Seattle teachers to vote on new contract

The tentative contract agreement wasn’t reached until almost two weeks later, after a five-day strike.

After the vote, union President Jonathan Knapp said he wanted to reiterate what a “groundbreaking and far-reaching contract this was”.

Rank-and-file members of the Seattle teachers union formally ended their strike against the state’s largest school district, voting Sunday evening to ratify a proposed three-year contract. “I stand by teachers”. “Is it (the contract) everything we want? They should get raises”.

Several hundred parents, children and other supporters waved signs and chanted as they walked almost 2 miles from Seattle’s Pioneer Square to school district headquarters Tuesday in a previously arranged march to support teachers. Later that day, the union’s board of directors and representative assembly both voted to recommend the contract, suspending the strike.

“We want the kids in school but we need a fair deal to do that”, said First Grade teacher, Madeline Lawrence in an interview with Channel 5. The sides hammered out a deal early Tuesday following an overnight bargaining session, but teachers remained on the picket line as they waited to learn specifics of the deal.

The full details of the tentative agreement have not been disclosed, but 30-minute recess is guaranteed for elementary students, and no added district testing for students.

Attendees said members of the bargaining team received a standing ovation at the meeting.

The contract will offer teachers with a 9.5 percent raise in their pay over the next three years, and it will not include state cost-of-living adjustments. “The people downtown (district officials) need to know we have value”.

The Seattle Times reports that of the estimated 3,000 members who attended the meeting, 83 percent of teachers, 87 percent of paraprofessionals and 96 percent of office professionals voted to approve the contract, according to the Seattle Education Association.

“The district was not going to move on any more money”, she said. Some $37 million of that will go to Seattle. That was where they were at. He backed their demand for a cap on caseloads for special education teachers, psychologists and other specialists. Access is a program that allows students to spend the majority of their time in general-education classrooms. Teachers in Kelso are actually on strike, and teachers in Pasco and South Whidbey got strike more quickly and this month though have because of the fact that decided such a agreements.