Teachers from the Highline District staged a one day strike to draw attention to the lack of funding for public education on May 21. The one day walkout meant parents had to make other arrangements for kids but there was no cost to the teachers or district who had set up a contingency make up day.
More than 1400 teachers, staff and parents in the Highline School District took to street corners all over the area from White Center to Burien to stage a one-day strike Thursday, May 21, to protest the Legislature’s failure to fully fund smaller K-12 class sizes in every grade level and professional pay and benefits for educators.
Picketing began in the morning with a rally at Moshier Park (430 S 156th St) set for the afternoon. Teachers in Moses Lake and the Tri-Cities also are walking out Thursday. Educators in more than 60 Washington school districts have approved one-day walkouts against the Legislature. The Highline Education Association has 1,375 members.
Here are the Highline picket locations:
Site 1: SW 107th & 16th Ave SW - Mount View, Beverly Park, White Center Heights, Shorewood
Site 2: SW 128th St. and 1st Ave. S - Hazel Valley, Southern Heights, New Start, Aviation, Cascade, Evergreen Campus
Site 3: SW 148th St. and 1st Ave. S – *North Disability Site - Hilltop, Cedarhurst, Seahurst, Special Services, Substitutes
Site 4: SW 160th St. and 1st Ave. S (“Five Corners”) - Gregory Heights, Sylvester, Highline HS, ERAC-based specialists
Site 5: S 188th St. and Pacific Highway S (99) - Bow Lake, McMicken, Valley View, Chinook, PSSC, Woodside Campus, Tyee Campus
Site 6: S 216th St and Marine View Drive - *South Disability Site - Des Moines, North Hill, Marvista
Site 7: Kent-Des Moines Road and Pacific Highway S (99) - Parkside, Madrona, Midway, Pacific, Mount Rainier
“Neither the House nor the Senate budget funds the smaller K-12 class sizes required by law,” said Sue McCabe, Highline Education Association president. “Our kids deserve better than that. And while legislators are getting an 11 percent raise, they’ve offered only minimal COLAs for educators. We need a budget that funds professional, competitive pay and benefits so we can recruit and retain great teachers and support staff for our kids. Parents all over the state are standing up for the students of this state. They have set a target of 2018 and they are $2000 per student short of that goal. We hear all kinds of estimates from the lawmakers. You know what? We're hired to teach and do our very best working with the students. We need the lawmakers to do their very best in funding education."
The strike day will not impact teachers who have built in a make up day for the day of the walkout so there is no cost to the district either. However, parents who have to make arrangements for children who would normally be in school are impacted.
Richard Dunn a kindergarten teacher at Beverly Park Elementary said of the legislature, "They are partially funding the recommendations mandated by the McCleary decision but they are not coming close to it. We are asking for cost of living increases, for class size reductions."
