As teachers take a break from walk-outs, parents and students rally in their place

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - "You're not alone" is the message many valley parents and students sent to teachers on Sunday morning at the State Capitol.

After four days of demonstrations, others wanted to show their support for educators by standing in their place.

"We wanted to let our teachers know, and here's a list of all of the ones we've had here in Phoenix so far, that we support them. And that we're not going to stop supporting them, no matter how long this goes," said Christina Bigelow, a parent.

Standing up for, or in the case of "Red for Ed," walking out for a cause can be exhausting.

That's why many parents, grandparents and students took to the streets today to show their support for teachers.

"We wanted to be here for them today so that they could be home and rest and get ready for tomorrow. They've been such an incredible force, and we're just so inspired by it. And we want the legislators to know that, it's not just the educators, it's us as taxpayers and as parents," said Lisa Sterne, a parent.

Sterne, a parent of a first grader, says the group plans to deliver handwritten thank you notes for teachers and deliver them to legislators Monday morning.

"We want to write thank you notes to them and thank you for just putting their money where their mouth is, literally. And stopping and saying we need better for our kids," said Sterne.

Even though some agree Governor Doug Ducey's plan is a step in the right direction, others argue they want more details on where new funding will go, and who will be included.

Kitty Kaczmarek, a retired teacher, is one of those individuals, calling for more specifics to fix a system she says has been broken since the 1970's.

"So I am here, much like Lisa, to give the teachers a day of rest. We can be out here as parents, grandparents, retired teachers to show our support for them, and to show that our kids need and deserve better," said Kaczmarek.

Organizers behind Red for Ed plan to resume a teacher protest Monday morning at the Arizona State Capitol.