Vice President Sundquist, members of the board, superintendent Goodloe-Johnson, my name is Jonathan Knapp and I am the proud Vice President of the Seattle Education Association, the voice of Seattle’s educators.
Washington State has a long history of progressive labor organizations. Our roots go back to the International Workers of the World organizing the timber workers in camps throughout the rural parts of the state. SEA does credit to that progressive history by proposing real reform that addresses the one of the true failings of public education: the achievement gap.
Seattle educators make no apology for advocating for what we know to be right for our workplace because we know that the educators working conditions are the child’s learning conditions.What makes educators more effective and improves a child’s academic achievement are the measures and support by the district that inspire confidence. The kind of disruptive and divisive proposals that the district has put on the bargaining table do not inspire confidence among the very people that your bargaining team has characterized as the most important element in a child’s education: the teachers. My challenge to you is to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.
If you think that teachers really are the most important element in a child’s education, then you need to listen to what we are asking for to help close the achievement gap. Teachers are imploring you to implement a new evaluation system that we jointly developed with district managers through an arduous, collaborative, two-year process. Teachers want a clear and effective tool to look critically at their own practice in the classroom and benefit from the insights of their evaluators to make the substantive changes in the parts of their teaching practice that need improvement. The beautiful thing about the joint task-force’s recommendations is that it moves principals away from an antagonistic relationship with teachers and moves them into the role of collaborative supporter of teacher’s continuous professional development. This kind of teamworkis in line with Seattle’s culture.
Walk the walk of supporting the most important element in a child’s education. Seattle’s educators want to implement historic reform to improve teachers’ practice to improve student achievement. What is more accountable than the accountability of that kind of commitment and engagement by educators? Shake off your punitive notions of motivation and coercive methods of improvement. Teachers know that isn’t how we build trusting relationships with our students in our classrooms. Leave behind these 19th century notions of factory training. Join us in the 21st century where we can cultivate a new climate of confidence and trust together and where we can grow an educational ecosystemtogether, an ecosystem that, like all ecosystems, evolves interdependencies and interrelationships that grow into a healthy and vibrant environment where all the members thrive and not just survive.
This blog has been created to add a supplemental source of information for Seattle Education Association members and any interested community members and allies.
