Kent teachers threaten strike if contract not reached Wednesday

Kent School District and its teachers union have until Wednesday night to reach a contract for school to start on time Thursday.

A mediator from the state Public Employment Relations Commission sat down with the two sides Tuesday to help them reach a deal.

Kent Education Association Vice President Layla Jones said the district needs to boost pay to reflect inflation and the teacher shortage, and to ease staff workload by lowering class sizes and case loads.

“We're also looking at wraparound supports, those mental health services provided by counselors, behavior support, making sure we're having nurses in our buildings to help take care of our kids, just, you know, those basic things that our students need, especially coming out of a pandemic," Jones said.

District spokesperson Faith Sisley declined an interview request but referred to the district's website, which said the district has already "offered similar increases to our neighboring and regional districts who have recently completed their bargaining processes and keeps teacher salaries competitive."

Seattle and Federal Way Schools are also still in contract talks, but with longer runways - those districts have two weeks to go before the first day of school.