Bright green “Respect” signs dotted the landscape as over 400 teachers and education support professionals packed the Northshore School District Board Meeting on Tuesday evening, August 12, 2008. The Northshore Educational Professional Association (NESPA) and the Northshore Education Association (NSEA) have been negotiating with the Northshore School District since early May.Both NESPA President Deb Murphy, and NSEA President Tim Brittell, addressed the board asking them to give the district’s negotiations team the resources and the authority to settle the bargain before school begins September 2nd. At issue for the unions are: class size, lack of curriculum materials, compensation, workload, and job security.
“Northshore class sizes are out of control, and this has got to stop,” stated Tim Brittell. At issue are the 15 teaching positions that were included in the 07-08 budget, but that were not filled.
Some required high school graduation classes contain as many as 38 students reported high school social studies teacher Patrick Holmes. “This has a direct impact on a teacher’s ability to provide individual attention to students, and limits student achievement. The money is there, but the administration chose to stash it, rather than putting it into the classrooms where it would help students.”
In the meantime, compensation for Northshore educators is losing ground. Time, responsibility, and incentive pay in Northshore—the only compensation funded by local levies and controlled by the district—is the lowest of the 12 surrounding school districts.
NESPA negotiations continue this week. “We are very concerned about job security and the administration’s proposal to cut hours for our para educators,” commented President Deb Murphy. “NESPA members are often the lowest paid employees in the district and we believe they deserve a living wage and a guarantee of future employment.”
For the past nine months, the district has reported $4.4 million over the past year’s monthly reports; increasing the district’s fund balance from 2 to 3 percent. In the meantime, the district has proposed to cut $3.4 million from the 2008-2009 budget.
Teachers plan to meet August 27th to either ratify a new contract or take a strike vote. In a final plea to the board, UniServ representative Donna Lurie stated, “Many of us take a personal stake in the health and quality of Northshore schools. We want our children attending school, not walking the picket line with their parents. Please help us keep Northshore great.”
For photos of this event, please click here and here.
