The Kent School District announced on its Web site Friday afternoon that school will begin Tuesday, Sept. 15, not Monday as was previously announced.
This is the third time the date for the first day of school has been changed due to the ongoing Kent Education association Strike.
On Thursday King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas ruled that teachers must lay down their picket signs and return to classrooms in time for school to begin Monday or begin paying a $200 per day fine for contempt, retroactive to Sept. 8, the day teachers were supposed to return under her Sept. 3 injunction.
The district on Friday made a decision to delay the opening until Tuesday in hopes of reaching an agreement with the union over the weekend and giving teachers a day to prepare their classrooms.
Though Darvas said she expected school to begin Monday, with teachers to use Friday as a prep day, the ruling only states that teachers must be “prepared, available, present and ready to teach school during regularly scheduled school hours on September 14, 2009.”
Before the change to the first day, KEA President Lisa Brackin Johnson said that is they do not have an agreement over the weekend, she expected teachers to be “on the line” Monday, based on the Sept. 7 vote to defy the court order.
“We would not return to work until an agreement had been reached,” she said of the vote.
Brackin Johnson said members were briefed at that meeting about the possible legal consequences of their actions to continue the strike and said the members believe in the process and believe in what they are doing.
Many teachers have said they will remain on strike despite the court order and do not expect to have to pay the fines because any agreement will contain some sort of amnesty clause.
Brackin Johnson said union officials told the members that in other places where fines were levied the return agreement included such a clause, effectively freeing teachers from the fines.
“In the past, in other places, that is what has happened,” she said.
The contempt of court fines, however, were levied by the court and not the district, meaning that the fines are owed to King County. The district, however, may have to seek a hearing to have the fines enforced.
Research into teacher strikes in Washington since 1990 shows that in each case where the court filed an injunction against the union, there was a settlement before fines were levied, putting Kent teachers into unchartered waters and potentially at risk for fines that will start at $1,000 for teachers who do not report for work Monday morning.
Negotiations are scheduled to continue through the weekend and both sides said they were hopeful an agreement could be reached in time to stave off the fines.
“We teachers are anxious to get back to school and get started but resolve is strong,” Brackin Johnson said. “We are hopeful we can come to an agreement.”
“We’re hopeful teachers will be here on Monday with students returning Tuesday,” District Spokesperson Becky Hanks said Friday.
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