Questions linger despite Everett School District start date

Parents and students learned that the first day of school for the Everett School District is on September 4, but without a calendar, it's worrying those trying to make future plans.

EVERETT, Wash. - After weeks of uncertainty, students and parents in the Everett School District now know when that first day of school will be, but there are still a lot of questions surrounding the school district’s calendar for the year.

The questions stem from union negotiations, and it was only recently when parents and students learned that school officially starts on September 4.

As of August 23rd, if you go to the Everett School District website, under the calendar tab, you will see a note that says the calendar for the school year is still not out because it’s "part of the discussion in union negotiations and will likely be released in August."

FOX 13 reached out to the president of the Everett Education Association, Jared Kink, who said talks started back in April and they’ve been bargaining to determine a contract for the upcoming years.

He adds, there are a lot of pieces in their contract that impact the calendar. For example, a scheduled conference could potentially impact the winter or Thanksgiving break.

They have made progress in these talks and reached a tentative agreement which they plan to ratify on August 28th, according to Kink. From there, the school board will need to ratify it as well.

"We’re dealing with several complex issues, it’s not just calendar, it’s working conditions, class size, salary, benefits, leaves," Kink said. "I understand community parents very much want a calendar and details to organize their lives, not just around vacations, but childcare issues. But what we don’t want to do is give them details and they make plans and then we have to change."

Everett School District parent Autumn Nash is a mom of three. She told FOX 13 Seattle, planning out childcare and trips without having a calendar is adding undue stress.

"Our kids wanted to go visit their grandparents or plan vacations and it’s really hard to do that when you don’t know when your kids are starting school, it’s really frustrating," Nash said. "I obviously want teachers to do well in their negotiations, but I just wish they would do this earlier in the year so we can plan."

The union told FOX 13 Seattle they appreciate the patience from the community.

FOX 13 has reached out to the school district multiple times via emails, phone calls and text messages over the last two weeks for an interview or statement in regard to the negotiations and calendar and while someone in the office updated us about the start of school date, we have yet to hear back.