VANCOUVER, Wash. — Judging by the signs scattered throughout downtown Camas, there are plenty of business owners who support the teachers who went on strike Monday. Attic Gallery owner Maria Gonser is included in the bunch.
"I'd be surprised if you found anyone down here who wasn't in support of the teachers right now," Gonser said. "I really would."
Among those supporters is the owner of the Bookish bookstore, Melissa Peake. She happens to be the parents of three Camas students. She said because the schools are closed her kids have spent a lot of time this week at her bookstore.
"I'm on two sides, right?" Peake said. "I want the teachers to get what they need and what they've been promised and what's being taken away from them. So one hand, I'm like, strike as long as you need to, don't let this bullying win, right? And on the other side, I'm like, please go back to school."
Camas teachers, who were not walking the picket line Friday since it was a scheduled day off, are fighting for more equitable funding for PE, libraries and music. Additionally, they want smaller class sizes, more money and more teacher planning time. Those happen to be the same issues in the Evergreen School District, where teachers were on the picket line Friday, also fighting for more support for students with special needs.
"That's a huge issue right now," Larry Delaney said. "The special education supports and what that looks like."
Delaney is the president of the Washington Education Association. He said there has not been much progress at the bargaining table.
"Our hope is that over the long weekend, the sides will come together and we'll be able to end this over the weekend," Delaney said.
Echoing that sentiment are parents and business owners in Camas.
"My kids are ready," Peake said. "They're very ready. Monday, two of them were a little excited, no school. And now they're like, alright let's go, it's time."
"The kids have so many days off already, throughout the school year, that they need every day they can get," Gonser added.