals Wednesday, but it was not scheduled because of the protests at the capital and elsewhere.

"Employees are feeling kind of unsettled about what's happening," Lindberg confirmed, but "we're not seeing any job action of any kind at this point."

The bill by Walker would require that most workers on the public payroll contribute to their own pension plans and pay at least 12 percent of the cost of their health insurance.