By Lindsay Larin

Bellevue Reporter

The Bellevue School District won’t go to court to force teachers back to work. The school board reached that decision Wednesday night following a meeting in which the public spoke at length about the teacher’s strike.

Teachers went out on strike on Sept. 2.

Following a two hour long public comment period at the board meeting, school board members met in executive session to discuss the district’s next proposed action

“We believe that we can come to an agreement and we want this to end,” board president Peter Bentley said. “At this time we are not prepared to seek an injunction.

“We think that there is work that can be done and we want it to continue and we want to make sure as a community we come together when it is all done.”

Bellevue Education Association President Michele Miller was pleased with the outcome of the meeting.

“I think it was a very good discussion and it was very important that the community was given the opportunity to give their input,” she said, adding, “An injunction would cause a different kind of battle and ill feelings and would take the focus off reaching a contract which is ultimately what our teachers want.”

The two main bargaining issues still on the table are supplemental pay and the districtwide based curriculum.

More than 800 parents, teachers and community members packed the Sammamish High School performance theater and overflowed into the cafeteria and library. The meeting streamed live on the district’s Website.

One hundred people signed up to comment on the issues surrounding the strike. The crowd expressed their agreement or disagreement with the comments by raising either a green or red card. Although the crowd was torn on many issues, the overall consensus was one of community and respect.

“We believe that progress can be made with the new mediator and we think that there is room to be made and we are asking bargaining team to make themselves available 24 hours a day to meet with the BEA,” Bentley said. “We would ask the BEA to do the same.

Negotiating teams will reconvene early this morning for continued bargaining in hopes of reaching a contract. The district provided new proposal information to the union late Wednesday and will wait for the union’s counter proposal. Bargaining sessions will continue throughout the day.