The School Committee held a public hearing tonight on the proposed FY2020 budget – the same one that they already took a straw vote on last week and unanimously supported. Last week, the room was packed (standing room only) with mostly parents concerned about the proposed changes to the equity policy. Tonight, the room was packed with a sea of red shirts worn by teachers, aides, and counselors and a hallway jammed with more red shirts and sign bearing folks- all adamant in wanting a fair contract settled BEFORE the budget is approved. There was testimony about how many teachers and aides couldn’t be there tonight because they are working their 2nd or 3rd job to make ends meet, and how they are tired of having to battle every time the contract is up, how school communities are built on the goodwill of teachers, how Newton cares about education not educators, and one teacher questioned whether a career in education is sustainable. One teacher quoted from the Mayor’s campaign promises and recounted a visit from the Mayor to her class where the Mayor pledged support for the schools. Standing ovation from the audience for one speaker, a graduate of the Newton Public School and Newton resident, who said he is grateful to the teachers who helped him and how hurt he is to hear that teachers don’t have the support they need. The School Committee will vote on the budget at its next meeting.
What a shame! The teachers can not afford to live in MA. They want more money. So do the taxpayers who live in Newton, the ones being asked to pay up so the teachers can earn higher salaries
with better benefits.
Of course, we residents would like to make the teachers happy;
but the money does not exist. A good number of Newton teachers
work in brand new excessively expensive new buildings. That is not enough. They want to bankrupt families with high property
taxes, ones who pay $20,000 per year for health care and have no pensions.
I say the teachers should not expect more than an annual 2%
salary increase. Many people in our state are losing their jobs at least teachers are not being replaced by some new technology.
Get rich! Be a public school teacher! Said no one ever.
I have a simple solution.
All we have to do is allow the 3,500 units to be built. Put all the teachers in the affordable units, and then tell the teachers we can pay you more, but if we do then you will earn too much to stay in your affordable unit!
How is it the Mayor can say we have capacity for hundreds of new kids, when we can’t even pay the teachers a fair salary?
For folks who are interested, the proposed budget can be found her: http://amysangiolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FY20-Superintendents-Proposed-Budget-Final.pdf and the Budget presentation can be found here: http://amysangiolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FY20-SC-Presentation-3-13-19.pdf
An additional issue discussed last night was the Chromebook Initiative. The Budget Presentation to the City Council will be made along with the Demographic Presentation on April 10th. Stay tuned…..
I think the school budget is up about 4% yoy. The school budget is 55% of the city’s cost structure. Taxes only can go up 2.5% without an override. You don’t need an accounting degree to see where this is going.
Last week’s (3/25/19) School Committee meeting (in addition to the equity group) also had a significant number of Newton residents, including some students, concerning and addressing the Schools’ antisemitic and anti-Israel bias vis a vis the lawsuit, Dechter et al. v. Newton School Committee, Fleishman et al., which beyond Newton, just today (4/2/19) appeared in an article in the Florida Jewish Journal, link below from the Sun Sentinel edition. Jewish Journal is the nation’s largest weekly Jewish newspaper (reaching over 350,000 weekly readers), published in seven local editions throughout Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, as well as via free newsstand and vending boxes, and delivery to synagogues, Jewish community centers, restaurants, condominiums, shopping centers and other high-traffic, high visibility locations.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/fl-jj-boston-residents-lawsuit-school-district-anti-semitism-20190410-story.html
…and since Newton teachers are fighting hard for a pay increase, it might be nice if (at least some) teachers would stand up and fight for this: From the March 25, 2019 School Committee meeting, Jewish Newton High School students stood up to Anti-Israel Curriculum
Here’s the video link, including written narrative background with links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GROOLfySAs
The video is is a one-sided missive posted by the anti-Islam group that has been harassing NPS and individual teachers for years. Pass.
What Doug said.
The video is simply two Jewish Newton Senior High School students speaking at the Newton School Committee meeting. They are relaying their personal experiences. Have you even looked at the video???
And, have you looked at — read — the now nearly 500 page complaint with numerous specific allegations and exhibits filed in the Massachusetts Trial Court against the Newton School Committee, Supt. Fleishman and others???
Please go and view and read the above, and then get back.
Thanks
My above comment was directed to Doug Haslam, not to others who HAVE seen the video and looked at the complaint and exhibits.
Yes, I have looked at the video (and seen much of the rest of the hearings not shown in that selective piece of editing). I have also endured many years of witnessing this repeated harassment despite conclusions and judgments against the group whose name is not earned and I will no longer type, including years when my son was in school and I looked at the curriculum myself (and in case anyone is wondering, my last name is English, with the emphasis on the first syllable).
I have let this veer far enough off the original topic that I’ll stop there.
Greg, have YOU looked at — read — the now nearly 500 page complaint with numerous specific allegations and exhibits filed in the Massachusetts Trial Court against the Newton School Committee, Supt. Fleishman and others?
Have you seen the video in question?
If not (as to both), how can you say you agree with what Doug said?
And if you have (as to both), how can you say you agree with what Doug said?
Doug, I don’t think you’re talking about the video of two students who spoke at the March 25, 2019 School Committee meeting.
There was NO editing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GROOLfySAs
And have you even read the lawsuit’s complaint, the full complaint? Yes? No?
I was thinking of the 4 hour November meeting, which had many impassioned speakers on the other side as well.
But again, we’re getting waaayy off topic. In the interest of getting this post back on track, I cede any additional typing to a more rational discussion of the topic at hand (school budget and teacher’s salaries).
Doug, since you inaugurated the back-and-forth on the thread by saying “The video is is a one-sided missive posted by the anti-Islam group that has been harassing NPS and individual teachers for years” — will you at the very least close this off by looking at the 5-minute video and at least scan the complaint/exhibits — because I think you’ll then come to the reasonable conclusion that it’s not harassment (or if any harassment it is against the claimants), but rather more than substantiated cause for alarm by members of the Jewish community who become fully aware.
The T-Shirts are red
The lawn signs are Blue
My wallet is empty
What’ll I do?
The city councilors will get more, and
the teachers will get more, so let’s all stop pretending that they won’t.
The play acting and faux outrage gets tedious really quickly…
Residents that complain about
unsustainable, unfunded mandates
should best be ignored, right?
Just tell me what the bill is so i can
generate the income to pay for the health benefits, pensions, and vacations that I don’t have, and have never had.
Thank you
Love Paul