SCHOOL STRIKE, DAY 3: Updates including – negotiations resume Saturday; city’s child-care offer; educators’ community-service projects; district’s daily briefing
(SCROLL DOWN for updates, which include toplines of 3 pm district briefing & union’s 4:20 pm announcement of negotiations resuming Saturday)
11:15 AM: Updates on Day 3 of the Seattle Education Association strike:
COMMUNITY CENTER CHILD CARE, IF STRIKE CONTINUES MONDAY: If school is still out Monday, the city says it will open community centers for drop-in activities that can serve up to 3,000 kids. Unlike this week’s plan, this is for all families, not just those already participating in before-/after-school programs at the centers. See details in the city’s news release here.
EDUCATORS’ COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS: We’re making stops and also receiving photos (thank you!) from many sites:
LAFAYETTE ELEMENTARY FOOD DRIVE UNTIL NOON: Thanks for the photo (shared via Facebook)! You can drop off food in front of the school (California SW & SW Lander) until noon. See our service-project list for suggestions of what’s most needed for the Backpack Program.
ROXHILL ELEMENTARY, WORKING AT ROXHILL PARK: We stopped by a short time ago and found volunteers getting a briefing:
They’ve been working along the east side of the park and before this phase, Parks employees were explaining what needed to be cut – the park/bog has natural spaces and what looks like weeds might not be! – and how to pile it up once cut. Roxhill crews are planning a barbecue lunch at noon.
ALKI BEACH CLEANUP: Multiple schools have joined forces for a cleanup at Alki – thanks to Schmitz Park Educators for tweeting this photo:
Two other beach cleanups under way:
ARBOR HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY: Thanks to Laurence for tweeting the photo:
FAIRMOUNT PARK ELEMENTARY: Their cleanup was anchored, so to speak, at Luna/Anchor Park on Duwamish Head:
LOUISA BOREN STEM K-8: This cleanup is spread out along Delridge, on the roadside, up the slope, all in the Longfellow Creek watershed:
We stopped by too, for this photo:
CHIEF SEALTH IHS & DENNY MS: Also working to support Longfellow Creek, Chief Sealth International High School and Denny International Middle School educators. Thanks to Sealth teacher Noah Zeichner for the photos:
They’re also having a read-in by the P-Patch:
The CSIHS & DIMS crews were walking over to Roxhill Park at last report to join the lunch BBQ.
SANISLO ELEMENTARY: Some visited the Southwest Precinct and Fire Station 11 to deliver food to first responders (thanks for texting the photo!):
Others cleaned up along Myrtle near the school – we’ll add our photo when back at HQ.
(added) HIGHLAND PARK ELEMENTARY: At the Salvation Army Center on 16th:
Plus we’ll be checking in on the Alki Beach Read-In after its 12:30 pm start. Photos from other sites? editor@westseattleblog.com or tweet to @westseattleblog – thanks!
ADDED 1:08 PM: The district has announced another mid-afternoon media briefing, 3 pm. We’re planning to be there again. Meantime, the union has now posted its daily strike newsletters – today’s edition, we notice, has a breakdown of the two sides’ salary offers, if you’re still trying to make sense of them. Read it here (PDF).
ADDED 1:37 PM: We’re at the Alki Beach Read-In right now. It’s east of the Bathhouse instead of at Statue of Liberty Plaza, which is getting some Parks Department maintenance work today.
Here’s a quick video panorama (mouse over the image to show the “play” button):
One teacher tells us they’ve heard a plan for a rally Monday at district HQ. More on that if and when we get it. We’re also still adding a few more photos to the section above covering the morning service projects.
3:01 PM: From the district briefing – SPS has been speaking with mediators and doesn’t know if SEA has. “We’ll let families know as soon as possible if there’ll be school on Monday.” Spokesperson Stacy Howard reiterates that the district believes it’s made a “generous” offer to SEA but that there is a large gap between the two sides. She says if they chose to meet their request from “new revenues,” the district believes it would take from textbooks, instructional support, special-ed and ELL student support. She adds, “We’re starting to take a look at our calendar year to figure out how we can reconfigure it … we’ve got to start extending the school year, we just have to figure out where.” The strike is costing the district $100,000 day in operations costs – $55,000 in school staff that will be working extra days, $25,000 food staff, $15,000 in school security, $5,000 in contract support.
“We are hopeful – we don’t want to be in this for the long haul … so we are in planning meetings every day, preparing for that just in case, new issues arise each day. … We have been here every single day, sitting and waiting, ready to negotiate.” The district did not consider the Tuesday offer a final offer, but they still haven’t received a counteroffer. She says they still are not talking about legal action.
Asked why athletics are continuing (note that they actually started before the school year was scheduled to begin) – coaches belong to a different union. However, athletic directors are members of SEA, Howard said, so they are not present. We asked about a couple commenters’ contention that some non-SEA personnel had been locked out; Howard says that’s not true.
Asked if it’s true that security is being hired for superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland, Howard said that’s being discussed because of some “concerns.” She said there’s “animosity out there right now,” apparently involving a specific incident of Nyland’s car having been blocked.
4:20 PM: Just texted and tweeted by the union – negotiations will resume tomorrow, for the first time since the strike was declared Tuesday night:
We’re working on a full updated separate story for a little bit later.
6:42 PM: Our ETA for the wrap-up story is now around 8:30 pm, so in case anyone wants to see the promised video of the district briefing before we publish that, it’s here. Reminder that the briefing was at 3 pm, more than an hour *before* the union announced via text and tweet that official negotiations would resume tomorrow.
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