CHENEY, Wash. – Members of the Cheney Education Association (CEA) gathered outside Cheney Middle School Wednesday amidst ongoing contract negotiations with the School District.
The current contract between the union and the Cheney School District (CSD) expires on Aug. 31.
CEA wants to protect class size limits, reducing caseloads for the District’s most vulnerable students and increasing support for special education and inclusion.
Teacher retention was also of importance to many people that attended Wednesday’s informational picket.
“We want to keep the best of the best. And we’ve lost a lot of teachers this summer,” Chrissy Scott, a CSD kindergarten teacher, said.
While CEA rallied, their bargaining team met with the District to discuss contract negotiations.
“I think they [CSD] are listening. But they haven’t come to an agreement. They haven’t come back with a good solution, yet,” Scott said.
CEA President Meredith Lemelin told NonStop Local that the organization’s general meeting will be on Tuesday.
“At that meeting, we will either be presenting our tentative agreement and ratifying our contract for the school year. Or, we may need to vote on our next steps. Whatever they will be,” Lemelin said.
In an emailed statement, CSD told NonStop Local that the District remains committed to reaching an agreement before the school year begins.
“Despite offers by the District to continue negotiations in July, CEA only agreed to one session,” Helen Page, the Executive Assistant to the CSD Superintendent, said in the statement.
The school year begins Aug. 27.
