“What do we want?” “A better contract!” “When do we want it?” “Now!” Were just a few of the chants Ridgefield teachers shouted while on strike for higher pay before reaching a tentative agreement with the school district on Monday, Sept. 3.
After all-day deliberations Sunday, Sept. 2 that continued overnight, the Ridgefield School District and Ridgefield Education Association settled negotiations at 3 a.m. Monday morning.
Bob Ford, a history teacher at Ridgefield High School, has been with the district for 30 years. “We’re out here today because the district and REA won’t agree,” he said before an agreement had been reached.
“This is all really frustrating,” said Derell Couch, a fourth grade science teacher at Union Ridge Elementary. “I haven’t had a pay raise in over 10 years. I’m grateful that we had a lot of support from our community. They’re bringing us food, water and walking with us.”
The strike lasted Wednesday, Aug. 29 through Friday, Aug. 31 before the Labor Day weekend. According to Alan Adams, the Ridgefield Education Association interim president, the REA sent out thank you cards to people in community who showed support during the strike. The REA also sent cards to neighborhoods that might have been affected by the strike.
“We are satisfied with the contract we negotiated. We saw improvements in all four of the core areas we were concerned about,” Adams said.
Along with increased teacher salary, the open bargaining session addressed class sizes and curriculum selection. According to the new contract, the Ridgefield school district settled on paying teachers an additional stipend once the number of students in a class exceed a designated baseline.
“Our class sizes will improve over the course of this agreement,” Adams said.
The district also agreed to provide curriculum in a more timely manner. According to the new contract, teachers will select committees to decide how to direct curriculum support for classrooms.
“Teachers will have more voice in how curriculum is selected or the content areas that they teach,” Adams said.
REA and the district also came together in support of special education caseloads for teachers. Prior to the new contract, some educators have been responsible for helping special education students while on break. Break times are duty-free rest periods that are required for most jobs by state law. With the newly negotiated contract, educators will receive pay that more accurately represent the hours spent working with students while carving out time for rest periods.
Also established in the new contract, Ridgefield school district educator compensation is set to increase over the next three years. For the first year teachers will see a 16.4 percent increase. The second year will increase to 21.1 percent and the third year to 26.06 percent.
“That will make a real difference in lives of those who are already in the profession and change how young people look on a career look at teaching,” Adams said.
Shannon Koch teaches sixth grade at Sunset Ridge Intermediate and said, in regards to Ridgefield returning to school, “I sensed no hard feelings. Plus, us teachers are bonded more than ever. Going through that together made us more like family.”
She added, “Frankly, it was just a relief to be back at school. There was a real air of thankfulness and gratitude. Everyone was happy, upbeat and positive.”
With neighboring school districts that were on strike also returing to school, Adams said “The fact that Camas and Vancouver reached agreements earlier the same evening likely had a large influence.”
Evergreen School District reached a tentative agreement with teachers on Sept. 9. Longview schools also reached an agreement after an injunction ordered teachers back to work. Battle Ground schools returned to school on Sept. 17 after weeks of negotiations.
The Ridgefield district office has not returned requests for comment on this story. Ridgefield students and teachers returned to school on Sept. 5.
“The overall feeling was satisfaction and excitement to go back to work,” Adams said.
I’m going to travel the whole world, learn everything about it, and then write about it.