https://www.nea.org/resource-library/teacher-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rankCritics are blasting a minor league hockey workforce and a mortgage lender in South Dakota for a current fundraising stunt through which 10 native lecturers competed to gather money, calling the occasion demeaning to educators.
The Sioux Falls Stampede’s “Dash for Cash” promotion invited lecturers to grab as many $1 payments from a $5,000 pile of cash donated by CU Mortgage Direct. Stampede followers watched from the stands Saturday as members grabbed {dollars} by the fistful, with plans to make use of the cash for classroom provides.
The occasion swiftly drew consideration on social media, with some likening the stunt to the dystopian Netflix hit collection “Squid Game,” through which folks in extreme debt compete in a collection of lethal youngsters’s video games. A video of the Sprint for Money occasion surpassed 11 million views on Twitter Monday.
“To entertain hockey fans in Sioux Falls, they have teachers run across ice in a desperate scramble for money to equip their classrooms,” tweeted Invoice Weir, a information anchor for CNN. “We’re just a few sharpened sticks away from public education ‘Squid Game.'”
Commentators additionally piled into CU Mortgage Direct’s Fb web page, calling the occasion “disgusting,” “humiliating” and “shameful.”
“Well, you got publicity but I don’t think it turned out like you had hoped,” one Fb person posted. “Making teachers crawl on hands and knees in helmets for money. Disgusting and shameful.”
CU Mortgage Direct did not reply to a request for remark. The corporate instructed a neighborhood newspaper Saturday earlier than the occasion that it was attempting to assist lecturers.
“With everything that has gone on for the last couple of years with teachers and everything, we thought it was an awesome group thing to do for the teachers,” Ryan Knudson, the advertising director at CU Mortgage Direct, told the Sioux Falls Argus Chief. “The teachers in this area, and any teacher, they deserve whatever the heck they get.”
Every trainer grabbed between $378 and $616, the Argus Chief reported.
Lowest pay within the U.S.
Critics stated the money seize is very degrading as a result of South Dakota lecturers earn the bottom salaries within the U.S. at round $49,000 in 2020, in accordance with Nationwide Training Affiliation data.
“While the Dash for the Cash may have been well-intentioned, it only underscores the fact that educators don’t have the resources necessary to meet the needs of their students,” Loren Paul, president of South Dakota’s trainer union, stated in an announcement to CBS MoneyWatch. “As a state, we shouldn’t be forcing teachers to wrestle with one another to get the money they need to fund their classrooms.”
Reynold Nesiba, a state senator who represents a portion of Sioux Falls, told the Washington Put up that Sprint for Money confirmed “a terrible image.”
“Teachers should never have to go through something like this to be able to get the resources they need to meet the basic educational needs of our students — whether it’s here in Sioux Falls or anywhere in the United States,” Nesiba instructed the newspaper.