4/6/2020

You've probably heard the announcement from Governor Inslee today that schools in Washington State will not reopen this school year.  What does that mean for us?  Right now we will continue providing the necessary support we have been assigned.  These supports at the very least will likely continue through the remainder of the school year.  We will be in communication with the district in the coming weeks as to our role going forward.  

Please remember, this is again, new to everyone. We are all navigating as we go and things may be bumpy to start but we will get through this together!

Our MOU is dated through 4/24/2020.  

**Nothing about what we are currently doing changes despite this date. Everything will remain the same.**  

We began bargaining again today to update our MOU to reflect the remainder of the academic school year, which ends on June 19th, 2020.  The services we are providing will continue through June 19th. 

Most of our MOU will remain the same but now that some time has passed minor adjustments need to be made and we intend to address a few new items. 

Stay tuned for updates as they become available.

Just a reminder that any completed professional development during this time cannot be submitted for pay.  Although you may complete these after your regular hours, the expectation is that this is your "work from home" work while we are not onsite.  

You can however, submit completed professional development as part of a stipend. 

After 44 hours of bargaining, we successfully reached an agreement with the district around the effects of working onsite during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The District will follow guidance from the CDC, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and OSPI, and all required governing agencies related to social distancing and other pertinent safety issues. 

All bargaining unit members shall continue to receive contractual benefits at the same rate as working hours.  

If you are in the high-risk category, as identified by the CDC, you are not expected to work on-site.  You will be expected to work from home and your pay is protected.

Our most vulnerable are protected as well as the right to not work if you fall into these categories and use COVID-19 Leave.

* COVID-19 Leave is defined as the combined contractual leaves; sick leave, family illness leave and personal leave and the leave afforded by The Family First Act.

* COVID-19 Leave shall be made available to bargaining unit members who:

- Are living with or providing primary care for an individual who is in a nationally recognized high-risk category as identified by the CDC and set forth in part four (4).

- Is caring for someone who is diagnosed with COVID-19.

- Has been placed into quarantine status or has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

* Bargaining unit members with children shall make every effort to find child care. The District will work with bargaining unit members who need to plan and prepare for childcare. Specifically: The District will allow two weeks for a bargaining unit member to procure child care in order to participate in their onsite rotation. COVID-19 Leave shall be available to those unable to procure childcare.  

*Bargaining unit members shall maintain the right to opt out of accepting an assignment of providing support for students attending day camp and shall use leave or approved leave without pay. 

* Bargaining unit members who provide support for students attending onsite day camp whose regular FTE falls below six (6) hours, shall be compensated for the total hours worked during assigned shift. 

*Bargaining unit members who provide support for the meals on wheels program camp whose regular FTE falls below five (5) hours, shall be compensated for the total hours worked during assigned shift. 

*Bargaining unit members whose regular FTE is more than six (6) hours, shall be compensated at their regular FTE. Bargaining unit members whose regular FTE is more than five (5) hours, shall be compensated at their regular FTE. 

*A rotation for either a day camp or a meals on wheels program shift will count as one rotation. 

Thank you for your support!!

Your COVID-19 Bargaining Team

-Glory Tichy

-Kathy Unruh  tfpvicepresiden@gmail.com  

-Liz Walle   tfpsecretary@gmail.com

-Elizabeth Douglas tfpbuildinga@gmail.com

-Betty Lewis

-Jazmyn Daniels   tfpbargaining@gmail.com

-Jana Quiocho

-Shelley Hutson

Questions can be directed to email addresses list above.

In addition to providing student support at onsite day camps, we have been given an opportunity to serve our community and students!  Beginning Tuesday, The Meals on Wheels Program will have a para or bus monitor ride the bus through the route and drop off lunches and learning packets to schools and throughout neighborhoods. You may be called for a week-long rotation for either day camp or meal on wheels. 

As paraeducators, we are ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL.  In the event Governor Inslee issues a declaration of "shelter in place" for Washington State, if you have been scheduled for a day camp shift, you must still report for your rotation.

Glory Tichy

11:58pm

The district received our counter proposal at 11:15pm.  The district decided at 11:32pm they wanted to end bargaining for the night.  We will continue tomorrow upon the district's response to our proposal.

8:47pm

We are still in on-going negotiations with the district.  We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for everyone's amazing support.  We plan to see this through tonight until we reach an agreement. 

Dear TFP Members,

When was it we were joking about how we were going to have to survive a week helping manage a school full of other people’s kids when there was going to be a full moon, the switch to daylight savings time and Friday the 13th? Not that long ago. 

We knew we would bravely go to work and survive the week because heck, we are kid-managing experts right? And that is what we do. 

Now we (and everyone else) face the COVID-19 pandemic. We (and everyone else) are afraid. Some (hopefully most) of us are following the guidelines set forth to keep each other safe.

All school districts in the state have been tasked to provide an essential service. This directive did not come with a manual on how to make it happen. The state is looking to the district expertise to make it happen. School districts manage kids, they are the kid experts right? No, building staff manage kids. Principals run the schools, teachers teach the kids, lunchroom staff feed the kids, custodians keep the school clean and paraeducators do it all and most importantly we do what needs to be done, well maybe we don’t run the school, but sometimes. Bottom line, the state needs paraeducators' skills to provide an essential service during this COVID-19 pandemic.

The Tacoma School District is calling on their paraeducators to help by working at school sites where our communities medical and first responder employees can safely bring their kids while they work. Whoa! The district has every right to assign us work, WE WORK FOR THEM. They also have the responsibility to make sure we are working safely in a safe environment, like the medical and first responders who bravely go to work each day.     

This is long and I know many of you have stopped reading already but my sister and brother paraeducators, we have been chosen to do a job. We are not being sacrificed, we are not the bottom of the barrel of district staff, we are paraeducators who have the skills to do whatever we need to do to keep active kids happy and safe. 

Do I wish we had been asked differently? Yes, but here we are. There are many of you who are unable to work because of high risk medical conditions which it totally understandable and we knew there would be, at the same time, there are many of you ready and willing to report to work knowing our community needs your skills. 

As we learn more about the job expectations for our paraeducators,  your union leadership is working hard to make sure we are as safe as we can be on site. We, like you, have a bunch of questions that need answering. Do we believe paraeducators are up to this challenge? Yes. These kids and families can rely on a paraeducator do what needs to be done.

--
Kathy Unruh
Vice President
Tacoma Federation of ParaEducators 

Our actions today brought the district back to the table this afternoon.  We will continue negotiations over the weekend.  If you have been assigned a shift beginning Monday, March 23, you need to show up as scheduled and be sure to monitor anything that appears to be unsafe.  If you fall into a high-risk category as recognized by the CDC, please contact smiller4@tacoma.k12.wa.us or sdeader@tacoma.k12.wa.us.  

 President Heinze and Tacoma School Board Members,

We agree that the time is now for essential personnel to step up and answer the call of duty in order to support our students and community during this time.

We have been forced to file an Unfair Labor Practice against Tacoma Public Schools because of the districts actions; actions that continue today.  The district needs to cease and desist contacting our members as this constitutes direct dealing.

On Thursday, March 19th, Tacoma Public Schools human resources staff began calling our bargaining unit members and assigning daycare shifts to staff beginning Monday, March 23rd.  Members were told that if they declined they would lose pay.  The district failed to ask a single health screening question of any member before assigning a shift.  This is deeply concerning as Tacoma Public School's priority should be to ensure those that are being assigned work do not fall into the high-risk category as recognized by the CDC. 

In addition, the district should see our union as a partner, as directed by The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.  We need the district to stop contacting our members directly regarding issues we are currently in negotiations over and come back to the table immediately to complete bargaining in order to provide this critical resource to our health care community.

Glory Tichy
President
Tacoma Federation of Paraeducators

 An Important Update from Our COVID 19 Bargaining Team

Our union members are providing an essential and important resource to our community by providing care for the children of First Responders and Hospital Workers. Sadly, our union was left out of the process of planning and executing this work leaving our members confused and scared about how the District is handling our safety and health concerns. We know we need to do this work, but the fact that the District contacted our members before negotiations had commenced constitutes direct dealing which is an unfair labor practice. Because of our members actions last night and this morning, the district agreed that ALL members who are over 60 years old, pregnant women and people who are immunocompromised or have severe underlying chronic medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes will not be required to work on site.

Our union is awaiting a response from management on our demands to make sure we are safe. We were told that the District is going to respond to our demands, but the District did not commit to continuing to negotiate together until Sunday evening. We need to be able to continue negotiations before that. We are assisting with providing the care to our students necessary to keep our society functioning during this unprecedented event. There needs to be an agreement with the District in order to ensure safety for all and our union is working to make this happen.

To that end we are asking our members to be ready to take action in support of our union bargaining. Please stay tuned for further updates. Please contact your COVID 19 bargaining team representatives directly if you have any questions.

Jazmyn Daniels

Elizabeth Douglas

Shelley Hutson

Betty Lewis

Jana Quiocho

Glory Tichy

Kathy Unruh

Liz Walle

The district has agreed to come to the bargaining table and negotiate the effects of COVID-19  with regard to paraeducators reporting onsite for childcare. We will be at the table this morning.  We will post updates as soon as they are available.

The district has responded to our request to bargain and is refusing to bargain with TFP over the proposed MOU which speaks to your rights, conditions and rights of refusal.  The district declares that this is an "act of god" which excludes it from being a mandatory subject of bargaining.  Your health and safety in the workplace IS a mandatory subject of bargaining. 

We have been made aware that the district is wanting to use paraeducators for student support during onsite day camp/childcare to be facilitated by community partners, in the coming weeks. 

We have been preparing for this possibility this week and we are in the process of bargaining your rights, your conditions and your rights of refusal. 

We understand this is disturbing news to many.  More details will be coming very soon as we come to an agreement with the district.

Compensation for our bargaining unit, excluding substitutes, will continue through the closure.  There will be no interruption of pay.

With that being said and as rapidly as things are changing, this is not a 6-week vacation and everyone needs to be available as we are all still employed.  This also means that you are not eligible for unemployment.

More details to come.

Paraeducators and other classifications within our bargaining unit are being paid this week.  That means we are NOT eligible to apply for unemployment at this time.  No one is keeping us in the dark.  Decisions are being made about the coming weeks just as quickly as they can be.  Lots of moving parts. Please be patient.

Substitute paraeducators and substitute bus monitors are eligible to file for unemployment however there is a minimum requirement that states you must have worked at least 680 hours during the 2019 calendar year to be eligible. Please direct questions to esd.wa.gov website.