Six thousand Seattle educators walked out on strike September 7, which would have been the first day of school. The top issue was the district’s proposal — disguised in social justice language — to end student-teacher ratios for many categories of special education.

Also key were struggles over class size, cuts to services, and wages, especially for substitutes and paraprofessionals, who often work most closely with students with disabilities.

Late in the day on September 12, the bargaining teams announced a tentative agreement but provided only a summary to members. On September 13, after eight hours of meeting on Zoom, members voted 57 to 43 percent to suspend the strike, even though they still hadn’t seen the entire deal. They had voted before the strike to stay out until members approved a contract.