Marysville students try their own strike

By Emily Heffter
Times Snohomish County bureau

ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES Students Nicole James, center, Sarah Sarich, right, and Jordan Barraza (partly obscured) were among yesterday's protesters.

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By yesterday afternoon, the remaining Cedarcrest School protesters — about 50 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders — were sunburned and frustrated, and they hadn't attained their goal: an earlier start to their summer vacation.

"Us kids are on strike because the teachers went on strike ... and they took away our summer," said Josh Briggs, 14, a seventh-grader.

Yesterday was the first day of summer, and the hot weather of the past few days served as a reminder that other area school districts have dismissed students until fall. Not so in Marysville, where a teachers strike last fall delayed the start of the school year — and extended it until mid-July.

A small group of students walked out of Cedarcrest on Friday. Also last week, some students tried skipping classes at Marysville Middle School, and 13 received short-term suspensions for avoiding class at Marysville Junior High School.

Yesterday's strike was the largest student demonstration so far, said district spokeswoman Judy Parker. One student collecting signatures at Cedarcrest said more than 100 students took part. They waved signs and marched on the sidewalk, jumping up and down and yelling for cars driving by to honk.

The students said they were just following their teachers' example by striking to make a point. One rumpled sign read: "We shouldn't suffer for there [sic] mistake."

Striking students will face a "short-term" suspension, Parker said. She wouldn't elaborate, although she noted some students would be excused if their parents had given them permission to be out of school.

Students leading the strike had spread the word that if 300 students left the school in protest, the school year would end. State law, however, mandates a 180-day school year. "They're only hurting themselves," Parker said. "It's a state law. We will continue having school until July 19."

Marysville School Board President Vicki Gates pointed to the "extra-long" summer students had last year, when they didn't return to school until late October. "I think it's definitely them voicing their opinion, and everybody has a right to their opinion," she said. "However, I think the circumstances weren't quite the same as when the teachers struck."

Several parents last night spoke before the School Board, which met in response to the strike.
 
"Kids don't deserve the treatment they're given," said Kristina Bains, mother of two students who went on strike. "... I'm ashamed of the school district I brought them to."

But Gates said the students' action is wrong. "I do not support the strike, because the children are required to have 180 days of school," she said.

Students started gathering on a strip of grass across the street from the school yesterday morning, and throughout the day more students ran across the street to join them. Parents dropped by with coolers stocked with soda and water, and some made the rounds with sunscreen.

Striking teachers "tore their summer out from underneath them," said Kim Mason, whose daughter, Skylar, 13, participated in yesterday's strike.

Mason said she didn't support the teachers last year when they went on strike.

Students said they would strike again today and hoped for a bigger crowd.

But some kids lost their momentum yesterday and lounged around on blankets, blasted music out of stereos, bickered and threw ice at each other. By the time school buses pulled up to pick up striking and nonstriking students, strike organizer Whitney Kahns, 15, was frustrated. The strike will have less impact with so many kids goofing off, she said.

"I want everybody to have their summers back," she said.

Seattle Times staff reporter Jennifer Lloyd contributed to this report.