Seattle Schools Community Forum

I didn't watch all of the Board meeting on tv last night but I did get to see the Board leave - en masse - when one speaker who didn't know the rules, challenged them on allowing her a second slot to speak again.  (The rules are one speaking time per person per meeting, no matter if someone is willing to cede their spot to you to give you more time.)  When she wouldn't back down, the Board just got up and took a break.  It was surprising to see given they generally give security the nod and the person is escorted from the room. The Board also voted to halt suspension for elementary school students for nonviolent offenses for one year.   Taken out of the mix for suspension are disruptive conduct, rule-breaking and disobedience.  (Seattle has a lower suspension rate than the state average but it still has the issue of suspensions that occur more for minority students, ELL and Sped students.)  This vote still doesn't solve the issue of what else happens if n...

Per this Slog entry about not getting ahead of ourselves, there is this Tweet from SPS: The union members also need time to be informed and vote.   This is true; leadership may not like the deal but the members do have to vote. From SPS Communications: Bargaining teams from Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association have reached a tentative agreement to end the strike. Both teams worked diligently all day Monday and overnight, with a shared goal of getting the district’s 53,000 students back into 97 schools. The tentative agreement was reached just before 7 a.m. today.

Update: I took down a recent post from a teacher upon request (and learning that the teacher, despite having put it on Facebook, didn't want it made public).  A lesson for all.  I normally check to see if an author wants something printed but took the word of the individual who had taken off a Facebook page. Please help me by not assuming that something that is "public" elsewhere can then be printed here. Monday, September 14th, Rally at JSCEE at 8:30 am Seattle Public School families, please join Special Ed teachers, ESAs, students and families to tell the district we won't allow them to divide us against one another. Wear red and bring signs that speak to our need for lower caseloads for our ESAs and better staffing ratios for our ACCESS students! Let them know we care about educating ALL our students and want to set our teachers up to succeed. Also tomorrow, Monday, September 14th at JSCEE from 8 am to noon: Join us for this district wide time of communit...

 Update from Twitter via SPS: The ACT exams scheduled for tomorrow at Franklin & Nathan Hale will still be held. Not impacted by strike. end of update Both President Carr's community meeting and the Board Retreat (scheduled for tomorrow, Sept. 12th) have been cancelled.  What a surprise.  Don't know when Carr will be available again; the Retreat is rescheduled for Sept. 26th. There is another district press conference with updates on the strike at 3 pm.   I may not be able to make it but again, will track -via Twitter- any new information. Listened to both the KUOW Week in Review and their noon show as both talked about the strike (and charter schools, remember them?). First, I actually like the people at Washington Policy Center as people but man, there is NOTHING they won't say to promote ed reform.  Paul Guppy was on the Week in Review and he had some whoppers: - He said the strike was the "nuclear option." - He says that Aviation High and ...

The Seattle Times' latest story on the strike provides some real numbers on the salary offer for teachers and I hope they illuminate the issue. SEA - Wants 5% raise this school year - 5.5% 2016-2017 - 4.8% over the next two years from state (remembering that the state-funded amount is about 75% of teachers' salaries) for a COLA ( I can't seem to find what the SEA wants for 2017-2018; I think it's about 3.5%.) District - 2% this school year - 3.2% the year after - 4% in 2017-2018 - plus state COLA Teachers did not get a COLA for the last 6 years even though there was an 2000 initiative requiring the Legislature to do that. They also lost ground over the rising costs of healthcare. From KUOW : And it does come down to the district. The state didn’t raise its base pay – stuck at $34,048 for a starting teacher – for six years. The state finally raised the base pay by 2 percent this summer. So teachers bargain with their districts for raises an...

There's a mediator and hopefully, both sides are talking thru this person.  Cross your fingers. There are still many schools that need support from parents and community.  Check out the list at Soup for Teachers .  They now have over 1600 members.  I myself walked over to the Roosevelt teachers and told them they were welcome to come and use my bathroom anytime today.  A Parent Petition about what parents want from the contract.  They have over 4500 signatures. From the West Seattle blog: If the Seattle Public Schools teacher strike continues through the end of the week, please join West Seattle educators and families on Friday afternoon from 12:30-3:00 for an Alki Beach Read-In after a morning of community service in honor of September 11th (check with educators from individual schools for project specifics). ALL families are welcome! We are coordinating with multiple schools for this event and hope to have a great turnout. Please bring your boo...