Teachers filled the Centralia School District board meeting on Wednesday night to share their displeasure with the board after attempts to come to an agreement on teaching contracts continued to be unsuccessful.
The Centralia Education Association voted Wednesday at an earlier meeting to call for a strike vote on Sept. 25 if a deal is not reached the day before. Eighty-nine percent of the teachers present voted in favor of the strike vote.
Centralia teachers have been working without a new contract for seven days. They called on the school board to make decisions that would benefit the teachers.
Nancy Herzog, third grade teacher at Fords Prairie Elementary School, said she heavily considered whether the new contract under negations was strike-worthy. She ultimately decided that it was.
“I was anticipating a good package from our board last night and when I heard what was offered, I was absolutely appalled,” she said during the public comment portion of the meeting. “All of a sudden now it’s no longer about health care for me or class size, or clock hours, or professional development opportunities — it’s about respect. I’ll take a strike vote tonight, tomorrow night, or whenever, and I’ll vote yes and I’ll do whatever I need to do to get a decent contract for our teachers now.”
According to the district’s website, the district and the Centralia Education Association have been unable to agree on six major topics, including time, resources, incentive days, bereavement leave days, health insurance benefits, experienced recognition pay, a professional development pool and out-of-pocket expense funds.
Both sides have individual proposals for the six topics. The CEA is asking for increases, which the district has proposed in some areas, but not to the full extent of the CEA’s wishes.
Lauri Johnson, co-chair of the CEA, said she was hopeful a decision was going to be reached Tuesday night during the mediation process, but was disappointed with the results.
“You must not respect your staff. You must think you can find better. You must not appreciate our love and admiration for students. You must not believe education is what’s best for progress,” she told the board.
Beverly Clark was the only parent who spoke at the meeting and she said she was disappointed with every school board member.
“My expectation is that you don’t exist without your teachers and your paraeducators and all the people in our district,” she said. “… I cannot believe (what you’re offering), that’s absolutely disgusting.”
After the meeting, Johnson told The Chronicle that she was hopeful before walking into the school board meeting, but much of that faded afterward.
“Centralia teachers are the most heartfelt professional, most respected individuals that I have ever had the honor to work with,” she said. “They were very upset when they saw the proposal. They just sat there and stared and then they were outraged.”
Toward the end of the meeting, board member Chris Thomas said he was personally ashamed of where the district is at in the bargaining process. Board member Amy Buzzard thanked teachers for the input she has received thus far and urged teachers to continue to share their vision.
Superintendent Mark Davalos said he is hopeful an agreement will be reached and said both sides have been working hard to do so. The next bargaining meeting is scheduled for today.
The contentious board meeting followed picketing outside the district office Tuesday.
As school administrators and CEA representatives sat around a table to discuss the terms of a new bargaining contract, teachers took to the streets outside the building carrying signs and repeating a “fair contract now” chant.
“It shouldn’t have taken this long,” Mitchell Smith, a teacher with the carpentry program at the high school, said. “Enough is enough. What we are asking for is very reasonable. … It’s a matter of making it happen.”
Smith has been with the district for 24 years and has funneled a lot of his time and effort into the carpentry program. He said he wants to stay in the Centralia School District, but contract negotiations have taken away from what is important. This year and last year are the only times in over two decades with the district that Smith has started the year without a contract, he said.
Davalos said that although a new contract has not yet been decided upon, both parties agreed in last year’s negotiations that if a bargaining agreement was not reached before Aug. 31, the existing contract would remain in place until new terms were ratified.
Kerri Kite, co-chair of the Centralia Education Association, said she wanted a tentative agreement to be decided upon by the end of the night Tuesday, though her hopes didn’t materialize.
In a press release handed out by the CEA, the association said the sides remain far apart on professional pay, health care insurance, bereavement leave, and support for professional development.
“Our teachers are passionate about our work, but it is harder to make ends meet when our pay is going backwards due to rising healthcare costs,” Kite said.
She added that the district has not allotted enough money for school supplies, resulting in teachers spending their own money for materials.
“With health care costs taking more out of our paycheck, it gets harder and harder to cover the expenses the district should be paying for anyway,” she said.
Michelle Sane, a special education teacher and part of the bargaining team, said she felt the same as many who stood on the street corners.
“I’m ready for the district to take us seriously and move forward to help support kids in our community,” she said.
Other teachers present at the demonstration were reluctant to comment and directed questions to Kite.
Ed Petersen, communications and public relations coordinator for the district, said he hoped the mediation would be resolved soon.
“Nobody on both sides thinks this disruption is good for the students,” he said.
On Sept. 3, the CEA authorized its bargaining team to come back to the membership with a request to take a strike vote if a tentative agreement is not reached.
“Centralia educators are unified in their desire to win a fair contract that is good for students and gives them the support they need to be successful,” Johnson said in a release.
