Mead teachers will not join Spokane Public Schools walkout

Mead School District teachers will not join teachers in Spokane Public Schools and the East Valley School District in a walkout on Wednesday.

The teachers voted Friday morning against a one-day strike and to instead stage a rally after school on June 12, which is the last day of school, to protest the state Legislature’s funding for education.

“Fully funding our schools is required by our Washington state constitution,” Mead Education Association President Toby Doolittle said in a prepared statement. “Our voters passed a law requiring funding of smaller class sizes in every grade level.”

The rally will begin at noon June 12 after students are dismissed for the school year.

Mead school board member Carmen Green said she was pleased teachers decided not to disrupt the school day by staging a walkout.

“I think our parents are really happy,” she said. “I just so 100 percent support that they did the right thing.”

Green said she believed a walkout would distract people from the message that the Legislature needs to make improvements.

“I understand that they were under a tremendous amount of pressure from the state education association to fall into line with what everyone else was doing,” she said.

On Thursday, teachers in the Cheney School District voted not to join the walkout, and a meeting of Central Valley School District teachers didn’t reach the quorum required to have a vote. West Valley School District teachers are scheduled to meet Tuesday.