KENT, Wash. -- A judge has ruled that striking teachers in the Kent School District will be fined $200 a day if they don't return to class on Monday.

King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas said the teacher's union will also be subject to a $1,500 a day fine.

"The truth is that court orders are meaningless unless they are enforced,” Darvas said.

She said the fines would be retroactive to last Thursday, the day the first court hearing was held, if teachers don't report to school by the deadline.

It was an amount that shocked teachers who had come to court.

“I think it’s ridiculous, I think it’s absurd,” said one Kent teacher.

Kent Education Association president Lisa Brackin Johnson said the union wouldn't tell its 1,700 members what to do.

"We will give the information to our members and as responsible adults they will make their own decisions," Brackin Johnson said.

However, she did lash out at the district, accusing it of bargaining in bad faith.

"The district has said this is about money. We came in under their budget and they are still not settling. It's not about money anymore, it's about their control. They are drunk with their own power and they need to let it go,” she said.

"So what, give us fines, throw us in jail. We're gonna stand up for what's right,” said Kent teacher Shayne Satter. “I'm still extremely scared, extremely saddened. I don’t know how it will ever work out."

"It's unfortunate the situation's come to this. It’s our hope the teachers will comply and the students will be able to start school on Monday," said Kent School District spokesman Becky Hanks.

On Monday, the union voted not to return to school and to continue the strike until they have a ratified contract. There’s some expectation the teachers will continue to defy the judge’s order.

Parents from the newly formed Kent Parents Coalition held a rally Thursday supporting the teachers outside the Kent Regional Justice Center prior to the hearing.

Opponents to the strike also rallied at the location, some with derogatory signs, angry that classes continued to be delayed.

Striking teachers will hold a rally Friday morning between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. outside the school district’s office.

The district is the fourth-largest in Washington with more than 26,000 students and 1,700 teachers at 40 schools in Kent.