Snoqualmie Valley teachers, union reach agreement

Snoqualmie Valley teachers, union reach agreement

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Story Published: Aug 27, 2008 at 12:04 PM PDT

Story Updated: Nov 21, 2008 at 1:18 AM PDT

By KOMO Staff

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NORTH BEND, Wash. -- A tentative agreement has been reached between teachers and the Snoqualmie Valley School District.

With the threat of a strike looming next week with the start of classes, the teachers' union and district officials negotiated late Tuesday night and came up with the agreement.

The largest issue had been teacher pay. Snoqualmie teachers said they have the lowest salaries on the Eastside.

The tentative deal is for three years and by the third year, the teachers would be making the average salary among neighboring school districts. It was passed by 82% of those teachers who voted.

"I'm very ecstatic; I'm literally blown away," said music teacher Dean Snavely.

Teachers said had the agreement not been reached, there would have been a strike when classes were scheduled to begin next week.

"It was a fact, it would happen," Snavely said. "If the tentative agreement hadn't been reached, we had to stand as a district."

The agreement won't be officially ratified until school district officials vote on the measure Thursday night. But since they were the ones to propose the latest agreement, it is expected to easily pass.

"Our whole community is like a family so when a situation like this happens, it is tough to get through this and we're anxious to move on," said district spokeswoman Carolyn Malcom.

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