The day before Tumwater students are set to return to class, the Tumwater School District and the union representing over 100 paraprofessionals who work in the district reached a tentative bargaining agreement.
The tentative agreement comes after members of the Tumwater Association of Paraprofessionals voted Aug. 14 to authorize a strike if the union and the school district could not reach an agreement by the end of the day on Sept. 1.
School for the Tumwater School District starts Sept. 2.
With the tentative agreement reached before the end of the business day on Tuesday, the Tumwater Association of Paraprofessionals will convene for a special meeting Tuesday evening to consider and vote on the contract.
“A tentative agreement means that the bargaining team believes that this deal is worth bringing to the members. It is NOT final until members vote to approve it,” the Tumwater Association of Paraprofessionals said in a social media post Tuesday afternoon.
The meeting begins at 5 p.m. at the Washington Education Association Chinook office in Tumwater, and has no set end time.
If union members do not vote to approve the tentative agreement Tuesday night, union leaders said the strike will begin as planned on Wednesday.
The Tumwater School District is operating under the assumption that the union will vote to approve the tentative agreement, sending a message to parents Tuesday afternoon confirming that school will start on time on Wednesday.
“Reaching an agreement that recognizes our paraprofessionals while maintaining our responsibility to the district’s overall financial health was important to all of us,” Tumwater Superintendent Kevin Bogatin wrote in a Sept. 1 letter to families. “Most importantly, we are excited to put bargaining behind us and get back to what we do best: supporting students and providing them with an excellent education.”
The primary contract dispute between the Tumwater School District and the Tumwater Association of Paraprofessionals was employee wages.
The difference between what the union asked for and what the district offered was about $100 more a month for each paraeducator, according to the union.
“Tumwater paras are dedicated to our students and we want nothing more than to be there to welcome them back to school on Wednesday. But pay that forces us to choose between our students and our own kids is not sustainable,” the Tumwater Association of Paraprofessionals said in an Aug. 29 news release.
Paraeducators, or paras, are school support professionals who work under the direction of certified teachers to provide instructional, behavioral and administrative support to students.
Their responsibilities include working one-on-one with students, helping with classroom management, providing dedicated support for medically fragile students, and more.
The Tumwater School District previously stated that it would not be able to start the school year Sept. 2 if Tumwater paraeducators did strike.
