School will begin Wednesday in Seattle following a weeklong teachers strike that delayed the start of classes
Guillermo Carvajal, a member of the support staff at Northgate Elementary School in Seattle, and Erin Carroll, an occupational therapist there, picket outside the building on the third day of a strike by the Seattle Education Association on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. The union and Seattle Public Schools continued negotiating over issued that include pay and support for special needs students. It remained unclear how long the strike might last.
The union's membership voted earlier in the day to suspend the walkout pending ratification of the contract. It's a three-year deal that will maintain ratios of special-education students to support staff, add baseline mental health staffing in all schools, and raise pay above inflation markers, the Seattle Education Association said, though the exact terms were not disclosed.
“This was an incredible effort by both sides, and we put the needs of our students first,” Superintendent Brent Jones said in a video message to families. The district had sought to increase the amount of time disabled children spend in general education classrooms, and also to eliminate ratios dictating how many students may be assigned to each special education professional. The district said that would allow it to focus on student needs rather than fixed staffing ratios, but teachers worried it would mean less support, higher case-loads and less time to spend with each student.
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