Battle Ground Public Schools

August 28, 2018

Dear families of Battle Ground Public Schools,

We are writing to let you know that there will be no school on Wednesday or Thursday, Aug. 29 or 30. Battle Ground Public Schools continued to bargain with the Battle Ground Education Association (BGEA) today, but unfortunately did not yet reach an agreement on compensation for certificated instructional staff.

Battle Ground Public Schools is committed to continue bargaining with BGEA, and would prefer to have students in class during the process. However, BGEA voted to strike if an agreement was not reached by today.

In today’s bargaining, the district and BGEA discussed compensation, however BGEA was not willing to discuss funding with the district’s team. The two groups disagree on what is available in the district’s budget for teacher compensation as a result of the McCleary decision. Battle Ground Public Schools has agreed to have a finance representative from the Washington Education Association (WEA) participate in a discussion to help resolve this issue. The district is hoping that the WEA representative will be available for the next bargaining session on Thursday. More detailed information about budgets and bargaining is available online: www.battlegroundps.org.

We will provide another update on Thursday about the status of schools.

While schools are closed:

• Kindergarten parent-teacher conferences scheduled on closure days will be postponed.
• High school athletics will continue as scheduled with practices and games/meets/matches as the coaches are covered under a separate contract.
• Community education classes will continue as scheduled.
• Enrollment and registration is available online.
• School offices will be open the rest of this week.
• Lunch will be served to all children ages 1 to 18 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Kiwanis Park, 422 SW 2nd Ave. in Battle Ground. This is an extension of the summer meal program supported through a USDA grant.
• Students will still receive 180 days of instruction, which would begin once the work stoppage is over. The school year calendar will shift accordingly (i.e., the final day of the 2018-19 school year will be later in the summer—much like snow days are added to the end of the school calendar) and dates for graduation might need to be adjusted.
• Special Services preschools will close with schools.
• Prairie Preschool will close with schools.
• ESD 112 preschools (Southwest Washington Child Care Consortium) will continue as scheduled.
• EOCF preschools will continue as scheduled, Educational Opportunities for Children and Families.

Thank you for your patience during this uncertain time. We will continue to provide updates as they occur, with the next one expected on Thursday.

Battle Ground Public Schools