MARYSVILLE — Day by day, week by week, the Marysville teachers’ strike is encroaching on state history.
Since classes already have been canceled through Friday for the more than 11,000 Marysville students, the district will need to make up at least 19 lost school days and, by Monday, the strike will reach its 28th day — nine shy of the longest in state history.
"I don’t think that’s a moniker anyone really wants to have," said Jerry Steinkraus, a teacher and union president in the Fife Education District, which has that historical distinction based on a 37-day strike in 1995.
In Marysville, the two sides remain far apart going into a negotiation session with a state mediator today.
The glacial progress has parents and students left to wonder what the school calendar will look like when a labor contract finally is reached.
"My main question is, ‘Why should the kids be punished?’ " said Misty Newton, a parent with three children attending Marysville schools.
Newton hopes the district compresses the school year by shortening vacations and letting students go to school on days that would otherwise be used for teacher training.
By state law, school must be in session for 180 days unless districts receive a waiver from the state Board of Education to trim the calendar by a few days for school improvement, training and planning efforts. Time lost to a strike would not qualify for a waiver.
For districts that have endured long strikes, there has been an unwritten goal of finishing the school year before Independence Day.
"There’s a standing joke in education, ‘Are you going to use your July 4 bulletin board?’ and we got close," said Jeff Nelson, a principal at Columbia Junior High School in Fife.
To avoid finishing after July 4, the Fife district trimmed its Christmas and spring breaks and had a Saturday school. The two sides also agreed to let an arbiter decide unresolved issues.
When the Mukilteo School District persevered through a 33-day strike in 1990, classes didn’t begin until Oct. 3. Christmas and spring breaks were trimmed. School ended July 2.
When Mother Nature dropped a heavy December snow, three more days were lost and were negotiated and rescheduled, said Shirley Andrews, president of the Mukilteo Education Association.
Andrews, who was a teacher at Columbia Elementary School at the time, remembers at least one Saturday school.
"It just really complicated things," she said.
In the Lake Stevens School District, which resumed classes Monday after a two-week strike, the last day of school will be June 23.
It could have been later. The district and striking teachers agreed to hold school a day in December, January and February that traditionally had been taken off, said Arlene Hulten, a school district spokeswoman.
Graduation, which had been set for June 5, was rescheduled for June 16.
The Snohomish School District, which had to make up 15 lost school days during a strike last year, moved some teacher training days to Saturday and to after the end of the school year. The district also shortened Christmas break and trimmed a four-day weekend to three days in February.
School originally was scheduled to end June 18 but was extended to June 30.
"I think everyone was interested in the mental break of school getting out in June," said J. Marie Merrifield, a district spokeswoman.
Although the two sides in Marysville have disagreed on most items in the contract talks, they both say it’s too early to know what the calendar will look like.
"You have to know how long it’s going to be first," said Judy Parker, a school district spokeswoman, referring to how many school days that must be made up.
"I don’t think it’s discussed at this point at all," said Elaine Hanson, president of the 650-member Marysville Education Association. "Right now, I know our team is concentrating on getting a fair settlement and I know it (the school calendar) all gets ironed out when they do the back-to-work agreement."
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
Negotiators for striking teachers and the Marysville School District will meet with a state mediator today while students have planned a sit-in at 10 a.m. at district headquarters to urge the two sides to reach a settlement.
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