Seattle Education Association

I pay dues, am I a member?
Not necessarily. Everyone covered by SEA pays a fee equivalent to dues (because you benefit from all the same protections and have rights to advocacy). You are an official "member" only if you have signed a Enrollment form. These forms are available by calling SEA, 206.283.8443 or sending an email message to our membership coordinator, Alex Austin at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

What is the benefit of being a member?
As a member, your WEA/NEA insurance provides up to $25,000 in attorney fees if you are charged with a crime related to your job. (Remember, you don't have to be guilty to be charged.) You'd lose again if you are sued in civil court (if, for example, a student is injured while under your supervision) because, as a non-member, you would not be eligible for up to $1 million in insurance coverage to pay attorney fees and damages in employment-related lawsuits. You vote in all elections pertaining to SEA leadership and representation of the organization at various conventions. You are eligible to run for SEA office including be a Building Representative. You also have access to the Attorney Refferal program. Click here for more information.

Where can I find a copy of the school calendar for 2011-12?
An electronic version of the 2011-2012 school year calendar is available on the web. You can also access this by going to the main page of the website and clicking on the "Collective Bargaining" menu item. This will tell you the calendar for students and for certificated staff.

Who works on a Waiver Day and who works on a LID/Proffesional Development Day?
Waiver Days are regular work days for all employees. We just do not have students. These days are for planning and for school/program workshops that have been determined by the staff to be beneficial. Every building/program should have a method by which to make these decisions. A unilateral decision by any one person is a violation of the contract. LID days or Professional Development Days are the 2 days added by the legislature to the certificated staff's calendar. Certificated staff participate in these days.

[Regular] Classified staff may also participate and be paid via their Professional Development/Leadership Days. The rules for use of these days is as follows:

 1. A fund was created to provide extra time for Classified staff for the purpose of participating in school/program decision making, building leadership activities, and/or training to enhance standards implementation. This includes classes that would meet the core competencies.

(These are not the Waiver/Professional Development Days) 

2. Each classified employee [(not substitutes)] represented by the Association shall be allocated the number of hours equivalent to 5 workdays for professional development/leadership activities (in the 2002-03 school year). A day is defined as the number of hours in an employee's regular workday.

3. The paid activity (or activities) shall be by mutual agreement between the employee and his or her supervisor. Extra time Reporting forms shall be utilized by the employee to document and claim such time.

4. Extra Time Reporting forms used for this purpose must be submitted no later than June 18. They may be dated retroactive to the previous August.

5. Time served for these activities must be within the 40-hour workweek regardless of whether you are 7-hour or 8-hour. Payment is at the employees regular hourly rate of pay.

So how does this work? Employees may not claim more than the number of hours equivalent to 5 workdays for reimbursement. Each employee will need to keep track of the hours they have used.

So if you are an 8-hour employee you have 24 hours and a 7-hour employee has 21 hours.

Examples of overtime scenarios are:
A. If you are a 7-hour employee, and you attend a 6 hour class on Saturday after a full weeks work:

• You would have completed 35 before the Saturday class.
• You have 5 hours of extra time at your regular hourly rate of pay before you are into overtime (time and one half). 
• You would claim 5 hours at your regular rate of pay and the remaining 1 hour of the class would be overtime at time and a half. Because 1 hour is at time and one half, you would claim 1.5 hours of pay. 
• You would have used (5 + 1.5) 6.5 of your 21 hours of your Professiona Leave/Leadership time.

B. If you are an 8-hour employee, and you attend a 3 hour meeting after school, after your regular workday:

• You would claim 4.5 hours because you are working overtime at time and a half. 
• You would have used 4.5 hours of your 24 hours.

6. Any unspent funds shall be recaptured by the district. There shall be no carryover of these funds in a school or program budget. (USE IT OR LOSE IT!!!)

7. Disputes arising out of this Memorandum of Understanding shall be subject to the grievance procedure of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

If you receive a stipend for attending a class, you cannot claim additional compensation using these Development/Leadership days. It is double dipping. (Puget Sound Educational Service District offers stipends for some classes. )

If I'm having a problem at my job, what do I do?
If you are comfortable approaching your SEA Building Representative, talk to him/her first. They may be able to help you resolve the problem. If the nature of the problem is confidential or beyond the skills of the Building Rep, please call the SEA office. The phone number is 206.283.8443. The staff is assigned according to school and program, so please be prepared to tell the receptionist where you work. A staff member will discuss the issue you with you and work on a mutually agreeable strategy to rectify the problem.