On the evening of January 21, the Newton Public Schools announced that “the Newton Teachers Association (NTA) and the Newton School Committee failed to reach agreement on a new contract. The NTA has informed us that the strike will continue and therefore, school is canceled for Monday, January 22.”
Both the School Committee and the Newton Teachers Association held press conferences that day.
School Committee Press Conference
School Committee Chair Chris Brezski and Mayor Ruthanne Fuller held a press conference at 4:30PM on January 21. They distributed revised charts of salary comparisons with peer districts, which the School Committee had presented to the NTA earlier that day at the negotiating session. About that session, which was continuing until 7PM, Brezski said:
- The School Committee proposed that the mediation continue on Monday while all other staff return to school, and the NTA refused, saying that the NTA would remain on strike until an agreement is reached.
- “As of 3PM today, the NTA is in violation of the Superior Court’s order to disavow the strike.”
- On Saturday, the School Committee offered revised proposals with improved benefits for parental leave and addressed NTA concerns regarding time in learning.
- The NTA did not respond to the School Committee’s proposal made in December and increased its demands relative to the NTA’s most recent proposal. “There remain other significant distance between the parties on other major issues.”
- “There is no reasonable probably that an agreement will be reached today. …We believe the NTA will continue its illegal strike tomorrow, canceling school.”
Mayor Fuller said, “We have terrific teachers in Newton, and we want them to agree to competitive salaries and a contract that is sustainable so we won’t face layoffs after they sign. The union can decide right now to negotiate while kids are in school.”
In response to questions, they responded as follows:
- School Committee Chair Brezski said, “The union continues to move the target, what we’re shooting for. …Among the four major issues … — compensation, benefits, parental leave, and our need to have flexibility …to provide the services our students require — we’re not there on any of them. …[The NTA] increased one of their demands just today 15% over where they were in their last proposal. …Make no mistake: This is not us canceling school; this is the NTA canceling school.
- In response to a question about the NTA’s statement that the Mayor has not been in the negotiations, Mayor Fuller said, “I have complete confidence in the School Committee’s negotiating team, and I’m on speed-dial with the Chair of the School Committee, the Superintendent, and the negotiating team …instantly available, literally 24/7.”
- School Committee Chair Brezski said, “In terms of compensation, there’s several different elements, …[and] it’s difficult to say, given their changing targets, what [the total cost of the NTA’s proposal] is, but it’s not a number that we, in any universe, would be able to meet right now, and it would require devastating cuts to programs and services for our kids.”
Newton Teachers Association Press Conference
Outside of the School Committee press conference, Newton South HS teacher and NTA negotiations committee member Ryan Normandin, a math/physics teacher at Newton South High School, responded by saying (video):
- “We know that the School Committee and Mayor have the funds. We don’t want to be on strike. We have enormous empathy for the families [but] the School Committee … will not do things such as social workers in every school and not give living wages to Unit C professionals.”
- “[The Mayor] claims she does not have the money. We all know she needs to give money to the schools that she has defunded for years and years. …She was running surpluses [of over $25 million] in each of the years budgets were cut. …If there are ‘one-time’ funds every year, then they are not ‘one-time’ funds.”
- [Regarding Brezski speaking of the NTA increasing its demands,] “we responded to time and learning agreement [and] did not put forth anything that substantially increased anything we were asking for.”
- “We …want nothing more than to be in the classrooms with our students. …to fight for our students and undo the harm that Mayor Fuller has been causing during her entire mayorship.”
- [Regarding Brezski’s statement that the School Committee waited five hours,] “Yesterday… we waited four hours. …[When we got their proposal,] none of the changes were tracked; we had to go through and compare line by line, just to understand what had changed.”
- “…Delays are absolutely at the feet of the School Committee. They are the ones who have not moved in a way urgent enough to get our students in the classrooms tomorrow.”
- “…We are prepared for the fines. We believe what we are doing is right, and even if it is illegal, we are proud to stand up for our students and our families in a way that our elected officials have not. …We will hold out one day longer than the School Committee will.”
After the close of the January 21 negotiating session, the NTA held a press conference in which Normandin read a statement and NTA president Mike Zilles answered questions. In his statement, Normandin said:
- “The NTA remains fully committed to getting student back to the classroom as soon as possible. …We wish that Mayor Fuller and the School Committee felt the same way as we do.”
- “While the School Committee was supposed to be reviewing our proposals, …School Committee Chair Brezski and Mayor Fuller [held] a press conference in which they once again tried to mislead the public.”
- “Mayor Fuller will not face her constituents. She will not face us. She says that adults belong at the table bargaining, but she is off playing politics with the press.”
- “We offered to bargain tomorrow for twelve hours. …The School Committee told us they could meet for less than half of that.”
- “We will continue to be on strike tomorrow. We will not allow Mayor Fuller and her School Committee to continue harming our students and our educators by returning to work without a contract that provides what our community needs. We want our classrooms to be the best places they can possibly be. That means they need to be safe and fully staffed. They need to support our students. They need to let Newton’s educators do their best work.”
In responding to questions, Zilles said:
- “We have not changed our proposals one bit since what’s been on the table since around June. We did not increase our proposal. …The proposals we put on the table today are the same proposals we have had on the table for over a year.”
- “I think the School Committee is devoted to getting a cheap contract from us rather than defying the Mayor’s chronic underfunding of the schools.”
- “The School Committee insists that we must bargain within the parameters of the financial constraints that the Mayor has handed them, so …we need the Mayor [at the bargaining table] if those parameters need to change.”
- “[We] feel bad for the students who are not going to be returning to school tomorrow. We also feel bad for the parents, who are having to make day-to-day arrangements for childcare.”
- “How can you have a $30 million surplus and then cut the schools by $3 million – and tell the teachers they have to make up the difference?”
- “Over the last 20 years, [City] revenues have grown 4.25% on average per year [including] the years of the Great Recession. …If she funds the schools 1% more on an increase every year, it would [cover what we are asking for] in the long run if she made an infusion of cash initially in order to compensate for the many years of underfunding that have already happened. Then, 4.5% going forward? Probably [would be sustainable].”
- “We do not accept [the budget cuts and layoffs that the School Committee says would be required if the NTA’s proposal were accepted]. …The School Committee needs to challenge [the Mayor] and say, ‘We don’t accept that analysis. …We know you’re chronically underfunding the schools.’ …Everyone knows she is underfunding the schools.”
Ed. Note: We revised this article to include the NTA’s comments and press conference, with reporting contributed by Amy Sangiolo and Adam Bernstein.
