MARYSVILLE – Organizers of a new citizens’ watchdog group formed during the 24-day-old Marysville teachers’ strike are seeing their numbers swell.
An audience exceeding the 140-person capacity of the large meeting room at the Marysville Public Library met Wednesday night.
The group, Accountability and Integrity for Marysville Schools, with an acronym of AIMS, is pushing for “a fair contract” for teachers and want to keep a close eye on how the district operates.
The group had asked the school board to attend its Wednesday meeting for a question and answer session. It would have been the first time that the board would have met since the strike started – regular meetings have been suspended.
Instead, board members sent the parents a letter, saying they would not attend the group’s meeting. Board President Helen Mount and vice president Ron Young said the board needed to let the negotiations process take its course. The group symbolically left five open chairs for board members Wednesday.
Darci Becker, an AIMS organizer whose children attend schools in the district, said the group wants to provide information for people to make their own decisions about how the district is dealing with the situation.
“We want people to feel empowered to investigate on their own,” she said.
More than 11,000 students have not returned to school from summer vacation after Marysville’s teachers voted to strike over the Labor Day weekend. The district’s 650 teachers and district officials are meeting with a mediator again today. Salaries, benefits and workloads top the list of unresolved issues.
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