Battle Ground teachers strike in front of Battle Ground High School on Aug. 30.
Hockinson School District staff members and parents picket along NE 159th Street in front of the high school before Monday's school board meeting.
The strike is on in Battle Ground, Hockinson, and Ridgefield.
New teaching contract could not be settled at any of the districts on Tuesday.
Battle Ground Public Schools sent out a public statement. There will be no school Wednesday or Thursday. High school sports teams will continue on with practices and games. School offices will remain open throughout the week.
According to the Hockinson Education Association, significant differences still remain in salary, class size, special education support and counseling. HEA members and the district will not meet again until 9 a.m. Thursday, which means their strike will last at least two days as well.
The Ridgefield Education Association announced that its teachers would be not in the classrooms but on the picket line in a statement Aug. 28 following six hours of bargaining that day.
“This is not a path we want to be on,” the statement reads. “We are standing up for our students, our staff, and for a fair deal.”
The REA had previously voted to strike Aug. 17 as negotiations were not approaching the union’s demands as the school year loomed.
Shortly after the REA’s announcement Ridgefield School District (RSD) Superintendent Nathan McCann released an update for families in the district. He noted that both sides had agreed to mediation through the Public Employment Relations Commission, adding that negotiations would continue through the night.
“We remain optimistic that the issues between the District and the REA will be resolved through good-faith bargaining,” McCann wrote in the letter.
Even with the cancellation of school several other programs will continue in the district, McCann’s letter reads, including athletics and an open district office.
Due to state requirements, all days missed will have to be made up at the end of the school year.
For more background on bargaining at North County schools and what led up to this:
thereflector.com/news/article_94691e00-aa3b-11e8-adc0-e37eabc33414.html
