TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A judge is ordering teachers in Washington state’s third-largest school district to go back to work.
The decision came following arguments by the Tacoma School District that 19 different state courts have ruled teacher strikes illegal since 1976.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff said he would issue a temporary restraining order against the picketing teachers, but the language of the order wasn’t expected to be decided until later Wednesday.
Hundreds of teachers began picketing in front of Tacoma’s major high schools Tuesday after contract negotiations broke down over the weekend. The strike has kept 28,000 students home.
The school district said it would wait until it sees the language of the order before deciding whether classes would resume on Thursday.
