In the Loop

• What does the KEA and the KSD have in Common?

  Thanks to the KSD community for their confidence in voting for the levy, the district has a positive fiscal forecast for years to come. We would also like to thank the KEA members for the thousands of calls they made encouraging our community to vote. Thank you to the central administrators who volunteered their time phone banking. And finally, thank you to Alan Sutliff and KEA member Adam Speer who worked tirelessly on the ground game to ensure the message to vote was reaching our community.
  
  Now that the levy has passed, it is time to plan how the taxpayer’s money is going to benefit our students. The district was able to pull itself out of the red in one year, but it was done on the backs of educators and their students. It’s time to celebrate by looking ahead to smaller class sizes and caseloads, support for our neediest students, and the financial resources to attract and retain the best educators in our schools.
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  Workshop Days

  March Workshop Day
  This is a teacher directed day and must be worked in the building.
  
  June Workshop Day
  This is a teacher directed day that must be worked in the building. This day is designed to provide extra time to settle the end of the year items that couldn't get done prior to the end of the school year.
  
  These Workshop Days are required, however, you may use sick leave if you are ill or have a medical need on these days.
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  No Room for Racism in Our Schools

  The expectation of our Kent School District students, parents, staff, and community members is that our schools provide a safe and caring environment where all students are treated with respect. In addition, every school must be staffed with loving, caring adults who value the individual differences in all our students. Unfortunately, sometimes our system is faced with incidences where this is not the case – especially with looking through a racial bias lens.
  
  To address this complicated issue of racism in our schools, we cannot ignore the history of public education. The American public education system in this country from the Mayflower to this very moment never achieved an equitable education system. The structure was designed for centuries to ensure that SOME kids got an excellent education. SOME kids got a fair education. And SOME kids got an education that was an insult to the word “education”. This racist practice goes against our ideals of freedom and equality; and it is our responsibility to fight it.
  
  As union members and educators, we stand united in our support for diversity in our public schools and ensuring that all students are welcomed and supported. The Kent Education Association opposes racism everywhere, including in our classrooms, in our schools, and on social media. We strongly oppose and condemn the racist and bigoted comments recently made on social media by a Kent educator.
  
  It is every educator’s responsibility to deal with incidents such as name-calling, racial slurs and jokes and social media seriously. It is every educator’s responsibility to encourage extracurricular activities where students can explore and celebrate their cultural heritage and backgrounds and individual differences. And it is the responsibility of every educator to call out racism when they see or experience it. Only then will we see improvement towards equality for all.