Two sides, one focus

NEA Today, Nov 1996 by Cabrera, Alejandro

Seattle, the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix, the grunge movement, and Starbucks Coffee, has produced yet another innovation: a landmark "trust agreement" between the Seattle Education Association and the school district.

Under this innovative agreement, which is "wrapped" around the normal contract, both the Association and the administration enter into a collaborative partnership in which staff are given an unprecedented role in "decisions that affect the instruction and delivery of educational programs."

The agreement decentralizes power to the school site and allows for renegotiation of all contract provisions. Moreover, the pact lists 40 areas of "mutual interests"-everything from retaining quality substitutes to increasing parent and community participation.

The document's bottom line: shared decision making and shared ownership of the district schools.

Asked why Seattle is changing the way its schools normally do business, superintendent John Stanford replies quickly, "the children."

"Normally, there is a sharp line between employees and management," explains Stanford. "There's no trust, so we end up spending our time on adult issues. We formed a partnership so we can focus on what we both agreed should be our focus-our kids. Roger Erskine, the executive director of the Seattle Education Association, admits that establishing a culture of trust isn't going to happen overnight. But he stresses that some good has already come from just moving in that direction.

"I think we are creating more public trust in our school system," says Erskine. "Last year, for example, the business community put $11 million into our schools, up from about $1 million three or four years ago."

In addition to being notable for what it has produced more of-trust, outside funding, and public support-this novel agreement between SEA and the district is also changing the shapeand the length-of the basic contract.

Before the trust agreement, the SEA contract weighed in at a hefty 300-plus pages. Now it's far skinnier and "focused on creating a trusting teaching and learning environment," Erskine points out.

SEA member David Gardner, a teacher at Seattle's Hawthorne Elementary School, likes that idea.

"I think of it like you would a marriage," he says. "Most marriages aren't put together with extensive written agreements. They're simply built on trust."

-Alejandro Cabrera