Where Are the Teachers Strike Negotiations?

From KPLU's Kyle Stokes, a low-tech assessment about salary increases for SPS teachers  (looks pretty close except for the when):



Stokes added (later):  Adding a caveat to my little legal pad table: the 1.8% state COLA in '16-17 is one-time Embedded image permalink

Comments

Robert Cruickshank said…
Of course, pay isn't the only issue on the table. The longer day, testing and evaluation, SpEd caseloads, racial equity teams, and more apparently remain unresolved. I've always suspected those issues will be trickier to resolve than money.
9/14/15, 10:49 AM
Anonymous said…
Let's be sure that the SpEd caseloads aren't used as bargaining chips. I would never support the union again if they let that happen.

Runner

9/14/15, 11:00 AM
Anonymous said…
Great job by Kyle Stokes. It's like balm to my eyes to just see it written out clearly on a scrap of paper.

The numbers are close but they happen in two years versus three...isn't that a big difference?

Anyone know if they're even bargaining today?

SAHM
9/14/15, 11:27 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Yes, SEA reports they are negotiating. According to KPLU, the SEA VP characterized it as "movement" but would not say "progress."
9/14/15, 11:40 AM
Floor Pie said…
I am VERY concerned that SpEd caseloads are going to get tossed right under the bus. Like I said on the post that got deleted, the issue just doesn't resonate with the general public like some of the more straightforward talking points do.
9/14/15, 12:03 PM
SPS Data said…
That's not how it's calculated.

If they maintain current numbers but for a two year contract, they are about 3.7% apart.That's actually closer than what K. Stokes is showing (in a tweet, using their math, he reports it as 4.3% apart). Hopefully the negotiators are using the real numbers, not the ones that are fluffed up for the public.
9/14/15, 12:06 PM
Anonymous said…
Yeah - I was late to the issue of caseloads. My neighbor who has 2 kids who receive speced services and is my local expert sent me links and got me informed. Again, I don't generally trust the district, but SEA sure is absent in the narrative of this drama. All of which is to say, I think you are right to be concerned Floor Pie - though I think more people in the general public would care if they knew. A Parent
9/14/15, 12:21 PM
Anonymous said…
I hope little things as well like a day at the end of the year for teachers to close out classrooms and do paperwork; pay for moving/changing classrooms; class size - is that negotiable?; and yes definitely sped issues must be resolved.I hope all teachers are as understanding of that as I've become.

I wish someone would explain the difference between Access and regular sped.I've only just learned about Access but I don't know what determines Access over regular sped.

Fine Print
9/14/15, 12:40 PM
Carol Simmons said…
Yes Robert I agree. There will be extremely important and perhaps "trickier" issues to resolve. And how in the world can they say the equity issue is agreed to or resolved when all they have decided is to have "equity teams" in some or more or all of the schools. This is a ridiculous approach to the Equity issue. More teams, committees or task forces will not resolve the equity issue.
9/14/15, 12:51 PM
Anonymous said…
Floor Pie,

I was at the Sped/ESA march at JSCEE this morning. About 100 teachers, parents & students were marching though I think that included some families there for the "school-in". Media did some interviews.

I know that ESA caps & Special ed ratios are the number one concern for teachers at my school. I don't understand why media isn't picking it up though.

I do fear that will be the sacrifice in this negotiation.

-Sped volunteer
9/14/15, 1:10 PM
Anonymous said…
If teachers get their tiny raises by selling out students with disabilities, this SEA member will not be happy. What is the point? I have a student in high school inclusion which is basically being gutted. I don't care about raises if there is no program for my kid. All parents I know feel the same way. Community support means SEA must stand up for students too!

Inclusion Now
9/14/15, 1:33 PM
Anonymous said…
Query for SPS and people who say teachers aren't being asked to work 1/2 hr longer, only to working with students during the 1/2 hr they're required to be at school before class: "WHEN are they supposed to GRADE PAPERS and get their classroom READY for students?" Teachers used to have the day before each school year starts and the day after the school year ends to set up/pack up their classrooms. The day after is GONE now, I don't know about the day before. So last year all of my kids' teachers were at school for several days AFTER the school year ended, working unpaid finalizing grades, finishing paperwork, and packing up their rooms. The 1/2 hour extra "facetime" with students, means 1/2 hour extra each day working at home grading papers, planning lesson plans, calling parents, anwering school related emails, making decorations for class, setting up labs, helping parents with concerns about their kids, helping students who couldn't understand lectures, looking for back HW/handouts lost by spacy students, lecture notes/assignments for sick kids & makeup tests and labs for kids who got bad grades; organizing fieldtrips, competitions, school events, science fairs, etc. etc. etc ad infinitum. Many of parents here, like me, have helped teachers grading math HW (with provided keys). Tell me, how long does it take you to grade 150 assignments?

Be honest, at what point exactly would we - who aren't teachers - have said "Take this job and SHOVE IT where...(your choice here)!" to Mr. Guaranteed-Contract-$276,000-per-year-basepay-Superintendent-Nyland's disrepectful, dishonest nickel-and-diming?

Why do we ask teachers to AGAIN take the sacrifice for kids, and make no such demand of Mr Nyland and his well paid team, who claims to be only thinking about our children?

CCA

9/14/15, 1:53 PM
Anonymous said…
Inclusion Now,

You could start by helping pro-SPED candidates get elected. Look very closely to which candidates truly support SPED and then you can spread the word. Once the strike is over it will be business as usual for SPED at SPS. There are several very strong pro SPED candidates and without them SPED is doomed.

SPS OT.
9/14/15, 2:19 PM
Anonymous said…
I'm curious, parents, who do you ask to write AL and college recommendations for your kids? Who do you call when
you have some concerns/problems/want help for your kids, teachers or admistrators?

Honest questions, y'all. I always ask teachers because most of the administration don't know my kid from the man in the moon (last year I emailed the big wigs 9 times, talked with 4 different people, got only one.single.reply. from one person (others said they'd get back to me, still waiting, maybe they're having problems booting up their computers), and he gave me the wrong information, because he mixed up my younger child with sibling going to a DIFFERENT school! Just wondering if I and all the parents I've talked to with similar sad tales are in the minority.

SPS rank-and-file staff are lovely though, helpful and hard working. Almost like SPS pays premiums for incompetence on purpose!

CCA
9/14/15, 2:21 PM
Anonymous said…
BTW, the one big wig who did reply (after one month and several reminder emails and voice messages to everyone) - though sadly with wrong info - is on the SPS bargaining team according to this blog.

It's the sad, sad state of affairs we get when we treat education as a profit making business.

CCA
9/14/15, 2:34 PM
Anonymous said…
If SPS wants more instruction time, they need to pay teachers for a couple extra days at the end of the school year. My child's middle school classes stopped doing work several days before the end last year, presumably so teachers could grade final assignments and assign overall grades. The kids were just biding time.

HF
9/14/15, 2:38 PM
seattle citizen said…
A couple of years ago, teachers lost the day after school ended as a paid TRI day. Amazing how District expects them to administer the final final on the last dat at 12:20 and then be done with contracted hours for the year that day at 2:50....
9/14/15, 3:07 PM
Patrick said…
CCA, you actually got emails or calls back from ANYone at JSC without filing a lawsuit? Wow.
9/14/15, 3:29 PM
Cut DT Salaries said…
Here are a few more data points from 13-14


You can look up individual teachers at this site. I was glad that most were in 65+ range some in the 80k (not including benefits)
http://data.spokesman.com/salaries/schools/2014/92-seattle-public-schools/

Average Salary: $48,563.72

‹ All districts
Seattle Public Schools
Enrollment, 2010-2011 (pre-K thru 12th): 47,696
Total Salary: $287,302,971.00
Average Salary: $48,563.72
See all 5,916 employees › Highest paid individuals, 2013-2014
Person Salary Bonuses/Stipends Insurance Benefits Total Comp.
Jose L Banda
Superintendent

$269,999 $700 $9,852 $280,551
Charles Edward Wright
Deputy/Assist. Supt.

$190,650 $700 $10,296 $201,646
Lester Thomas Herndon
Deputy/Assist. Supt.

$176,442 $450 $9,852 $186,744
Ronald English
Director/Supervisor

$176,444 $0 $10,296 $186,740
Paul A Apostle
Director/Supervisor

$176,443 $0 $10,296 $186,739
Pegi M. Mcevoy
Director/Supervisor

$176,443 $0 $10,296 $186,739
Michael F Tolley
Deputy/Assist. Supt.

$176,443 $0 $9,852 $186,295
Susan Lee Wright
Director/Supervisor

$155,768 $0 $10,296 $166,064
Lesley A Rogers
Director/Supervisor

$142,144 $0 $10,296 $152,440
Clover Codd
Director/Supervisor

$142,020 $0 $10,296 $152,316
9/14/15, 3:30 PM
Kelli Lawson said…
ACCESS is a measure of English language skills, it helps to determine the needs of students who are still learning the language as well as academic cotent.
9/15/15, 3:37 AM
Anonymous said…
No Kellie, that is incorrect. You are thinking of the WELPA (Washington English Language Proficiency Assessment). ACCESS is an inclusion program for students with disabilities. Many but not all of them have Autism. The program is designed to support students in the general education classroom as much as possible. However, it often requires extra support from the special ed teacher or instructional assistant. The higher the caseloads, the more difficult it is to support the students.
9/16/15, 6:52 AM
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