Teachers defy court order; So what happens next?

With teachers in the Kent School District deciding Monday to defy a King County Superior Court Judge’s order to end their nearly two-week old strike and return to classrooms, the question immediately becomes: What happens next?

While Judge Andrea Darvas’ injunction orders teachers to return to work, the decision contains no sanctions against teachers who openly defy the court’s order except to say that “failure to fully comply with this order may subject violators to contempt of court sanctions.”

During the hearing itself, when the topic of sanctions came up, Darvas said she purposefully left sanctions out of the order. She also reiterated that the language includes the word “may,” not “will.”

“I’m not going to make any anticipatory ruling with regard to any possible failure to obey the court’s order,” she said.

“We expect that people are going to obey court orders,” she added.

In the most recent example of a judge’s injunction to end a teacher strike, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese ruled the Marysville Education Association’s 2003 strike illegal and ordered them back to work.

Krese’s injunction contained sanctions of $250 per day per teacher and a $1,000 per day fine to the MEA.

Following the Krese’s order, the MEA voted to obey the order, return to work under the previous year’s contract and continue negotiations.

On Monday, 74 percent of teachers attending a KEA member meeting voted to defy the court order and continue their strike.

School District attorney Charles Lind said Tuesday that because the court scheduled a compliance hearing in the original injunction, it was unlikely there would be a schedule change.

“This is now between the judge and the people who defied the judge’s order,” Lind said.

Negotiations between the two sides are continuing.