District to take Tumwater teachers to court, again
Sep 13, 2018, 6:28 PM
“We will be back on the picket lines tomorrow (Thursday) and the day after and so on until our bargaining team tells us they have reached a fair and reasonable agreement,”said Tumwater EA President Tim Voie. (KIRO 7 image)
(KIRO 7 image)
The Tumwater School District is taking the teacher’s union to court for the second time this week. And it’s asking to impose fines.
District spokeswoman Laurie Wiedenmeyer told the Olympian the district will seek $2,329 per day. She explained that it’s a prorated amount of what the teachers pay in union dues.
After a judge ordered teachers to end their strike on Wednesday, the district scheduled the first day of classes for students on Friday and teachers were supposed to return on Thursday to prepare. But, teachers refused to comply, vowing not to return to work without a contract.
“The district is doing everything it can to resolve this situation and we believe we’ll move forward,” Tumwater’s superintendent John Bash told KIRO 7.
At issue in negotiations are pay raises, class size, and student and teacher safety. Teacher Doug Peltier told the Olympian a competitive salary and class size are important to him. His AP calculus class is set to have 38 students.
Teachers have been on strike since Sept. 1.
