“SPS walked away from the table tonight.” So begins an update posted by the Seattle Education Association, saying contract talks have broken down with three days left until the scheduled start of classes at Seattle Public Schools. The two sides have been talking since June; the union says special-education staffing is a huge sticking point. As for why, the union has praised this unofficial website purporting to detail what the district has proposed; the district, meantime, has posted its own summary, date-stamped Saturday, here, addressing other issues too. That same page on the district website also promises daily media briefings starting Monday.
West Seattle, Washington
04 Friday
What the district is proposing is actually to cut the amount of staff coverage we have AS WELL AS combine 4 programs in to two programs. This is incredibly dangerous for a multitude of reasons: -our ratios have already been negligent at best and we have continuously found it difficult to provide enough coverage for students with maladaptive behaviors at the same time as providing appropriate supports for those needing flexible help with specialized instruction. -the burn out rate and amount of injuries for Sped employees is obnoxiously higher than all other areas of education-the new model of support system they have in place would spread instructional assistants across multiple classrooms, far more than could cover as many students as are needed at once -classroom health/learning hygiene will sufferr immensely. Students that are in need of more quiet spaces to engage with Thier work without serious sensory stimuli interruptions are at serious risk of poor academic success rates alongside emotional/physical disregulation from overcrowded classrooms and increased behaviors in Thier learning environments -certified teacher caseloads will increase exponentially creating more off the clock work hours (most teachers I know already work in Thier time off). It will give them less time for appropriate family connections for families who children have interpersonalized education plans, behavioral intervention plans and 504 plans-student access to community connection (such as field trips and volunteer work that helps them prepare for adult transition services) will significantly decrease or even be diminished entirely due to a lack of safe staffing support in transit and community activities-students that are chronically absent, dealing with family crisis issues or need emotional support systems will be harmed from a lack of resources to accomplish the push in services that help aid them in engaging in more independent and responsible work accountability.-students that are more highly impacted by Thier neurodiversity who are in need of more frequent deescalation strategy will have less space to access them within classrooms, meaning they will have to travel further within the building to attend to Thier needs (often making for unsafe transfer conditions), isolating them further from Thier peers for longer periods of time. -the burn out of staff members will leave less engagement for taking on extra hours to support students in extra curricular activities (sports, music and clubs)-staff are at even higher risk for physical injury due to disregulated students, meaning more subs and consequently, more money spent to cover sick pay/injury pay and mental health leave at the same time as needing to cover the wages of sub hours for those students. As a Sped instructional assistant, we truly appreciate your support 🫶💗
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