ML School District seeks court order to end teachers' strike

EPHRATA – As classes remain cancelled for the fourth straight day, the Moses Lake School District is seeking a court order to force its striking teachers to return to the classroom. Arguments will be heard during a Tuesday, Dec. 9 hearing in Grant County Superior Court. 

Yesterday, school district attorneys filed a civil lawsuit requesting a temporary restraining order against union-represented teachers who allegedly are “orchestrating an illegal strike of school employees ….”

In the lawsuit, the school district asks the court to declare that the strike, which began Monday, Dec. 1, is unlawful and to issue an order requiring employees to immediately return to work.

Defendants named in the lawsuit include the Moses Lake Education Association, which is representing the teachers in their stalled collective bargaining talks with the district; MLEA president Heather Whittall; MLEA bargaining team members Danielle Johnson, Monique Haring, Cassandra Guenther, Tony Kern, Kati Leach, Stephanie Strom, and Sara Larson; and Jamie Mathey, a representative of the Washington Education Association – the statewide teachers’ union – and “all other persons in active concert or participation” with the named defendants.

In a response filed this morning, Dec. 4, the MLEA asked the court to “decline the District’s invitation to issue a temporary restraining order.”

While work stoppages or strikes may “inconvenience the District and its constituents, such inconvenience does not rise to the level of a substantial injury necessary to justify the extraordinary remedy of an injunction,” wrote MLEA attorney Tyler Firkins of Auburn.

Firkins contended that teacher strikes in Washington are not illegal, saying the state legislature has “consistently refused to prohibit strikes by educational employees” over the last several decades.

Moses Lake teachers have been working for over three months without a collective bargaining agreement in place, depriving them of “the protections and benefits of a new contract and crucial union rights,” stated Firkins. He requested time to research the district’s claims and “wide-ranging legal issues” to ensure a “fair opportunity” to be heard by the court.

During a brief hearing this morning, Judge Anna Gigliotti said an immediate determination from the bench would not be appropriate and scheduled the Dec. 9 hearing at 2 p.m. She instructed the involved attorneys on both sides to provide addition filings by noon on Monday, Dec. 8. Firkins and fellow attorney Jeffrey Musto participated in this morning’s session online; school district attorney Garrett Williams of Spokane appeared in person. 

The school district and MLEA began collective bargaining talks in June and subsequently met about two dozen times without reaching a new agreement after the prior labor contract expired on Aug. 31. On Nov. 13, union-represented teachers voted to allow MLEA leadership to call for a strike and work stoppage if no agreement was reached by Nov. 28. The district’s current school year was scheduled to end on June 5, 2026, but that likely will be extended because public schools in Washington are required to provide instruction for at least 180 days.

The MLEA represents approximately 500 certificated teachers employed under individual written contracts for the district’s 2025-26 school year. They are part of the district’s larger workforce of nearly 1,600 full- and part-time employees operating in 20 schools and educational programs that serve over 8,700 students from preschool to grade 12. Those include approximately 1,500 students receiving special education services in compliance with state and federal law, and students from nine neighboring school districts – including Ephrata – who attend a regional skills center in Moses Lake.

“The illegal strike has forced the District to close its schools and programs, disrupting the lives of approximately 8,783 students and their families and idling hundreds of non-MLEA-represented employees and contractors who are only able to work when school is open,” wrote attorney Jason Mackay – representing the school district along with Williams – in a court memorandum.

Supporting declarations were also filed by Moses Lake School District superintendent Carol Lewis and chief operations officer Michelle Musso.

Mackay cited numerous findings that public employee strikes are unlawful in Washington state and that “every branch of government has said the same thing for decades.” He alleged that the Moses Lake strike has and will continue to cause “actual and substantial injury to the district,” including the potential loss of state and federal funding for non-compliance.

Contract issues reportedly in dispute include reduced instructional and preparation time,  salaries, and professional development for teachers.