SEA Votes on Striking After Demonstration at Roosevelt

In a demonstration outside Roosevelt late Wednesday

afternoon, local teachers marched through the streets

bearing picket signs and sporting bright-red unionSocial

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t-shirts. The picketing comes as the result of months of

contract negotiation between the Seattle School District

and the teachers’ union. However, despite meeting over

20 times since May, no compromise has been reached

and teachers remain without a contract less than a week

out from the Grst day of school. This afternoon, they’ll

vote on whether or not to strike in protest.

“We are here today because for the last three months,

we’ve been bargaining with the district in good faith,”

said Roosevelt science teacher Mark Landreville. “We’ve

put in a lot of time with proposals which will actually

help improve the quality of education in Seattle schools,

things that will help students, and not only has the

district rejected all of these things, but the district hasn’t

come up with any substantial proposals of their own.”

This perspective is shared by Roosevelt social studies

and health teacher and acting picket captain Kara

Macdonald: “The report from the bargaining team was

that [the district] really didn’t come to the table with

anything until the end of August.”

She continued, “It seemed like they didn’t have a

coordinated effort, or hadn’t really put any effort into

thoughtful ideas or counterproposals. A bargain is a

compromise, so you have to put something on the table

in order to make a compromise. You can’t just listen to

one side and say ‘no’.”

Main points of contention include teacher salary, length

of recess for elementary students, and a school day that

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lasts 30 minutes longer with no extra pay for educators.

Lynne Hubbard of Laurelhurdst Elementary shares her

sentiments on a sign at the demonstration. Photo by Karinna

Gerhardt

“They want us to put in more time without getting paid

for it,” explained Landreville. “They are proposing that

they’re giving us a raise, but that doesn’t even cover cost

of living or the increase in our health care cost.

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Everybody’s health insurance is going up quite a bit.”

Seattle educators have not received a cost-of-living-

adjustment (COLA) to their salaries in six years. Seattle’s

costliness means a growing number of teachers are

unable to live inside the school district they work for.

The school board has proposed a pay increase of 13%

over the next three years, while union representatives are

calling for a raise of 21% instead. Union activists have

pointed out that the district received an extra $40 million

in state funding this year on top of its already-sizeable

reserve funds.

“[Seattle schools] consistently have larger reserves,

larger amounts of money left over than they plan for in

the budget,” said Jonathan Knapp, president of the

Seattle Education Association. “For the last six years, at

least, they’ve consistently had about $20 million more

left over at the end of the year than they projected to

have left in reserves.”

Yesterday’s demonstrations were held at nine Seattle

public high schools across Seattle; now, teachers will put

down their picket signs and decide if they will strike.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt on what the outcome is

going to be tomorrow,” said Knapp. “It’s very clear that

our members are very Grm about what they need. […]

The district needs to take that seriously.”

“I expect that we will vote to strike,” remarked Roosevelt


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social studies teacher Janine Magidman. “I think the

momentum is there, but I’m hoping that that’s enough to

convince the district.”

She continued, “I would love to not be on strike. I would

love to come in and start school on time.”

No matter what tomorrow’s vote brings, today’s

demonstrations came tinged with an air of expectation.

In a single Gle march, the carefree sounds of reunited

colleagues intermingled with chants for a fair contract

(“When do we want it? “Yesterday!” quipped one

teacher), allowing catharsis for coworkers vocalizing

their collective frustrations.

At one point, a single voice rose above the noise. Decked

out in the same unifying red t-shirt as his peers, a male

demonstrator yelled, “Single Gle!”, directing the group

onwards. “This is strike practice.”

Featured Photos: Educators and supporters alike make

their way around the Roosevelt neighborhood. Photo by

Karinna Gerhardt

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TAGS Education Karinna Gerhardt

SEA Seattle

Written by Karinna Gerhardt

Karinna is the Roosevelt News' Chief ContentOfGcer. She enjoys green ballpoint pens, the smellof freshly-laundered newspapers, andjournalistically investigating things. This is herthird year on TRN’s staff; previously, she laboredas copy editor and still gets a headache at thesight of a run-on sentence. Her deepest-heldbeliefs include vigilant use of spell check, regularhydration, and the addition of a sugar bowl to thejournalism room's tea corner immediately.

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SEA Votes on Striking After Demonstration at Roosevelt