Camas School District Officially Responds to Teacher’s Strike Vote

Camas, WA — The Camas School District (CSD) has issued a formal response to the Camas Education Association’s (CEA) vote to strike beginning on the first day of school, September 4, pending a salary agreement. With the help of a mediator, negotiations between CSD and CEA will continue this week.

According to CSD administration, updates about the labor negotiations progress will be emailed to families, posted on district social media (Facebook and Twitter), and included on the CSD Labor Relations webpage (http://bit.ly/CamasLabor). Answers to many questions may be found on the Questions & Answers webpage (http://bit.ly/CamasQA).

Official CSD Strike Statement

While our district offered teachers the option to continue working under the current contract, CEA has stated that unless an amended agreement is reached, teachers will not return to the classroom. What this means for you and your student during a work stoppage is:

• If an agreement is not reached 24 hours before the start of school on September 4, we will notify you that school will not open as scheduled.
• Each day after that, we will continue to give you updates until an agreement is reached and school is scheduled to reopen (at least a 24-hour notice will be given before we reopen school).
• All scheduled events and activities (such as open houses, class schedule pick-up, orientations, etc.) scheduled before September 3 will still happen.

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During the work stoppage, school buildings will be staffed with essential, non-striking personnel but will not be open to students, families, or the general public. The district administrative offices will be open.

Since athletic coaches are covered under a separate contract, high school and middle school athletics will continue with scheduled practices and games/matches/meets as much as possible.

There will be no district childcare.

Students will still be required to complete the state-mandated requirement of attending school for 180 days. Any days missed at the beginning of the year will be made up – much like snow days. A new calendar will be provided after school resumes.

Questions and Answers

We asked Doreen McKercher, CSD Communications Director, several questions:

What does the district do when the CEA announces a strike? What’s your process?

We have a strike plan in place that covers things like communications, logistics, and planning for next steps. We’ll be communicating with families.

Is this strike even legal? Citing RCW 41.56.120: “Right to strike not granted. Nothing contained in this chapter shall permit or grant any public employee the right to strike or refuse to perform his or her official duties.” The Attorney General’s Office said: “In Washington, state and local public employees do not have a legally protected right to strike. No such right existed at common law, and none has been granted by statute.” What is CSD’s opinion on this?

In Washington, strikes by public employees, including teachers, are illegal. This is recognized in decisions made by the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) and Washington courts. Despite clarity in the law, there are no real repercussions for breaking this law.

How long does a strike have to go on until it starts affecting this year’s school schedule? We understand it’s like using up snow days.

Yes, the plan is to use inclement weather makeup days initially. Should the strike last for an extended period of time, we’d look at scheduled breaks and possibly Saturdays.

If a strike goes past 15 days, then classified staff won’t get paid, but will the teachers also not get paid?

It is my understanding that if the strike continues past the 15^th of September, none of the 9- and 10-month staff will be paid, but I still need confirmation on that. We want to make sure we’re following the rules, so we don’t have a definitive answer on that.

Will back to school nights even happen?

Yes, all in-service training, meetings, and the back-to-school events occurring this week will continue as planned.