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Day 2 of no classes for Kent School District as bargaining continues

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KENT, Wash. — Friday was the second day of no school for students in the Kent School District, this as the union and the district have yet to reach an agreement.

The district put out a statement Friday evening:

“Please be prepared to make alternate arrangements for Monday, August 29, for potential continued school closure. We will notify you as soon as possible if schools will remain closed or will reopen.”

Teachers were back out Friday picketing in front of all 43 schools, and they are getting a lot of support from the community, parents and their students.

“Supporting the teachers so they get paid more and have rights,” said Luke Jennings, who is going into fifth grade.

Many parents say as unfortunate as it is to have a child miss out on school, it’s important they rally with teachers.

“I have a child in SPED, so that means she’s not receiving services because school hasn’t started, but I’m trying to make sure that when I talk with my friends, when I talk with other parents, myself, my children, my anger shouldn’t be directed towards teachers. This is a lack of leadership from the district,” said Allison Riley, who has two kids in the district.

Emily Cacallori, who has one child in the district, says, “Me personally, I’m home right now, but I’m supposed to be at work on Monday, and I know there’s a good chance my daughter will just have to come with me. It’s tough, it’s really tough, but this is not the fault of the teachers.”

Union members are pushing for mental health support, a reduction in class size and a pay increase.

“Here at our school we have more ELL students than all of the four high schools combined. We have more ELL students than the entire population of some of our elementary schools, so we need more support in the sense of peer education, more teachers,” said Brett Allen, a union representative and English teacher at Kent-Meridian High School.

Nicole Dao, who graduated from Kent-Meridian High School in 2015 and is now a chemistry teacher at her alma mater, says, “Safely in labs, we try to have a cap of 32 kids, and that’s just so we can manage the class better. We’re dealing with a lot of chemicals, fire, so it’s really safe to have that number. When I looked at my roster last I was above 32 kids in all my chemistry classes.”

Dao says as a product of the district, she remembers teacher strikes when she was a student.

“I definitely remember the last time we went on strike, which was 2009. It was going into my seventh-grade year, so it’s kind of wild to be back as a teacher and be on the line as well.”

The union says this has been a long week with bargaining going until 11 p.m. some days. They say it’s not uncommon for negotiations to happen over the weekend, and that they are willing to do that so kids can get back in the classroom, but as of Friday, it’s not clear if that will happen.

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