By Brian Beckley
bbeckley@kentreporter.com
For the first day of school in Kent, will the third time be the charm?
If not, teachers in the district will be looking at some hefty fines.
King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas on Thursday ruled that members of the Kent Education Association continuing their strike are in contempt of her injunctive ruling and ordered school to start Monday.
Saying she was “disappointed” in the decision to defy her order to return to work Sept. 8, Darvas also said any teachers who do not return to class Monday will face fines of $200 per day, retroactive to Sept. 8.
In addition, the KEA will be fined an additional $1,500 per day for each day teachers do not return to work.
During Thursday’s hearing, Darvas said she hoped that teachers feel strongly in their actions but added “Court orders are meaningless unless they are enforced.”
If teachers arrive for work Monday, all fines will be waved.
“It’s very, very important the rule of law be complied with,” she said.
Darvas said that even if the striking teachers were right in every one of their demands, “they are wrong in their actions.”
“In short, they are breaking the law,” she noted.
Following months of bargaining and negotiations that seemed to go nowhere, KEA members voted Aug. 26 to go on strike. On Sept. 1, the district filed a complaint with the court asking that teachers be ordered back to work. The following day, Darvas ruled in the district’s favor and ordered teachers to return to school Sept. 8, with students to arrive Sept. 9
The union on Sept. 7 voted to defy the court order by a 74 percent majority.
At the hearing, Darvas also chastised the union for setting a bad example for students and called defiance of her order a “sign of disrespect” for the institution of the court.
“Frankly, it’s a poor example to set for the young people who are looking to their teachers as role models,” she said.
Noting that she does not have the authority to rule on the merits of either side’s argument, nor has she been asked to do so, Darvas also ordered both sides to continue negotiating until an agreement can be reached.
“It’s time for everybody to start acting like responsible adults,” she said.
Following the announcement, KEA President Lisa Brackin Johnson said the union would take the judge’s ruling to its members and let them decide on their own what to do.
“That is their decision,” she said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Brackin Johnson also responded to the judge’s statement about setting a bad example for students.
“When there is something that is wrong, sometimes you have to take a stand to make it right,” she said.
Brackin Johnson also said the union gave a new proposal to the state-appointed mediator Thursday morning that met KEA goals, and is actually about $300,000 less, she claimed, than the district’s last proposal to the union.
KEA chief bargainer Mike McNett said the KEA proposal is actually about $277,000 less than what the school district had proposed. He added the union proposal sacrifices some of the “compensation” that KEA originally was requesting for its teachers.
Brackin Johnson reiterated the teachers’ point that money was not the primary goal.
“This is not about the money issue anymore,” she said. “This is about their (the district’s) control.”
“They’re drunk with their own power and they need to let it go,” she quipped.
District Communications Director Becky Hanks, who sat in on the court session, said district officials were excited to be opening schools Monday.
“We are pleased our students will be going back to school,” she said, adding “we’re saddened with the circumstances that brought us here.”
Hanks said the district would soon begin notifying parents of the judge’s order. Hanks deferred, when asked if she was worried that the last time the district told parents to prepare for schools to open, they remained closed when teachers voted to continue striking.
“Our hope is that teachers will comply with the court’s order,” she stated.
Hanks also said KEA’s latest proposal was for the full teaching contract, not just single issues, and was set to expire at noon Thursday. She said the district is analyzing the proposal to see how the KEA addressed the issues.
“It’s not simply a money amount,” she said.
Bargaining between both sides is ongoing.
For more information visit www.kentschools.org (KEA site) or www.kentschooldistrict.org (district site).
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