SEQUIM — Sequim School District teachers have voted to participate in a one-day work stoppage Monday, May 18.
Classes will be canceled that day, although any extracurricular activities planned will go on as scheduled, and students will make up the school day June 18, the Sequim School Board decided Monday night on a 3-2 vote.
Port Angeles School District teachers will vote Thursday afternoon on whether to participate in a similar work stoppage.
A check of other public school districts in Clallam and Jefferson counties found that no other unions on the North Olympic Peninsula had taken action as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Sequim teachers are joining others across the state with the intent of influencing the state Legislature to meet the requirements of the state Supreme Court’s 2012 McCleary decision to adequately fund public schools.
The Sequim Education Association voted last week to have the 175 teachers of the district join a statewide rolling walkout — in which unionized teachers strike for one day — in protest of legislative inaction on fully funding public education.
The union is among the two-dozen statewide that had joined the protest, according to the Washington Education Association.
May 18 was chosen because “Mondays have the least contact time with students, there is a brief respite from student testing that day and there are no extracurricular activities scheduled,” said Linsay Rapelje, the Sequim association’s acting president.
“On May 18, we are planning activities to demonstrate our frustration with the Legislature,” she said.
“These may include informational picketing at prominent locations, a rally in support of public education, sending a group to Olympia if legislators are present and possible joint activities with other associations on the Olympic Peninsula.”
The work stoppage is not an action against the Sequim School District, school officials said. Sequim Superintendent Kelly Shea has said he has been informed by the teachers’ association every step of the way.
There are not enough substitutes to cover the teachers’ absence, forcing the schools to close for the day, he said.
On Monday night, board member Michael Howe voted no on closing the school and the chosen makeup date, wanting instead to hold the makeup day this coming Friday, when no school is scheduled.
“I also pointed out the strike is illegal per state statute and an attorney general opinion and commented on the increased funding of education to historic levels — especially in the [2016] Senate budget without raising taxes,” Howe said.
Board member Heather Jeffers abstained from the vote to close school and opposed scheduling the makeup day June 18.
State law requires students attend school for 180 days in a school year.
The last day of school will now be June 18 rather than June 17, except for seniors, whose last day remains June 11.
The Sequim teachers “are not taking the day off,” Rapelje said. “We will be working to bring publicity and attention to the crisis and education funding.
“We understand that our action will be inconvenient for many families,” she said, “but we feel the inaction of our Legislature has created a far greater inconvenience and injustice for our community.”
The state Supreme Court court cited legislators in September for contempt for making no progress in education funding and gave them until the end of the legislative session this year to show progress or risk sanctions.
The Legislature began a special session April 29 to consider education funding, among other actions.
“We realize calendar changes can be disruptive to families, and we apologize for any inconveniences due to these changes,” said M. Patsene Dashiell, Sequim School District spokeswoman.
For more information, see www.sequim.k12.wa.us or phone the district office at 360-582-3260.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
