Seattle school district says timing of letter to teachers bad, but defends content

Seattle Public Schools apologized Monday for sending a controversial letter to all its teachers Friday, saying it mistakenly was mailed earlier than intended.

"It's very, very regrettable," district spokeswoman Patti Spencer said.

The dispute over the letter — and the fate of one teacher-training day — isn't over.

If the district doesn't rescind the letter this week, the union that represents Seattle teachers says it will consider legal action.

"We want to give the district a chance to make it right," said Glenn Bafia, executive director of the Seattle Education Association (SEA).

While defending the content of the letter, the school district clearly is embarrassed that it went out when it did — on the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week and before the district could explain its intentions.

The letter informs teachers that the district intends to cut one training day during the 2009-10 school year because state legislators cut funding to pay for it. That means teachers would lose a day of pay.

The letter also told teachers that their contract for the upcoming school year would not be renewed, and they were being offered a new contract for 181 days instead of 182.

The letter was supposed to go out this week, but a series of miscommunications led to the error, Spencer said, declining to be more specific.

District officials continue to say they were up against a deadline, legally obligated to inform teachers by May 15 in order to remove a workday.

But the union, which represents all 3,300 Seattle teachers, counselors, librarians and other certificated staff, argues that the number of work days is an issue that must be handled at the bargaining table.

The union also says the district's decision to send the letter directly to its employees amounts to an unfair labor practice.

"The issue is bigger than should we or should we not give up a day," Bafia said. "The issue is that there's a process of negotiation that we're supposed to follow."

The union hasn't decided whether it would support or oppose the change, he said.

The dispute erupted Friday after district officials gave union leaders a copy of the letter and the union in turn issued a press release accusing the district of essentially firing all teachers.

Olga Addae, SEA president, said the district's move showed disrespect for the union and for teachers.

The bad feelings were compounded by the fact that district officials at first denied any letters had even been sent Friday.

On Saturday, they acknowledged that was not true.

Spencer said the district has been discussing the fate of the training day with the union since the end of April, but that the parties hadn't come to an agreement about the issue.

If the training day is not canceled, Spencer said, the district will have to cut an additional $1 million from its budget.

However the clash over the letter turns out, it probably won't help negotiations between the union and the district, which just got under way.

The teachers' current contract expires at the end of August.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com