KENT, Wash. — A petition has been launched by parents to get Kent School District superintendent Calvin Watts to resign amid a controversy that started with a plan to lay off teachers. The plans were scrapped on Friday, but anger over the issue has not subsided.
Parent Dana Rosenberg started the petition. She says she’s increased the signature limit more than once. “We thought maybe we could get 100 signatures... We got to 200 and we thought 'let's aim for 500.'"
Protests slated for Wednesday are being advertised on social media and were supposed to
be about teachers facing potential layoffs. Since the layoffs seem to no longer be an option, some of the focus appears to be shifting to the superintendent.
Rosenberg recently attended school board meetings where several students spoke on the issue of the layoffs, sometimes through tears. "Oh my goodness, I was crying right with them," Rosenberg said.
She said one crying student was more than enough -- the idea of losing more than 100 teachers was too much. "I think the only way forward is a new leadership team," Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg says the direction of the school district is wrong - she was worried that a proposal to lay off 127 teachers would have turned into an effort to put students at computer terminals with nothing more than adult monitors instead of teachers.
Those potential layoffs drew hundreds to the last few school board meetings and sparked calls for protests this Wednesday.
KSD backed off the cuts. Christie Padilla with the Kent Education Association said “it's definitely a victory for students and classrooms ... but I do worry about the long-term effects.”
Voters -- many of them parents with children in the schools -- passed levies to pump millions of dollars into the schools and are still angry that the district announced cuts and reductions to staff.
Now some of those parents and union heads say they won't be surprised if someone asks for a no confidence vote on the superintendent.
KIRO 7 has also learned there is potential for considering a strike, if the district uses teacher salaries to balance the books.
KIRO 7 reached out to the Kent School District for comment but did not hear back.
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