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This is on the FEA’s website:

Sept. 7, 2010
Dear Parents,
We are sad and we are resolute about the decision we made this morning to go on strike. We are sad
because it interrupts what we all care about deeply — the beginning of the school year. We know your
students were looking forward to beginning school tomorrow and so were we.
We are resolute about our decision to go on strike because we believe your children deserve the highest
quality education possible. Currently, our school district is making decisions that are negatively impacting
your students. Elementary teachers must have adequate planning time so they can prepare for all of the
learning requirements. Currently, they have 24 minutes a day to plan during the school day. We all are
asking the district to allow us to make decisions around planning time on how to best meet your students’
needs. Right now, district administrators are dictating the way we should spend that planning time.
Finally, we want to make decisions about our health care. These decisions would cost the district
absolutely nothing so we are flummoxed about why they refuse to trust us to make choices that impact
our own families.
We did not make the decision to go on strike lightly. We talked about the ramifications for hours and we
made our decision because we believe, in the long run, your students and the families in this community
will benefit from our action. We know this is a huge inconvenience for you. It is a huge inconvenience for
us as well. Please know that we support our bargaining team to work with the district to get a settlement
as soon as possible. We want to get back into our classrooms but we are standing together to make sure
the district values the people who teach your students.
We ask you to continue checking our Ferndale Education Association Web site at www.ferndaleea.org and
friend request the Ferndale Education Association on Facebook for updates. We invite you to visit us on
the picket line and we appreciate your support. Please feel free to call the superintendent and/or school
board members to ask them to support teachers. We appreciate your support and your patience as we work
through this difficult situation.
Sincerely,
The Ferndale Education Association*
*Your teachers, counselors, occupational therapists, school nurses, school psychologists, speech language
pathologists and the one librarian left in the Ferndale district.

Source: kira

I was up in Ferndale early Wednesday morning, Sept. 8, and teachers are picketing all over town.

Carrying signs reading “Fair Contract Now!” “More Time Better Education,” and “Support Quality Schools,” teachers marched up and down Thornton, Vista and Church roads. Other teachers walked around Ferndale High School and the nearby roundabout.

Teachers are protesting during school hours and are mostly staying near the school they teach at.

Ferndale Education Association members voted to go on strike Tuesday, Sept. 7, after contract negotiations failed with the district. The contract expired on Aug. 31. Today, Wednesday, Sept. 8, was supposed to be the first day of school in Ferndale.

The district is supposed to notify families this afternoon if no agreement has been reached by noon.

All sports practices are still on today, but activity buses will not be running, according to a news release from the district office.

Source: kira

Some five years after its July 4th 2005 ‘comet shot’ was seen around the world, the Deep Impact spacecraft has begun regular imaging of a second comet target, Hartley 2.

Source: SpaceRef Top Stories

Source: SpaceRef Top Stories

Source: SpaceRef Top Stories