Yeah, I know. The teachers are back in the classroom, but the fight isn't over and the teachers are still on strike in a way. I'll explain in a bit. But first, let me get you up-to-date on the stuff that the media doesn't find important enough to report.
First off, it's only been three days of school but it seems like an eternity since the vote to return. One parent from Marsyville summed up the feeling of the teachers better than even many of the teachers have been able to in a letter to the Seattle P.I.: "I don't think the court order and potential fines for not returning to work did much to affect the teachers decision. These teachers face 20-30 kids in a small room every day. It would take a lot more than a court order to scare them." -James C. Dunn. He's right. The teachers returned to work because the court gave them an extension on last year's contract, which allowed them to go back with a contract, an option that the district never gave them. The teachers also returned to work because the kids were suffering. Despite what people said about them, the first time they were allowed a voice since the initial vote to strike, they chose to go back. They care about the kids. The school board and superintendent do not. So let's get this straight. The court order didn't force the teachers back. The teachers chose to go back because the injunction gave them another option.
Eric told me that two of his classes have 38 kids. That doesn't sound like small class sizes to me. I don't know that I'd want to face thirty-eight 8th-graders twice a day. And in a brilliant stroke of bad planning, one of his other classes has only 13 students. Oops.
The parents who supported the teachers during the strike decided to give the teachers a gift when they returned, and went around to schools festooning them with red ribbons (red is the color the MEA adopted, so the red ribbons mean support for the teachers). Unfortunately, someone in the administration heard about the plan, possibly from reading the AIMS message board, and the ribbons were removed from most buildings before the teachers arrived at work. Wonder if someone got paid overtime to remove ribbons?
As another slap in the face, the district decided that every teacher needed to have copies of the injunction. Not one copy, no. One is not enough. Two copies? No, that's not enough. The district sent THREE COPIES of the injunction to every teacher, one of them via certified mail (which cost the district about $4.50 a pop for over 650 teachers). Talk about another waste of money! And this was AFTER the teachers voted to return. Methinks the administration still doesn't get it.
On the first day of school, some students showed up at the Heritage program (which incorporates education about the Tulalip nation with the regular curriculum) only to find out that the program had been canceled for grades 6 through 8. And the administration didn't even bother to tell the students affected or their parents of the change! What was the administration doing those 50 days? If you are going to cancel a major program like that, you darn well better let anyone affected know AHEAD OF TIME. As it was, some kids had to be picked up (by their parents) and taken to another school, where they started the day late. But it doesn't end there. Apparently the district failed to notify the Tulalip tribe of the change, and there are a lot of hard feelings now. The Tulalips have agreed to pay more to fund the school and bring back the 6-8th grades, but they shouldn't have to. And this should have been settled long ago, since it seems like a decision that was made long ago. Just another example of why this administration has to go.
So, you following me still? We're still on the first day of school...
Several teachers were informed on Wednesday that they would not be paid until November 30th. There are a number of problems with this, including the fact that waiting until the end of Nov is illegal under state law, as well as directly contradicting the court injunction. No surprise, as soon as this was pointed out to the district, they changed their tune and said of course the teachers will be paid October 31st. But the teachers will only be paid base pay. Oopsy, that's against the court injunction, too! In fact, the district, as of this writing, is STILL not in compliance with the order by Judge Krese. Maybe they should have kept some copies of the injunction for themselves instead of sending them all out to teachers.
Wednesday night a rally by the Evergreen "Freedom" Foundation was held, in which almost 100 people, most of them not from Marysville, gathered to bash teachers. State Representative Hans Dunshee showed up and apparently held up pretty well against people who irrationally hate teachers. He also talked about finding other ways to solve district disputes without making teachers resort to striking, which should always be an absolute last resort. The EFF also sent out fliers to people in the district, which apparently included an offensive cartoon of some sort. Glad we didn't get it.
Speaking of which, the teachers are still on strike. Do not make any mistake about it. Yes, they are back in the classes. No, they aren't trying to "work to the contract" (a method that never works anyway, because no teacher can put in so little time and be effective). They are on strike against the administration, but not the students. If a student needs help, the teachers are there. If the administration expects them to put in more time without pay, they won't.
Well, there's more to write about, including the smear campaign against one of the school board candidates Michael Kundu. Unfortunately for Kundu, there's a lot to smear if one wants to look hard enough (any passionate environmentalist is going to have problems with some people). However, the guy admits to his mistakes, and has more integrity in his little finger than the entire current school board has shown. I think the Marysville School Board would be better off with Kundu than without him.
Then there's the attempts by the school board and superintendent to set up a calendar, which is one of the items that is negotiated in the teacher's contract. The one that the district refuses to bargain on.
There's also the pathetic efforts of the Everett Herald, a true rag instead of a newspaper, to "cover" this story by only reporting the anti-teacher side and only doing research if it will hurt the teachers. You'd think that the "reporters" at that rag just call up Judy Parker when they want to do a story about the Marysville strike and use her as their only source. And yes, I know that someone from the Herald has been reading this blog every day (your IP gives you away, you know). I still think your paper is crap and I'm glad I didn't make the mistake of subscribing to it when my husband first got the job in Marysville. I was going to, but he suggested we wait for his first paycheck. That turned out to be a good thing. I didn't realize the Herald was so poor on reporting that it doesn't even bother to research a story that impacts its readers like the Marysville strike. The local media has done a very poor job on this story, but the Herald should be the one to get the scoops. Instead, it sat back and took what the district's PR fed it, never even making any effort to verify. Pathetic.
Enough for today. I'm sure there will be more on this whole thing, but the more I write, the more angry I get at the people who caused this and the people in the media who allowed it to perpetuate. T-minus nine days until the election, until we have an idea if the Marysville School District is salvageable.
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