The clouds may have brought rain, but the inspiring solidarity is brighter than ever on the fourth day of the Rohnert Park Cotati educators strike.

The 320 members of Rohnert Park Cotati Educators Association (RPCEA) were joined this morning by some fellow educators from across California: the CTA Board of Directors, who brought energizing CTA unity to the fight for the schools Rohnert Park Cotati students deserve.

“We are proud to walk the picket line in solidarity with the more than 300 educators of RPCEA. It is not an easy decision to go on strike, and when educators do it’s because they know their students deserve better than what the school district is willing to do,” says CTA President E. Toby Boyd. “We are calling for the district to do right by their students and settle with RPCEA now.”

“It makes all the difference in the world to know we’re supported,” says Julia Rinaldi, an art teacher at Rancho Cotate High School.

After months of negotiations, sessions with a neutral mediator and a state-appointed fact finder’s report that sided with educators, Cotati Rohnert Park Unified School District still refuses to invest in attracting and retaining the quality educators their students and community deserve. On March 3, the independent fact-finder recommended a three-year contract with an approximately 14.6-percent on-schedule pay increase. CRPUSD has refused, claiming it would have to give a similar increase to district managers.

Rancho Cotate High School law teacher Matt Transue says it’s time for the district to show it values educators, students and the community.

“We want to be able to be in a classroom, not out here,” says Transue, an RPCEA member. “But it’s come to the point where you stand up for what’s right and our students and parents know it.”

The RPCEA bargaining team met with the state mediator today and leaders are hopeful that the mediation will lead to a positive resolution that recognizes the needs of educators and the community. High school science teacher Anna Leemon hopes that the district will work with teachers as trusted partners in education.

“Please just listen to us. Work with us please,” says Leemon, an RPCEA member.

Biology teacher and RPCEA member Chris Steffens has a similar message for CRPUSD’s management and school board.

“End this strike now. Please think about our students and families in this community. We cannot retain or recruit the best teachers if we cannot offer a competitive salary,” says Steffens.

Educators have been bolstered by the outpouring of support by their community, fellow CTA members and friends in the Labor Movement. On March 14, the Teamsters Joint Council 7 officially sanctioned the strike, meaning that their members will not cross the picket line to pick up or drop off deliveries to the school district. SEIU 1021 Cotati-Rohnert Park Schools members have also been on the picket line with RPCEA since Day 1, vowing that “their fight is our fight.”

“This isn’t just about us 320 members,” says Emilie King, RPCEA member and English teacher. “This is about the Labor Movement and all of us pushing for a paradigm shift where people are prioritized and those on the front lines are being respected.”

Stay current on the strike by following RPCEA on Facebook and Instagram. Updates and information, including the fact-finding report, are also available at RPCEA’s Linktree. A GoFundMe has also been set up to help support striking Rohnert Park Cotati educators.