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VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — Terri Gerrichs, who has been a paraeducator for 19 years, is among the hundreds of specialized employees at the Evergreen School District who are striking for better conditions.
Their strike, being honored by the teachers who won’t cross the picket line, has delayed the start of the Evergreen school year until at least September 2.
“We just want to make sure that everybody’s protected and that, you know, when our student is in crisis that we have enough people, there are enough hands and enough people to take on the kids that are still in the class during a crisis time,” Gerrichs said Tuesday night. “And we’re not getting that.”
She and other paraeducators, along with bus drivers and security guards, marched into the Evergreen Public School district office for a public meeting — and faced a stoic board of directors.
But the packed meeting seemed a stalemate. Even after negotiations that began in March, no one seems to be making up their minds as the current contract expires this Saturday, August 30.
Many of the 1400 union members tried convincing the board they need better safety, better wages and pay for every moment they’re on the job.
District leaders said the union was absent from today’s negotiations where a new package was proposed. But union leaders said they offered 20 other negotiation days and the district only took two of those.
Superintendent Dr. Christine Moloney said the striking workers, “each and every one of them, all of them, are valuable in serving our students.”
Gerrichs and her colleagues said that’s not enough. She hopes that when a contract deal is reached she’ll get the extra time she needs with her students every day.
“We’re just asking for the protection of us so that we do not get hurt and the kids don’t get hurt, and we can get them, you know, in the building,” Gerrichs said.
District board members declined to speak with KOIN 6 News. Instead they referred to their website, when the district provides updates on the latest bargaining sessions.
KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story.
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Ariel Iacobazzi
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