What a difference two years makes

Out of morbid curiosity, every once in a while I check the site of The Everett Herald for news about the Marysville district, to see if things are getting any better. The voters failed to pass a bond this past spring, but it was close, and they're trying again this fall. It would be the first bond approved in the district since 1990, and would fund all kinds of remodelings and some desperately needed new schools, including a new high school. (Marysville-Pilchuk High School is one of the largest schools in the state iin terms of enrollment, and has several dozen classes held in portables. Meanwhile, one of the elementary schools is so cramped for space, they're turning the stage into two classrooms.) But the big news is that the contract that was approved while I was teaching there -- in April of that year, I might add -- ran out at the end of this past year. The sides actually got together over the summer, had some amicable negotiations, and an agreement was reached in two days. Heh. All it took was three school board members being voted out (and the other two threatened with recall), the superintendent's contract being bought out, a new head of the teachers' union, and the lingering memory of a seven week strike...