Community & Editorial
Rotten Apples
Some Seattle teachers who maybe expected a nice gift during Teacher Appreciation Week got something else instead: pink slips
One way to recognize a beloved teacher is to offer a shiny, new apple. But this year, the Seattle School District found an ironic way to honor its employees during national “Teacher Appreciation Week,” which took place May 3 – 9.
On May 8, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson gave us teachers a clear picture of what she thinks of us when she sent teachers two personal gifts that week, the first of which was a letter sent certified mail that cost each recipient $5 — totaling some $20,000. Her correspondence read in part:
“The purpose of this letter is to advise you of my determination that there is probable cause to nonrenew your contract that was for 180 basic contract days plus two LID (Learning Improvement Day) days, and offer to you an employment contract for the 2009-2010 school year for 180 basic days plus one LID day…”
It wasn’t losing a day’s wages for a learning improvement day, along with the day-long training that can make us better teachers that was so bad. The letter, which presented the issue to each teacher individually, also skirted our union policies, which mandate such information must go before union leadership. Sending the letters to us individually also tiptoes around state law. Such realizations left the taste of day-old school lunch in this teacher’s mouth.
Even district spokeswoman Patti Spencer realized the inopportune timing of its petit cadeau, its little gift, when she said, “It’s very, very regrettable.”
The district’s hunger for generosity not yet satiated, Teacher Appreciation Week was capped off for me and some 172 other teachers in the district with a second gift, again delivered on May 8: messages to our principals that we were to be “RIFed.”
It should be clear by now we’re in the middle of an economic monsoon that will wash our children’s education into the gutter.
OK, so maybe it was a little tacky to deliver these gifts during Teacher Appreciation Week, but after all, the district is facing a budget shortfall that was exacerbated by Washington state legislators’ reckless slashing of $800 million from the K-12 budget, right? I sympathized briefly with the district. However, the district’s claim of lack of funds is inexplicable given that it has more than $30 million in a reserve “rainy day” fund it says must be saved in case of a financial storm. It should be clear by now that we are in the middle of an economic monsoon that will wash the education of our children into the gutter if we don’t tap that fund.
Moreover, the district has another important source of revenue. Washington state law RCW 28A.320.320 allows school districts to use the interest earned on capital funds to pay specifically for “instructional supplies and equipment.” In 2008-09, the district budgeted $22.7 million dollars for such materials. If the district allowed its capital funds interest, which is in the neighborhood of $22 million, to cover those supplies instead, it could then free up an equivalent amount in the operations budget. Those freed funds could then offset the “Reduction In Force” of teachers. In a state that already ranks 46th in terms of class size, anything to improve our teacher-student ratio is worth examining.
Of course, when it comes to gag gifts, such as the ones Seattle’s “RIFed” teachers just received, advice columnist Linda Ann Nickerson offers good counsel: “Gag gifts are one thing, but what if you get a gift that makes you gag? Resist the temptation to state that you hate the flavor, color or style of the gift … If the item is the wrong size, or broken, then it may be acceptable to request the giver’s permission to return or exchange the item.”
OK, so maybe it was a little tacky to deliver these gifts during Teacher Appreciation Week, but after all, the district is facing a budget shortfall that was exacerbated by Washington state legislators slashing $800 million from the K-12 budget, right?
Seattle’s teachers are now asking if we can exchange these broken gifts for ones that improve the quality of education in our city. Should we be ignored, we will take the district’s discourteous reaction to mean that students, parents and teachers should unite to build a civil rights struggle for funding the education the city deserves. It’s a possibility that wouldn’t even have to be discussed, if the district hadn’t given teachers a rotten apple.
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