Letter Home to Parents

Shoreline School District teachers and support staff (SEA and SESPA) will not be working on Thursday, Sept. 27. We will be on strike. We are protesting the Shoreline School Board and Superintendent Sue Walker’s decision to overload classrooms and disrupt our students’ school lives in ways that harm the quality of education they receive. We are taking a stand against the school board’s continued financial mismanagement and their continued lack of regard for students, staff and families.

We are asking you to join us in communicating to the Shoreline School Board and Supt. Walker, through words and action, that they must put students first and not compromise our core educational mission in the name of cutting costs.

After a difficult seven months of contract negotiations with the Shoreline School Board, Shoreline, Shoreline certificated educators ratified a new two-year contract on Sept. 4. Throughout negotiations, the Shoreline School Board insisted on making major cuts to student programs, cuts we opposed. The new contract substantially cut services to students (High Impact, Inclusion, Student Leadership and Activities). Two weeks later, the district administration unilaterally, and without telling teachers, radically deviated from 30 years of past practice. To cut even more money from our contract, they are shuffling children from class to class after students have already bonded with their teachers. This has created some extremely large classes and other awkward classes split between two grade levels.

For example, where a school has three first grades (74 students), our longstanding model of balanced classes would result in class sizes of 24, 25, and 25. All three classes would be provided with overload support, as they are larger than 23 students. The administration has now removed students from two of the classrooms to load up the third, resulting in classes of 23, 23, and 28. The classes of 23 now receive no overload support. It is unclear how the administration’s decisions affect secondary students.

The Shoreline School Board has budgeted over $500,000 for overload costs, yet it is willing to compromise the quality of your child’s education to avoid spending that money.

Meanwhile, district administrators are manipulating new contract language to facilitate shuffling students from one class to another. We would never agree to a contract knowing that our students would be moved nearly a month into classes. The contract language district bargainers proposed and misrepresented is harmful to our students.

This Thursday, we are taking a stand to prevent the further harm to Shoreline’s tradition of excellence and high-quality education. Please join us in demanding that the Shoreline School Board and administration abandon this instructionally irresponsible plan, honor SEA and SESPA contract language in its intent, and balance classes to keep class sizes as low as possible.

Here’s how you can help fight for the future of Shoreline. Contact school board members and the superintendent to voice your concerns about student moves and overloaded classrooms. Speak with other families to make sure they are informed.
Please feel free to join us for our activities on Thursday, and check the SEA website for detailed plans as they develop: http://www.shorelineea.org.

Thank you in advance for your support and please know that no matter what, I will l be working hard to make this the best year for your child.