Seattle preschool, special education students will not return to in-person learning this week
Another night of negotiations between teachers and SPS
Families are growing frustrated over the uncertainty of ongoing negotiations and how it might impact their children's education.
SEATTLE - Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association announced that preschool and special education students will return to in-person learning at the end of the month instead of later this week.
The school district has been bargaining with the teachers union since late January and was planning on bringing preschool students and some special education students back into classrooms Thursday, even if teachers didn’t show up. The district's latest announcement reverses that move.
About 700 educators were supposed to be back in buildings Monday to ready their classrooms for learning, but a campaign by the union asked them to stay remote. After Monday's negotiations, the district rescinded a February order that designated 700 additional staff as "essential."
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"SPS and SEA together agreed that school staff could benefit from additional time to prepare to offer the safest, most equitable in-person learning environments possible in every SPS building," the district said.
Teachers and support staff will return to buildings as early as March 22 to receive health and safety training and to set up their classrooms for the students.
Families can choose to keep their kids at home for full-time remote learning.
The Seattle Special Education Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) has been advocating for more in-person services since last spring. At last check, the president said only about 140 out of 8,000 special education students are receiving some form of in-person learning.
The two parties are still working on an agreement to offer in-person services to around 10,000 students, including kindergartners and first-graders. The timeline is the first jointly released by management and labor for any type of in-person instruction since the pandemic began.
Seattle Public Schools is the state’s largest district, with about 50,000 students.
Gov. Jay Inslee, who is urging schools to reopen to students, has made all teachers in the state eligible for the COVID-19. That move angered some other workers in industries like restaurants that have largely remained open during the pandemic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.