Today, Wednesday, was the first day back at school for most students in the Issaquah and Lake Washington school districts.

As front offices bustled with activity, and the school buses traced old, familiar routes once more, for students it was a mixture of excitement and apprehension, saying farewell to the long glorious summer behind them and looking forward to the new experiences ahead.

At Clark Elementary School in Issaquah, Arjan Vazinkhoo, 8, was all ready to go for his first day back.

He will be joining Mrs Jones third grade class this year, and though he really enjoyed his summer, he said he is glad to be back at school.

But he won’t be with this older brother this year.

Ahria, 11, graduated from Clark last year and has moved on to the lofty heights of middle school – he will be attending Issaquah Middle School.

Principal May Pelto appeared to have everything under control as staff prepared themselves for first day back – outside the school, students were lined up in a very orderly fashion a few minutes before 9 a.m.

Next Friday, Sept. 11, the Clark Elementary PTA will be holding their annual Back to School Pizza Night, to welcome parents and friends of the school. It starts at 6 p.m. – for more information go to www.clarkpta.org

But as teachers and students in Issaquah and Sammamish settled in for their first day back at school this week, in nearby Kent placards and threats took the place of lessons and introductions.

Teachers in the Kent Education Association have been on strike since last week after failing to reach satisfactory terms with the Kent School District.

The main sticking points are class sizes, salaries, and the amount of time taken up by administration and meetings.

Negotiators from both sides met with the state-appointed mediator Saturday and Sunday to work toward reaching a settlement and getting schools back open, but the two sides still appear to be far apart.

The scheduled first day of school in Kent came and went Monday with still no contract agreement between the district and the striking teachers.

A proposal from the union, dated Aug. 29, sets the limits at 24 students for kindergarten through grade three and 29 students for grades four though six. The union wants middle school teachers to be capped at 145 students per day (average of 29 per period) while high school teachers would be capped at 155 per day (average of 31 per period).

The union proposal, dated Aug. 30, also states that should those numbers be exceeded, the district will either add classes, reassign students to different rooms or schools, or provide a payment of $2 per student per day over the limit.

Caseload caps for special-education teachers also is included.

“We’re trying to find a creative solution but the district doesn’t want to solve the problem,” Folkerts said.

The district has proposed additional instructional support for fifth- and sixth-grade teachers beginning at the 29th student instead of the 32nd, where it is now. They’re also proposing the creation of a committee to study the issue, which communications director Becky Hanks called “expensive and complex.”

“The challenge in the Kent School District is on multiple levels: one is funding; two is facilities,” she said, adding the district last year received an audit finding about using too many portable classrooms.

Just miles away, teachers and administrators are keeping a close eye on the conflict.

Executive Director of Communication at the Issaquah School District Sara Niegowski said that her office had been in regular contact with the local teachers union since the strike began in Kent.

“Every school district up and down the Puget Sound region is taking note of the negotiations in Kent,” she said. “We have been talking regularly with the Issaquah Education Association, not specifically about the Kent strikes, but they are one of the things that come up.”

The current contract between the teachers and the Issaquah School District is due to expire on Aug. 31, 2010.

“We are up at the end of this year,” Niegowski said. “We plan to begin the negotiation process long before then. We want it to be really collaborative and really early.”

In Sammamish and Redmond, the Lake Washington School District is in the first year of a three year contract with its teachers.

“We were able to come to an agreement well before school started, so there was no threat of a strike or disruption,” said district Director of Communications Kathryn Reith. “Every year there is always someone with an issue that could potentially lead to a strike – last year it was Bellevue.”

Reith recognized that class sizes would likely be a topic of discussion in future contract negotiations.

“Class sizes are always an issue for teachers and parents,” she said. “But we have managed to do reasonably well with them.”