Update from Seattle Council PTA (which our RESMS PTSA falls under)
“Dear Community,
The Seattle Educators Association (SEA) voted for an overwhelming majority to authorize a strike last night. We want to remind families that we have been through this before.
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In 2018, SEA members voted to authorize a strike but came to a Tentative Agreement (TA) with SPS before school started.
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In 2022, 95% of voting members passed the vote to authorize a strike. The strike lasted for five days.
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In 2026, 91.5% of voting members passed the vote to authorize a strike.
This process obviously is not ideal for our families, but this is also a protected right of our nation and honors the process of collective bargaining. This news is received across the spectrum, from positive to negative, and maybe a little of both. We also want to acknowledge that a lot of our families have no idea that a strike will happen or how that impacts their families, work, and childcare support.
No one—not even one of us—knows what is happening in the bargaining room, and all the people in the bargaining room all likely have a different truth. The exhaustion of daily bargaining from 9am to 9pm can wear folks down and raise emotions. As second or third hand information is trickling into our space, it is important to take a moment to breathe, pause, and center ourselves in this moment.
Our PTAs and families are very vulnerable to either/or narratives, and the impact of these words will hurt. Both SEA members and SPS staff harm children. Both SEA members and SPS staff help children. We are living in a moment of multiple truths.
Every single child and their experience in this system cannot be reduced to a dollar amount, yet this is how we measure resources in our imperfect system.
One thing I would add is that I want to emphasize that PTA does not infringe on the individual rights of people participating in the picket line. It is just that PTA as an organization cannot.
Two Points from National / Washington State
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Freedom of Affiliation: All members—including parents, community advocates, and school staff—retain their complete individual rights to support, vote for, protest, or participate in a strike according to their personal choice, beliefs, and family interests.
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The Leadership Obligation: If an individual is a perceived PTA leader or officer, they have an obligation to carefully separate their personal strike actions from the organization. They must not use their PTA title or platform to endorse or oppose a strike, as doing so would violate the PTA’s non-partisan, neutral status. ”