Seattle Public Schools issues return-to-office order for remote employees

SEATTLE - The superintendent for Seattle Public Schools has announced that employees are now expected to return to in-person work, ending an era of post-pandemic work from home options. Major companies in the Seattle area have also recently ended remote work, such as Amazon and Microsoft, causing traffic headaches on area roads. 

After six years of allowing SPS employees in various positions to work remotely, Superintendent Ben Shuldiner says now is the time to sunset the policy, except for cases where legal or medical exceptions apply.

Beginning this week, those employees who work from home are expected to begin making plans to transition back to in-person work by July 1. At that point, they will be asked to return five days a week.

 Shuldiner spoke about the decision to order employees back to schools, including his experience with COVID-19 protocols and what the environment in Seattle looks like now. He explains some of the main drive behind the move, in part, below.

What they're saying:

"Nothing will ever replace being together, working together, organically meeting and talking, finding those five minutes to chat about a project you are working on, or a student assignment, or a great lesson plan idea you have. As I visit all our schools to assess the needs of our school district, being present is even more important. 

We need to be there for our students, our families, and our colleagues. Our great educators have been back IRL for years now. School is where the heart of the district is. 

For us to be a team, we all need to present. And when we are able, we should be in schools, supporting what is happening. I appreciate that we were able to afford hundreds of staff members the opportunity to work remote and continued to do so years after we started, but for the good of the organization it is time for all of us to come back to work, face-to-face."

Local perspective:

SPS joins many other large-scale organizations in the Seattle area asking employees to come back to work in person. Amazon ordered workers to come back in 2025, prompting a spike in traffic in the city's South Lake Union neighborhood where tens of thousands of Amazon employees work. 

Microsoft ended their years-long work from home option, ordering employees to return at least three days a week beginning in February 2026. 

Other public employees, like those at the Seattle executive branch were asked to return to office in late 2024. 

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