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Help pass the school levy and bond: one BIG week of phoning
Seattle voters will decide in February whether to renew the maintenance and operations levy, and whether to pass the next in a series of capital bonds to build and renovate schools.
"We absolutely rely on school levies and bonds simply to pay staff and maintain class sizes," said
Phyllis Campano, SEA vice president. "The levy is more than 25% of the District's budget, so we have to make sure it passes."
Below is the levy phoning schedule.
- Saturday, January 30th, 10 AM to Noon at McKinstry Innovation Center , 210 S Hudson
- Monday through Thursday, February 1st thru 4th at McKinstry and at the Swedish Club, 1920 Dexter Ave N.
- Saturday, February 6th from 10 AM to Noon at McKinstry.
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Wear Red and join in: National Day of "Walk-Ins" on February 18th.
Seattle educators know all about walk-outs, but have you heard of a walk-in?
Across the country, educators will join with parents and other supporters to rally at our schools on February 18th in the morning, and then "walk in" to school together to start the school day.
The state legislature will be in session in February, and we want to keep the heat on the legislature to increase school funding and meet the state's "paramount duty."
"While the strike had a lot to do with the District and the school board, it also had a lot to do with the lack of school funding," said
Laura Lehni, teacher at Washington Middle School. "Lots of parents want to know how we can work together to increase school funding, and we think the walk ins are a good way to build pressure."
Wear your SEA tee shirt or other red clothing that day, and join your SEA building reps and parents from your school in planning and participating in your school's event. It can be as simple as a curbside event with coffee, hot cocoa and signing your name on to a giant postcard to your legislators, followed by walking in to school and having a short program in the cafeteria.
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State wants new training and certification for paraprofessionals, but doesn't want to pay for it
A proposed state law (SB 6408) would require paraprofessionals to get additional training and certification - and pay for it out of their own pockets! A team of SEA paraprofessionals met with Seattle-area state legislators on Monday, January 25th to let them know that any new requirements must include state funding to cover the costs.
"We support increasing training for paraprofes-sionals," said
Marla Rasmussen, SEA Paraprofessional president. "That's good for our profession and good for our students."
In addition to a general training module, parapros would need to complete a more specific training module, depending on which field you are working in, for example, special education or ELL. The state proposes to start a pilot next year and then give parapros three years to get the training and certification.
The SEA team joined ESPs (Educational Support Professionals) from around the state - our team included
Micheal Melonson (FSW),
Celina Austin (McGilvra),
Angie Mosley-Freeman (Rainier View),
Vallerie Fisher (Kimball),
Marguerite Jones (West Seattle High School),
Antoinette Felder (substitute),
Jewel Howard (Wing Luke), and
Adriel Foxley (Pathfinder K-8).
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Mandatory trainings? Administrators need to budget for paying staff.
Here's a simple rule: if a training is mandatory, certificated staff should not be told that TRI covers it, and classified staff (parapros and SAEOPs) should not be told to use your 8 days of professional development and leadership time. Individuals determine the use of both TRI and the 8 days. If your administrator, or a special education administrator, or anyone else tells you there is a mandatory training, make sure they understand that they need to have incorporated paying staff into their training budget.
Likewise, we have an ongoing grievance about the Safe Schools training.
SEA Board members Andy Russel and Shelly Hurley, along with
SEA Executive Director John Donaghy, met with District human resources officials in November regarding our grievance. SPS officials listened, took notes, and then never responded, as they are supposed to within 10 days of the meeting. Our Grievance Review Committee has now sent the grievance to arbitration.
"The district claims Safe Schools trainings are covered by TRI," said
Shelly Hurley, Graham Hill. "But all you have to do is read the list of what TRI covers to see that mandatory trainings are not on the list. We say these trainings should be done during or in lieu of staff meetings - which is exactly how they were done when our nurses led the trainings before going online."
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Interested in an SEA committee?
We're always recruiting members to join in leading the work of our union. We are forming our new Assessment Committee, which will meet with the District to review assessments and develop an assessment calendar.
Our
Partnership Committee is up and running with
Shelly Hurley (Graham Hill), Takiyah Jackson (Washington MS), Colin Pierce (Rainier Beach HS), and
Reiko Dabney (Leschi) currently representing SEA.
Phyllis Campano, SEA Vice President, has also helped launch the committee but will now step down. We are currently recruiting for two openings on the committee.
It can be challenging to cover all the bases of diversity that we want on each committee, not just in terms of race and gender, but also job classification (certificated and classified), district geography, grade level (elementary, middle and high school), programs (ELL, special ed), as well as other characteristics that can relate to the work of a committee.
So if you have volunteered and weren't selected, it's likely because of the balance we are trying to achieve on each committee. But don't give up, spots open up on all of our committees from time to time! Please email us at [email protected].
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Elections: vote for our representatives to WEA & NEA
Elections are underway right now to select SEA's representatives to the WEA Representative Assembly in April, and to the NEA Representative Assembly in July.
Check your email for your link to the voting!
The link was sent to both your work and home email.
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Kaiser Permanente bids to acquire Group Health: You can weigh in on the decision
After more than 70 years as a cooperative, Group Health is considering whether to become part of the Kaiser Permanente, a similarly structured but much larger health care organization based in California. Critically, Kaiser is not a cooperative like Group Health, and the acquisition would end the role of members in running the cooperative.
If you are already a voting member of Group Health, you will receive a mail ballot next month on the acquisition. Any Group Health consumer can attend the Group Health membership meeting where the matter will be debated. Go to
www.ghc.org to find out details.
SEA is sending a letter to Group Health asking for voter registration to be re-opened to allow a more robust debate on the acquisition.
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SEA Reps debate building new King County Youth Detention Center
SEA's Representative Assembly had a spirited debate about the merits of building a new King County Youth Detention Center, and after a close vote, decided to oppose it.
While no one argued that the current facility is an acceptable place for youth, many questioned how the investment will further the goal of reducing the need to incarcerate youth.
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Contract question? Use
Control-F!
The new contracts are available on our
website
(click on name to open):
Once you open yours up, use Control F (ctrl+F) to search the contract. Control F will open a search box; then you just type in a word related to your question and hit enter. Keep hitting enter to take you to each instance of the word being used in the contract.
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Stay Connected
 
www.seattlewea.org
Problems with this email? Contact Tim Clements-Levin |
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SEA CALENDAR
SEA Meetings:
SEA Board of Directors Mtg
Monday, February
1 @ 4:30 PM Location: SEA Office
SEA Rep Assembly
Monday, February 8 @ 5:00 PM
South Seattle Community College - Georgetown Campus
6737 Corson Ave S. Seattle
Conference Rooms C110-C111
Interview Training's are from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Pre-registration is required.
Register via the email indicated on the schedule page.
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Request for Sick Leave Donations:
Please consider donating sick leave to our colleague, Charlie Ketler. Charlie is the Auto Shop teacher at West Seattle High School, and is battling cancer. Jeanne Medalia at Broadview-Thomson has been has been sick off and on since early December and has already used all of her sick and personal days for the year. She is grateful for ANY time you are able to donate, since she is the main source of income for a family of 6. Margaret Balderama, one of Family Support Workers has had health challenges that have drained her sick and personal leave and appreciates any and all leave you can spare to help. These folks all thank you VERY much in advance, and appreciate any help you can give them!
If
you are interested in donating leave, contact the HR service center at 252-0377 to be referred to the appropriate
Leave Desk, or log on to
Seattle Inside Schools
to find information and print forms.
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2015-2016 SEA
Board of Directors:
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President:
Treasurer::
Jennifer Matter
High School:
Matthew Carter- Franklin
Douglas Edelstein- Nathan Hale
Noam Gundle - Ballard
Middle School:
Kristin Bailey- Eckstein
Laura Lehni- Washington
Multi-Grade:
Marianne Clarke -
Tops K-8
Elementary School:
Heather Barker- Sanislo
Dazanne Davis Porter- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ritchie Garcia- West Seattle Elementary
Shelly Hurley- Graham Hill
Daniel Jordan- Olympic View
Andrew Russell -
Dearborn Park
Mary Vester - Van Asselt
Substitutes:
President:
Vice President(s):
Dan Troccoli
Paraprofessionals:
President:
Marla Rasmussen- Wing Luke
Vice President:
Micheal Melonson- FSW
SAEOP:
President:
Lynne Hubbard - Laurelhurst
Vice President:
Cheryl Smith - North Beach
WEA Board:
Jonathan Knapp
Antoinette Felder- Concord
Joyce McDonald- Dunlap
Linda Overlie- Nathan Hale
WEA & NEA Board:
Marguerite Jones- WSHS |
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