By Lindsay Larin

Bellevue Reporter

Bellevue teachers have been on strike since Sept. 2. Wednesday night, more than 800 people packed into Sammamish High School to tell the board what they thought.

People aren’t happy.

Students were some of the most outspoken.

“College deadlines are not moving just because our district is on strike,” Newport High School senior Sarah Edmond passionately explained. “We need to be back in school because this strike is beginning to affect our futures.”

Edmond explained that due to the strike, teachers have been asked to not check their school e-mails and counselors are on strike, setting up roadblocks for seniors to gather recommendations or transcripts needed for college applications.

Many speakers urged the School Board to settle the strike. Several parents suggested round-the-clock negotiating. A loud rumble rose from the room when a parent called for daily negotiations until the dispute is resolved.

The theater was colored with red and green cards that were used by the crowd to express their views on nearly 50 speakers’ comments.

Following the comments from the public, the board recessed into executive session to talk about what action it would take, if any. What won’t happen, at least for now, is for the district to seek a court injunction against the teachers to force them back into the classrooms.

“Strikes by teachers are illegal simply because they hurt the most innocent of people, in this case our children,” said board president Peter Bentley at the opening of the meeting. “All of us want this to end.”

When asked by the board if they supported an injunction against the teachers, a sea of red cards indicated that the audience was opposed.

BEA President Michele Miller was pleased with the decision by the district to not file an injunction, but felt the one-sided questioning during the meeting was tilted in the district’s favor.

“It was frustrating to have questions only directed one way and to have no opportunity to respond,” she said. “We are hoping that the community will take that into consideration.”

Many parents such as Karen Campbell showed support for the teachers and spoke against the district’s standardized curriculum.

“You say you only hire the best and the brightest. In order for our wonderful teachers to stay motivated please allow them the freedom from the restrictions of the Curriculum Web,” Campbell said.

Bellevue teacher Amber Graeber received applause from the crowd when she declared, “We want equity. We want accountability. We don’t want our hands tied.”

Bellevue school parent Don Miller echoed her statements in a recent e-mail.

“Teaching is a dynamic and vibrant environment because our kids are unique individuals,” he wrote. “Our great teachers work hard to move through the lessons quickly and effectively to ensure all students are learning. You simply can not bulldoze through a lesson to meet a pre-determined time schedule if the kids are not getting it.”

Bellevue school principals Jennifer Rose and David Wellington shared their positive experiences working with the Web-based curriculum.

“We know we have come light years as a district in terms of curriculum. I think we have made incredible growth as a district and as an elementary school principal I have a job where I get to see that growth in action everyday,” Rose said.

While the comments and views differed at the meeting, the majority want the strike to end.

Scott Allen, parent of two in the Bellevue school district, summarized the issues in one sentence.

“Strikes are bad for kids,” he declared.

During the meeting, the board stood firm on the issue of pay, explaining that their hands remain tied.

“Everyone would like to pay teachers more. Telling us that teachers earn a small amount of money, certainly not enough for the respect of their profession, we completely agree with that,” said board member Judy Bushnell.

She added that supplemental pay comes from the same very restricted levy maintenance and operation funds that pay for everything students experience in the classroom including the class size, the books and materials, activities, and sports.

“The answer is to get the salaries either raised by the state to add cost of living differential or to allow us as a district, as every other state in the United States allows, to use our local tax authority to raise more money to pay the teachers what we think they deserve in this particular city, at this particular time,” Bushnell said.

Several speakers prompted the crowd to look at the bigger picture and take the issue of low pay straight to Olympia.

“Education funding in this state is broken and we’re not going to fix it by having strikes,” Allen said. “We need to work collaboratively as a board, as a teachers union and as parents. Lets get off the ball and get going on it.”

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