Lawton teacher Lyon Terry
Blaine and Lawton teachers got tons of support from Magnolia parents and students?Wednesday as they walked the picket line. Families walked alongside teachers and office staff, brought snacks and drinks, and honked as they drove by.
School has been cancelled for Thursday as well.
Many have been asking how you can support?teachers and staff.?A SPS parent and SAEOP member says staff will be on the picket lines tomorrow from 8:30 – 3:00. Be sure to “Wear Red for Ed.” Kids are welcome and encouraged.
Lawton’s Lyon Terry wrote:
…I encourage parents, stakeholders, and interested members of the Seattle community, to please contact the school district about your desire for a strong and fair contract for teachers and all employees at Seattle Public Schools.
Here are the major issues as outlined by the staff at Lawton Elementary and published by our amazing Lawton Elementary School PTA (with some of my edits.)
In July, the state legislature released $40 million to the Seattle School District. The SEA members believe this money should be used to:
1. Establish caseload caps for providers of special services (such as school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, etc.) Without these caps students cannot receive all of the instructional support they need to be successful in school. The SEA wants to have caps on the numbers of students these specialists are required to work with. SPS rejected this proposal.
2. Guarantee ample and equitable recess time for all students across the district. Research shows unstructured physical activity positively impacts student learning. Recess time varies for K-5 kids across the district from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. The SEA wants at least 30 minutes for every K-5 student. SPS rejected this proposal.
3. Establish Race and Equity teams district-wide to address disproportionate discipline actions. These teams would focus on developing strategies across the district and within each school to reduce the disproportionate discipline of students of color with other students. SEA wants 30 schools to have teams this year. SPS wants 6 schools to have these teams.
4. SEA proposed to eliminate the student growth rating as part of teacher evaluations. This measure has never been shown to produce better results, plus it is an unfair evaluation measure that only uses test results for teachers of tested subjects. (For example, upper elementary teachers are evaluated using this measure but not our lower elementary, PE, or music teachers.) SPS rejected this proposal.
5. SPS has asked to lengthen the school day with no clear plan of how this would be done. SEA is happy to have this conversation and is willing to work more time (kids need it), but only if it is compensated and clear what the goal of the extra time is. Unfortunately, this proposal was brought to the table with very little detail and without a commensurate pay raise. SPS is asking teachers to work longer hours for free and they had no plan for what that meant for all the other people in the building (secretaries, Instructional Aids, Therapists, Nurses, etc.) SEA would entertain negotiating those details for the next contract.
6. SEA proposed to lessen the workload that schools’ office staff is asked to do beyond their contractual time either through overtime compensation or increased hiring. SPS rejected this proposal.
7. SEA proposes a 6% increase in pay across the board for all employees for each of the next 3 years. This increase in compensation reflects the dramatic rise in the cost of living in Seattle, our ability to attract and retain high-quality educators and also takes into consideration that educators have not had a raise in 6 years. SPS proposed %2.0, %3.0, %3.5 increases in the next three years.
None of us wants to strike, however we feel passionate that these proposals will positively impact student learning across the district.
Full bargaining information can be found here.