By BRIAN BECKLEY
bbeckley@kentreporter.com
The Kent teacher strike is officially over and classes will finally begin Tuesday morning at schools all across the district.
Members of the Kent Education Association on Monday approved a new contract, ending the walkout that had effectively shut down the district since Aug. 26.
There are about 26,000 students who attend Kent schools, including about 3,700 who live in the Renton area.
The contract passed with a 94 percent approval vote.
“We have a good start of our contract,” KEA President Lisa Brackin Johnson said after the vote. “We’ve taken a position and we can’t be ignored anymore.”
Brackin Johnson said the teachers did not get everything they wanted in the new contract, but that it represented a good start.
Brackin Johnson first announced the contract at a rally Sunday in downtown Kent. The crowd erupted in cheers, tears and hugs. A number of education associations from around Western Washington, including the Renton Education Association, sent delegations with banners to show support for the Kent teachers.
Brackin Johnson said in an interview that getting the deal done was like a weight off her shoulders, adding that there was an “overwhelming sense” of relief and happiness.
If they hadn’t gone back to class by Monday, Kent teachers would have faced fines for contempt of court at $200 per day, retroactive to Sept. 8.
KEA Chief Bargainer Mike McNett said negotiations over the weekend were “pretty slow,” but both sides were exchanging full proposals back and forth until the differences between them were small.
“The sticking point all along was the class size,” McNett said, adding that in the final contract, the KEA achieved class-size caps at some levels and increased relief for overcrowded classrooms in others.
According to a settlement summary sheet passed out to members at the vote, the new, two-year agreement contains relief for teachers in grades K-3 at 26 students (three less than the prior contract) and a cap at 29 students (two less than teachers’ prior contract. In grades 4-6, the relief begins at 30 students with a cap at 32, both two fewer than the prior contract.
The union also bargained for caps on middle- and high-school numbers at 147 and 157 students per day. McNett said there is still work to do on class size, but that this was a good beginning.
“We think now the community is watching and the district will be disinclined to load 38 kids in a class,” he said.
The union also negotiated a limit of two meetings per week and ended a series of three morning meetings each week at the middle schools.
As far as increased compensation, Brackin Johnson said the teachers did not get what they hoped and sacrificed some of their requests to put toward class-size reduction. According to the summary, $1,000 was added to the commitment stipend for each teacher and additional “effective education days” were added to the calendar.
Superintendent Edward Lee Vargas released a short statement on the district’s Web site praising both negotiating teams for their perseverance in working toward an agreement.
“On behalf the KSD Board of Directors, I want to congratulate and thank the two bargaining teams for their tremendous effort and success during this most challenging time'” the statement reads. “We are excited about moving forward together with our Kent Education Association partners and our entire school community. Our focus is students and their success; they are the reason we are here.”
Teachers were ecstatic to be headed back to work.
“We’re glad we’re back at school,” said Neely O’Brien kindergarten teacher Marilyn Tullis as she worked to get her room prepared for students to arrive Tuesday. “We are so glad.”
Tullis said the new class size caps will help, especially in the primary grades like kindergarten. Tullis said her class list for the year has only 20 students at this time, but she expects that to grow by the end of the first week of school, as it traditionally does every year.
“Keeping the class size down will mean so much more in their education,” she said.
“As teachers we love our job, that’s why we do it,” said Sara Dacus, a Northwood Middle School health and fitness teacher. “I’m just excited to be back in the classroom, to see my and to get started.
“It’s a good day,” she said.
