On February 3, Newton Public Schools (NPS) made available a ten-page presentation summarizing the key provisions of the agreement reached on February 2 for a contract between NPS and the Newton Teachers Association (NTA). Superintendent Nolin confirmed that NPS and the NTA also agreed to a return-to-work agreement and two side letters: one on mental health and one on planning regarding high-school class sizes.
NPS later published the full texts of the documents signed on February 2:
- NPS/NTA Memorandum of Agreement
- NPS/NTA Side Letter on Mental Health Supports
- NPS/NTA Side Letter on High-School Class Sizes
- Return-to-Work Agreement
Except for a page about the social work staff mentioned in the side letter on mental health, the summary does not include the return-to-work agreement or the side letters. The side letters do not contain contractual provisions, and there are no provisions for class size in the agreement.
The Return to Work Agreement says that, among other terms:
- The School Committee/Superintendent will determine the schedule for making up lost school days to meet the state mandate of 180 school days by June 30.
- NTA members will not receive disciplinary actions or reprisals for failing to be a work during work stoppages on August 30, 2023, or the 11 school days of the strike, and the NTA will not take retaliatory action against the School Committee, its agents, or employees.
- The School Committee will not take “suit, action, or administrative proceeding” against the NTA.
- The School Committee will “request that the CERB will join the NTA and Committee in requesting that the Superior Court reduce some or all of the contempt fines imposed by the Superior Court so that the moneys that would have been used to pay those contempt fines by the NTA will instead be paid by the NTA to the Newton Public Schools. Any amount of the fines that the Court reduces shall be paid by the NTA to the Newton Public Schools up to $625,000.00. In no event shall the Committee be paid less than a total sum of $275,000.00.”
The agreements are tentative until ratified by the members of School Committee and the NTA. The School Committee met in Executive Session on February 3 and voted to approve the agreement and the accompanying Return-to-Work agreement. These votes will be repeated in the next public meeting of the School Committee, which will be held on February 7 — the earliest date permitted by meeting-notice regulations. UPDATE: The NTA reporter on February 5 that its membership has voted 97% to ratify the agreement.
Ed. Note: We updated this article to include the full-text documents signed on February 2 and the NTA membership’s vote to ratify the agreement.