In this newsletter, we seek to provide updates on the status of our unionization efforts and an update on campus news. As always, please reach out to us if you have any questions! We can be reached at unitesummitteachers@gmail.com.
A review of our current status:
The Public Employment Relations Board has assigned an attorney to our case. That attorney will set up a meeting between Unite Summit and Summit administration in the near future to resolve the issues concerning residents and the non-teaching staff based in the Home Office.
We are hopeful that coming out of this meeting, Summit will recognize our union and we can begin bargaining our contract.
For more details, please see our April 17 and April 9 newsletters.
An update on part-time work:
Now that we have formed Unite Summit, administration can’t make changes to working conditions without bargaining with our union. However, Summit seems to be interpreting this in an overly broad manner. We have heard from a few teachers seeking to switch to part-time work or make other changes in their jobs for next year that Summit has told them that changes cannot be made because of the unionization process. We are working with these teachers to clarify to Summit HR that if a teacher and Summit mutually decide to change to part-time work, our union does not consider this something that needs to be bargained over.
If you are having any issues with your contract for next year or have any other questions, please email us at unitesummitteachers@gmail.com or talk with a member of the organizing committee.
Possible schedule changes:
We’ve been hearing conflicting messages over the past month about changes to schedules SPS wants to make in order to unify scheduling across different sites. These attempts at schedule changes have been met with different feelings from staff members across sites, since a unified schedule would be a bigger change for some campuses then for others. We have clearly communicated to Summit administration that any changes in scheduling would be a change in working conditions. If Summit wants to make changes, we ask that teachers be a part of that decision-making process by bargaining those changes with our union. If you have any feedback on the schedule change (positive or constructive), or other changes in working conditions, feel free to reach out to US so that we can understand the needs of our community and advocate on your behalf. The goal is for Unite Summit and Summit leaders to work together to ensure sustainable working conditions for teachers and therefore better school environments for students.
Campus Spotlights: Expeditions:
Expeditions has begun its end-of-year push, which includes after-school showcases at each of our sites. The team started at Shasta. Click here for student journalist coverage of the event, a newsletter, and an interactive catalog of Expeditions courses.We’re working to create personalized catalogs for as many sites as possible, so look out for those links as you prepare to help your mentees through the course selection process! Here’s the Expeditions catalog for Rainier and the coverage of their Celebration of Learning. The Expeditions team greatly appreciates all the support we receive from core teachers who attend these events!
We would like to spotlight important news from each of our campuses! If you have news from your campus that you would like to see us include in a future newsletter, please let us know at unitesummitteachers@gmail.com.
Show your support for our union!
Some sites will be wearing US stickers (with the same logo from this newsletter) to show their support of our union. If you are interested in receiving stickers or pins for yourself or other members on your site, please reach out to your Organizing Committee member! If you are comfortable being featured on our next newsletter or website, please send us a picture of yourself and/or teammates with these pins/stickers and/or a “I support Unite Summit because…” picture that we could add to our gallery!
Please don’t hesitate to ask questions, voice concerns or praises from your school sites- you can email unitesummitteachers@gmail.com, or visit our website at https://unitesummitteachers.wordpress.com!