We just received an email from Julie Salazar who is an slp in Seattle schools.
She expressed support for SpEd students and said that is one of the reasons the teachers are on strike.
She also asked that any parent that has questions to call her at 206-356-0793.
Her email is deweyjuju@hotmail.com.
If you contact Julie please let us know if the information was helpful.
Better Bargaining Needed Now for ALL in Seattle Public Schools!
ReplyDeleteThe Seattle teacher's strike is very much in the news and for important reasons - but there is much more to the story that needs to be told. For years, the Occupational Therapists (OTs), Physical Therapists (PTs), and Speech Therapists (SLPs) in the district have been working without contractual caseload limits in place, unlike in other districts, where corresponding increases in staff hiring occurs regularly along with increases in student population in order to maintain manageable workloads and satisfactory levels of Special Education (SpEd) service provision. Several years ago, a lack of adequately providing such services in Seattle and meeting the legal compliance standards involved led to the filing of many complaints by parents and the eventual intervention by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) which is still currently underway.
Despite the significant external sources of encouragement to make real and lasting improvements in service delivery for its special needs students, both the district and the union have been too slow to address the real basis for the problems - insufficient staffing levels given the amount of work involved. Even though a process was identified and put into the last contract to identify the caseload limit size for each discipline mentioned, and such was done, both the district and the union have elected to now treat the issue as if it has not already been addressed and, as a formality, need only to be put into the contract and implemented. Instead, they have re-engaged in a back and forth process over the caseload size matter that has currently led to proposals that exceed the already agreed to numbers and which allows for the further perpetuation of poor service delivery to SpEd students who deserve better and more by now. For all practical intent and purpose, the previous identification of caseload sizes for therapists was to have allowed for the sufficient staffing necessary and to have in place before the beginning of the school year and, despite that now not being possible, such dedicated efforts do not warrant abandoning.
What therapists need in order to do their jobs is to have this matter concluded and settled based on the agreed to numbers, not some new arbitrarily derived caseload amounts to be "worked towards" based on some vague allegations of what is considered as affordable or not within the district's overall budget. Therapists also desperately need to experience some form of demonstrated assurance that both the district and the union are now willing to start keeping their promises with them and treat them as respected and valued employees who will be receiving the same level of supports and protections they are entitled to and which are provided to all other dues paying members. There also needs to be an immediate end to considering and treating SpEd students and the services they require as being mere bargaining chips to be traded off in lieu of attempts to try and attain other priorities, such as staff raises which, while important, should not be considered as something to even be put on the same scale of required working condition provisions to be measured against each other. These services are legally required and not something to be considered as optional to be "working towards" their eventual full provision. If other districts can exercise the means and effort necessary to meet these basic obligations to their students by providing and maintaining reasonable workloads for their SpEd service providers then so, too, must Seattle. And, just as class size matters so much to the union for their teachers then so, too, does caseload size need to matter for their therapists.
ReplyDeleteFor those who would like to help encourage this process of improving SpEd service provision for Seattle's students, please take the time to immediately contact some or all of the very accomplished and influential individuals below and share your thoughts on the matter regarding establishing therapist caseload limits and treating their employees more fairly. There is a continual learning process occurring for all of us and, especially with limited resources, it is vital that we understand and appreciate just how important the issues are to you and what needs to be considered as basically non-negotiable deal breaker priorities. It's obviously imperative that we need to create a collaborative contract that makes sense for ALL of our students and educators and not continue to waste precious time and energy with more backwards and bad faith forms of bargaining. The students deserve our best sincere and dedicated efforts on their behalf and, especially with the financial resources now more available than ever, we need to end once and for all what really constitutes discriminatory and abusive treatment of certain classifications of employees and the students they need to serve. In order to do so, let's now formalize and implement what's already been settled in terms of the caseload limits and start the reboot process of establishing more respectful, productive, and effective working relationships between all the members of our educational community, including those between our district and union teammates. Already agreed to caseloads of 31 students each for OTs and PTs and 45 students for our SLPs now!
Kevin Hiniker, M.Ed., OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
Seattle Public Schools
kevhin@comcast.net
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ReplyDeleteLarry Nyland - Seattle Schools Superintendent
superintendent@seattleschools.org
206-252-0180
Geoffrey Miller - Seattle Schools Director of Labor and Employee Relations and Chief Contract Bargaining Officer
gdmiller@seattleschools.org
206-252-0294
Seattle School Board - All Board Members
schoolboard@seattleschools.org
Stephan Blandford - Seattle School Board Member
stephan.blanford@seattleschools.org
206-252-0040
Sherry Carr - Seattle School Board Member
sherry.carr@seattleschools.org
206-252-0040
Harium Martin-Morris - Seattle School Board Member
harium.martin-morris@seattleschools.org
206-798-9844
Martha McLaren - Seattle School Board Member
marty.mclaren@seattleschools.org
206-252-0040
Betty Patu - Seattle School Board Member
betty.patu@seattleschools.org
206-252-0040
Sharon Peaslee - Seattle School Board Member
sharon.peaslee@seattleschools.org
206-252-0040
Susan Peters - Seattle School Board Member
sue.peters@seattleschools.org
206-252-0040
Michael F. Tolley - Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning
mftolley@seattleschools.org
206-252-0017
Wyeth Jesse - Special Education Executive Director
rwjessee@seattleschools.org
206-252-0824
Michaela Clancy - Special Education Director
cmclancy@seattleschools.org
206-252-0054
SEATTLE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (SEA) / WASHINGTON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (WEA)
John Donaghy - SEA Teacher's Union Executive Director and Chief Contract Bargaining Officer
jdonaghy@washingtonea.org
206-283-8443
Jonathan Knapp - SEA Teacher's Union President
jknapp@washingtonea.org
206-283-8443
Phyllis Campano - SEA Teacher's Union Vice President
pcampano@washingtonea.org
206-283-8443
Kim Mead - WEA President
kmead@washingtonea.org
253-941-6700
Stephan Miller - WEA Vice-President
smiller@washingtonea.org
253-941-6700
Molly Baasch - WEA Special Populations Program Coordinator
mbaasch@washingtonea.org
253-765-7066
OFFICE of the SUPERINTENDENT of PUBLIC INSTRUCTION (OSPI)
Doug Gill - Assistant Superintendent for Special Education
Doug.Gill@k12.wa.us
360-725-6075
Julie, have you seen this, http://saveseattleschool.blogspot.com/2015/06/uw-professor-dr-berninger-offers.html
ReplyDeleteDo think you could get our teachers behind supporting Dr. Berninger in helping SPS?
I have not seen this before and will share this with members of the OT and PT group. We are familiar with Dr. Berninger as she has done a lot of research on teaching effective handwriting and we have had her come and present to our group for our professional development. Thanks!
ReplyDelete