The first school board meeting of the year brought congratulations, thank yous and further discussions of both class size and funding issues during the public-comment section of the Kent School Board\u2019s Sept. 23 meeting.<\/p>\n
The meeting, the first since the Kent Education Association\u2019s strike came to a close, brought out a packed house that included teachers, parents, candidates, classified workers, members of the Kent Parents Coalition and Stand for Children and even the school board president\u2019s wife, all of whom waited to to speak.<\/p>\n
The meeting was the board\u2019s first since Aug. 26, the night the KEA voted to go on strike. A meeting scheduled for Sept. 9 was deferred due to a lack of action items or presentations on the agenda.<\/p>\n
While the meeting began with the usual school business involving discussions of an upcoming bond vote and enrollment figures, the majority of those in attendance waited for their chance to address the board.<\/p>\n
First to speak were members of the district\u2019s classified employees unions, thanking the board for thinking of them during the teacher strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cClassified people were in a quandary,\u201d said Karen Rutledge, speaking on behalf of office professionals. \u201cThank you for all the support you gave classified people during that time. It was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Classified staff are only paid while school is in session, something the district gave as one of its reasons to seek an injunction to end the strike.<\/p>\n
Lee Thoren, a field representative for the Public School Employees food service division, said the district went \u201cabove and beyond\u201d in dealing with classified staff during the strike and thanked them for the open lines of communication they maintained during the work stoppage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that Kent\u2019s efforts have been equaled,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat a show of value and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments, however, prompted teacher Cathy Jones to also address the board and the audience regarding the relationship between teachers and classified staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour treatment was different from ours,\u201d Jones said, adding she felt the board and district showed little respect to teachers during bargaining and failed to keep open the same lines of communication.<\/p>\n
Jones apologized for the inconvenience to classified staff, but said she and her fellow teachers thought often of the classified employees and said they were aware of the plight of classified employees during their strike.<\/p>\n
Jones also said she hoped that teachers and classified employees could come together again for the good of the students.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething very divisive, it seems, has happened in our district,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Charles Allen, founder of the Kent Parents Coalition, which has announced its intention to recall two board members, also addressed the board on the issue of class size.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must do better,\u201d he said, and presented the board with a 12-page document comparing class sizes in other districts to those in Kent and containing information from several studies regarding lower class size.<\/p>\n
Some of the information in Allen\u2019s packet, however, was misleading, as the comparisons to other districts contained the \u201ccaps\u201d from the new KEA agreement, but compared them to the \u201cgoals\u201d from at least two other districts (Auburn and Federal Way).<\/p>\n
Also speaking was Dan Morris, of Stand For Children, who encouraged those in the audience to volunteer with his group, which will be lobbying the Legislature for increased funding and the passage of the district\u2019s expected levy in February.<\/p>\n
Also speaking was Suzanne Berrios, wife of board president Jim Berrios. Suzanne Berrios said she could no longer hold her tongue following the way her husband was attacked and maligned during the strike and listed a litany of things Berrios had done for the students of the district, including meals, donations, food-handling classes and his time on the board and the bond and levy committee prior to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAside from collecting some signatures,\u201d she said, regarding Allen and his recall petitions, \u201cwhat have you done for these kids?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, that was awkward,\u201d Jim Berrios said, when Suzanne Berrios stepped down from the podium, injecting a bit of humor into the proceedings.<\/p>\n
Alan Sutliff also addressed the board regarding his time on the Citizens Budget Review Committee. Sutliff said he felt like \u201cone of many pawns\u201d in the run-up to the strike because he felt the proposed budget-cutting priorities, which were discussed at a pair of public workshops in February, were little more than bargaining tactics for the board.<\/p>\n
Steve Goliff was the only member of the public to address the rescheduling of the Sept. 9 meeting, saying he was \u201cfurious\u201d at the decision to cancel the meeting because the was \u201cnot enough content.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goliff said he agreed that the Legislature should better fund education, but said it in no way affected the district\u2019s treatment of teachers, including his wife, whom he said teaches at Panther Lake.<\/p>\n
During the comment period, the board listened, but did not respond. The board rarely, if ever, responds to comments from the public.<\/p>\n
During board comments, Chris Davies encouraged those in attendance to investigate Stand for Children as a group dedicated to education.<\/p>\n
Berrios also said he supported what Stand was trying to do and again denied claims that the board was inaccessible during the strike, saying he and fellow board members responded to e-mails and phone calls and met with teachers on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n
Berrios also expressed concern about the divided nature of things in the district, but said despite continued threats of a recall he continue to do what he thought was best for the students in Kent.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy commitment is to these kids and I will continue to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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