MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING
Between the
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE SEATTLE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
Regarding
SPECIFIED CLASSIFIED HOURLY WORK IN SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

These Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) are entered into by the Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and the Seattle Education Association (SEA) representing the Seattle Association of Education Office Personnel (SAEOP) and Paraprofessional Staff (Parapro). They modify the 2004-06 and 2006-09 Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) between the parties and are effective September 1, 2004 through August 31, 2006 and September 1, 2006 through August 31, 2009. They shall expire on August 31, 2006 and August 31, 2009 respectively unless otherwise renegotiated between the parties.

Purpose:
The purpose of these MOUs is to document agreements between SPS and SEA in the 1996 Settlement Agreement of the Hourly and Casual Employees grievance and made during the course of bargaining in August and September 2004 regarding classified hourly work that is similar or the same as some duties listed in SEA-represented job titles. These Memoranda may be superseded at any time by mutual consent between the parties.

Hourly Employees Defined:
For the purposes of these MOUs, classified hourly employees are defined as SPS employees who are compensated in the form of hourly pay only. They receive no additional benefits or other forms of compensation, except that regular part-time employees may work as hourly employees above their regular schedules. Within the body of work represented by the SEA, the SPS may employ hourly workers in the SEA-represented job titles of Elementary Office Assistant, Parent/Tutor/Volunteer Coordinator and other job titles whose duties may be performed on a peak load basis as described below. These Memoranda of Understanding address work in the following hourly job titles: Elementary School Assistant, Playground/Lunch Supervisor, Parent/Tutor/Volunteer Coordinator, Tutor/Bilingual Tutor and Sound Partner Tutor.

Job Descriptions and Limitation on Hours:
Each of the classified hourly job titles listed above will have a separate job description, and classified hourly employees shall be provided the job descriptions in which they are working. The job description of each classified hourly job title listed above is appended to these MOUs. It shall be the responsibility of the hiring supervisor to retain signatures of hourly employees acknowledging receipt of their job descriptions. Classified hourly employees are limited to performing only the functions described in their job descriptions, and they may not supplant the work of regular FTE SEA-represented employees.

No one Hourly Tutor may work more than 17 hours per week. No one hourly employee in other job titles may work more than 19 hours per week.

Hourly Elementary School Assistants:
Please refer to the Hourly Elementary School Assistant job description for a complete listing of duties and limitations. Schools with K-5 programs must employ at least a .5 FTE Elementary School Assistant before an Hourly School Assistant can be hired. Any available Hourly Elementary School Assistant work must be offered first to the regular part-time Elementary School Assistant if his/her performance is satisfactory and he/she is not on a performance improvement plan. If the regular part-time employee declines the additional hours, the supervisor shall retain the employee’s signature declining the hourly work. The supervisor shall note that the regular part-time employee declined the hourly work on the Casual Worker Request (CWR) when hiring an Hourly Elementary School Assistant.

Employees working in this job title shall be paid at Step 1 of the appropriate SP Salary Schedule.

Hourly Playground/Lunch Supervisors:
Please refer to the Hourly Playground/Lunch Supervisor job description for a complete listing of duties and limitations. These duties may also be performed by a regular Elementary School Assistant.

Employees working in this job title shall be paid on the hourly salary schedule maintained by the SPS Classification and Compensation Office.

Hourly Parent/Tutor/Volunteer Coordinators:
Please refer to the Hourly Parent/Tutor/Volunteer Coordinator job description for a complete listing of duties and limitations.

Employees working in this job title shall be paid on the hourly salary schedule maintained by the SPS Classification and Compensation Office.

Limitation on Hours and $3,700 Annual Flexibility Amount:
If a school meets the conditions described above, it may employ Hourly Elementary School Assistants and Playground/Lunch Supervisors up to a total of two hours per day. In addition, each school/program may utilize up to an annual total of $3,700 exclusive of benefits (Annual Flexibility Amount) to hire Hourly Elementary School Assistants, Hourly Playground/Lunch Supervisors and Hourly Parent/Tutor/Volunteer Coordinators combined. Hourly Parent/Tutor/Volunteer Coordinators may be hired from the $3,700 Annual Flexibility Amount.

Hourly Peak-Load Employees:
In addition to the foregoing, schools/programs may annually employ classified hourly employees for a maximum of one consecutive three month period to meet administrative peak-load/additional work needs for which no budgeted regular FTE position has been allocated. Classified hourly peak-load employees shall be assigned to one ‘peak-load’ job code regardless of the classified hourly job titles in which they are working.

The Transportation Department may employ Hourly Telephone Assistance for a maximum of three months which are not consecutive. SEA and SPS may make other exceptions to the three-consecutive months’ limitation by mutual agreement.

Hourly Peak-Load employees shall be classified and paid at Step 1 of the appropriate SP Salary Schedule for the job title in which they are working.

Hourly Tutors:
Please refer to the Hourly/Bilingual Tutor and Sound Partner Tutor job descriptions for a complete listing of duties and limitations. No one tutor may work more than 17 hours per week. A school’s total annual utilization of Hourly Tutors shall not exceed the Green Book cost of a .5 FTE Instructional Assistant ($19,939 in 2005-06). This limitation does not include the annual expenditures for tutors working in the Sound Partners or similar tutor programs that SPS and SEA agree are exempt.

SPS may employ hourly tutors only to serve K-5 students. Bilingual Tutors may be employed provide language support K-12. Central Bilingual/ESL Services may employ Hourly Bilingual Tutors to serve students when the number needing tutoring services who speak the same language in a school is insufficient to hire a regular bilingual instructional assistant.

The parties disagree about whether Hourly Tutor and its subsets are job titles represented by SEA. In the event that SEA seeks to utilize the statutory representation election procedures with respect to hourly tutors, the parties agree to the following:

1. The parties agree to cooperate to minimize the time between a request for an election, an election, and any subsequent bargaining. The parties shall meet and make a good faith effort to resolve any concerns before filing any litigation. In the event of any litigation which could result in a delay of the process, the parties agree to jointly request PERC’s assistance in expediting the resolution of the litigation, and providing alternative dispute resolution assistance or informal assistance in order to promptly resolve the matter.

2. The parties agree that in the event a majority of Tutors wish to be represented by SEA, the Paraprofessional Staff bargaining unit is ultimately the most appropriate bargaining unit. In order to ensure that an election is held without delay, SEA shall file any representation petition for Tutors requesting that an election amongst Tutors be held for a separate Tutor bargaining unit, to which the SPS and SEA stipulate. Upon certification, the parties agree that Tutors shall be included in the Paraprofessional Staff bargaining unit, and the Paraprofessional Staff Collective Bargaining Agreement shall be modified to include Tutors as a represented classification. Negotiations shall then promptly commence to determine what terms and conditions of employment of the Paraprofessional Staff Collective Bargaining Agreement shall apply to this additional classification, and any other items and conditions of employment not already included in the Agreement. In the event PERC delays an election beyond 60 days from the filing of a petition, the parties shall promptly meet and jointly select a neutral their party to conduct a representation election.

3. At the written request of SEA, the District agrees to provide the names and addresses of persons employed as Tutors.

Casual Worker Request (CWR) Process:
The SPS will develop a request form specifically to hire hourly workers. The form will include a brief summary of duties for the classified hourly job title being requested, pay rate and limitation on work hours per week. It will also contain a statement to be signed by the hiring supervisor that the employee hired for the hourly work will not work beyond the limitations of hours or duties contained in the job description. When peak-load assistance is being requested, the CWR form will request a description of the duties to be performed, the reason peak-load assistance is needed and the starting and ending dates of the assignment, not to exceed three consecutive months.

Tracking and Monthly Reports:
Each classified hourly job title will have a separate job code for tracking purposes, and employees working in more than one hourly job title shall use a separate time sheet for reporting hours worked in each job code. SPS will provide SEA with electronic monthly payroll-period reports of hourly work performed in SEA-represented job titles and in non-management job titles that are not represented by other unions. The reports will be organized by school/program and will include employee names, job titles, pay rates and hours worked. Reports for Hourly Tutors and Hourly Peak-Load employees may be provided as separate reports. SPS will inform SEA of its procedures for monitoring school/program compliance with these Memoranda.

To the extent that these MOUs are in conflict with any provisions of the 2004-06 and 2006-09 Collective Bargaining Agreements between the parties, the agreements set forth in these MOUs shall control and any inconsistent provisions of the negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreements shall be deemed modified for the duration of these Memoranda of Understanding.

In witness whereof the parties hereto have executed these agreements this ____________ day of _________________, 2005

SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS SEATTLE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

By: _________________________ By: __________________________
Raj Manhas, Superintendent Wendy Kimball, President


By: __________________________ By: _______________________________
Jane Westergaard-Nimocks Steve Pulkkinen,
Director of Human Resources Executive Director