Losing Our Unforgettables
Anne Hawkins, arguably the very best teacher in Tacoma, submitted her resignation papers today. And everyone who knows her wept in response.
You might know Anne. She’s one of eight teachers, The Unforgettables, that the Tacoma Public Schools highlighted as exceptionally remarkable and unforgettable. Anne Hawkins is truly unforgettable.
The Tacoma Public Schools, in highlighting Anne, wrote the following caption to her video:
Every second, every minute, EVERY DAY our teachers come full-force. Anne Hawkins at Jason Lee Middle School is passionate about preparing her students to take on the world—pouring her heart and soul into every opportunity to build our next generation of leaders. Anne, you are an incredible teacher and advocate for all students—you are unforgettable.
The Tacoma Public Schools knows what every student and every teacher and every parent and every administrator who has ever worked with Anne knows, that not only is she unforgettable, she’s irreplaceable.
But, after the continued intransigence of the Tacoma Public School’s leadership, and the continued misrepresentation of the issue at hand, Anne, not one to take abuse, is ready to walk away from the district she lives in and loves.
The Tacoma Public Schools is going to lose its very best teachers because their approach to salary negotiations and the resulting strike has been, to put it mildly, shameful and disappointing. Four examples include:
In its robocalls home, the District says “…the Tacoma teacher’s union has decided to continue it’s strike…all Tacoma Public Schools will be closed until the union strike is over.” This places the blame on the teachers without acknowledging that the strike will end as soon as the District agrees to bargain in good faith and use the McCleary funds for their intended purposes.
The Tacoma Public Schools’ Facebook page posted an image comparing Tacoma’s offer to neighboring Pierce County school districts and failed to acknowledge that the money they are putting forward isn’t new money, but a guarantee of optional hours teachers already have the ability to make. This is a dishonest attempt to make it look like teachers are being greedy and unreasonable. It’s propaganda and shameful.
The Tacoma Public Schools refuses to allocate the state provided McCleary funds to teacher salaries above the 3.1% they continue to insist is their cap. The District has received upwards of $30 million dollars from the state for teacher salaries and yet it insists that it doesn’t have enough money to pay for raises comparable to neighboring districts. When the data is clear that nearly every administrator in the Central Administration Building has received tens of thousands of dollars in raises over the last five years, its offensive to say that there is no money for teachers.
The Tacoma Public Schools requested fact-finding and non-binding arbitration last week, but changed its request to binding arbitration today, which is stalling contract negotiations and making a farce out of the good faith bargaining process.
Teachers are angry. Teachers are hurt. Teachers are willing to leave to get the raises they deserve.
At the Tacoma Education Association meeting where members voted to strike, the union president read the Vision Statement of the Tacoma Public Schools’ Human Resources Department. She read:
Tacoma Public Schools will be the school district where every family says, “This is where I want my child to learn,” and where every educator says, “This is where I want to work.”
The Tacoma Public Schools is failing to reach their vision, and they’re doing so in spectacular fashion. They are driving away their best teachers and making it a place where no teacher wants to work.
Anne Hawkins will always remain unforgettable. At the rate they are going, the Tacoma Public Schools will themselves be forgotten, and they’ll have no one to blame but the leadership of the Tacoma Public Schools.
The strike will end when the leadership of the Tacoma Public Schools agrees to pay Tacoma’s teachers and support professionals what they are worth.