KPLU Reports Strike is On for Tomorrow
Update: for whatever reason, when the Board came back into session, the video did not resume on Channel 26. I do NOT think this was some error.
From the coverage of the WestSeattle Blog:
6:39 PM: Roll call: Betty Patu abstains. Peters votes no. All others vote yes. The resolution passes, and that authorizes the district to take legal action against the union, among other things. “SHAME ON YOU!” yell several in the audience. And a few minutes later, as the board members leave, some shout “Thank you, Sue Peters.”
Why Patu abstained is a mystery (and she goes to that well way too often).
I think McLaren has some explaining to do to the King County Labor Council.
end of update.
Details to follow.
SEA leaders announced this at Board meeting.
So that Resolution just got very real.
As I tweeted, I believe if the Resolution is not unanimous, it is a referendum on Nyland as well.
Parents and students, I am sorry (but keep in mind, it's the first Seattle strike in 30 years).
From the coverage of the WestSeattle Blog:
6:39 PM: Roll call: Betty Patu abstains. Peters votes no. All others vote yes. The resolution passes, and that authorizes the district to take legal action against the union, among other things. “SHAME ON YOU!” yell several in the audience. And a few minutes later, as the board members leave, some shout “Thank you, Sue Peters.”
Why Patu abstained is a mystery (and she goes to that well way too often).
I think McLaren has some explaining to do to the King County Labor Council.
end of update.
Details to follow.
SEA leaders announced this at Board meeting.
So that Resolution just got very real.
As I tweeted, I believe if the Resolution is not unanimous, it is a referendum on Nyland as well.
Parents and students, I am sorry (but keep in mind, it's the first Seattle strike in 30 years).
Comments
IA Teacher
Reader
Meanwhile all the difficulties we are suffering during this strike goes right on the shoulders of administration and the toadyish school board. I hope many of you get voted out. I agree with Reader, why aren't you leaning on Nyland?
-SPS parent
We already know Director McLaren's answer.
Consensus being one of the five School Board directors to vote to authorize legal action?
My admiration for Sue Peters grows yet again. Thank you, Sue, for standing with our teachers and staff.
Kudos to Sue Peters, but what's the deal with Betty Patu?
I'll be giving money to Leslie Harris so we can get rid of Jonathan Knapp's BFF, Marty McLaren.
https://www.facebook.com/greg.greenway/posts/10205933784478128
McLaren is the only Director running for re-election.... Must say many of her votes have confused me in the past. This one is incredibly disappointing.
Leslie Harris should be a lock after this or do I not know this city.
What does Knapp have to say?
Saw a posting for a teaching position in Downey, California top of pay scale $112,000
Koolaid Great?
But you are correct, Sherry legacy - blech.
Reader
Westside
voter
Reasons to abstain:
#1 .. conflict of interest
#2 .. did not investigate fully enough to make a decision
#3 .. various pros and cons are balanced so decision cannot be made.
#4 .. (what am I missing here?)
As far as Betty Patu or any Director abstaining on the "Labor Strike Injunction" vote, it seems like ducking not directing.
Bewildered Mind
School, albeit a place where our children spend many a day, is not a daycare. This is a call to action on many more issues than just "a paycheck" or "a raise", this is about equitable education, caseload caps for providers of special services (so our teachers have the classroom support and can actually teach), it is about adequate recess time (for which a victory was already achieved in the negotiation process thus far), it is about making sure that we have the secure and retain highly qualified and the right people in our schools teaching our students.
While this is a disruption in many of our lives (and there are options for care out there from Community Centers to Seattle Children's Theater and apparently FB neighborhood groups are popping up to network options), in the end, this action is much more about positively impacting our student's futures than it is disruptive. If you can't support the strike so be it but don't malign the teachers.
> I don't know who the SEA and teachers think they are serving but it is NOT Seattle students and their families.
Really?
SEA advocated for a consistent and reasonable amount of recess for elementary-school kids. 30 minutes isn't the 45 minutes they wanted, but it's better than the 15 minutes some SPS kids got last year. (Please don't tell me you think the many, many studies that equate more recess with better learning are bunk.)
SEA advocates for reasonable caps on caseloads for special education teachers and other support professionals. These people are doing the heavy lifting in the schools, and are overwhelmed with the amount of work facing them.
SEA advocates for bringing teacher salaries back to a reasonable level over the next three years. This is playing catch-up with COLA, and attempting to provide a fair wage for workers in a rather expensive city. The increases are above average, precisely because they've been so far BELOW average for a number of years.
The school board's not listening. They're not negotiating. How ELSE are teachers supposed to get their attention? Knuckle under, accept the "terms" offered to them, and soldier on? Would you accept that if you were in their shoes?
Roosevelt Dad
Arranging for childcare is a completely different issue than improving the K-12 educational environment in Seattle.
Elections are two months away. Marty McLaren is the only board member currently running for re-election. Unless perhaps she doesn't really want to be re-elected? It's worth reminding her of that when you write to give her feedback.
-flibbertigibbet
I'm just not sure the bargaining table is the place to settle big philosophical questions since it's clearly very polarizing. Is this really how we want to about engaging in a civil discussion of these bigger issues, when our beef is really with the state for not providing enough money in the first place? I think this strike hurts us with the Legislature who will argue that they won't give any more money to school districts because it will just go into teacher salaries. Mark my word, this will be the long-term consequence whether you believe SEA or not that the District is hiding money and can pay up, and that's a huge shame given how close we possibly are to a break through on McCleary.
Emile
That said, this strike isn't something that the teachers wanted. And it's a strike that is happening for very good reasons - if the teachers get most of what they're asking for, the long-term benefits for our kids will be huge. We could have a lot less standardized testing, quality teachers in the classroom (because higher pay is critical to making that happen), and more support staff. The teachers have already won a big victory in securing guaranteed recess times.
For those who are understandably frustrated with the situation, the blame lies with the school district that has refused to agree to the union's reasonable requests. It also now lies with those five board members who tonight voted to pursue a right-wing path of suing to block a strike, rather than forcing the district's bargaining team to come to a quick settlement.
I remain unconvinced that the poor performance by the SPS labor negotiation team wasn't planned.
#0.. 5-1-1 ???
#1.. Forced immediate court action could polarize the community and lead to lower than fair wages. (check top teacher salaries in Silicon Valley - Santa Clara $101,000 - San Jose $96,000 - Cupertino $104,000 - Palo Alto Unified $116,000, Los Angeles LAUSD $$88,500, Downey $112,000, Long Beach $101,200, Los Alamitos $110,000)
#2.. A reduced wage scale in Seattle could justify lower salaries on state teacher salary scales in various geographic locations when McCleary is finally settled.
*** Directors take and oath of office to support the Constitutions of WA State and the USA as well as laws.... Are teacher strikes illegal? Whether the answer to that is yes or no, does not make failing to vote against a Labor Strike Injunction a violation of a School Director's oath of office. I wish I found it hard to believe that 5 Directors voted for an injunction on Tuesday night but I do not.
According to the Money magazine salary calculator :: $116,000 in San Jose Area
equates to $98,000 in Seattle and $100,000 equates to $85,000 in Seattle.
$100,000 in Los Angeles area equates to $94,000 in Seattle.
So Downey's $112,000 equates to $105,000 in Seattle.
LAUSD's $88,000 equates to $82,000 in Seattle.
Wandering Mind
Nice leadership.
WestSea
A large part of cost of living is median home price which dictates housing and rental costs. Seattle and Bellevue teachers housing burden exceeds the state adjustment. What is the true cost of living adjustment in those areas over the last ten years? Until the state restructures the pay scale to account for this as has been proposed, the district has to make up the difference in the mean time.
-NNNCr
Are teacher strikes illegal? Whether the answer to that is yes or no, does not make voting against a Labor Strike Injunction a violation of a School Director's oath of office.
Wandering Mind
I would be polite but honestly, I don't want to hear this. Not from the Governor or the Times because it is time to - get - it - done. The Supreme Court get this and believe me, if the Governor does something dumb like call a Special Session for the charter school law (over getting McCleary done), I think we really will have a showdown.
Robert makes a good point - who DOES want a strike? Not teachers because they will be making up all the work that students lose not being in school. AP teachers will be dancing as fast as they can because AP tests are in May. But, at some point, enough is enough. If I saw the district truly being careful with money, I would not side with teachers. But I don't see that.
Good point, WestSea, saw that as well.
The legislature also told us that they wouldn't consider increasing funding until Seattle closed schools and now that we need those buildings back & new ones in addition where is the legislature with the extra money? I think we already got burned trying to kowtow to legislators on funding. I don't see the point in doing that again.
-HS Parent
Yes or No
-Things that make you go hmmmm
Just Saying
Just curious
The new new math
Special education is one place. But surely there are many pockets of similar fat-cat cronyism.
ObeseCat
Pockets of waste are gigantic because of the centralized system of top-down decision-making. Until there is a shift to decentralized decision-making the waste will never shrink. However unless the Board were to act, decentralization could never occur as senior staff will not restructure to put themselves out of highly paid jobs.
Cat Lover
No kidding school isn't about daycare - it is about teaching and learning,, neither of which is happening on the first day of school. Can the union claim they are striking on behalf of that single mom working the night shift for the minimum wage? All families and children, whatever their circumstances, have a right to a public education and don't belittle families who expect that to actually happen on schedule.
My children have had some truly wonderful teachers at SPS, some average teachers, and also some truly terrible ones who couldn't be bothered. I would be more sympathetic to the union if there was differentiation in pay and raise based on quality, but no, that is too much for parents to wish for. So instead Seattle families have to wait it out.
West
You're in the minority wishing for performance-based pay for teachers. Teaching is a collaborative art - new teachers need a lot of support from their colleagues. Would you like your second grader assigned to a first year teacher whose coworkers are competing against her for a salary increase or bonus? Instead, I want those terrible teachers out of the classroom.
The children of that single mother will get their free public education - all 180 days of it. They'll get recess too and more special education/nurse/psychologist support if they need it.
Sept. 8, 2015
Does Money Matter?
.... The latest research suggests that money does matter.
... increased school spending improves student outcomes, especially for low-income students. For example, increasing per-pupil spending by 10 percent in the K-12 years increases the probability of high school graduation by roughly 10 percentage points for low-income children and by 2.5 percentage points for higher-income children. The positive effects appear to be the result of a reduction in class size, a higher ratio of adults to students, increases in instructional time, and increases in teacher salaries that help to attract and retain higher quality teachers.
.... Schools are now competing for talent with other sectors in a way that wasn’t true in a world where well-educated women had few professional opportunities. Until more people accept the need to raise teacher salaries significantly, schools are not likely to improve. To be sure, salaries need to be linked to performance and better measures of teacher performance should be developed. But the main reason that money matters in education is because teachers matter, and attracting and retaining the best talent has to be a priority.
An injunction could have been voted on again later - a no vote wouldn't preclude that.
That is why I am ambivalent about this strike too. I am mainly supporting b/c of the no-pay 30 mins-longer day issue. That is not fair.
Reader
If Nyland and Wright and Tolley were just a little more humble and accepted that teachers and parents should have a voice in the direction of our schools, they wouldn't be in this situation. (A real voice, not this year's-long practice of meeting/survey/meeting/secret decision-making we've got going on now.)
This school level evaluation creates a sample size large enough to be acceptable unlike the classroom size which is not large enough for correct statistical significance.
Collaboration that is effective needs to be encouraged. This would be a great first step in moving away from the centralized bureaucratic top-down decision-making of the JSCEE. Moving to more autonomy for schools and eventually way fewer curriculum bureaucrats employed at the JSCEE.
-Lookee Here
A system like that encourages teachers to be too generous with grades, to go easy on deadlines and do whatever else they can to game the system. Giving students failing grades, no matter how deserved, becomes a huge conflict for the teacher when it SHOULD be an accepted part of the craft. I've seen it happen.
When performance-based pay is linked to test scores, you get outcomes like we've seen in Atlanta: an even greater fixation on testing to the detriment of students and, sooner or later, corruption based on self-interest. And again, it's not out of greed so much as an interest in avoiding attention and not looking bad.
We should NOT advocate performance-based pay for teaching. Ever.
WestSea
Where it will hurt you MOST is in historically under-performing schools. Those are usually in low income areas. You very quickly wind up with another big equity issue.
Performance pay is all well and good in the private sector, but in schools it only undermines rigor in the classroom and the integrity of the gradebooks.
I'm off to walk a picket line.
This isn't just about pay. It's about what comes first - the classroom or the board room.
reader47
Nova grad
Thanks,
-flibbertigibbet
Suspicious
Not only are they authoritarian but they are modeling and expecting that from principals now. If my principal is any indication, she does ask for input anymore from teachers. She just decides. We are now doing "Ruler" which is a school-wide social skills program. When we voted on what teachers most want from the program, "respect" and "support" were the major issues. Where do respect and support come from? Leadership. In our case, the principal's leadership. That is what the Nyland/Tolley/Wright model of central leadership gets you in the schools. But I don't think our principal got the message. So we are apparently supposed to model for and ask of kids something that our principal doesn't have to do for us. Go figure.
Re: performance-based pay. Under this new "accountability" teacher-by-teacher, I've already seen examples of teachers changing answers and inflating scores and grades. We teachers know who does it and why. I'm not going to say where or who because it becomes about survival and we all do what we can to survive under the pressure of authoritarian leadership.
Also, teaching isn't one-size-fits-all. Children often respond differently to different styles. Primary children often have more interaction with teachers than with their own parents during the week! We are much more than just academicians. Although I would never say or support poor teaching. The only way to reduce or rid schools or poor teaching is a principal who really knows teaching and respects and supports teachers and works with the poor ones. To me, that's the meaningful job of a principal.
I'm sorry, CapHill Mom, but you make me feel like a baby-sitter. But you know, I didn't put in five-years plus university work to be a babysitter. And I am a very good teacher.
I, too, questioned Patu's abstaining.
Basic backgrounder on Creative Approach Schools
--FremontDad
Sorry.
Suspicious
Glad to hear you are a good teacher, your students are fortunate. Too bad that wasn't the case with my daughter's 6th grade math teacher and 7th grade science teacher and the substitute for 3 months of 6th grade language arts who played a video of Mulan when they were "studying" ancient China. There are excellent teachers and good teachers and sadly really bad teachers who harm the profession and waste their students' time. Teachers and some parents complain about differentiated pay scales and talk about the first year teacher who needs mentoring. But what about the 20-year veteran who is a genius with her students? What about the teacher who regularly screams at the students for talking? Or the teacher who spends most class time talking about personal issues? Some teachers have more talent in the classroom and deserve better compensation than others.
West Seattle Single Mom
I also completely buy into the idea that kids learn differently, and someone who is a "good" teacher for one child may struggle to reach another. The very best manage to change their styles to fit a variety of kids -- but even if they don't -- we need to celebrate good, hardworking teachers in a manner that does encourages collaboration and the ability of teachers to learn from, and support, each other.
We also need MUCH better principals. Good ones are at a premium, and many either need to change their leadership styles -- or leave.
Jan
Jan