Way over yonder, in South King County lies Kent, where nothing noteworthy ever happens- until this week that is.
The circus is in town! We’ve got tigers, elephants and- a teacher strike.
Last week the Kent Education Association voted to walk out- and walk they did- quite promptly, in fact, all 1,700 of ‘em.
With the first three days of school under the bus, the Kent School District got fed up and filed an injunction in King County Superior court- a case that’s being heard probably as you read this (or for the evening readers, 3:00 today) and it’ll be up to a Judge to decide whether teachers must go back to work.
The District asserts that it is illegal for public employees to strike in the state of Washington- and argument for which there is already legal precedent.
The teachers say the District isn’t negotiating in good faith- they want higher pay and smaller classroom size and until they get it- talk to the hand, as it were.
My sister and very bestest friend is a teacher- my mother a professor, my grandfather a pioneer in education in Seattle- I worked in education for 10 years. I get it.
I’m also a mom who wants her kids in school. That does not mean that I think teachers should be forced to go back to work- that can’t really help the situation, can it? I don’t want teachers in the classroom who are feeling resentful about being in the classroom. I also don’t want the District to take on false bravado and think just because the strike itself is ruled illegal (which, I’ll be shocked if it’s not) that they don’t have to work their butts off to get our teachers what they deserve. I certainly wasn’t high-fiving teachers on the picket line- both sides need to grow up and prove they are more mature than a fifth grader.
On top of that the circus is, literally, in town. Yes, Barnum and Bailey’s has pulled into Kent for a few shows at the new ShoWare center and wherever there is the a circus, there is PETA, who promises to picket tomorrow night’s opening show.
PETA has been pretty creative with it’s efforts, so who knows what they’ve got planned for Kent. Something tells me nudity, fake animal blood, cages and whips might have something to do with it.
I was seriously waiting for your take on this! I would love to read your follow up. What I don’t understand about their strike is, several schools tested dismally when it came to WASLs. And they want a raise? I don’t know. This whole thing was a mess.