Rally unifies the voices of two districts: Fund education

“It’s Time” to “Wear Red for Better Ed,” at least according to teachers from the Eastmont and Wenatchee school districts, who came together today in protest as part of their day-long walkout against the legislature’s failure to fully fund basic education in Washington.

“People have said, ‘Why don’t you just stage a rally, why don’t you just write letters, why don’t you have a town hall?’ We’ve done all of those things. We’ve won lawsuits in courts, we’ve won initiatives at the ballot box, and nothing seems to compel them to do their jobs,” Wenatchee Education Association (WenEA) President Kris Cameron said on the picket lines this morning.

The rally began at noon, gathering teachers from both districts together to create a unifying movement against the legislature. Around 200 teachers from all around both districts showed up to participate in the rally.

“Being with my colleagues and unifying as one voice has been very positive,” Wenatchee High School art teacher Don Collins said.

Substitute teacher and former WenEA President Suellen Harris joined protesters today hoping to bring awareness in the community with her fellow educators.

“We want to alert the community to the failure of the legislation to fully fund schools. We are showing [the legislators] that eastern Washington teachers have the same concerns as western Washington teachers, that we aren’t different,” Harris said. “I never thought I’d live to see the day [teachers in the district would protest]. I never thought it would happen in my life.”

Italian exchange student at WHS, junior Arianna Aldini, joined teachers rallying after picketing with her exchange family. She has been involved in student protests before, but never a teacher protest. “I think they’re trying to protest for [teacher’s] rights. Hopefully, they will get more funds for schools out of this. Although it won’t necessarily bring in money, it will wake up and open the minds of the community to the needs of the school,” Aldini said.

The teachers received overwhelming support from members of the community during the picketing.

“The support [from the community] is so exciting. Often, the people [who aren’t supporting us] are just not aware of the issues we are dealing with,” WHS English teacher Jake St. John said.

Washington Elementary School teacher Dave Williams had a similar experience. “So many people were honking their horns and waving and giving us thumbs up. I was pleasantly surprised,” Williams said. “There were two seniors that were holding their own signs … they came out on their own vocation.”

According to Harris, this was the first rally since the early ‘90s.

Another teacher on the picket lines was WHS English teacher Brian Higgins.

“I’m sad we even have to be here; I would much rather be in school,” Higgins said. “[With such large class sizes] I’m not able to take the time to help a student with a paper because there are 32 students in a class.”

Higgins later spent the afternoon with students in his classroom to help them write and edit a paper — something he would not normally have the time to do.
Magnus, who has friends in France in the education system, said that they often walkout “multiple times a year” because of issues including, but not limited to, wages.

Like many teachers, Magnus has struggled with the repeated suspension of cost-of-living adjustments with his current wage. Magnus joined the ralliers in hope of bringing attention to the legislators’ failure to fully fund education and how it has affected the numbers of students entering teacher education courses.

“I’m very passionate about what I teach, but passion doesn’t pay the bills,” Magnus said. “When we walkout, we are serious. We mean business.”