A certified waste of money

In these days of e-everything, a letter in the mail means more than ever.

Propriety. Time taken for a well-thought-out gesture.

But that's not what people got from a letter sent by Seattle School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson last month.

The letter informed members of the teachers union that if they didn't agree to losing one day of work next year to help the district compensate for lost state funding, they wouldn't have a job in September.

It's bad enough that the district ignored procedure, went around union officials and straight to the teachers, who protested that move (and the layoffs as well as the one-day cut or else), in front of district headquarters last week.

But there's also this: The district sent the letters by certified mail, at $5.63 a pop.

So for 3,300 members of the teachers union, the district spent $18,579 to say it didn't have any money.

Who spends nearly $20-large to say they're broke?

I had to be wrong. So I went to the rally at the John Stanford Center and asked a few teachers to check my work.

Not only were my numbers right, so was my inference.

"That's a lot of money to go into letters, and it's bad-faith bargaining,"said Robert Femiano, a teacher at Sanislo Elementary. "Our contract says 182 days. To unilaterally change the contract ... "

David Fisher, a teacher at Cleveland High School, said there was only one answer:

"It's a waste of money."

Fisher's certified letter is still waiting for him at the post office. He has no plans to pick it up.

"Why bother? (Goodloe-Johnson) didn't have to do it. She wanted a scare tactic," he said.

Well, whatever her intent, Goodloe-Johnson was following the law, according to district spokesman David Tucker.

"We have to make sure that the affected employees have the information at hand as soon as possible," Tucker said, adding that the only way to ensure that is by certified mail.

I get and respect that. But in times like these, why not hand them out, as the law allows?

It's good enough for the Northshore School District. Spokeswoman Pamela Steele told me that if there is any change in the upcoming contract, or probable cause that results in a reduction in pay, "We would hand-deliver those letters."

Seattle is not Northshore, I guess: "We need to confirm receipt and ensure that the information gets to them," Tucker said of the district employees.

So it's OK not to follow procedure when it's union rules. But district procedure can be parsed, where you pick what you want to do, no matter the cost?

I understand the need to ensure that people receive critical information.

But to spend thousands to cry poor is like driving to your kid's school to tell him to take the bus.

Do that, and you squander faith and respect from not just your charges, but the people who supply the cash. Taxpayers.

Surely the district can find a way to not look like a bunch of hypocrites.

Marletta Iwasyk has been teaching here for 41 years, so she's seen some district strife. But this was one for the books.

"It made no sense to me," she said. "They could have used the money for better things."

Even better? They could have used it for teachers.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

Course, the USPS is hurting, too.