Strike possible on opening day

By Lindsay Larin

Bellevue Reporter

Sherwood Forest Elementary School Principal Gail McDonald is preparing to open a rebuilt $20 million facility Sept. 2. The students are ready. She hopes there will be someone to teach them.

Bellevue schools may be a ghost town come opening day as a potential strike still looms in the district’s coming school year.

On June 10, teachers in the Bellevue School District voted to go on strike on the first day of the new school year if they don’t reach a tentative contract with the district by then.

The teachers took a no-contract, no-work vote. An agreement between the union and the district has not been reached.

“We are still at the table and have bargaining sessions scheduled for today and Friday of this week and meetings next week,” explained Michele Miller, the president of the Bellevue Education Association. “It is understood that if we do not reach an agreement the members would picket.”

According to the BEA, at the moment, there remains a pretty big split between the sides and it does not appear an agreement will be reached, however the hope is to reach a settlement.

The union’s two main issues include compensation and the district-mandated use of Web-based curriculum.

“We will do all that we can to talk to media to get information out there to make sure parents know if a strike takes place so kids aren’t standing, waiting at the bus stops on the first day of school,” Miller said.

In a statement, the Bellevue School District wrote that negotiations continue between the Bellevue Education Association and the Bellevue School District and that conversations have been productive and a number of issues have been resolved. The goal of the school district is to come to a fair and timely agreement and have school start on time on September 2.

Information on the Bellevue School District can be found at www.bsd405.org.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@reporternewspapers.com or 425-453-4602.