Good news and bad news
Published Tue, Sep 15 2009 12:34 PM
First the good news. The teachers are back to work. I dropped my son off at school at 7:30 this morning. For him at least this should be good news. We put him into one of the best schools in the school district, and expect him to do well there this year.
We had originally taken him out of the school district and “home schooled” him through the Washington Virtual Academy. We did this because of problems in the local school, and it worked very well for the first year. The second year it didn’t work out quite as well, and we decided that he needed to go back to a more regimented program. The school we chose for him is one that one of his best friends has been going to for a while and thriving at. Now that the teachers are back doing what they agreed to do last year it’s good to see him back at school.
Now the bad news. The teachers are back to work – a day late. Judge Darvas’ order specifically said that teachers needed to be back in school and teaching by September 14, 2009 to avoid fines. The fines in question are $200.00 per day per teacher and $1,500.00 per day for the “union.” The thing is they started accumulating from the date they were ordered back to work in the original court order that they defied, September 8.
I don’t seem to recall school being open for business yesterday because teachers were still “negotiating” their contract. And NO, they weren’t being asked to work without a contract. They all signed contracts for this school year last year. Instead by striking they were violating the terms of their existing contract. And from the 8th of September up to and including the 14th they were violating a court order as well.
Today, the first day they’re actually teaching, is the 15th. By my arithmetic that means that the Kent Education Association owes the King County Superior Court $7,500.00 and each and every Kent School District teacher owes the court $1,000.00.
Will they actually be made to pay? Will the fines be rescinded? I don’t know. Personally, I think that the judge was right in her order.
“Court orders are meaningless unless they are enforced.”
If this fine is rescinded, it will send absolutely the wrong message to the teachers, the Kent Education Association, and to the people of this state. That message: “King County Superior Court orders are meaningless – because they are not enforced.”
The Kent Education Association and the teachers willfully chose NOT to be ready to teach on September 14th, as per the order. They willfully violated the first court order by not being ready to teach on September 8th. They’ve lost any chance at sympathy from me when they lied to the public about their motives (No Contract – No School… but they had a contract) and when they defied the law not just once (by striking illegally), but three times (the September 3rd and September 10th orders).
Judge Darvas, I’m demanding as a taxpayer and a citizen of King County – MAKE THEM PAY THEIR FINES.
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