THE NATION
Law: Judge uses the alphabet in sentencing the educators for ignoring a back-to-work order. He is up to the Cs.
FREEHOLD, N.J. — For the first time in 23 years, a judge took the extraordinary step of jailing teachers in New Jersey for criminal contempt when they ignored a court order to end a strike.
Amid tears and vows not to return to work until they received a new contract, teachers in Monmouth County's biggest school district Tuesday told Superior Court Judge Clarkson S. Fisher Jr. they would rather be behind bars than bow to school administrators they distrust in the central New Jersey suburb of Middletown Township.
The judge began sentencing teachers Monday in alphabetical order. Fisher reached the Cs on Tuesday and there are now 47 teachers in the Monmouth County Jail, where officials said they were being housed two to a cell.
"Everyone I know who has been in the courtroom has come out in tears," said Karen Joseph, a spokeswoman for the union. "The people who stand in front of the hall of records are in tears when they cheer the people who have to go in.
"There is this bucolic Christmas tree and Christmas lights and evergreens. . . . It's not a happy holiday season here. Every couple of hours, we have to watch people being taken to jail in handcuffs."
"I think the judge is caught between a rock and a hard place," said Patrice Thornton, a drama and English teacher for more than 20 years in the district. "He's caught between the letter of the law and what he ethically and morally feels is right."
Starting today, an additional judge will be assigned to the labor dispute, which could speed the jailings.
As darkness descended, hundreds of teachers gathered in front of the building housing Fisher's court for a protest vigil.
Ultimately, the number rose to over 200... and then, guess what?
The little slimeballs went back to work.
Just sayin.
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