A Very Merry Un-Board Meeting to You!

As most of you know, a board meeting was scheduled for Tuesday night. The Sunday before, the district quietly announced they would be holding the meeting Monday morning instead. Presumably they did this because they didn't want to face the growing number of parents and teachers who are upset with the district over how bargaining is going. They thought they could avoid the crowd by changing the date and time at the last second. They were wrong. As Master Ugwe says, "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."

Saundra Hill and the school board were hoping to avoid facing a large group of unhappy citizens, but their efforts to avoid the public only resulted in making the crowd even larger and more unhappy. Hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds!) of parents and teachers filled the Booth building Monday morning. The room was packed, the hallway was packed and the line of people stretched all the way out the front door.

In the end, it didn't matter how many people were there because the district didn't allow anyone to speak. Typically there is a comment portion of the meeting where the public is allowed to address the board. This part of the meeting was notably omitted.

After a quick vote to allow superintendent Hill to hire a Seattle law firm and to use any legal means necessary to force teachers to work without a contract, the board retreated into an executive session (a private meeting that should only be used sparingly but that our board holds often.) Once the board left, parents and teachers began chanting things like "We are Pasco." At one point the police were called. When they arrived they were friendly and shook everyone's hands. They entered the room, said they couldn't find anything going wrong, and promptly left.

This is the meeting in it's entirety. (It's not very exciting because the board wasn't using their microphones and it's hard to hear them.)

For a look at the media coverage, click here.

Since the regular board meeting was canceled, some parents decided to get together and host an Un-Board Meeting! Approximately fifty community members gathered in a local park to ask questions and exchange ideas. The group, comprised heavily of members of the Facebook group Parents for Partnership with Pasco Schools, started the evening by defining their group's common mission. Then they discussed ways to achieve that purpose (to learn more about Parents for Partnership click here.)



Top on the list of priorities was how they could support the teachers during these difficult negotiations. Several ideas were suggested and work began immediately. To support the current bargaining, parents decided to email the school board members and encourage them to get involved in negotiations.

Ryan Brault: rbrault@psd1.org
Scott Lehrman: slehrman@psd1.org
Steve Christensen: schristensen@psd1.org
Sherry Lancon: slancon@psd1.org
Amy Phillips: aphillips@psd1.org

The importance of maintaining a polite and civil tone was encouraged. They also discussed calling district administrators to let them know what things were important to their own family.

To contact Saundra Hill: 546-2801 or 546-2800     shill@psd1.org

Deputy Superintendent: 546-2803

Public Affairs: 546-2686

Parents were excited by the idea of standing on the union lines with teachers outside the daily bargaining rallies. It was agreed that parents would wear grey so that they would stand out from teachers and let people know that the teachers weren't standing alone.

The next biggest priority was to support teachers by helping them have the classroom supplies they need. Two fund raising campaigns were set up. One is a Go-Fund-Me page. You can make a donation that will go strait to the purchasing of supplies for Pasco classrooms. The second fundraiser is t-shirt sales. A t-shirt is being designed as a symbol of Pasco unity. The shirts will cost $10 and all profits will be added to the teacher supply fund.

If you are interested in making an immediate difference in Pasco schools, please participate in one or more of these great ideas. Together we can make Pasco the greatest district in the state.