On Wednesday, Nov. 11, a large crowd of high school teachers and staff gathered for the first protest outside of Analy High School in Sebastopol. The demonstration was part of a now ongoing strike resulting from the failure of the West Sonoma County Union High School District and the West Sonoma County Teachers Association to agree with negotiation efforts earlier this month. The West Sonoma County Teachers Association believes that a salary increase, as well as changes to health and retirement benefits, is desperately needed. A press release issued by the West Sonoma County Teachers Association claims that a state-appointed neutral fact-finder found teacher salaries to be too low, and suggested competitive wages. The release also states that a three-year contract with a 4% salary increase per year was recommended.
“We were hopeful that the district would accept the findings of the neutral fact-finder report and offer something close to what the report suggested,” said WSCTA President and Analy High School Spanish teacher Lily Shmedshammer, “instead, they presented an offer with minimal increases to what they presented last spring”. The release emphasizes that the average Sonoma County teachers’ salary is lower than the statewide average ($68,610 v. $80,680), despite Sonoma County is a costly area to live.
The press release also states that the school district intends to cut the school day from seven periods down to six periods to reduce costs, something that teachers vehemently oppose.
As teachers protested on Wednesday, a group of students showed up to strike in solidarity. “As students, we are concerned about the quality of our education,” one student is seen speaking into a bullhorn on a video from the event, “the district and board continue to deny our teachers the wages they are worth, and because of this, we are striking.” She passes the bullhorn to another student, who continues the speech. “They (teachers) are striking to get paid,” she says, “we are striking so that they can focus more fully on being the best teachers we can have. We are striking because we appreciate all that our teachers do for us, and know when they are properly taken care of, we will be too.” The students continued to pass the bullhorn down a long line and speak on behalf of their teachers, with each short speech followed by supportive applause from the crowd.
“At the end of the day, we have teachers who can’t afford to live in the county,” WSCTA Bargaining Chair and Analy High School math teacher Brian Miller states in another video, “we’re in a very expensive county yet we are paid way below the state average…it just doesn’t make sense.”
As of Friday morning, the teachers had spent about twenty hours protesting in line outside of Analy High School. “We say negotiate, they say procrastinate,” teachers chanted in unison as they marched, dressed in red with picket signs in hand.
The West Sonoma County Teachers Association says that staff plan to continue to strike and protest until an official agreement with district management is reached regarding pay and benefits. “…As first responders, teachers are critical,” Lily Smedshammer says in closing the press release, “Our students deserve better. Our teachers deserve better.”
