RIDGEFIELD, Wash. — After failing to reach an agreement during Wednesday's bargaining session, the union that represents Ridgefield teachers and other staff announced that they've agreed to one final bargaining session Thursday before a self-imposed Friday deadline. Thursday's bargaining session will begin at 4:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, the Ridgefield Education Association members said they plan to begin a strike on Friday if they are unable to reach a deal with the Ridgefield School District. On Aug. 29, union members voted overwhelmingly to authorize the executive board to call a strike if they deemed it necessary.
In a news release Wednesday night, the district said its new offer, presented during Wednesday's bargaining session, represents an approximate compensation package of least 16% in increases over the next three years with eligible employees seeing increases as high as 28.5%.
The district's previous offer had been described as a minimum 15% increase with some employees seeing increases as high as 22.5%.
The district also updated its bargaining webpage to add an FAQ section for parents about how a strike would impact school operations and the overall school year.
Missed days due to a strike would be treated like missed days due to weather-related school closures, according to the FAQ, and would need to be made up either at the end of the year or by shortening a break in order to bring the district back up to 180 school days for the year.
After Wednesday's session, the union said in a news release that progress was made, but they're looking for "improvement in key areas that impact student learning, teacher workload and learning conditions."
"We love teaching in Ridgefield and we love our students, but we've experienced too much burnout and seen unsustainable practices that don't give our students the support and resources they need," said Elizabeth Stamp, union co-president. "We want to stop turnover in Ridgefield and our district has the resources to make a difference, we just need a contract that makes that a priority."
Teachers affiliated with the REA have been working without a contract since Sept. 1, just as the new school year began.
"We have made proposals that begin to address our crowded classes, give teachers the ability to provide more individualized instruction and ensure we don’t fall further behind other districts in pay," Stamp said Tuesday. "Other districts allow their teachers to advance financially much more quickly than in RSD, and we’ve seen high staff turnover in Ridgefield as a result. We need the district to partner with us, for our students and our community."
Wednesday's bargaining session was the third this week, and it came after the union's membership voted 92% to reject the district's previous contract offer, which was made on Aug. 29. The membership subsequently voted 92% in favor of the strike authorization, which doesn’t automatically trigger a strike but gives union leaders discretion to call one.
The salary schedule has been a key point of contention. In a news release last week, Stamp said that the union was pushing for a deal that would prioritize smaller class sizes, better student access to special education staff and "ensuring the people with the critical job of educating our kids can support themselves and their families."
"The district is committed to fair and sustainable compensation for all employees. While the district and REA have agreed on a number of items, we have yet to resolve several key areas of the contract," the district said in a statement Tuesday.
The Ridgefield School District's average class size is 27.2 students, according to the FAQ page, but the average for high school classes is 31 students.