Teacher strike in Seattle suburb delays start of school year

By Paradise Afshar, Chris Boyette and Andi Babineau, CNN

A teacher strike has delayed the start of the school year for students in King County, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, one of several school showdowns nationally.

Negotiations between the Kent School District and the Kent Education Association, the union representing teachers in the district, have been underway since July, according to a statement from Yoko Kuramoto-Eidsmoe, a representative for the Washington Education Association, the union’s state affiliate.

An agreement had yet to be reached as of Wednesday, Kuramoto-Eidsmoe said.

On the Kent School District website, a message informs visitors about the start of the school year being delayed “due to a strike/work stoppage by the Kent Education Association.” All elementary and middle school activities are postponed until further notice, according to the message, and meal services are expected to resume when school begins.

Classes and activities remain postponed Friday, according to the district’s website. CNN has reached out to the district for a formal statement.

In the Kent School District and others, employees argue they are underpaid and underappreciated, particularly after navigating the coronavirus pandemic, and school systems say they are strapped for cash.

“Students and education staff need a level of support we aren’t getting,” Kris Hill, an English teacher at Kentwood High School, told CNN affiliate KIRO-TV. “Counselors, in particular, have been one of our biggest concerns — they have about 400 students each. I have 150.”

The union told the affiliate class sizes have swelled, resulting in teachers starting at the contracted maximum number of students in a class.

“Starting at their cap. So it makes a difference. Every extra student is less time I have to check in with you, to check in with the family,” said Layla James, the vice president of the union and former kindergarten teacher.

Tim Martin, the union president, told KIRO the Kent School District “is behind nearby districts.”

“We’re worried (about) Kent’s ability to attract and retain the educators our kids need,” Martin said.

Other districts across the nation are also dealing with strikes.

Teachers in Columbus, Ohio, went on strike this week and on Thursday reached an agreement to end the stoppage. And in Philadelphia, a union representing school district employees — such as bus drivers, mechanics, cleaners and engineers — voted to authorize a strike that would start next week, as they have asked for higher wages and better training programs.

In Kent, a news release from the teachers union listed a couple of the points being negotiated.

“At issue are several anti-union proposals — including contractual protections against workplace discrimination — and the district’s refusal to pay a state-funded cost-of-living pay increase,” the union said.

“We are just really disappointed to be at this point,” Alisha Gray, a teacher in the district, said in the release. “The district’s anti-teacher proposals have thrown the entire community into unnecessary upheaval. I hope that we can get a fair deal as quickly as possible and go back to educating our kids.”

The school district was slated to begin Thursday for grades 1-12 and on August 30 for kindergarten students. The district serves about 25,000 students and includes 29 elementary schools, six middle schools, and four high schools.

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CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.