Back to school after Bellevue teachers strike settled

First-grader Aurora Bielaga's first day back at school in the Bellevue School District was about as good as it gets. Her teacher is nice and she made a new friend.

"I have her phone number in my backpack," Aurora said happily as classes let out Monday at Sherwood Forest Elementary.

Her mother, Tina Green, was equally happy. She said the two-week teachers strike that delayed the start of classes was stressful for parents and confusing for kids.

"They don't understand how a teacher could not be teaching," Green said.

Students and teachers across the district returned to classes Monday after teachers on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract that gives them a 5 percent raise and more flexibility in adapting standardized classroom lessons.

The Bellevue School Board will meet at 4:30 p.m. today at district headquarters and is expected to ratify the new contract. District officials said the pay raise will be financed in part by building up cash reserves over a four-year period instead of three years, as originally planned.

The district earlier this year cut its 2008-09 budget by $4.8 million to make up a shortfall in revenue. Those cuts, along with the pay increase, will mean class size will rise about 1.5 students on average across the district, said spokeswoman Ann Oxrieder.

The district will make up the nine days of missed classes by delaying the start of winter break by two days, eliminating midwinter break and canceling several teacher training days.

Several parents picking up their students Monday afternoon said they supported the teachers' demands for greater classroom freedom and more money.

"We were very excited they got what they needed," said Valentina Koszorus, whose son Austin started kindergarten Monday at Sherwood Forest Elementary.

Several teachers said the curriculum issue had been brewing for years as more and more teachers became subject to the requirements of daily lesson plans. Julie Muchlinski, a kindergarten teacher at Sherwood Forest, said that for the 60 percent of students at her school who are English Language Learners, the pacing of the standardized curriculum was often too fast.

"It wasn't appropriate to spend only one day on an activity. Sometimes you have to spend three days because of the language. And now we can," she said.

Karla Torres, a sophomore at Interlake High School, also supported the strike. She said her teachers often feel as if they have to move on, even when students "don't really get things yet."

Another Interlake sophomore, Yanjin Long, said she supported the teachers' demands for higher pay but said she thinks the common curriculum is important to help students pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and prepare for college.

David Huynh, another Interlake student, was critical of the strike, saying Bellevue's teachers are among the highest paid in the state.

"They should have just started school," he said.

Some teachers said the resumption of school signals the start of ongoing discussions about what the flexibility they won actually means. The district dropped its requirement that any changes to the common curriculum receive prior approval from a curriculum committee, but teachers aren't sure how many lessons, and to what extent, they'll be allowed to change.

"What if I have a better idea for how to teach something? How do I make changes without it being onerous?" asked Daniel Becker, social-studies teacher at Interlake High. "It's a larger conversation that's going to continue."

Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or lthompson@seattletimes.com