Tag Archives: schools

To create Seattle U’s new 12th Ave SUMA art museum, some of its promised collection is being sold off — UPDATE

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Gaetano Gandolfi, The Birth of Venus –
 Estimate: $2-3 million (Image: Sotheby’s)

SUMA

As the plan moves forward to build a new art museum on its 12th Ave campus, Seattle University has announced a change in plans for some of the $300 million in art pledged to be showcased there in a donation by Seattle property developer Dick Hedreen.

“Longtime Seattle University supporter and donor Richard Hedreen recently informed the university of his decision to sell approximately 50 works from the broader collection,” the school’s September 14th announcement read. “As Sotheby’s Auction House announces the sale this morning, we wanted the university community to hear this news directly from us. Mr. Hedreen reaffirmed his commitment to gifting the remaining approximately 350 works of art to the university in honor of his late wife, Betty Hedreen, a proud Seattle University alumna.”

The announcement follows Hedreen’s 2024 donation pledging the $300 million collection of paintings, pottery, photography, etchings, and sculptures to the Jesuit university. The donation included a promise of $25 million in “seed funding” to build a new Seattle University Museum of Art to house the collection. Continue reading →

Less screen time: Seattle Public Schools to phase out K–2 device program

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The playground at Capitol Hill’s Lowell Elementary

To reduce screen time and reliance on technology for young learners, Seattle Public Schools announced it will phase out its iPad program for kindergarten through second-grade students starting next year.

Under the new policy, early elementary students will no longer be assigned individual devices for school or home use. Instead, devices will transition into shared classroom resources utilized by teachers for assessments, accessibility accommodations, and specific curriculum components, the district says.

Officials said that planned daily screen time for K–2 students will be capped at 0 to 30 minutes, emphasizing that technology use will not be mandatory every day. The shift aims to prioritize developmentally appropriate, hands-on learning, direct teacher instruction, and peer interaction over independent screen use. Continue reading →

A new rhythm for Capitol Hill: Seattle University prepares for 2027 semester shift

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(Image: Seattle University)

(Image: Seattle University)

Next fall as school begins again on Capitol Hill, there will be a fascinating experiment as the calendar shifts for thousands of students who make the areas around Pike/Pine and Broadway their home, study hall, place of employment, shopping district, and nightlife playground.

Starting in 2027, Seattle University will transition its academic terms from the quarter system to a semester schedule.

Semester systems span about 15 weeks compared to a 10 week quarter, meaning students will start earlier in the fall of 2027 and let out in late spring rather than early summer, impacting leases, local businesses that connect with SU students, and, primarily, its student body.

Kevin Kryca, director of Academic Calendar Conversion at the private Jesuit university, believes the change will keep business as usual for both the school and the neighborhood, albeit on a slightly different timeline.

“I think that SU moving to semesters will have a positive impact in the sense that students will be engaging in the community for longer periods of time,” said Kryca. “They’ll be here earlier in the year, they’ll just see a different rhythm in the community.” Continue reading →

Seattle students head to class as district and teachers union reach agreement

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Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association reached a tentative contract agreement late Tuesday clearing the way for classes to begin on schedule Wednesday morning.

The deal averts a strike across the district which serves some 50,000 students and employs 6,000 union-represented educators and staff. Students in grades 1 through 12 return to classrooms on September 2, followed by preschool and kindergarten students on September 8. The contract remains subject to ratification votes by both the union membership and the Seattle School Board.

Specifics of the tentative deal including final salary schedules were not disclosed in the joint announcement but the union said the sides reached “agreements” on all 52 issues raised in the negotiations.

The tentative agreement reportedly is centered on the district’s officer of an 8.8% baseline salary increase over three years, broken down into annual bumps of 2.6%, 3.6%, and 2.6%. This raise passes through projected state-funded cost-of-living adjustments with no furlough days, alongside standard annual experience step increases averaging roughly 4% for eligible staff.

Continue reading →

District says negotiations stall over teacher demand for 6% raise on top of state-funded cost-of-living adjustments

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(Image: Seattle Education Association)

Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said contract negotiations for a new teachers contract stalled in a message to student families over the weekend.

Negotiations between Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association were unable to move forward, prompting the district to request a mediator from the Public Employment Relations Commission, Shuldiner said in the Sunday update.

Shuldiner said the district sought mediation after rejecting the union’s latest counterproposal as regressive bargaining, arguing the new submission added millions of dollars in costs to earlier demands.

The district’s contract package offers educators an 8.8% salary increase over three years with no furlough days, tied to state cost-of-living adjustments. Continue reading →

More labor disputes: State workers hold walkout over contract, working conditions

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There are more ripples of labor unrest around Seattle. Thousands of Washington public employees are staging a statewide walkout across more than 100 worksites Monday, demanding higher wages and better working conditions.

Nearby walkout sites include the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services office on E Cherry and the University of Washington.

Representing 52,000 state workers, the Washington Federation of State Employees said in its announcement that uncompetitive compensation and severe understaffing are eroding essential public services, higher education, and healthcare. Union leaders criticized state negotiators for failing to match inflation, noting Washington spent a record $537 million on legal liability payouts in fiscal year 2026 alone. Continue reading →

‘Respectful pay’ and smaller class sizes — Seattle teachers union authorizes strike

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Teachers went on strike in 2022

Members of the Seattle Education Association have voted to authorize a strike, escalating contract negotiations with Seattle Public Schools days before the scheduled September 2 start of the school year.

The authorization comes four years after the union took the rare step of launching a strike in pounding out a contract with the district in 2022 with wins on special education and salaries. With the end of that three-year pact, the two sides are back at it again.

Representing roughly 6,000 teachers, paraeducators, counselors, and support staff, the union says it approved the strike authorization with 91% support following 24 bargaining sessions that began in June. Continue reading →

Seattle mayor, council close rift over universal school meals in finalized $1.3B Families, Education, Preschool spending plan

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(Image: Seattle Public Schools)

Mayor Katie Wilson, District 3 representative and Council President Joy Hollingsworth, and the Seattle City Council have found common ground in the effort to launch a new universal school meals program as part of the city’s new Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy spending plan.

Following Tuesday’s council vote, Seattle is set to launch universal free school meals for all Seattle Public School students starting this September. The solution was approved as part of the broader Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy spending plan, delivering on initiatives to eliminate student hunger and increase affordability for local families.

Under the agreed strategy, the universal meal program will begin in the 2026–2027 school year using one-time funds, with the FEPP Levy officially taking over funding for the 2027–2028 school year. Continue reading →

Hollingsworth prevails in tussle with mayor over universal school meals program — UPDATE: Council proposal

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Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth has Mayor Katie Wilson’s respect if not her full support on a decision to delay the city’s universal school meals program by one year in order to fund immediate weekend and holiday food support.

Under an amendment to the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy plan co-sponsored by Hollingsworth, the rollout of universal school meals in Seattle will shift to the 2027–28 school year.

The redirected funds will immediately expand resources for low-income families during weekends and school breaks starting this upcoming school year. Hollingsworth framed the amendment as a “both/and” approach, noting that weekend and holiday hunger is a critical, tragically overlooked gap that requires urgent relief.

Hollingsworth called the approved amendment “a both/and approach” that will “close the food equity gap in Seattle.” Continue reading →

Citing fears about the Millionaire’s Tax, Hollingsworth proposes slicing back mayor’s early education spending priorities

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Seattle City Council president and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth is proposing slicing back some key initiatives backed by Mayor Katie Wilson in the spending plan $1.3 billion voter-approved Families and Education levy.

Wednesday, Hollingsworth introduced a series of proposed amendments and cutbacks to the levy implementation plan, prioritizing food security for public school students as the council president said the city might need to prepare for rapid fallout from challenges to the state’s new Millionaire’s Tax. Hollingsworth said a more conservative approach to spending would give the city time to see if the state-level tax base survives the courts and the ballot box. Continue reading →