The School Committee and Newton Teachers Association (NTA) bargained through the night of February 1, stopping at 6AM without reaching a final agreement. Negotiations were scheduled to resume at 1PM today.
See below for details on events of the day, including:
- Public statements issued by both the NTA and School Committee regarding the status of bargaining.
- Additional legal filings from the City of Newton and the NTA.
- Another hearing at 3PM in Middlesex Superior Court in CERB and School Committee v. NTA.
Morning Statements from Each Party
Here is a summary of the statements issued this morning by the NTA and the School Committee, organized by topic:
Reaching agreement on financial matters:
- NTA: “By 4 a.m., the financial proposals between the two parties were identical.”
- School Committee: “The School Committee and NTA bargaining teams are extremely close to settling a contract. …The parties have agreed to COLA increases for all members that honor our educators and paraprofessionals and are sustainable over the life of the contract.”
Remaining differences:
- NTA: “The School Committee ended negotiations …leaving unresolved a return-to-work agreement and a commitment on securing social workers for every school. The School Committee …attempted to weaken the agreements on social workers and alter other agreements affecting the working conditions of educators and the learning conditions of students.”
- School Committee: “The remaining contractual issues to resolve are related to flexibility the district seeks for its leadership to manage the structure of the school day and best serve students. We also need to finalize a Return to Work agreement that supports a thoughtful transition back to school and ensures students receive services required by law.”
Covering the cost of the strike:
- NTA: “The School Committee’s proposed return-to-work agreement attempted to extract more than $1 million from educators.”
- School Committee: “As a result of the strike action, the district has incurred, and will continue to incur, approximately $1.1M in costs related to compensatory services and court fees, and it is our responsibility to determine how those costs will be paid. “
Moving forward:
- NTA: “The committee showed no interest in healing rifts or truly ending this strike – a strike that would not have occurred had the School Committee settled this contract at any point during the 16 months of negotiations that preceded the strike vote. The NTA is prepared to settle a fair agreement and reasonable return-to-work agreement that fosters the rebuilding of relationships across the school community.”
- School Committee: “We remain optimistic about the progress we’ve made towards a return to school on Monday. …We look forward to finalizing the agreements today and returning students to the classroom on Monday.”
Legal Filings
Around 2PM, the Middlesex Superior Court received two filings:
- Affidavit of Michael Zilles, providing his view of the course of negotiations and stating, in part:
- “Increasing fines will be detrimental to the parties continued progress towards a settlement.”
- “The parties are currently urgently bargaining… [and] the only outstanding issues appear to be the Time and Learning provision, social workers, and how the parties will return to work and tie up all outstanding issues.”
- “While there is what the NTA considers a small vocal minority of parents who contacted the Court and are visible in the media, …[there is] a much broader swath of parental and community support for [the NTA’s] efforts to negotiate fair contracts that support the education and development of our students.”
- City of Newton’s Emergency Motion to Intervene, stating that:
- The CERB’s Motion for Further Relief “implicates the City of Newton’s finances.” (The CERB’s motion requested, among other things, that the Court order binding arbitration if the parties do not reach agreement by 5PM on February 2.)
- “…the City has a direct interest in any outcome of binding arbitration [that] cannot be represented adequately by either [the CERB] or the School Committee.”
Court Hearing
After the hearing at 3PM in Middlesex Superior Court (recorded by Boston 25 News), the order filed by the judge said, in part:
- The daily fine imposed on the NTA for each day of the strike will remain in effect at $50,000 per day for February 2 & 3 and be increased to $100,000 per day of the strike (not escalating daily) starting at 8PM on Sunday, February 4. (The NTA may seek relief from the fine for any day the School Committee or City of Newton does not negotiate in good faith during the 24 hours of that day. In the hearing, the judge characterized negotiating in good faith as “a sincere effort to reach a common ground” and said, “That’s what I’m concerned has been lacking over the course of the last two weeks.”)
- On Monday, February 5 at noon, fines incurred to date ($625,000) will be due immediately, unless either or both of the parties present a different proposal acceptable to the judge by that time.
- The School Committee may file a memo by February 9 specifying any compensatory relief it seeks from the NTA, and the NTA shall file its response to such memo by February 16.
In the hearing, the judge said, “[On Monday afternoon at 2PM] …if there is no resolution, I may ask you back to talk about this compulsory arbitration or some other means of breaking the impasse, not replacing but in addition to the coercive fines.”
