Salmon Bay K-8 School
4th grade teacher
Salary: $54,000
Tell me about why youāre out here today.
For me, this strike is not about pay or about any of these smaller issues, but itās about bringing everyone together to finally show some unity and have a voice [and] to have the shaping of education come from communities and educators, not from legislators and administrators or corporations. I think this strike represents a return of the swing of the pendulum to go back toward that. Weāre done being pushed in that direction so far that the administrators and legislators get to tell us everything that we do. Their micromanaging is completely out of control.
In what ways are they micromanaging?
They are using testing to shape what we teach, which I think is very backwards. The common core is designed to give us very specific skills and things we need to teach that arenāt necessarily developmentally appropriate. What the district seems to be wanting to do is tell us exactly what to teach, when to teach it, and how to teach it. Then, they want to test itā¦ because that gives administrators the numbers they want to see.
Youāre dealing with that here?
No, I think thatās what we all fear. What weāre dealing with here is having to change a lot of the things we feel are best practice that are alternative teaching methods because it doesnāt fit with what the common core is requiring of us.
What could the district do [about that testing]?
What the union has asked for is for there to be a clear limit on how much testing there is, for there to be a schedule thatās made ahead of time to show when thatās going to happen, and for teachers to get to be part of that conversationā¦ The district so far has refused to allow us to be part of that conversation or to put any limits on the number of tests that we give.
Tell me about your experience teaching here. Where in the classroom do you see the issues youāre bargaining over?
The equity issue I can see in my classroom. Because we donāt have a lot of children of color here, and so when we do have children of color, whatever has happened with them isnāt necessarily addressed by our system because we are mostly white people here, to be frank about that. [Eckert also spoke to the equity question earlier, as I was interviewing teacher Bill Sweigert (see below). "Because our school values social justice so highly,ā Eckert said, "we would be here even if nothing would change for our kids. Itās an issues we have to stand up for even if weāre just showing our kids how important it is to stand up for equity.ā]
The special ed issues have a lot of impact here because a lot of the alternative schools end up having more special needs kids than traditional schools because when things donāt work out for kids at other schools they come hereā¦ All of our special ed staff are incredibly overworked. They have way too many kids and not enough time to spend with them. The instructional assistants are very poorly paid and as a result we have a really hard time keeping people who are really good at that job...
And the pay is definitely hard. Iām a single mom and I live in the south end and I canāt afford to live close to my school. I canāt live in this neighborhood. Thereās no way. If for some reason my rent did change, Iād have to move out of Seattle because I couldnāt possibly find another place to live.
How long are you willing to stay on strike?
As long as it takes. It means we have no summer next summerā¦ but I donāt care. I think itās really important.
My family is all teachers, so Iāve watched the kind of swinging of the pendulum over time, the evolution of education. I feel like this is a really important moment when thereās a strong tension. The corporate interests and the political interests are really in a tug of war that starts here with educators and people who really love education. I feel like this is just the beginning of a bigger battle. And it starts here. Finally, we have power. Finally, we have unanimous, united teachers and parents are with us. I havenāt seen that before.
Salmon Bay K-8 School
6th grade math teacher
Salary: Unsure, top of the pay scale for a bachelor's degree, around $50,000-$55,000
Whatās the main reason youāre out here today?
Thereās lots of reasons. As someone whoās been working for a long time in the school district, it feels like the district this time is not really being honest and bargaining in total good faith. It feels like a lot of our people on the negotiating team would show up and the other people wouldnāt show or theyād put proposals out there and theyād say weāll get right back to you and they wouldnāt. This started early in the summer.
The recess issue is a classic example. Thatās a non-issue. Itās not like you have to give up anything. Even that, they couldnāt agree to before [recently]. So, thereās a sense that perhaps the district doesnāt have the best intentions in mind for families. Theyāre mostly just trying to squish down on the union for whatever reason.
Are there any of those things still being bargained over that you think are particularly important
All the compensation issues are important. For me, less so because Iām much closer to retirement, but I think about: How do you attract young teachers? The city is booming and yet particularly the [paraprofessionals] and the support staff arenāt getting paid as much and canāt afford to live in Seattleā¦ If you want to attract people who are engaged in a part of the community to help educate the children in that community, it would be nice if they could afford to live in that community...
The compensation piece I would tie into the "Why donāt you lengthen the school day?" thing. [The district has proposed adding another 30 minutes to the school day.] Itās hard to conceive of that as less than a very deliberate slap at people that they know are donating their time.
Do you think thereās a necessity for that extra half hour for students?
Iām not at all against lengthening the school day. I think we could do a lot of good things with it. But to expect it to be given for free is a calculated move to tick teachers off, to insult them.
What I heard when I was coming here was this school is wealthier than some others and doesnāt face the same equity issues that other schools do. If youāre not facing a lot of the issues being discussed, why strike?
Our village is bigā¦ [Teachers in poorer schools] are trying to do the same thing for society. Everyone suffers if children donāt feel welcome in school, donāt do well in school, or are stigmatized in some way shape or form. We all sufferāthe entire society.
A lot of us have worked at different schools. Iāve worked at four or five different schools. I know very clearly the playing field isnāt level. Every school has its own challenges, but some are more challenged for sure.
Thereās a lot of people doing absolutely heroic work, above and beyond what the job description is, and it feels like the system is set up to demand that, rather than reward itā¦
Here, I think weāre really lucky. [There are] very involved parents. People are very attached to the school. Itās a great place to work. People donāt mind working 12 hours at school when they feel supported because it is our community. Other people have greater challenges and less support and are held to unfair standards as a measure of their effectiveness.
Salmon Bay K-8 School
Instructional assistant
Salary: $35,000
Whatās the main reason youāre out here today?
I understand mine isnāt a living wage. When I talk about the wage part, I donāt think about myself. I think about the people who are much younger than I am and people who live in the city of Seattle. That is truly not a livable wage in an Amazon pay scale society.
Beyond that for me, what the difference was this year was there were so many issues beyond payā¦ They have things on the table like 30 minutes of recess. Really, do we have to negotiate that with teachers and the school district or is that just a childās right to be able to get up and move around? When those kinds of issues [are being bargained over] and you start in the spring negotiating and they donāt get negotiated until a week before school, that just seems ludicrous to me.
We have specialists within the district who provide speech therapy, occupational therapy, these are services kids qualify for. And for years, those professionals have not had any case load limitā¦ Who really gets hurt? Those kids are entitled to those minutes of service.
The pay is an adult level decision, but I really get moved and exacerbated when weāre negotiating things that are really basically student rights.
Were you at the vote to strike?
Yesā¦ .It was amazing. Walking into the building, I felt like maybe 75 percent of the people would be on boardā¦ by the end, it was like a crescendo. When they asked for the vote and you heard this unanimous āYayā and then when they called for the nay in this quiet singular voice and not a word, it was really powerful.
When youāre that unified, it means somethingās not right. This isnāt flippant. This wasnāt done on a whim. Thereās not a person out here on the lineāparent, child, or educatorāwho doesnāt want to be in that building working right now.
How long are you willing to stay out here?
I think weāre in it for the long haul. Thatās the only way you do a strike, isnāt it?
Thatās the hard part. Itās not always going to be a party. It feels festive the first day, but it doesnāt feel festive later on. When you let something get to this point, it really isnāt very pleasant.
Going on strike is a hardship for people and people donāt want to do it. For that āyesā strike vote, thereās a lot of people who are single income earners in their families, a lot of double teacher families. We know that this is really difficult for families and it is not good for kids who are stoked for the first day of schoolā¦ But at some point, when do you say enough is enough?
Salmon Bay K-8 School
3rd grade teacher
Salary: $35,000
Why are you out here today?
Iām definitely thinking about the teachers that are just starting out and they have to try and live in Seattle on the starting wage on our pay scale and thereās just no way. Even with my wife and I working full time, weāre going under every month. Itās like we donāt make any progressā¦
Do you live in the city?
We live in Ballard. We can both walk to work. Otherwise, we could never pay for gas. That would never workā¦ The young teachers in the district are driving in from somewhere cheaper to live and theyāre driving really far distancesā¦
Weāre thinking of selling [our house]. If our house goes up in value anymore, we just have to sell and move out of Seattleā¦ We can make roughly the same wage in Spokane and we can get a house there for $200,000 as opposed to $500,000-$600,000 here, so we could actually maybe afford to pay off our house one day somewhere cheaper.
Whatās at stake if salaries donāt keep up with increased cost of living?
Finding quality teachers. If they donāt increase pay, the teachers are going to go to Spokane, theyāre going to go to Idaho, theyāre going to go to Oregon and Portlandāsomewhere they can afford to live.
We know salaries arenāt the only issue on the table. [Recess and a possible extra half hour of the school day have also been points of contention between the school district and the union.] Tell me about what things are like in your classroom.
Iāve got 26 [students], which is small for Seattle. Itās 10-hour days and six and a half with kids. Including e-mails and scheduling conferences with troubled kids, their parents, and counselors, meeting with other teachers about how to best support kidsāitās easily 10-hour days and we donāt get overtime. Weāre not paid for any of that.
What do you think about the proposal to add an additional 30 minutes to the day?
If theyāre going to pay us an additional whatever percentage that would be, I would consider it. But considering I donāt have any time with my family as it is and I work so much overtime anyway and they donāt pay me for any of that, I think itās disrespectful. I would imagine thereās not a teacher here that would stand for that without a drastic increase in salary that would compensate for that extra time. Thatās extra time we donāt haveā¦
My kids are wiped at the end of the day. Thereās no way a third grader would benefit from another half an hour. It would be a half an hour where I would be babysitting.
These interviews have been edited for length.