Photo courtesy of WVEA - Last week the Willapa Valley teachers declared a strike.
Starting Tuesday, December 3, Willapa Valley schools were closed due to the Valley teachers ongoing strike. After months of negotiations, the Willapa Valley School District and the Willapa Valley Education Association are still disagreeing. A state mediator has been called in.
A special board meeting was called on December 3, Tuesday evening to discuss the difficulties of the negotiations. "The Board Chairman and the Superintendent had a powerpoint presentation with information relating to the issue," said Rex Hutchins who attended the meeting. "Then anyone that wanted to speak for a longer period, signed in and were given 3 minutes, then the floor was open to any comments/questions not to exceed 1 minute."
"I felt that the folks were all respectful and sometimes emotional," he continued. "There were good comments, concerns and questions from both sides. There was, at times, tension in the room and towards the end of the meeting (set at 8:00 p.m.) the certificated staff walked out. Both sides indicated a desire to bring this situation to an end and I believe that negotiations will be continuing. There are some significant differences to be resolved so it might take some time."
"We heard from our community last night [November 3] that they support the school board's financial goals and long term district improvement goals, but they also want to settle this quickly to get students back to school," said Valley School District Superintendent Nancy Morris. "We are negotiating daily until it is settled."
The divide between the district and the teachers is centering around three main issues: classroom safety, special education teacher's contract, and teacher's pay.
The issue of classroom safety is basically a change in the language in the classroom procedures on how to handle a disruptive student. The district and teachers are very close to agreeing on these changes. The special education issues are still up in the air. This concerns the language in the job description and contract for a new SPED teacher that the district needs to hire.
The biggest gap is the pay of the teachers. WVEA pushed for an increase of 10% at the start of the school year and the district countered with only a 2% increase. During the meetings last week the district crept up to 2.1% while the WVEA came down to 6.1%. Both sides are very slowly heading towards an agreement, but they are not there yet.
"We would just be glad to keep working until this is settled," said Vice President of WVEA Jamie Howell.
To see the negotiations between the district and the WVEA go online to https://www.willapavalley.org.