Removing meetings (or should I call it what it really is, training) is ridiculous. Training is not only necessary but part of every job. Isn’t the purpose of asking for less training days to give more time to the kids?

Teacher’s know their pay before taking the job just like I did with my job. The above comment of embellishment of insurance and sick pay is a joke. I work a second job just to have medical benefits that are just mediocre. We are in a recession and everyone is struggling, now selfishness has stepped in to make the kids suffer the same. Basically, the teachers are doing everything they are claiming to be fighting for, taking time away from students.

In the ensuing two (2) months that followed, there was one negotiation meeting between KEA and KSD. KSD (Dr. Vargas) was NOT AVAILABLE.
Since ending negotiations on Tuesday morning 9/8/09 at 6:00am, KSD is still refusing to meet and negotiate.

Kent teachers did not just give the district 3 days notice before voting to strike. The Kent school district was more than aware the teacher’s would strike in June 2009 if a tentative contract was not available to be agreed upon.

Our requests:
1). Caps on the number of students in each class. Presently, KSD has a cap of 31 students for K-6th grade. Anything over 20 students in K-3rd is just “crowd and behavior control”. Don’t believe me, try teaching for just one hour a 1st grade class with 31 students all by yourself. Especially at the elementary level, how much education is imparted to a student is directly dependent on how much available one-to-one time a teacher has with a student. Education is not just core subjects, but discipline, social behavior, and character instruction.
KSD has NO caps at the middle school level (7-8) nor the high school level (9-12). Surrounding districts ALL have acceptable caps in all levels of education.
2). Decreased meetings. Increasing time for students/parents outside of the classroom. Two 1-hour meetings per
month (all district directed) is not supporting students, parents, or teachers. KEA offered two 1-hour meetings or four 30-minute meetings per month (amounting to the same amount of time) but teacher directed.
Why? Just to give you a few reasons:
To benefit our students; not just to improve our educational techniques and/or department cross-curriculum planning, but conferencing with the parent(s) and mediating ways to encourage and/or deal with social and/or behavioral issues of a
student common to several teachers.
3). Adequate pay. Kent teachers are 19th out of 20 local districts on the Washington pay scale (without the district’s embellishment of adding insurance benefits and sick or discretionary leave pay). KSD has repeatedly been asked to validate their numbers and costs. The chief financial officer for the district has been unable to validate the district’s proposed expenditures. KEA has repeatedly validated in writing their numbers and costs.
KSD’s superintendent is the highest paid administrator in the STATE of Washington at $240K per year. Add to this his $800/month car allowance, insurance benefits, $10,000/year travel expense, matching retirement contribution, and relocation expenses, and who knows what else. (Considering the loss in market value, are Kent taxpayers paying the sales difference in Dr. Vargas’ CA home when sold?)
In the last two weeks of August, Dr. Vargas spent over $13,000 in postage and an unknown amount in hiring staff to stuff envelopes. The expense in postage, labor, paper/envelopes could have paid for additional teaching staff and lowered class sizes.

I am not part of the negotiating team, but I am a former process engineer and presently a teacher in the Kent school district. I have always worked with a contract and I don’t know any professional who does not; and teachers are college educated degreed professionals. Just as the American forefathers defied English taxation, the teachers of Kent will defy the court. We work under a contract, not court rulings. We work for our students and parents and better conditions for teaching; for respect and adequate pay – the superintendent seems to understand the pay part pretty good…

Hopefully, you will do your homework and have a better idea of what is at stake – other teachers and parents from around the state seem to understand. They came out on Monday to support and share with us. On the news, I have very rarely heard comments from those adults in support of the teachers; I have heard regular comments on the news from those against.

The teachers DO WANT TO RETURN TO THE CLASSROOM and are disheartened at the district’s continued refusal to meet and negotiate. Stonewalling is not in the best interests of our students or parents or support staff.

Ann
KentSchools.org

Average Annualized Salaries
Salary Rank
Puyallup $79,485 12
Bellevue $80,837 11
Federal Way $82,612 10
Renton $89,497 9
Seattle $89,589 8
Auburn $91,287 7
Lake Washington $92,241 6
Highline $93,953 5
Tahoma $94,238 4
Tacoma $104,331 3
Everett $105,244 2
Kent $108,991 1

Kent Teachers are paid less than most of the districts in the area, but all we want are smaller classes and fewer meetings – isn’t that worth the fight?

http://www.kentschools.org/index.php/priorities-administrators-or-teachers.html

I think about all of the teachers laid off in other districts who would probably be happy to be working right now. I think about the janitors, administrative assistants, and other employees who get no paycheck because school is not in session. I feel like teachers are holding the community hostage until their demands are met. I think the teachers need to obey the law just like we ask our kids to do.