Together We are Valued and Respected Essential Support Personnel

Below are NESPA's Bargaining Goals, ratified unanimously at yesterday's NESPA Meeting. These goals were generated by NESPA members via the Bargaining Surveys, that a majority of NESPA members returned! And via the "Hopes and Dreams" feedback in the Fall.

NESPA's Bargainng Team reviewed this feedback, and presented draft goals to NESPA's Board. NESPA's Board made some modifications, and presented them at the NESPA Leadership Meeting 2 weeks ago, attended by our Building Communicators, Asst Building Commnicators, Bargaining Suppport Team , Board, and Bargaining Team. They unanimously recommended them to the full membership, which ratified them on NESPA Day.

It will take all of us working TOGETHER to make progress on these goals in the negotiations that will begin in mid-April.

NESPA'S Bargaining Goals

TOGETHER, We Are Respected and Valued Essential School Professionals!

We are Northshore’s Special Education, LAP/Title I, and ELL Paraeducators; School Assistants; Nurses; Technology Specialists; Head Start staff; Interpreters; Campus Supervisors; and more. The 460 of us—NESPA members--- provide a variety of student support, enabling our teachers to maintain a laser-like focus on academic K-12 instruction. We focus on removing the academic, physical, and social impediments to learning, and provide instruction in reading, writing, math, computers, and more.

The majority of us are either the primary providers or provide essential---not only supplemental—income for our families. Half of us have a BA degree or higher, and 90% of us have some college. One in five of us work a 2nd job.

WE ARE PROUD OF OUR WORK, AND ARE WORKING TOGETHER FOR:

WE NEED A FAIR PAY INCREASE: Most of us start at $13.96. After we hit $16.54 (in our fifth year) it takes us ten years to get 90c more: $17.44 max in our fifteenth year. Nurses start at $24, and make $29 after 7 years--- far less than school nurses in other districts, who are paid teacher salaries. Northshore’s other employees are paid better. Custodians start at over $1 higher than Paraeducators. Bus drivers start at over $4 higher. Office substitutes with no experience start at over $2.50 higher. Their salaries are well-deserved, and illustrate the inequity of our pay.

A living wage (what it would take for a parent and teen to live on a very low budget in the Northshore area) is about $24.50 per hour, full time. We received no 4.2% COLA this year and no increase is scheduled for next year. We need a fair pay increase.

In addition, Northshore needs a system to determine the pay for each job title in relation to others. And a way to compensate staff for the additional work and stress caused by student overloads—as certificated staff receive.

THE 20 HOUR PER WEEK “CEILING” IS UNFAIR & NEEDS TO END : About half of us work 4 hours or less—up to 20 hours weekly—and for many of us, it’s not by choice. Nor does it have anything to do with the needs of our schools. The central administration has put a 20 hour per week ceiling on about half of us, in order to avoid paying us benefits. Many of us have worked for Northshore for years, but we can’t get more hours---even as other low hour employees are hired at the same school. Our incomes are limited by that, and we get no benefits. This artificial “20 Hour Ceiling” for half of NESPA needs to end. Other Districts don’t do this.

ONLY HALF OF US GET MEDICAL BENEFITS. THIS MUST CHANGE: Northshore’s “20 Hour Ceiling” means that half of us don’t get benefits---even if we’ve worked here for years, and need them. Some of us have NO insurance at all. For many of us, that means we work mainly to buy insurance, either in the individual market or thru our spouses’ employment. Northshore’s custodians, bus drivers, bus mechanics, and grounds crew are ALL guaranteed sufficient hours to receive full benefits, as they rightfully deserve. The few teachers and administrators who work part time do so by choice, with rare exceptions. Few office staff are required to work part time. Don’t the 460 support professionals who work directly with our students deserve the same?

OUR JOB SECURITY IS INADEQUATE: 52 Special Education Paraeducators who serve students as “One-on-Ones” have little job security if their student leaves or no longer requires this support---even if they have worked for years. They have no rights to a recall after termination. 28 School Assistants face possible cuts in hours each year---even if the needs of the school for a crossing guard, lunch/recess supervision, etc remain the same. Each year, many Special Ed Paras face hours that go up and down from 4 to 6.5 hours per day, depending on enrollment---and can lose benefits as well as hours. In a layoff, NESPA members have rights to recall from a layoff for only 1 year, while teachers have recall rights for 3 years.

WE NEED THE TOOLS AND SUPPORT TO DO OUR WORK WELL: This includes adequate time to serve our students, professional development to improve our skills, and no further cuts to nursing hours. In addition, we need appropriate computers. Many of us are working inefficiently on castoff computers that receive no Tech Dept. support.

Warren G. Magnuson Grant

Greetings,

 

I’ve attached the Warren G. Magnuson grant paperwork for our active ESP members.  Please share with your local ESP members.  There will be a mailing going out to the Local ESP Presidents, but I know you have much more contact with our individual ESP people than just the local presidents.

 

These Magnuson grants are available to three (3) active WEA ESP members and each grant is for $1,000.

 

Thank you, Janna

 

Janna Connor

Washington Education Association

Dr. Allan Beane is an internationally recognized expert, speaker, and author on bullying. His 30 years of experience in education includes: teaching special education, teaching regular education, teaching higher education, serving as vice president of a university, and serving as Director of a School Safety Center.

His Bully Free Program has been adopted by schools and districts throughout the United States and has been featured in national publications such as USA Today, People Magazine, Time Magazine, USA Weekend, Time for Kids, and Newsweek for Teens, and many other national magazines and journals. He has also assisted the staff of the Oprah Winfrey Show to develop a show about bullying.

He has also made numerous television appearances such as Fox News and CNN Headline News—Nancy Grace Show. He has served as an expert witness in three criminal cases and has served as a consultant in six lawsuits involving bullying.

Dr. Beane will be speaking at a conference in Austin, TX, on June 25-27.  Interested in finding out more about this?  Go to www.stopgirlbullying.com.

NESPA board members met last week for their monthly meeting and welcomed the NESPA bargaining team, the NESPA bargaining support team, building communicators, and assistant building communicators.  

WHAT IS A LIVING WAGE IN NORTHSHORE? 

 

A living wage is a wage that enables one adult and one teenage child to be able to survive on one 

salary without having to rely on spouses, roommates, parents, friends, multiple jobs, or government 

assistance. 

 

NESPA and NEOPA leaders met with our counterparts in Shoreline and with WEA Research staff in 

December 2008 to investigate living costs in our area.  Here’s what we learned: 

 

A living wage was approximately $48,540 per year in Northshore in Dec 2008.  With inflation, it’s a 

bit higher now.   Working 40 hours per week a full year, that’s about $24.50 per hour. 

 

We looked at the following components and came up with these costs: 

ITEM MONTHLY COST

School fees $80

Rent/Mortgage $1100

Utilities $110

Internet/Cable $55

Cell phones (2) $130

Computer $50

Insurance (car, home, health, life) $220

Other medical & dental costs $250

Clothing $150

Food $400

Transportation (car payment) $325

Car maintenance & Gas $160

Pet costs $25

College savings $0

Extracurricular & School fees $100

Retirement $180

Entertainment $30

Personal services & supplies $100

Vacation costs $60

Charity & fundraisers $20

Work-related expenses $20

Union dues/fees $45

Licensing fees $10

Taxes $250

Gifts/Birthdays/Holidays $50

Home staples (cleaning, household) $50

Furnishings $50

Debt $25

Elder care/child care $0

TOTAL COSTS: $4,045 per month X 12 = $48,540 per year

HOW DO THESE COSTS COMPARE TO YOUR CURRENT LIVING

EXPENSES? If you’d like to help NESPA refine and update these numbers

for one adult and a teen child, please complete and return this

ITEM MONTHLY COST

School fees ________________

Rent/Mortgage ________________

Utilities ________________

Internet/Cable ________________

Cell phones (2) ________________

Computer ________________

Insurance (car, home, health, life) ________________

Other medical & dental costs ________________

Clothing ________________

Food ________________

Transportation (car payment) ________________

Car maintenance & Gas ________________

Pet costs ________________

College savings ________________

Extracurricular & School fees ________________

Retirement ________________

Entertainment ________________

Personal services & supplies ________________

Vacation costs ________________

Charity & fundraisers ________________

Work-related expenses ________________

Union dues/fees ________________

Licensing fees ________________

Taxes ________________

Gifts/Birthdays/Holidays ________________

Home staples (cleaning, household) ________________

Furnishings ________________

Debt ________________

Elder care/child care ________________

NESPA is working with another ESP local in Shoreline, SESPA, to work towards a living wage over

the next several years. We want to make sure that our research is accurate and up-to-date. Thank you

for your help.

Optional: Name____________________________________School________________________

Return to NESPA by Tuesday, March 30 via school mail or to 18704 Bothell Way NE, Bothell

98011. Questions? 425 486 7101 ext 103

Dear NESPA Colleague,

We need your help. Now, please.

These are the last few days we can influence the Legislature—to stop huge cuts to Northshore. For Northshore and other districts, there is a BIG difference between the Senate and the House budgets. For Northshore, the difference is almost $5 million in cuts---cuts we want to avoid.

The Legislature is meeting this week, even though the Session was to end last week. Why? They have not yet made a decision on the State budget for next year.

You need to help them. Go to www.ourvoicewashingtonea.org and send them a message.

The House budget is far better, but the House hasn’t done enough yet to raise the revenue needed to fund it. Ideas for avoiding drastic cuts to Northshore and other districts include taxing soda, a tax on hazardous materials, and closing a tax loophole that lets big out-of-state banks avoid taxes.

Please send legislators a message now. www.ourvoicewashingtonea.org It’s easy and will take you only a minute.

THANK YOU!!

Kraig

From Rosemarie Dunlop, NSD Nurse

Source: Robin Fleming, school nurse, Seattle Public Schools

            As front-line providers in child health, school nurses protect the health and promote the educational outcomes and life opportunities for the nation’s 49 million public school students. When children are healthy, it is empirically established that they have higher rates of academic achievement. Students in schools with school nurses and other school-based health providers are healthier on measures of health status, access to care, school attendance, and they engage in fewer risky behaviors. On the flip side, students who are unhealthy face numerous social and academic risks. Research consistently demonstrates that untended health problems originating in childhood usually worsen over time, interfere with academic success, and sustain the health disparities that are disproportionally allotted to the growing numbers of poor and ethnic minority children who populate schools. This puts undue strain on the nation’s economy, unnecessarily helps to feed an already bulging criminal justice system, and lays to waste the potentially limitless talents and contributions that are left to wither in growing numbers of health-impaired children attending financially burdened school systems.

             The School Nurse Organization of Washington estimates that approximately 500 to 1,000 school nurses tend to the health and academic preparation of 1 million public school children. School nurses develop plans of care for students with potentially life-threatening conditions and chronic illnesses. They provide health assessments for thousands of children statewide with individual education plans; provide health education to students and staff, and provide referral and case management services. They also manage and monitor communicable disease outbreaks to protect the health of students and staff, as has been recently highlighted by the presence of H1N1 influenza. School nurses also provide health promotion and disease prevention services and tend to acute care emergencies. They support the safety of school buildings and communities, participate on school committees, and advocate for the health of many of the state’s most vulnerable children and families. All school nurses in Washington state are required to have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Many more have master’s degrees, some have credentials as nurse practitioners, and others have doctorates.

            At a time when school districts are reporting increased numbers of children with mental and physical health problems (approximately 20 percent of children have a diagnosable physical or mental health condition), and an increase in the severity of health problems such as asthma, diabetes, and an epidemic of obesity, proposed reductions in the state budget are bound to have deleterious effects on delivery of school health services, and consequently on the health and academic success of school children.

            Because schools exist to educate students, their funding priorities are naturally assigned to teachers, instruction, curricula, and other academic supports. While this makes sense, it also reinforces the notion that an academic response at the school level is the most effective answer to the problem of academic disparities and underachievement. Because research establishes student health as a necessary component to academic engagement and achievement, school health services are not simply ancillary; they are as necessary as are academic strategies in meeting the goals of improving academic outcomes for all students -- goals that have eluded educators for decades.

            These goals do not need to remain out of our grasp, even in this time of state and national budget crises. Educators and school nurses are scrambling for funding to maintain core services, let alone add urgently needed new ones. While schools rely on funding primarily from two sources -- the state general fund and tax levies -- school nurses are dependent on multiple federal, state, district, and grant sources to sustain their services. School nurses in Washington already far exceed the nurse to student ratio of 1-to-750 recommended by the National Association of School Nurses. It is tempting in such difficult financial times to adopt a myopic vision that emphasizes institutional and professional self-interest in promoting student achievement: Educators want funds for education, and nurses want funding for health services. As research has shown, however, funding alone has its limitations on both academic and health outcomes. Research also has shown that resource sharing, collaborative partnerships and a culture of caring have positive impacts on student achievement. Working together to achieve collective goals is more important in times of financial hardship: It can help to build and sustain a united foundation that eventually promotes improved political clout, secures more reliable sources of funding and provides greater access to community resources.

            One organization that is helping to promote a more integrated approach to health and education in Washington is Healthy Schools Washington. At its annual Healthy Schools Summit (to be held this year May 27 and 28), educators and a variety of school health providers learn about and explore topics relevant to promoting academic success through coordinated school health programs. This is a healthy start to building collaborative relationships. We teach our children to mix with others, to listen to their perspectives, and to problem solve as teams. It is important that we model the behaviors we advocate and advise. In so doing, we may at last get the results that we have worked so long and hard for.