Newton’s Parent/Educator Collaborative (PEC) gave updates on Newton Teachers Association (NTA) contract negotiations and discussed its goals for a new contract during its community forum Wednesday night.
“We are in the midst of a national teacher shortage … and there’s a lot of reasons why but a lot of it is the kinds of things that we’re seeing in Newton,” PEC founder Alison Lobron said. “Underfunding, lots of demands, and a lack of appreciation—not from parents, but from the bigger community.”
The previous NTA contract ended Aug. 31 of this year, and Newton Public Schools (NPS) and NTA have been in contract negotiations since June of last year. Negotiations have not made much progress, according to NTA Recording Secretary Susan Cohen.
“Protracted negotiations equal increasing legal fees that are paid for from the school budget,” Cohen said. “This is taxpayer money being taken out of the school budget to pay for these negotiations.”
Cohen said that part of the reason for these legal fees is the law firm NPS hired as outside counsel, Valerio Dominello & Hillman, LLC. According to Cohen, the firm is known to be unnecessarily aggressive.
“The Brookline educators actually describe this firm as one that breeds ill will and contempt, along with a lack of respect for the educators, resulting in low morale and rising tensions,” Cohen said.
Lobron also mentioned a need for immediate funding for NPS. Mayor Ruthanne Fuller proposed allocating $26,013,000 to a Debt Service Stabilization Fund for NPS, which would give money to the schools over eight years, barring this one. The Finance Committee deterred voting on the plan Tuesday night.
“There’s no plan on the table that puts money directly to the schools,” Lobron said. “There was opposition to the idea of leaving that money as free cash. And at the end of the meeting, the Council put that spending plan on hold, even though there’s a lot of agreement that money is needed urgently by the schools.”
According to the NTA’s Second Vice President Liz Simpson, the NTA is proposing that every Newton school has a full-time social worker, NPS raises starting salaries for classroom aides, and NPS hires more substitute teachers and pays them a stipend.
“There’s more students in crises, there’s more students who just need support, there’s more students who need an adult with training to talk to about issues that they’re dealing with,” Simpson said.
Cohen said that the proposals offered by the Newton School Committee (NSC) would not adequately fund the schools or compensate educators, arguing that the proposed cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) would result in an overall decrease in educator pay.
“Our educators will be losing money if we end up having to take their last best offer,” Cohen said. “If you’re talking about giving educators less than 2 percent a year, that will definitely show up as a negative—making less money … We’re just asking for a reasonable COLA and other adjustments to fees and costs such as health care that will at least keep us as close to status quo.”
Lobron, however, said that following Newton’s recent elections, she’s feeling optimistic about the new government’s stance on funding and reforming NPS.
“The PEC asked candidates to fill out surveys about how they view their role in relation to Newton public schools,” Lobron said. “And I will say that the people who won the elections, all of them had really good responses to those questions.”
Throughout the forum, the PEC speakers emphasized the importance of community support for the NTA and educators. Cohen encouraged community members to buy lawn signs, contact city councilors, and speak at Newton City Council meetings.
“It’s been reinforced that the impact that the underfunding has had on public schools and the educators and the students and families over the last few years,” Cohen said. “We really need to invest in our schools right now.”
