SCHOOL STRIKE, DAY 3: Negotiations to continue into the weekend; district says ‘close on several proposals’

(Frame grab from SDOT camera)

Seattle Education Association members moved beyond their outside-school picket lines in Day 3 of their strike. Above, some went to The Junction to demonstrate for a while this afternoon; others organized community-service projects. Here’s what else happened:

WEEKEND TALKS EXPECTED: Though Seattle Public Schools had said on Thursday that they’d make a decision abut Monday by mid-afternoon Friday, they changed the plan. From the daily media statement:

We do not yet have an agreement as of Friday afternoon. On Monday, Sept. 5, we began working with a mediator and are optimistic about the progress being made. We are close on several proposals and expect bargaining to continue throughout the weekend. We will notify families this weekend about the status of school for Monday, Sept. 12.

The district also released a video from Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones – see it here.

ON THE LINES: The union has not sent a media update so far today/tonight. We stopped by two more schools today, West Seattle’s K-8s – Pathfinder on Pigeon Point:

And on Delridge, Louisa Boren STEM:

We asked striking 5th-grade teacher Sunny Graves, who’s been at STEM since its start a decade ago, to summarize the strike issues:

She added later by email, “This strike is also about the lack of resources to meet the level of student trauma we faced last year post pandemic. In my 15 years of teaching and working with children I have never had a harder year. This rings true across the board when talking with fellow educators. Student and educator need for social and emotional support was unprecedented. It’s time for the district to act, because if not now, then when?”

The union’s online updates and background links are here; the district’s updates/background is here.

ST September 9, 2022 (10:37 pm)

Well, I hope the two sides find a middle ground and come to an agreement this weekend. In addition to the teachers, the trauma and learning deficits that kids faced during the pandemic (closed schools/remote/hybrid learning) may never be fully known. I know that despite the incredible efforts our son’s first grade teacher undertook (along with 2 working parents trying to manage a 6 year old on Teams while working full time jobs) was not enough to keep him from falling far behind with reading. Fortunately, we had the means to help him get back on track. But others do not. The kids need to be back in the classroom.

A WS Teacher September 10, 2022 (3:37 am)

We all want to be in the classroom much more than we want to be striking. We want what is best for our students and the proposal that SPS has made does NOT ensure that. We want to be able to meet ALL students where they are and move them forwards in their understanding of all content areas and skills. That is why we are striking. SPS’s plan for Special Education and Multilingual Learners will affect all students and we want the programs that we implement to be best supported for the success of all our students. The inclusion model they are proposing requires training and support for it to be successful, and the plan does not provide for that. We know kids need to be back in school (we want to be back there too!)
- Canton September 10, 2022 (6:44 am)
  
  Of course it’s about the kids; I’m sure a significant raise helps too… 3 years ago, last contract, teachers got a hefty raise. Pretty soon you will make as much as a city council member for 180 days of work.
  - Fandang0 September 10, 2022 (7:23 pm)
    
    Wow! If that’s the case it sounds like it’s time for you to get into the teaching field, since it’s such a cush job with such great pay!
  - SPS Teacher September 11, 2022 (2:06 pm)
    
    As a SPS teacher for 10 years, you need to fact check. Maybe look at the cost of ACTUALLY living in Seattle compared to Teacher’s “significant raise”…
    - Zark00 September 11, 2022 (4:21 pm)
      
      Just tell everyone how much you make as a 10 year teacher in SPS. They will be shocked that they are being do dismissive of fair pay for teachers. For that matter, teachers, just anonymously post your salaries. People keep going back to the “teachers make enough money” argument, just tell everyone, make people understand.
- KW September 10, 2022 (9:37 am)
  
  Yes! It makes me sad that people don’t seem to understand this. All kids will be affected!
Anne September 10, 2022 (6:28 am)

Suggest you read the post by A WS Teacher-just below yours.
WSEL77 September 10, 2022 (10:26 am)

@ST, so SPS needs to make that happen. Our society treats teachers like garbage, overwork them, underpay them, don’t support them, and they’re just supposed to take it… because? If people actually cared about kids, they’d put pressure on political leaders and their fellow citizens to provide more money and support to teachers and more school funding.

JJ September 10, 2022 (5:37 am)

SEA members need to approve the Tentative Agreement before the strike will end. School could have started on Monday if there was an agreement last week. It’s too late now. School won’t start on Monday.

J September 10, 2022 (8:52 am)

We need to significantly increase our focus on finding a way to provide whatever it takes to hire and keep the best teachers available, to provide all the resources they and their students need. These incremental asks and strikes to make any progress are ridiculous. Let’s reimagine how to fund this most critical function in our society!! Teachers are amazing professionals! Pay them more, hire the best, we need to focus on educating the next generations well!

Charlie Moore September 10, 2022 (9:15 am)

Why won’t SEA come out say what the issue really is, which is that they don’t want to have to deal with neurodiverse kids in their classroom? They want to hand them off to someone else to deal with.

Sarah Shapiro September 10, 2022 (12:16 pm)

Looking at the SEA proposal, I’m not seeing any indicators that they want ND students out of mainstream classrooms. Keeping or improving staffing ratios is crucial for helping ND students succeed in non-SPED classrooms. Eliminating staffing ratios opens the door for inadequate staffing, which seems like it would set everyone up for failure, especially ND or other SPED students. What am I missing?
kj September 10, 2022 (12:33 pm)

does it bother you to see professional ballplayers get million dollar contracts for playing a game? Greedy teachers. Geesh.
Westie September 10, 2022 (12:44 pm)

It has NOTHING to do with not wanting neurodiverse kids in a classroom and EVERYTHING to do with having the support systems in place at a school and classroom level to support the students and make everyone successful! If SPS is serious about doing right by every student then they need to put the resources behind it.
Teach This September 10, 2022 (12:46 pm)

Mr. Moore,thank you for your opinion.As an effective, skilled, and veteran teacher, I DO want and welcome neurodiverse students in my classroom community. However, if a student is blowing out for the third time of the day, chairs (or punches) are being thrown and I do not have proper supports to support that child, then other classmates are: unsafe, feeling at risk, not able to learn, and being overlooked as my focus is being frequently redirected to the child in crises. I suspect if your non nuerodiverse child was not getting their rightful educational needs met because a neurodiverse student was not offered the appropriate supports in my classroom, you might be commenting on the West Seattle Blog with a different strand of trash talk.My best
- Charlie Moore September 10, 2022 (5:45 pm)
  
  It’s not trash talk at all. It’s giving a voice to neurodiverse children who are continually branded as problems or difficult students and who teachers repeatedly try to hand off to someone else (ie “staffing ratios”), which is devastating to these kids. Teachers should teach kids, not just teach the kinds of kids they would prefer to teach, but in Washington (and in Seattle) there’s a long history of teachers pushing kids out of the classroom that they would rather not deal with. That resulted in significant disparities in how black students were treated. Now it’s happening in another form with neurodiverse students, but few are calling it out for what it really is because of their stereotypes about neurodiversity and “the problem kids.”
  - Joyce September 10, 2022 (7:51 pm)
    
    It’s also “devastating” to students who continually get a fraction of a teacher’s time and attention because they are “meeting standard” and are generally well-behaved, good students. They are “fine” so schools just overlook them. It doesn’t mean they can’t be pushed to learn more, that they don’t want their unique needs met or to explore their passions or that they don’t want more attention from a teacher. ALL students deserve to have their needs met and to be challenged and engaged in school, no matter how they learn.
  - T September 11, 2022 (8:56 am)
    
    C. Moore..
    You’re right… I’ve been given the ‘problem’ children a lot in my days … I work my magic and I never consider them a problem. For most it takes a different way of teaching … not a lot of learning can be done if the teacher has to constantly talk to the one or two kids in the room. You need support. I wish more people would go into teaching
A WS Teacher September 10, 2022 (2:54 pm)

Nope. Totally not true. I LOVE having neurodiverse kids in my classroom, they often end up being some of my favorite students. I support them well in my classroom, but we all have good days and bad days, and for some neurodivergent kids the difference between a good day and a bad day can be markedly greater. SPS is taking some of the supports away that allow them to still be successful in school even if it is a rougher day for them. It isn’t about teachers being lazy or only wanting to teach neurotypical kids. It is about supporting all learners the way that allows kids to be most successful.
- Joyce September 10, 2022 (7:39 pm)
  
  I’m not clear why SPS is pursuing this one-size-fits-all approach across the board. SPED, English language learners, “mainstream” students, HCC, etc — all absorb curriculum differently and at different paces. They have different learning styles and priorities at any given time. Why does SPS (and it seems many teachers) feel it makes sense to have them all in the same classroom at the same time with a single teacher and curriculum? It seems like this will never result in meeting each student’s needs. How can a single teacher be all things to all students at all times? SPS seems to feel there is a magical “standard” that students should meet – if you don’t meet it you must need extra support or pressure and if you exceed it or grasp the concept right away then you can just sit around and be bored. I’m in awe of teachers who attempt to meet all these needs at the same time, but I don’t think it’s best-serving our kids.
Sam September 10, 2022 (4:55 pm)

I’m not in favor of striking, but this is so wrong it has to be a joke

Nitro September 10, 2022 (9:20 am)

The teachers can hold strong and hold out as long as they want to in order to get what they want. They know that they will get their full salary of 180 days of school whether it starts 2 days from now, 2 weeks from now or 2 months from now. So they don’t have to budge until they get what they need.

Brokeparent September 10, 2022 (12:53 pm)

All while saying it’s all about the kids and that they are somehow protecting working families by making them pay out the nose for emergency childcare or just not work for those who can’t afford that.The strike will end once they get the raise they want and all the other concerns will evaporate.

Also, they are not any more underpaid than nurses, police, or other lateral professions. Of course we all want more money but there isn’t enough to please them and get their other demands met.
- Al King September 10, 2022 (6:09 pm)
  
  Brokeparent. Your (free)babysitters are out on strike. That’s what you’re angry about isn’t it.

Another West Seattle Teacher September 10, 2022 (2:06 pm)

I would love it if all the naysayers would come do the job of a teacher, instructional assistant, nurse, social worker, office staff, custodian or administrator for a month or so. Then you may get real insight into the genuine challenges our schools face. All of us in the schools want to serve our students with the best support possible and we want to be back at school. Believe me, we wish school had started on time. Strikes suck but we’re willing to fight for the support our students deserve.

Ant September 10, 2022 (2:11 pm)

Maybe I’m in the minority here but by all means raise my property taxes to pay teachers a salary that attracts and retains top talent. We can afford it. For context, what’s the average household Comcast bill, $150? That’s almost 2k a year. We should get our priorities right. And I don’t even have a kid in SPS.

Virginia Kelly Brookbank September 10, 2022 (4:48 pm)

Seattle schools is a billion dollar business. They make plenty of money on taxes ALREADY allocated. They don’t need to be collecting any more taxes. They should be paying teachers ALOT more. Maybe if they paid properly there would not be a shortage of teachers or even school bus drivers. How about affordable housing? Who wants to work in Seattle and have to drive hundreds of miles so they can have housing.

Mj September 10, 2022 (2:37 pm)

It’s time to expand the school year to 200 days from the current 180 and increase teacher pay accordingly.

JoAnne September 10, 2022 (2:42 pm)

School choice is a merit-based system that works. Public schools already take enormous amounts of money from taxpayers, even those working two jobs to pay for private school tuition. Let the money go where the results are, and stop these illegal strikes. Let the tax dollars follow the students, not the teachers, and give the charter and private schools the same opportunity that is give the public school monopoly.

I wonder... September 10, 2022 (4:56 pm)

Do tell….are those private schools serving students of all socio-economic levels, multilingual students, neurodiverse students, students impacted by trauma, students with learning disabilities?My experience has been that ‘many of these students are not accepted into private schools or are quickly exited out when their circumstances interfere with the learning of others. Please assure me that I am mistaken!
- KN September 10, 2022 (5:53 pm)
  
  Sure – the private schools take their tuition and educate them. But those same students come to the public school system to get their special needs met – and for free.
- A WS Teacher September 11, 2022 (9:16 am)
  
  I Wonder – You are correct. Private schools are not required to accept every student. Kids who have any kind of special needs are often not admitted or served well by the private school system. Especially if their special need (whatever it happens to be) is sometimes disruptive. Public schools are required and designed to serve all children.
Sarah Shapiro September 10, 2022 (5:50 pm)

Since special education is a big part of this strike, it’s worth noting that private schools can (and do) legally discriminate against kids who require special education services and disability accommodations. School choice would not solve the SPED issues being negotiated by SEA and SPS.

Teachers Ally September 10, 2022 (5:39 pm)

Joanne: So private schools can discriminate which kids come through their door? This happened to our family. . . This creates inequity. \We need to give teachers all the support they need. They are more than teachers these days. My child who has an IEP is thriving and happy! All a parent could ask for. TEACHERS HOLD STRONG SO MANY OF US ARE WITH YOU!

JoAnne September 10, 2022 (9:14 pm)

Yes, private schools have the right to put disabled students in a special classroom or to expel them if they disrupt the learning of others. We need vouchers because public schools cannot and will not set boundaries with regard to student misbehavior. This is why people work 2 or 3 jobs (sometimes both parents) to pay for private school tuition. They do not want their child’s education to be disrupted–sometimes violently–10-40 times per day. With vouchers, everyone can go to the school that best meets their needs, including the differently abled.

kevin September 10, 2022 (10:00 pm)

Allow me to provide the explanatory statement from the 647 MILLION dollar special education levy that overwhelmingly passed 6 months ago : ‘ Passage of Proposition No. 1 would allow the levy of taxes to pay for the education programs and operations and to meet the education needs of the students attending District schools. Funds will be used to fund programs that are not funded or not fully funded by the State’….I would think Seattle educators had ample input into writing this levy proposal. But yet it ‘just’ isn’t quite enough when the school year comes around. Give me a break. Taxpayers (i.e. homeowners) just continue to throw money at our education system, and they are SO grateful for it…

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