When teachers in neighboring southwest Washington school districts went on strike in the fall of 2023, Carol and Andrea found themselves facing the same battle—but on opposite sides.

These two friends were both veteran educators and cared deeply about their students. And they had both spent years in public education wrestling with the growing tension between their faith and the culture surrounding unions and politics in education.

And yet, when strikes began in their respective schools, they made completely different decisions.

Carol walked the picket line. Andrea did not.

However, what could have divided them instead became a beautiful story of unity and support between two sisters in Christ.

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Carol taught in one of the largest districts in Washington State. Her school was small and tight-knit. The staff had worked together for years, and that closeness shaped how she viewed the strike.

She had joined Christian Educators several years earlier but had not seriously considered leaving the teachers’ union. Like many educators, she viewed the union primarily as a local organization that provided protection and representation. 

“I always knew politically they didn’t align with my values,” Carol says. “But I didn’t realize how political it really was.”

At the same time, she understood why tensions in her district were rising…

Her district had begun moving toward a full inclusion special education model, eliminating many separate special education classrooms and placing all students in general education settings full-time, regardless of their needs. Teachers found themselves trying to meet overwhelming and often conflicting needs with little training or support.

Morale was low, and teachers felt desperate. Many believed striking was the only way district leadership would listen and make changes in the students’ best interests.

“It was horrific,” Carol says. “We were watching kids not get what they needed, teachers not get support, and students not getting their IEP minutes. Everybody was overwhelmed.”

For Carol, the strike was never about salary, but rather, doing what is best for students.

“I would have had a much harder time supporting the strike if it were just about pay raises,” she explains. “For us, it felt like we were fighting for kids.”

So Carol walked the picket line.

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Andrea taught in a neighboring, smaller, and more affluent district with strong community support. She had walked the picket line during a previous strike years ago and had felt peace about that decision at the time.

But in 2023, something felt off.

Months before the strike began, Andrea sensed a growing uneasiness as union messaging intensified.

“I suddenly realized this wasn’t just local anymore,” she says. “Everything was coming from the state union.”

As contract negotiations ramped up, Andrea began praying intensely for discernment. Her district’s main issue was not special education support but rather salary increases. The union initially pushed for a 13% raise.

“And I just felt like this isn’t right,” Andrea says. “We already get paid very well in Washington. It felt greedy to me.”

Her conviction grew stronger over time.

“I felt like the Lord put on my heart: if your district goes on strike, you’re not walking the picket line.”

That terrified her.

“I’m a people pleaser by nature,” she says. “I remember thinking, Well then we just won’t strike, because surely God wouldn’t ask me to do that.”

But the strike happened anyway.

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Months earlier, both women had attended a summertime Christian Educators Leadership Development Summit and ended up as roommates.

Even though they taught in neighboring districts, they barely knew each other. However, over the course of the week, a deep friendship formed.

Looking back, both women now see God’s hand in that timing.

“The Lord knew,” Andrea says. “He knew we were going to need the support from someone who completely understood our heart.”

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When the strikes officially began that fall, Carol joined her coworkers on the picket line. The atmosphere remained largely supportive and unified. Teachers encouraged one another, talked, laughed, and tried to stay hopeful together.

“It really was this sense of, ‘We’re all in this together,’” Carol says.

Andrea’s experience was very different. She stayed home, and almost immediately, the pressure began. Texts from coworkers arrived daily asking why she was not picketing. Friends she had known for decades began using what felt like scripted union language about solidarity and betrayal.

The situation worsened as the strike continued. Some union supporters began targeting district leadership personally, posting the superintendent’s private phone number publicly and harassing him. Andrea was deeply disturbed.

So she wrote a letter to district leadership explaining that not all teachers supported the hostility or the strike. She knew the decision would cost her socially—she just didn’t realize how much.

When school resumed after the seven-day strike, Andrea walked into a staff meeting expecting some awkwardness. But what she experienced instead felt like rejection—people physically moved away from her, coworkers wouldn’t speak to her, and friends avoided eye contact. The loneliness was crushing at times.

Andrea made it a point to reach out and try to repair relationships—not to apologize, but to ask for mutual respect and understanding for their respective convictions and decisions regarding the strike. And the tension with some of her colleagues took a long time to ease, even lingering well into the following school year. But eventually, relationships were restored. 

“It was hard, and I felt very lonely. But I wouldn’t change it,” she says. 

Throughout the entire ordeal, Andrea recalls the many opportunities God gave her to be a source of hope and truth to many educators in her district. Teachers from other buildings would call or text her privately. Many were frightened. Some did not want to picket but feared retaliation. Others wondered whether they could legally refuse. Andrea found herself encouraging them, praying with them, and sharing information about their rights that she had learned through Christian Educators. 

Meanwhile, Carol experienced ministry opportunities of her own while walking the picket line. She prayed with coworkers and encouraged staff members who were emotionally exhausted and worried about students.

“God used both of our choices,” Carol says. “That’s the beautiful thing.”

In addition, God highlighted to both women that the friendship they developed during their time as roommates over the summer served as an anchor for both of them during an emotionally charged season.

While Andrea faced rejection and isolation, Carol checked in on her constantly. At the same time, Andrea admired Carol’s courage to stand publicly with her coworkers while still holding firmly to her faith. Together, they demonstrated something increasingly rare in today’s culture: Christians can disagree prayerfully, follow different convictions, and still remain united in Christ.

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When the strikes ended and the contracts were settled, both unions received far less than they had originally demanded. But Carol and Andrea do not remember that season primarily for what was gained at the bargaining table. Instead, they recall the many ways God honored their obedience to His leading and faithfully worked through the supportive late-night texts, prayerful phone calls, conversations with other fearful teachers, and opportunities to speak truth courageously to their colleagues and community members. 

And above all, they remain deeply grateful for the friendship God built before either of them knew they would need it—a reminder that unity in Christ is not built on identical convictions, but on shared surrender to Him.