CERTIFICATED NON-SUPERVISORY EMPLOYEES

2004 - 2009
PREAMBLE

A. We, the Seattle Education Association (SEA) and the Seattle Public Schools (SPS) commit to placing the student in the center of the circle. We will address the need for equity in results, fan hope with real actions, demand the best of students and ourselves, exhibit the humility necessary to seek and welcome the engagement of parents/guardians and community in the education of all the children and the young men and women in our care. Together we believe in our students, our community and ourselves.

B. We commit to ensuring that all students are provided the support they require to reach the standards that the parents and guardians, staff, School Board and community establish as reflecting what every student should know and be able to do upon graduating from the Seattle Public Schools.

C. We believe there is a correlation between the education of our students and the empowerment of the staff entrusted with the responsibility for their learning. Therefore, this Agreement commits both parties to building a collaborative partnership based on mutual respect and trust that is deeper than the leadership and which will continue beyond the tenure of those currently in leadership positions in our respective organizations.

D. We are committed to changing the odds for student success and creating a culture of success. We are focused on closing the achievement gap and creating learning communities that provide academic enrichment programs for all students. We believe that we can do this by creating and supporting a system that has:

1. High expectations of and by students and adults

2. High support from SEA and SPS

3. High success for students and staff

4. High trust in parents/guardians, students and staff

5. High engagement of community and families

6. High degree of openness

7. High personalization to meet the unique needs of both students and staff

E. To accomplish this we need to take the good works and collective wisdom of all those who independently care and act for education. We wish to harness the strengths of each to create an outcome that we cannot create alone.

F. The following beliefs by all the stakeholders are fundamental to developing a vision for success, and to realizing that vision:

1. We believe the capacity to create and support the vision that will unite stakeholders and provide successful educational opportunities is in our school system today. Creating a vision of what a student needs to know and be able to do upon graduation from the Seattle Public Schools must be developed with parents or guardians, students, staff, and community.

2. We believe that to create positive change that endures over time, efforts must rely on and be replicable and sustainable under realistic funding projections. Use of grants or other short-term realignment of resources may be used to speed up change while fundamental realignment of resource use is being identified and implemented.

3. We believe that realigning resources is necessary to achieve our vision. We commit to, over time, collaboratively reviewing the ability to sustain small schools while remaining committed to sustaining small learning communities.

4. We believe that our success demands that a strong parent/guardian and community engagement process be built into this effort. We must provide the training, time and support for school staff to engage with parents/guardians and communities, to develop the shared responsibility for supporting student learning.

5. We will overcome challenges to innovation rather than using bureaucracy to impede efforts. We will also advocate on behalf of schools with OSPI and the federal government.

6. We will provide a safe and healthy environment where discrimination, intimidation and harassment are not tolerated by or toward students, families, community, or school employees.

7. We will provide professional development to infuse cultural literacy into training, curriculum, instruction and assessment, and community and parent/guardian engagement.

8. We recognize that simply raising achievement of all students will not in and of itself eliminate the achievement gap. We share the goal and expectation that students will meet SPS standards. For students who have a longer climb we will provide the necessary additional support to help meet the goals.

9. We will work together to secure adequate funding for Seattle Public Schools that will provide the environment, the class size/caseloads, and the compensation that will attract and retain quality staff.

G. These commitments and beliefs, supported by action, will bring about the culture of success that SPS and SEA envision.

ARTICLE I: PURPOSE, RECOGNITION AND TERMS OF AGREEMENTS

SECTION A: PURPOSE

1. This Agreement is entered into this 1st day of September, 2004, by and between the Seattle Public Schools (aka Seattle School District #1), hereinafter called the “SPS”, and the Seattle Education Association, hereinafter called the "SEA."

2. The SPS and the SEA, as the exclusive representative of the certificated non-supervisory educational employees, have a mutual responsibility to bargain in good faith in an effort to reach agreement in accordance with Chapter 41.59 RCW.

3. The SPS and the SEA have reached certain understandings that they desire to confirm in this Agreement.

SECTION B: STATUS OF THE AGREEMENTS

1. The SPS recognizes the SEA as the exclusive representative of certificated non-supervisory educational employees as defined in Chapter 41.59 RCW under the following titles: teacher; substitute teacher; counselor; librarian; social worker; school psychologist; nurse; occupational therapist; physical therapist; speech language pathologist; vocational instructor; certificated classroom traffic education instructor; head teacher; house administrator; consulting teacher e.g., mentor; instructional coach; and excluding the chief administrative officers of the SPS, confidential employees and supervisory employees as defined in Chapter 41.59 RCW. Any other certificated non-supervisory educational employees with position titles not listed above but paid on the Certificated Non-Supervisory Employee Salary Schedule shall be in the SEA unit. All duties of the kind customarily performed by the certificated non-supervisory educational employees operating under the direction/supervision of SPS personnel shall be performed only by SEA bargaining unit personnel, except by mutual agreement of the SPS and the SEA, provided, however, a Principal or Assistant Principal may fill in when a substitute is not available or they may conduct a class of their own as long as the duties do not become a primary part of their job or performing the work displaces an existing certificated non-supervisory educational employee. Persons rendering non-compensated voluntary service and/or short-term staff consultants are excluded from the bargaining unit.

2. When used herein the term "employee" shall refer to a certificated non-supervisory educational employee represented by the SEA as defined in item 1 above.

3. Throughout this Agreement certain rights are accorded to and certain functions are ascribed to the SEA. The SEA shall have the exclusive privileges and rights for members of its bargaining unit including the right to have payroll deduction of organization dues and fees and other deductions as mutually agreed in this Agreement and the right of representation in formal grievance hearings of employees pursuant to the provisions of the Grievance Procedure. The rights granted herein to the SEA in accordance with law shall not be granted to any competing employee organization.

4. Individual contracts for employees shall be in conformance with 28A.405.210, 28A.405.240, and 28A.405.900 RCW, and other applicable laws. The personnel rules, regulations and procedures contained in the individual contracts for employees shall not be in conflict with the provisions of this Agreement.

a. Each employee shall be the holder of a valid teaching, Educational Staff Associate (ESA) and/or vocational certificate issued by the State Board of Education.

b. The Board shall make a written individual employee contract with each employee in conformity with the provisions of this Agreement and the laws of the State.

c. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, the SPS shall continue to seek to obtain applications for employment from men and women in accordance with its Affirmative Action program. During the period of 2005 through 2009 the parties shall meet with a representative group of staff of color to discuss how, together, we can attract and retain staff of color.

d. Employees will be on the Certificated Non-Supervisory Employees Salary Schedule based on verification of credits and experience.

5. Unless otherwise provided herein, this Agreement shall not be interpreted and/or applied so as to eliminate, reduce, or otherwise detract from individual salaries or employee benefits.

SECTION C: DURATION

1. The term of this Agreement shall be for five years, effective September 1, 2004 and shall continue in force through August 31, 2009, provided either party may reopen for renegotiation any item subject to renegotiation during the term of this Agreement as specified elsewhere in this Agreement.

2. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, this Agreement is complete in and of itself and sets forth all terms and conditions of all the agreements between the SPS and the SEA pursuant to Chapter 41.59 RCW.

3. The SPS will appropriately maintain and/or modify SPS policies, rules, regulations, procedures and/or practices in order to implement the provisions of this Agreement.

4. Policies, rules, regulations, procedures and practices of the SPS in effect on the effective date of this Agreement dealing with matters of wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment, published by the SPS, and not in conflict with the provisions of this Agreement shall remain in full force during the term of this Agreement, unless modified by mutual agreement of the SPS and the SEA. The SPS reserves the right to make, adopt, and implement other policies, rules, regulations and procedures not in conflict with this Agreement.

SECTION D: RENEGOTIATIONS

1. This Agreement may be altered, changed, added to, deleted from, or modified only in writing following the voluntary, mutual consent of the SPS and the SEA. Neither party shall be required to negotiate on any issue during the term of this Agreement except as provided in this Agreement.

2. The parties agree that should there be changes in legislation, administrative code, or funding either party may initiate negotiations over the impact of the changes. Further, either party may initiate negotiations over matters related to efforts to implement the intent of the Preamble of this Agreement to close the achievement gap or any provision of this Agreement that either party feels thwarts this effort.

3. If any provisions or any applications of this Agreement shall be found contrary to law, the provisions or application shall not be valid except to the extent permitted by law, but all other provisions or applications shall continue in full force and effect for the term of this Agreement. Adjustment or modification of any provisions of this Agreement found to be contrary to law will be subject to bargaining provisions of Chapter 41.59 RCW.

4. Should either party desire to change, modify or terminate this Agreement after its expiration date of August 31, 2009, written notice of the intent shall be given to the other party no sooner than March, but no later than April of the calendar year 2009. Thereafter, representatives of the SEA and the SPS shall meet at reasonable times and shall bargain in good faith in an effort to reach agreement with respect to wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment as provided in Chapter 41.59 RCW. Collective bargaining shall be conducted at the times mutually agreeable to the bargaining team named by each party.

5. Copies of this Agreement entitled "Collective Bargaining Agreement between SPS and the SEA for 2004-2009" shall be printed by the SEA after the Agreement has been ratified and signed, and shall be distributed by the SEA to all certificated non-supervisory employees represented by the SEA.

a. The SPS shall distribute Agreements to all newly employed certificated non-supervisory employees.

b. The cost of printing the Agreement shall be shared by the SPS and the SEA. The SPS and the SEA will mutually agree to any proposed format changes to the Agreement prior to final publication.

c. The cost of distributing Agreements to current employees shall be borne by the SEA.

d. There shall be two (2) signed copies of the final Agreement for the purpose of records. One shall be retained by the SPS and one by the SEA.

6. The SPS shall furnish upon request of officers or authorized representatives of the SEA any and all disclosable information, statistics, and records which the SEA and the SPS mutually agree are relevant to negotiations or are necessary for the organization to fulfill its legal representation responsibility.

7. Any requests beyond what is relevant to negotiations or necessary for the organization to fulfill its legal responsibility that necessitate extensive use of staff and data processing time beyond that normally allocated and budgeted in developing and producing information, statistics and records normally utilized by the SPS must be carefully evaluated to keep expenditures within budgeted allocations. Requests beyond budgeted allocations shall be honored but the costs incurred shall be reimbursed by the SEA.

8. Calendar Negotiations: The parties agree that on or about October 1 but before December 1 of each year they will commence negotiations regarding the school calendars for the subsequent school year and beyond, if possible. The parties also agree that the tentatively agreed upon calendars resulting from these negotiations are to be ready for presentation and recommended adoption to the School Board and SEA membership by no later than January 31.

SECTION E: COMMUNICATION RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES

1. The SEA shall have the right to post notices of its activities and matters of organizational concern on a bulletin board to be provided in each school building by the SPS.

2. The SEA may use SPS school buildings for meetings and to transact official business on school property at all reasonable times when custodians are normally on duty before and after school hours, provided that this shall not interfere with nor interrupt normal school operations as determined in consultation with the building principal/program manager or supervisor.

3. Any officer or authorized representative of the SEA, so designated by the SEA and identified to the Superintendent, shall have the right to visit SPS buildings, individual employees, or groups of employees represented by the SEA, at reasonable times when employees are not on duty, such as before and after work hours and at lunch time, during the employees planning time, or at other times by special arrangement through the principal or his/her designee, provided that this shall not interfere with nor interrupt normal school or business operations. In all instances, the authorized representative or representatives shall report to the school office and follow the normal sign-in procedures for visitors before they proceed through the building to any room. All the visits must not interfere with any employee's activities while on duty nor disrupt the orderly educational process of the school or program.

4. The SPS and the SEA agree that having the SEA included in the SPS’s email program is an important element of building quality communications. The SEA will take the necessary steps to ensure that all communications are accurate and in line with its duties as bargaining representative. The SPS shall incur no additional cost as a result of the SEA use of email. This means that the SEA will pay for all equipment, installation costs, supplies, training costs, system security provisions, overhead expenditures and any other costs of any nature that may arise. There shall be no additional workload or expense at the school site. SEA use of the email system will not cause the system to become overloaded.

SECTION F: CONTRACT WAIVERS

Waiver proposals must be developed with knowledge and opportunity for participation of all SEA-represented employees and administrators assigned to the building/program submitting the proposal.

1. The requests must be for the purpose of implementing strategies for increasing academic achievement and tied to the building’s/program’s transformation plan.

2. The requests must include: (See Appendix P SEA/SPS Contract Waiver Request Form)

a. Reference to the specific provisions of the Agreement requested to be waived;

b. Evidence of both employee and administrator participation in the decision-making process leading up to the request (2/3 vote of the SEA-represented staff must vote to support the request);

c. Rationale for the waiver: specifically how will the waiver assist in increasing academic achievement, how will the building or program staff evaluate the effectiveness of the change and how will any negative impact on SEA members or other effected staff be mitigated or addressed;

d. Timelines - Waiver Requests must be submitted to SEA and the Education Director/Program Director by the 15th of each month so the respective committees can process and make recommendations to their appropriate decision making bodies. A copy of the request will be forwarded to the Director of Human Resources;

e. Duration of Waiver - Waiver requests may be for up to three years. Schools must review the waiver each year, and if the SEA-represented staff determine they wish to continue the waiver, they will notify the SEA and Education Director. If the SEA-represented staff wishes to modify or extend the waiver beyond the duration originally approved, they must submit a new application. Any request or documentation will be forwarded to the Director of Human Resources.

f. Costs (if applicable);

g. Effect of waiver on other areas of the Agreement, other bargaining units’ contracts, or other programs/buildings;

h. After the building has conducted its process, the Waiver Request Form must be signed by the SEA representative and the building principal.

The Waiver Request must be submitted to the Education Director and SEA concurrently, and will be granted only if both the SPS and the SEA agree. A copy will be forwarded to the Director of Human Resources.

SECTION G: PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS

1. It shall be an exclusive right of employees who are members of the SEA and who are covered by this Agreement pursuant to Article I,B,1 of this Agreement, within thirty (30) days of employment and/or actively going to work, to sign and deliver to the SEA an assignment authorizing payroll deduction of membership dues and/or fees in the SEA and to state and national organizations with which it is affiliated. The authorization shall then be submitted to the SPS Payroll Services by the SEA. The SPS Payroll Services shall process the authorization to make it effective at the earliest payroll period, and no later than forty-five (45) days after submission of the authorization by the SEA to the SPS Payroll Services. This authorization shall be on a continuing basis. A table of prorated annual dues and/or fees shall be supplied by the SEA to the SPS Payroll Services for use with new employees who join the corps during the year.

2. Authorization by employees for dues and/or fees to the SEA shall continue in effect unless the authorization is revoked by formal notice in writing that is delivered to the SPS Payroll Services by the certificated employee who will also deliver or mail a copy of the formal written revocation to the SEA. The revocations of dues deductions may be made at the end of the SEA's dues period on 10/01 of each year and/or at the end of the Agreement.

a. The SEA's authorization of payroll deduction form shall clearly state that it shall be understood by the employee signing the authorization that continuation of dues and/or fees deductions and maintenance of membership is a binding condition for authorizing payroll deduction and that exceptions during the year will be based on hardship or emergency and shall be adjudicated by the SEA.

b. The SEA shall be responsible for notice to state and national organizations with which it is affiliated and who have also been receiving dues and/or fees under the authorization of payroll deduction which is being revoked.

3. The deduction of membership dues and/or fees shall be made monthly for regular warrants. The SPS agrees to remit monthly all monies so deducted to the SEA accompanied by a list of employees from whose pay the deductions have been made. The SEA shall be responsible for remitting a portion of dues and/or fees to the state and national organizations with which it is affiliated when the dues have been authorized by the employee on an assignment of payroll deduction. The SPS shall be absolved by the SEA of all responsibility for accuracy and accounting of state or national professional organization dues and/or fees.

4. Employees who are members of the School Employees Credit Union of Washington may authorize payroll deduction for Credit Union activities by presenting an authorization for the deductions to the Credit Union.

5. The SEA agrees to indemnify and save the SPS harmless against any liability which may arise by reason on any action taken by the SPS to comply with the provisions of this Article I,G, including reimbursement for any legal fees or expenses incurred in connection therewith. The SPS agrees to notify the SEA promptly, in writing, of any claim, demand, suit or other form of liability in regard to this Section and, if the SEA so requests in writing, to surrender claims, demands, suits or other forms of liability.

SECTION H: SEA SECURITY

1. It is recognized that the negotiations and administration of this Agreement entail expenses which appropriately are shared by all employees who are beneficiaries of this Agreement. The terms and conditions of this Agreement in regard to SEA membership or the payment of an agency shop fee or alternatives as provided in accordance with RCW 41.59.100 are set forth below.

2. Employees may elect to become members of the SEA or may pay an agency shop fee equivalent to the dues of the SEA. Employees who fail to authorize payroll deductions will have the agency shop fee deducted from their salary and paid to the SEA, pursuant to Chapter 41.59 RCW.

3. In order to safeguard the right of employees based on a bona fide religious objection, the teachings or tenets of a church or religious body of which the employee is a member, the employee may pay an amount of money equivalent to the agency shop fee to a non-religious charity designated by the SEA, pursuant to Chapter 41.59.100 RCW.

4. The SEA agrees to indemnify and save the SPS harmless against any liability which may arise by reason of any action taken by the SPS to comply with the provisions of the Section above, including reimbursement for any legal fees or expenses incurred in connection therewith. The SPS agrees to notify the SEA promptly in writing of any claim, demand, suit or other form of liability in regard to which it will seek to implement the provisions of this item and, if the SEA so requests in writing, to surrender claims, demands, suits or other forms of liability.

5. Membership in the SEA, the legally recognized organization authorized to negotiate with the SPS, shall be in compliance with Chapter 41.59 RCW and membership shall be nondiscriminatory with regard to race, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, or national origin.

6. The SPS shall furnish the SEA a listing by name of all employees employed by the SPS and their school/work location by September of each year. A list of corrections and changes to this list shall be furnished to the SEA at monthly or other agreed-upon periods thereafter.