Classes canceled on Tuesday; Seattle teachers say district refusing to listen

Classes are canceled again on Tuesday for the approximate 53,000 students of Seattle Public Schools.

The district will study a new offer from the teacher’s union, according to reports.

As the strike by Seattle Public School teachers enters its fifth day, the union says it never should have gotten this far, but the district dragged its feet too long.

The strike costs $100,000 a day, KING 5 reports.

Forty teachers and other education professionals with a wide range of experience from across all schools and programs came together in May to begin working on their proposals for the new contract, and delivered them to the district by early August, said negotiator Dan Jordan.

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Jordan, an 18-year veteran who teaches fourth and fifth grade at Olympic View Elementary School, said the proposals were exhaustively researched and developed, and presented with plenty of detailed justification and supporting materials.

But he said negotiators were floored when the district virtually ignored them without any negotiation or reasoning.

“Twenty of our proposals were just simply rejected, so there was no conversation across the table,” Jordan said. “There was no counter, it was just rejection, rejection, rejection. And we walked away being like, ‘Where do we go from here?'”

The district instead came back with its own proposals, which included far lower raises than the union was seeking, and a controversial plan to add 30 minutes to the school day without extra pay. Jordan said with zero justification, the district knew the proposals would not fly with the union.

“The district is not taking into consideration that experience and they’re not respecting that experience. And they’re not asking for our input as decisions are made,” Jordan said.

The teachers did lower their demands in a new offer presented Sunday. They’re now seeking a two-year deal with a 4.75 percent raise the first year and a 5 percent raise in the second, in addition to a 3 percent cost-of-living raise offered by the state. That’s a 12.75 pay hike – down from a previous proposal of 15.3 percent over two years.

The district had previously offered a 14 percent increase over three years including contributions from both the district and the state.

The two sides have reached agreement on a number of issues including standardizing recess times and improving equity for all students. But Jordan insists the other issues such as case loads for special education teachers, standardized testing, and teacher evaluations also remain big sticking points.

Jordan said that if the district had negotiated in good faith throughout the summer, all of the issues could have been resolved before school started, potentially avoiding a strike.

“This has been going on for years,” he said. “Teachers not feeling supported. Parents upset with the direction the district takes and actions the school board takes. And I think this moment is all of that combined where our families, our communities and our educators are saying enough is enough.”

The district and school board have limited comment on the strike and the teachers allegations. They’ve staged daily press conferences with spokesperson Stacey Howard and their lead negotiator, but declined requests for interviews. Superintendent Larry Nyland and board president Sherry Carry have not been available for interviews and have not commented since the union called the strike.

The one theme they keep repeating: they’d love to do more, but simply don’t have the money because the state system is broken. And Howard said while they dispute many of the union’s contentions about the negotiations, they aren’t going to get into a “he said, she said.”