Lock Out!
Parents get a first-hand taste of the district's 'transparent' behavior
On Wednesday, more than 200 parents showed up outside the district administration center with their own picket signs, urging administrators to start bargaining.
"We feel like all the meetings we've attended haven't done a thing," said Becky Ledosquet, a Sunrise parent carrying a sign with "Kent School District priority: 1. Vargas 2. Children."
We know our voices aren't being heard; neither are the parents.
Residents -- and voters in Washington -- already decided small class size is a priority, Ledosquet said. "We'd like the district to realize parents aren't stupid."
In true form, district administrators continued to show their disrespect yesterday -- not only toward teachers but to parents. The School Board met in an executive session earlier than publicized, and the district sent home staff and locked all doors to the administration building earlier in the day.
"Dr. Vargas needs to be here to negotiate," Ridgewood Elementary parent Leah Ayers said. "We want answers. Ultimately we all want the same thing.
"We expect them to listen to us, listen to our concerns," she said to the crowd that lined the entire front of the administration building. "We value our teachers and we expect them to do the same."
Ayers said the district needs to treat teachers as professionals.
"They have the education; they are with our kids all day and they have the best interests of our kids at heart. If they are asking for something I trust they need it."
The School Board must be held accountable.
"They are elected officials," Ayers said. "If they don't have the fortitude to last four days to negotiate then they don't deserve to be there."
Ayers and fellow Ridgewood Elementay parents organized parents from their school, but families from schools throughout the district showed up in full force yesterday.
"I've been in this district for so long and have seen so many changes, and I don't like the direction we're heading," said parent Alberta Jones, who has children at Emerald Park Elementary, Meeker Middle School and Kentridge High School.
"I still have hope we can have great schools," she said. "I just want some honest dialogue."
Parents collected more than 200 names yesterday, urging school district bargainers to go back to the table. They had hoped to present the signatures to the district but doors were locked.
"As parents there are a large number of us supporting teachers on these priorities," parent Lori Fast said. Her daughter's fifith-grade class roster posted outside Ridgewood Elementary already has 32 kids as of last Friday. More students, she says, typically get added after school starts. "We want what's best in the long run, even if it's an inconvenience for the short term."