Teachers’ protest cancels classes

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. – About half the students were sent home Tuesday from Port Townsend High School after 33 of the school’s 35 teachers called in sick, protesting the replacement of the head basketball coach.

“It’s really hard to get too many substitutes out in this neck of the woods without advance notice,” said District Superintendent Carol Andreasen.

Juniors and seniors were given the option of contacting their parents and going home after the walkout by most teachers and 10 administrative staff. Sophomores were sent to study hall; freshmen attended class as usual.

The protest followed a meeting Monday by the school board, which heard testimony from teachers unhappy that Russ Hickman has been replaced as varsity coach after five seasons.

About 60 parents and teachers attended the meeting. About a dozen people testified, arguing that Hickman had been denied due process and the district had not followed personnel procedures. Some suggested the board should clarify its employee evaluation policies.

At the meeting, a letter from Hickman was read in which he refused to resign as coach, KOMO radio reported. Hickman remains at the school as a history teacher and school athletic director.

Andreasen said the board took testimony but has not removed Hickman from the coaching position.

The issue with Hickman was “off-and-on ongoing problems on the coaching end,” school board Chairman Loren Monroe told the Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles last week.

Monroe did not immediately return a call to his home Tuesday.