Teachers and support staff at Garfield picket along 23rd Ave as Seattle Public School educators go on strike in demand of a fair contract.

Seattle public school kids are home again on Friday as the union representing the system’s 6,000 or so teachers and educators remains on strike over pay and issues including how the district staffs important programs like special education.

The strike entered its third day on Friday. UPDATE 9/12/2022 8:00 AM: Schools were again closed on Monday as negotiations continue, the district announced. The city has announced the start of a free “Grab and Go” lunch program to help families during the ongoing work stoppage. UPDATE 9/12/2022 4:55 PM: Classes are canceled again on Tuesday.

With no agreement in place, the work stoppage will match 2015’s five-day strike by Tuesday. That year — the last time the Seattle Education Association walked out and formed picket lines — the labor dispute ended with a Tuesday morning tentative agreement on a three-year deal with pay increases of 3% in the first year; 2% in the second, and 4.5% in third, plus state cost-of-living raises plus agreements on a host of improvements including recess guarantees, and the end of test scores being tied to student evaluations. Seattle Public Schools also agreed to create race and equity teams at 30 of the district’s campuses.

This year, issues around pay, special education, and the pandemic at the core of the contract talks. The district has offered pay raises of an additional 1% above the 5.5% cost-of-living increase set by state lawmakers plus one-time bonuses for certain qualified teachers.

The two sides are also separated by disagreements over special education including the district’s efforts to eliminate ratio limits on the number of students assigned for special education instructors.

Brenda Nelson, a special education teacher at Capitol Hill’s Meany Middle School, says teachers are already facing a struggle working in Seattle.

“I think it’s really important as a (special education) teacher, let alone a general education teacher, to have class sizes that is manageable. Have work and case loads that are manageable. Have living wages that are decent, that allow people to work,” Nelson said. “We all know, here in Seattle being a very expensive place to work, many of our teachers and instructional instructors have second and third jobs. We need wages that are livable and allow people to not have to work so extremely hard to earn a living.”

Charlie Katie Mercer, a multilingual teacher at Lowell Elementary, joins a picket in a strike aimed a getting a fair contract so teachers better care for their students.

Charlie Katie Mercer, a multilingual teacher at Lowell Elementary, speaks to why they strike. pic.twitter.com/1tKhn55ovn

— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) September 7, 2022

Educators and staff from Meany Middle School on Capitol Hill form a picket during a strike for a fair contract.

Brenda Nelson, a special education teacher at Meany Middle School, speaks to why they strike. pic.twitter.com/54HfBkiTdm

— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) September 7, 2022

Lowell Elementary teachers and staff picket on Capitol Hill in solidarity with the #Seattle teachers strike.@jseattle pic.twitter.com/YaP2USw8fv

— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) September 7, 2022

Jacques Pugh, the videography teacher at Garfield HS, talks about why they strike. pic.twitter.com/wvc4gqP0A2

— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) September 7, 2022

Recent labor deals for the district including a one-year agreement reached to narrowly avert a strike in 2018 included significant pay raises and increased family leave. More recently, the union and the district butted heads before the start of the school year in 2021 over COVID-19 protocol and policies. The district is now led by Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones who stepped up from his interim post earlier this year.

Jones and Seattle Public Schools are facing the labor dispute amid continued falling enrollment in the district with student totals expected to be the lowest in the system since 2015. Falling enrollment also brings continued reduced funding from the state.

Some 49,000 students attend public schools in Seattle but enrollment in private and religious-backed campuses is growing. Nearly 22% of kids attended a private school in Seattle as of 2020 — the third highest rate of major U.S. cities trailing only San Francisco and Milwaukee and a total that is likely to have grown during the pandemic.

For working families and parents looking for solutions for childcare, the city is providing recreation drop-in centers for school-age children. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade have access to the free recreational programs and activities, and families could begin registering online starting Thursday, the city said.

Support for the picket lines includes frequent labor champion District 3 representative Kshama Sawant who announced she is donating to the teacher strike fund and called for support for the walkout. “If teachers are going to win their demands, they cannot put any faith in the school district or corporate politicians,” Sawant said in a statement from City Hall. “They will need an all-out fight with solidarity from students, parents, socialists, and the wider labor movement…. I will donate $5,000 from my solidarity fund to the educators’ strike fund.”

Smaller gestures are also being made including at Capitol Hill beermaker Optimism Brewing where teachers can get a free first pint “today, and every day until we are all back at school.”

HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.

Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.