Locke working to end Marysville strike

MARYSVILLE — As Gov. Gary Locke stepped in to try to end the longest teacher strike in state history, Marysville teachers stepped up their campaign to put pressure on the school board.

"We did not go into this ready to break records, although we do continue to be firm in our resolve," Elaine Hanson, a math teacher and president of the Marysville teacher’s union, said at a news conference in Olympia where union officials were meeting with Locke. "The parents and community of Marysville need to call the school board. They need to answer to their refusal to compromise."

Marysville teachers have been striking for 38 days over salary issues. Each side blames the other for the stalemate. The strike is increasingly irritating the 11,000 students and their parents.

Locke met with school district officials Wednesday night and with teachers on Thursday morning. Talks between the district and its teachers are scheduled to resume on Friday morning at a hotel in Everett.

Before their meeting with the governor, Marysville teachers held up signs featuring the pictures and home phone numbers of the five school board members. All the phone numbers are publicly listed, and judging from some of their answering machine messages with detailed information about negotiations, they have already been getting many calls about the strike.

Marysville teachers want an 11 percent raise over three years, while the school board has proposed a salary freeze, said Washington Education Association spokesman Rich Wood. Also, Marysville teachers want to stick with a local salary schedule instead of switching to a state schedule that would give starting teachers special raises.

"They appear to value inexperience more than experience," said Sandy Vandepool, a seventh grade language and social studies teacher. With the state pay schedule, she said, "It does seem kind of curious that quality is not being rewarded."

Vandepool has taught for 40 years and said she makes about $58,000 a year. She said this is the first time she’s gone on strike. She hopes the governor’s involvement gives the negotiations a push.

"I hope he can convince the school board members," she said. "We want a settlement. But we can’t do that until both sides negotiate."

Hanson said while she appreciates the governor’s interest, she thinks ending the strike is ultimately a local issue.

The 38-day strike beats the Fife School District’s 1995 teacher strike to claim the title of longest teacher strike in state history. Sources close to the governor told The Associated Press he was tired of seeing the strike go on with no end in sight.

The last time a Washington governor intervened in a school labor dispute was September of 1985 when Democrat Booth Gardner helped broker a deal that ended a 25-day strike in the Seattle School District, the state’s largest.

"I think it’s ridiculous that this strike is going on like this," Marysville-Pilchuck High School senior class President Dustin Dekle told The AP in a telephone interview. "Let’s get it over with."

Senior Mei Li McNeil said she had little hope for a breakthrough.

"It seems like both sides have been moving farther apart," McNeil said. "It doesn’t look like it’s going to get resolved any time soon and I’m really worried about that."

Dekle, 17, and McNeil, 16, are pretty sure they will be in college next fall, but they’re not sure how much time they will have between high school graduation and college orientation.

When classes do resume, students must go to school for 180 days.

"I’m sure there’s going to be school eventually, but will it cancel out our summer from when we end high school to when we move onto college?" asked McNeil, who carries a 3.8 grade point average and plans on taking her SATs on Saturday. She’d like to begin studying prelaw or science at Whitman College, a private school in Walla Walla, or the University of Washington next fall.

Dekle has his SATs scheduled for November.

He thinks the teachers’ strike will hurt his chances on the test because he isn’t able to take an SAT preparation class after school this fall.

"I don’t think I’m going to do as well as I would have," he said. "I’m also not getting any help from my counselors."

Dekle said he plans to attend Western Washington University, Central Washington University or Bellevue Community College next fall.

Despite the teachers’ strike, few students in the Marysville district have transferred to neighboring districts, The Herald of Everett reported Wednesday.

Only about 40 students have enrolled in other districts, according to records from Marysville and other districts.