Strikes extend summer break

Students in Ridgefield, Battle Ground and Hockinson school districts had the week off following the decisions of all three teachers unions to strike after failure to ratify contracts before the first day of school. The three districts eventually canceled the first three days of school as negotiations headed into the weekend. 

Ridgefield 

On Aug. 29 Hillhurst Road had a few different contingents of strikers and supporters picketing in front of Ridgefield schools. The brand-new campus for intermediate grades sat empty on what was supposed to be the first day of the 2018-2019 school year.

The Ridgefield Education Association (REA) announced the night before that talks would not resume before Sept. 1, with the closest possible date for a resolution being Sept. 4. 

In their Aug. 17 release announcing the decision to strike, REA listed the main issues it has with the district. It levels that the district is offering “far less” than what a $2.6 million bump in state funding should allow. Class sizes were another issue, with REA stating the district was in the top-10 of overcrowded districts based on teacher-to-student ratio. 

Other issues alleged by the union were special education caseloads being currently too much and outdated curriculum resources.

On the first day of strikes, the Ridgefield School District (RSD) released a letter signed by Superintendent Nathan McCann announcing that school would be canceled through the week. In it McCann laid out the district’s proposal to address the REA’s issues. The information noted that average teacher compensation would increase “from $63,717 to $79,988 over the next three years.”

REA struck back at RSD in a “fact checking” of the district letter, stating that the increase was only what was state-mandated and adding that “their proposal cuts more than $4,800 in local pay from every teacher per year.”

Regarding class sizes the district letter stated it had provided “a comprehensive analysis of class size limits” of more than two-dozen districts both local and comparable where specifically the kindergarten through third grade classes were second-lowest. Other information provided by the district showed that overall RSD was middle-of-the-pack when compared to 10 other local districts.

The REA argued that the comparisons were based on bargaining previous to the changes McCleary brought to funding, which decreased the student-to-teacher ratio to 17, down from 22.5 in those grades, resulting in more funding based on student population.

“The district is proposing to maintain the current class size targets, despite new funding for nearly 14 more teachers for Kindergarten through 3rd grade,” REA’s response read. 

The response also stated that last week’s proposal was “virtually identical” to the one earlier in August after which REA members voted near-unanimously to strike.

All the days students miss will need to be made up after the end of the official school year, similar to snow days.

Hockinson

Although progress is being made during these long days of negotiations the Hockinson School District and the Hockinson Education Association (HEA) have not reached an agreement as of press deadline.

According to the HEA, differences still remain in salary, class sizes, special education support and counseling.

“Our goal remains unchanged: to provide a competitive salary that is affordable and sustainable, both for our school district and for our community,” the district said in a statement. 

Battle Ground 

Battle Ground Education Association (BGEA) President Linda Peterson had the perfect example for how teachers, parents and students are feeling after the strike cancelled classes for the first week of school.

“It’s like having a race horse in a chute and you’re waiting for that gate to open,” she said. “Right now, that gate can’t open so that horse is going to have to do something else for a while. Not happy horses.”

Peterson knows teachers would rather be in the classroom instead of walking up and down the streets of Battle Ground and picketing along state route 503 all the way down to Prairie High School, but she said they are fighting for the funds passed by the Washington State Legislature in March to increase teachers’ salaries.

There could be a light at the end of this dark tunnel.

Battle Ground Public Schools released a statement Thursday following a 6-hour session with the BGEA. Both groups are working toward an understanding about the funding available in the district’s budget for staff compensation, but an agreement had not been reached by Friday’s press deadline.

“We had a productive discussion, and both sides have a better understanding of the way the other looks at the state and local funding,” Superintendent Mark Ross said. “We look forward to continuing our discussions and working toward an agreement.”

While schools are closed, high school athletics will continue with scheduled practices and games. The district office and school offices in Battle Ground remain open throughout the week. 

According to the district, Battle Ground’s multi-year offer is an 18.2 percent increase in total compensation over the district’s 2017-18 average teacher compensation. It includes a 6.5 percent increase in total compensation for 2018-19, and commits Battle Ground to additional salary increases of at least 2 percent for each of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years.

Editor’s note: information as of Friday, Aug. 31. This week’s print deadline was earlier than usual because of Labor Day. Katie Hayes at The Chronicle contributed to this article.