As contract talks drag, will start of school lag?

It’s probably not the smartest idea to begin a new academic year with a rant about school. That was my plan, though.

I was going to complain today about the dreadfully early start date at my second-grader’s school, Immaculate Conception-Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Everett.

My kid will be back in class at 8 a.m. Aug. 28. Yikes, that’s a week from Monday. If I ran the world, we’d be enjoying the luxury of summer through Labor Day.

That was my gripe before I discovered we’re the lucky ones. I’m not wild about an Aug. 28 start, but at least I know about it.

Families with students in the Everett School District don’t have that luxury. With the Everett district still involved in teacher contract talks, a start date hasn’t been set.

Everett, as of Thursday, was one of three districts in Snohomish County still working on pacts, and it’s the only one yet to schedule the beginning of the 2006-07 year.

Friday, I tried putting myself in the shoes of parents with kids in Everett schools. I looked at the district’s Web site at www.everett.k12.wa.us/everett, and under the heading “news,” I clicked on “next year’s school dates.”

At 2:45 p.m. Friday, the only item on the site addressing the school-start issue was dated “May 4, 2006.” The item says that “traditionally” the school year begins “very shortly after Labor Day weekend.”

“We will know the exact date when contract negotiations between the district and the teachers association are complete,” the site says.

May? Did I read that right? May 4?

If both sides knew there were serious issues in May, why weren’t those problems solved before the third week in August? In my business, I rarely have a week to complete anything. Three months would be unfathomable. Am I rushing things here?

Tell me if I’m being too impatient, but I think it’s unacceptable for families, this late in summer, not to know when school will start. School breaks, holidays, half days – parents need not only to pencil in those days on calendars but also to arrange child care, time off from work or travel plans.

Kim Mead, president of the Everett Education Association teachers union, and Everett district spokeswoman Mary Waggoner both said Friday that the next negotiation meeting will be Monday.

Not setting a date “is certainly not to frustrate the public,” Mead said. Both sides have proposed Sept. 6 as the start date if a contract is reached, she said.

“Both sides are working very hard,” Mead said. “The issues that were brought forth in April are still there.”

The goals of teachers in the union are to “get kids to standards” and “making sure we have as much time in the classroom as possible,” Mead said.

Laudable goals, I say. I’m neither on one side nor the other. There’s only so much money. There’s only so much time. And I have no doubt that teaching in an atmosphere of high-stakes testing is incredibly hard.

Mead said bargaining has been “very consistent over the last couple weeks.” I just don’t understand why intense bargaining didn’t happen months ago.

Kim Chesterfield, who has two children in Everett schools, takes the uncertainty in stride. Her son, Andrew, will be president of Everett High School’s junior class this year. Emily Chesterfield is a seventh-grader at Evergreen Middle School.

“I’m under the assumption it will start the sixth,” Kim Chesterfield said Friday. “Both of these kids love school. They are both very hopeful we’ll start on time.”

Andrew, she said, is aware there’s no start date yet. “My daughter, she just kind of goes with the flow,” Chesterfield said.

Seventeen-year-old Alden Wege will begin his senior year at Cascade High School. He found out from friends recently that school’s start isn’t scheduled.

A little more summer? “That would be OK,” he said Friday. As a senior though, “it would concern me if it lasted a whole long time.”

At my house, summer’s nearly over. I’d like one more week, but not an unplanned one.

Much is expected of students and families, from first-grade school supplies to mandatory senior projects and passing the WASL. In return, students have every right to expect schools to be run in a professional way.

At the very least, it seems to me, that means knowing when school is supposed to start.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.