'Car shakes at 20 mph.' Oklahoma teachers put on 'car show' to make a point
Oklahoma teachers who made national headlines last month with a statewide walk-out over wages reacted to one particular comment from their governor .
Gov. Mary Fallin signed a measure giving teachers a $6,100 pay raise, and added $50 million to school funding when teachers asked for $200 million more.
"Teachers want more," Fallin told CBS News. "But it's kind of like having a teenage kid that wants a better car."
That comment led to chants of "where's my car" and prompted teachers to drag out their car keys and shake them in the air as they protested at the capitol, KFOR in Oklahoma City reported.
All of which got Brian Arneecher, a teacher for Wagoner Public Schools, thinking: So let's talk about teachers and their cars.
On Saturday he and dozens of other teachers parked their Buicks, Toyotas Camrys and Honda Civics in a Fuddrucker's parking lot in Tulsa for the first Oklahoma Teacher Car Show.
Heaven only knows what a spitfire that 2001 Chevy Silverado was before it packed on 711,000 miles. But hey, it's still going.
"It runs - it's great," eighth-grade teacher Melissa Duvall told News on 6 in Tulsa of the vehicle her mom used to drive. "She's taken really good care of it. It has the original motor, it has the original transmission."
The Tulsa World described the other showpieces - hand-me-downs, fixer-uppers and as-is cheap deals.
There was "Sylvia the Silver Scion" whose owner paid $1,600 for her "because the previous owner wrecked her," middle school teacher Christy Morgan told the newspaper.
Sylvia was joined by "Old Ugly," a 2003 Chevrolet Suburban with more than 200,000 miles .
Most of the teachers posted signs on the cars or wrote the special characteristics of their rides on the windows.
"Car shakes at 20 mph," one such message read.
“These teachers are just one road hazard away from a financial disaster,” Arneecher, the show's organizer, told the World.
Morgan, Sylvia's caretaker, told News on 6: "Teachers do what they can to get by. " .
There was another point, too. Arneecher told the World he organized the event to raise money for TeachersAid.us, an organization whose goal is “supporting those who support our children.”
According to the website's home page, the group is trying to raise $50,000 to split among 50 certified Oklahoma teachers to use for car repairs. Car show spectators were encouraged to bring gas and gift cards to give to the teachers who showed up .
"There is support out there, people just don't know how to give just yet," Arneecher told News on 6. "And hopefully, we can change that."
This story was originally published May 14, 2018 at 3:56 PM with the headline "'Car shakes at 20 mph.' Oklahoma teachers put on 'car show' to make a point."