Hundreds of Newton teachers demonstrated during a rally outside City Hall Wednesday, demanding a new contract before the school year starts Tuesday, the Globe John Hilliard reports.
Mayor Fuller requested an opportunity to address them but Newton Teachers Association President Michael Zilles declined her offer. The mayor then issued this statement via email:
Members of the Newton Teachers Association came to the lawn at City Hall this morning. I offered to speak to the teachers; NTA President Mike Zilles declined the offer.
Here is what I would have said:
Welcome to City Hall. Thank you for being here.
Ours schools are the heart and soul of Newton. You, the educators, are the heart and soul of our schools.
I came out here today because I wanted to be sure that I could hear you, loud and clear.
I have been listening closely to you not just today but in the days and months leading up to today. I read the postcards you sent. I see your signs.
You need and deserve a fair contract now. I will do all I can to help settle this contract expeditiously and make sure NPS has the resources it needs.
With your contract expiring this Saturday, Mike Zilles and your Executive Board and Ruth Goldman and the School Committee bargaining team have been hard at work for a long time trying to hammer out an agreement. I know these teams are bargaining in good faith.
I know it’s frustrating for you to start the new school year without a contract.
And I know the school budget allocation has been central to the discussions.
Let me talk about the school allocation.
Since 2004, we have welcomed more than 1480 students to our schools. We needed to provide more teachers, aides, special ed services, transportation, and classrooms for all those students. While it is only one factor, enrollment has a big impact on the budget allocation.
We now have had two years when the enrollment increases have leveled off, and even declined. That matters when we put together a budget allocation.
In addition, last year when I became Mayor, the leadership of the School Committee asked me to provide a “floor” for the school allocation for the coming years. I took that request for a floor seriously and worked hard to develop an allocation that I could guarantee.
I guaranteed a 3.25% increase every year, whether or not a trade war with China spirals out of control, whether or not interest rates surge, and whether or not a recession hits.
I made a commitment. You have my word.
Last year, when our Chapter 70 Education Grant from the state unexpectedly fell almost half a million dollars short of the forecast, I didn’t cut that funding for NPS. Rather, I added an additional $1 million to support our Kindergarten teachers as we roll out full day Kindergarten. As a result, the school allocation increased by 3.9%. The amount of money dedicated to the Newton Public Schools for this school year, $236 million, is the highest it has ever been.
In addition, a newly renovated Cabot Elementary School opens next week, and we are well on our way to renovated schools for the Newton Early Childhood Program and for Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School.Here is my pledge to you.While we will not be able to agree to everything that you have put on the table, I will meet with your leadership and the leadership of the School Committee and look at everything and work with everyone to figure this out.I know that you are dedicated to our students and your craft.I am dedicated to settling the fairest and most equitable contract that Newton can sustain, a contract that works for our educators, for our students,and for our community.We need to do this as soon as possible.Welcome back to school.
As a tax payer who can not afford high tax increases every
year I say that an annual 2% increase should be enough.
Newton teachers receive very good benefits, a short working
season, an excellent guaranteed pension plan.
If teachers demand unreasonable annual increase, I believe they
must give up something.
A good way to start is teacher aides. Reduce the aides by 50%
across the system.
Please tell me that I’m not the only one who found Fuller’s email tone deaf.
The teachers are among the lowest paid professionals and have not had a contract renegotiation in a long time, this current one is an extension. They took a decrease during the recession and now that we are in a boom economy, they are simply asking for a modest increase, way less than the 10% per year increase and or bonus my tech colleagues are getting per year.. They don’t make enough to live in the towns they work. NSHS transferred our Orchestra teacher to the middle school. In one of the wealthiest suburbs in the nation, at one of the top schools in the nation. It’s appalling and unacceptable. There are 17 UNIONS without a contract in Newton as of Sept. 1!
What Kimberly said!she said it perfectly.
@Colleen – removing aides would punish students with disabilities. Aides are not there for teachers’ “convenience”. They are there to help students who need 1-to-1 assistance some or all of the time.
@Kimberly – I agree that teachers need to be treated equitably and paid properly. That said, I don’t know where your colleagues work but my raises since the recession have been in the 2%-4% range with no bonuses. I’ve never worked anywhere that gave 10% raises unless there was a promotion involved.
Mayor Fuller’s explanation of her offer to speak this morning is not accurate. NTA president MIke Zilles has written a response that explains what happened in detail. It can be found on the NTA FaceBook page but I’m copying and pasting it here because I am aware that few in the community are on that page.
“Dear Mayor Fuller:
On Wednesday, August 28, in the middle of the Newton Teachers Association rally at Newton City Hall, you sent your Director of Community Communications, Ellen Ishkanian, to hunt me down among the crowd of 1,000 NTA members present and ask me if I would be willing to allow you to address those members. I declined.
At the time, I was in the middle of coordinating the logistics of our rally. It was my responsibility to make sure that we finished by 9:30 a.m. so members could return to their school buildings in a timely fashion. We were on a tight schedule, so much so that I intended only to speak briefly myself.
If you wished to address the members of the Newton Teachers Association, you had ample opportunity prior to August 28 to make that request.
Indeed, late last week, you asked Ms. Ishkanian to reach out to me to find out if there was anything we needed for Wednesday. She could have made your request then. She didn’t.
I am also sure you must have been in the loop when Superintendent Fleishman decided, just two weeks prior to opening day, to cancel the Newton Public Schools traditional gathering at Newton South High School, in which both you and I, along with Superintendent Fleishman and School Committee Chair Ruth Goldman, would have had the opportunity to address the NPS faculty. You could have insisted to Dr. Fleishman, as well as Chair Goldman, that he not cancel the gathering.
Your untimely request to address us, frankly, felt disingenuous, crafted more to persuade the audience of your weekly “Mayor’s Update” of your open-mindedness and commitment to investing in the schools, than to genuinely communicate encouragement and welcome to the members of the NTA as they returned for another school year, yet again, without a contract.
Had you delivered your speech to us, neither the substance nor the tone would have been well received.
You explain and defend your budgetary priorities to us as if we simply don’t get it. Mayor Fuller, we get it. Your words convince us that you don’t.
You explain the increases to the budget from 2004 forward as the result of increasing enrollment, but now that enrollment has levelled off, you suggest, the budget allocation can go down. You imply that you are investing plenty in the schools.
Mayor Fuller, since 2004 the NTA has negotiated multiple contracts with multiple School Committees and three mayors, and we did not finish any of those negotiations before the prior contract expired: Negotiations for the 2004-2006 two-year contract ended in February of 2005; negotiations for the 2006-2009 three-year contract ended in March of 2007; negotiations for the 2009-2010 one-year contract ended in March of 2010; negotiations for the 2010-2011 one-year and the 2011-2014 three-year contracts ended in October 2011; negotiations for the 2014-2015 one-year and 2015-2018 three-year contracts ended in August 2015.
During all of these protracted negotiations, the members of the NTA have been met with calls for austerity from the School Committee and the mayor’s office. The city and schools never settle contracts in a timely and fair fashion because there is never enough allocated in projected budgets to come to timely and fair settlements. How in your projected allocations do you address this?
The members of the Newton Teachers Association are losing the battle with inflation: housing costs, child care expenses, student loan repayments, health insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles, college tuition for our children—these are all going up faster than our ability to pay.
Platitudes about educators being the heart and soul of our schools are not enough. Tone deaf enthusiasms over the investments the city is making in full day kindergarten and new school facilities—though these investments are highly valued by educators—don’t alleviate our exasperation that year in, year out, there isn’t a commensurate investment in the work we do every day with Newton’s children.
If you want to invest in schools, you must invest in the educators who are its true “heart and soul.” Make your words matter.
Michael Zilles,
President, Newton Teachers Association
Cutting aides across the system is nonsense. They are only given to teachers who have children in class who need special assistance. And these aides are woefully underpaid for the job they are meant to do. Slightly above minimum wage for an adult expected to have a college degree or more likely a masters who can work with a child with special needs is LUDICROUS. Babysitters are paid more than aides in the classroom. The vast majority are there for experience or a many many other reasons other than the money – thank goodness. What a ridiculous comment, @Colleen. Furthermore, teachers work many hours outside those that they are paid for and their jobs include a number of manual hours of labor that no other professional has to do. And they ALL subsidize their classrooms out of their own pockets. Every single teacher I know pays for room decorations, supplies, prizes, or gifts for the kids. It’s revolting how much we ask of them and how much we want to give them in return. Revolting AND sexist. If the vast majority of teachers were men, would we expect them to clean their work spaces when they came back every summer, pay for own tools and materials and also have them be as highly educated and experienced as we need them to be to do this job? No. Pretend they’re 90% a workforce of men. Now pay them what they’re worth.
@Casey, Amen. The current request from Newton Teacher’s Association to pay those aides for those extra hours (I imagine answering emails & phone calls from parents like me, who has a kid on an IEP/504 now) is being REJECTED. Why? At a time when our kids need MORE support. BTW all teachers need a master’s degree to work in public schools, not sure of aides but I imagine the exact same. It is appalling and a terrible commentary on our society that we allow the people helping our kids to be treated like this.
This email from the Mayor is appalling. I am so disappointed in her leadership. This disaster should have never happened! Our teachers and our children deserve better. This city does not have its priorities straight.
What are the teachers asking for? Surely somebody here knows what % increase they are after. I’m assuming that if the forecasted annual school budget increase floor is 3.25%, than that’s likely the rough ceiling for annual contract compensation increases. If the union was close to this in their ask, I would assume that we wouldn’t be talking about it. How far apart is this? I would also guess that the School Department budget is probably 80% personnel costs, and the majority of the rest is fixed costs with annual escalation beyond their control. In addition, I would have to guess that the benefit costs are increasing at greater than 3.25%. This means that it would be very difficult for the School Committee to commit to any annual compensation increases greater than 3.25%, without making cuts to benefits, issuing pink slips, or creating a projected structural deficit.
The title here (“Newton teachers march on City Hall; refuse to hear from mayor”) is problematic and misleading. Please read the NTA statement that Jane posted.
Would be the perfect time for Matthew Miller to comment here and give us the details as to why there is no contract. I’d hate to hear that he’s spent most of his time the past two years missing family dinners being a do gooder focused on redistributing pto donations (which is what percentage of the school budget again?) and shortening education hours in the school day but not making sure that the teachers – those that actually educate the students – have a contract in place come Tuesday.
Almost like a mayor who donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates, state organizations, and PACs isn’t pro-labor.
Re: David Bedar’s post: I have requested that the title be changed to reflect what really happened.
Raising teacher salaries is like motherhood and apple pie; nobody’s fundamentally opposed to it. It’s the implicit sacrifices that people oppose.
The City and Mayor have a fixed budget. Every extra dollar spent on teacher salaries will have to come from somewhere else. To anyone who would grant large increases to the teachers, let’s put the question of merit aside for a moment. Where would you find the money if you were Mayor? Would you spend less on school buildings? Roads? Police and Fire? Health Department? Building Inspectors? Library? Senior and Disabled Services? Arts and Culture? I’m genuinely interested to hear.
@Casey, I have officially narrowed down the list of people you are. Lol. But seriously, we actually have quite a lot in common. Your comments above are spot on. I spent a ton of time today on Facebook discussing this. Emotionally exhausting. One big take away was that we need to do a better job of clarifying the entire process. Open meeting laws make it impossible for any SC members to discuss details. It’s illegal. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make sure our community understands the process and knows when/how they can have their voice heard.
NO ONE is asking for large increases. 12% over 4 years is the minimum acceptable level here in our extremely wealthy metro area. Newton is one of the wealthiest communities in the nation. Newton Teachers is asking for special aids and behavioral therapists to be paid for extra hours (they get ZERO$ now). So let’s put a dollar figure on how much it’s worth to me as a parent for my child to get the support he/she needs? I already pay thousands of dollars in taxes per year to live here! Instead, the NPS cut special education aides by 2%. And the Mayor basically funded her pet project, the NewCal center at $16M from the operating budget which many have said is wrong, it should have come from a debt exclusion override. So maybe let’s forget the destruction of parks and pay the people helping our kids?
Teachers aren’t asking for a large increase. I’m not sure where you got that idea. One person mentioned that in some fields people receive double digit raises. Teachers aren’t in that category – never have been, never will be.
If Newton wants to attract and retain top candidates, it will have to be competitive with comparable communities.
@Jane, I don’t always agree with you but we are completely aligned here. Teachers aren’t asking for a big increase and this is long overdue. Shamefully overdue. And if we want to continue to be known as a town that offers a good public education, we’ll have to do our part to attract and retain top candidates. This is a no brainer for those with kids in school and those who would like to protect their property values.
@Matthew since you did agree that the process could use clarification in the community, without going into the specifics, you could actually explain what role the school committee has with the teachers union contract as your committee of nine elected officials does manage that budget on behalf of the rest of the town.
@Matthew or @Jane, who/what are the other four unions at the schools with no contract? Globe article mentions 5 unions have no contract or expiring contracts in the caption of the photos.
Kimberly – I will need to check. While I know what the unions are in the city, I’m not sure which are considered school and which are considered city employees. It’s more of a technicality, but I want to present accurate information.
Village 14 – Thank you for changing the title of the thread. Negotiations are always hard – and for some reason, harder to complete in a timely manner in Newton – but once this is over, we want to be able to move on with a positive relationship with the school committee, school and city administration. This change really lowers the temperature.
The headline on this post has been changed.
Fair and equitable terms it not too much to ask in this boom economy in one of the wealthiest communities in the nation, let’s preserve our legacy as one of the top school systems in the country, not dismantle it and get this done. Please sign and share! http://chng.it/sXd8V6Kd
Colleen,
Cutting aides???? Most are hired to work with a specific child and by law if the IEP requires an aide then an aide is there. We have no general aides in classrooms. They are all designated to a specific child. I am really horrified that you would cut these aides and then require children to attend a more costly out of district school on Newton’s dime.
Our teachers deserve to be paid a fair wage. I have t heard of any other sticking points (health care costs, start times, etc).
She has time to meet with the developers so she should make time to make this work!!!! We rely on amazing teachers, and other hard working unions like police and fire. They deserve to be paid.
People move to Newton for the schools and safe community. I hope the mayor doesn’t ruin that for all of us in our community.
I wonder if she will run again. When is her term up?
Several comments here about “some fields” getting double-digit raises per year. This subthread is a distraction. Compensation in those very small number of tech fields is an aberration.
The fact is that the vast majority of hard-working people, at all but the highest incomes, all across this country are seeing minimal if any wage increases. And it’s not right for any of them.
This was one of my concerns during the mayoral election and one of the reasons that I supported Scott Lennon. I never felt like I could trust a mayor who was a previous Republican donor and sent her kids to a costly private school to give her full support to our public schools. Also the fact that she planned a speech during this march seemed self-serving and more for her own PR than anything else. I’m disappointed but not surprised. Mayor Fuller: do better.
Hey @Casey and all. Here is a quick summary of the process and SC involvement.
In terms of the budget: Administration puts together a budget based on the predetermined allocation. Budget season is during Spring. There are public hearings dedicated to the budget that are open to everyone.
In terms of the contract: The NTA, Custodial and NESA contracts are negotiated between the union and members of the SC that are on the negotiating committee. Currently, 3 SC members make up the negotiating committee (Ruth, Steve and Bridget). They meet with the union and both sides are expected to bargain in good faith. The rest of the SC is kept up to speed along the way. Ideally we come up with a contract that all parties are good with. If that agreement cannot be reached, they process could move to mediation..which could take months if not years.
The SC met this past Monday in Executive Session to discuss the contracts: http://amysangiolo.com/2019/08/school-committee-meeting-monday-august-26th-executive-session/
Per Casey, “Cutting aides across the system is nonsense. They are only given to teachers who have children in class who need special assistance.”
Has anyone recently asked whether ‘mainstreaming’ children with disabilities (thereby requiring separate aides per each child or class) continues to be preferable (or worth it), both in terms of both social and educational effectiveness for the disabled AND finances?
Not ‘mainstreaming’, thereby entailing concentration of special needs students, certainly would promote economy and thereby free up substantial money for teacher pay raises.
Just sayin.
Mike Halle – I totally agree, but this argument is used every time teachers negotiate a new contract. Every. single. time.
Teacher compensation shouldn’t be a race to the bottom. We’re not in competition with other professions. We’re in competition with other school systems – excellent school systems.
If you want to have the best school system, you need the best teachers and staff. The fact is teaching candidates can drive 10 miles from Newton in any direction and work in an excellent school system. That’s the reality we’re dealing with.
Jim Epstein:
Jim, yes, it is still preferable to include children with disabilities. Not doing so would also violate the federal IDEA law that states that children with disabilities need to be educated in the least restrictive environment. Newton has specialized programs for students for whom inclusion is not the preferred option, but being part of that program does not mean that that child would not require a one-on-one aide. Inclusion also benefits regular education students. Our local elementary school Memorial Spaulding does a parent presentation on this subject on a yearly basis, and you (and anyone else) are welcome to attend to learn more how inclusion works and why we do it here in Newton.
Well, there it is. The teachers who teach in the 22 schools in the town of Newton Massachusetts don’t have a contract because the mayor and two other members of the school committee, all elected representatives, were unable to negotiate a working contract with them. They’ve had plenty of time. Could there be any greater responsibility of the school committee than getting the teachers into schools on Tuesday?
This is exactly like the historic government shutdown where both sides blamed the other yet both sides should have been fired for not doing the most important job of all – keeping our government operational.
It doesn’t matter what the issues are – truly. The fact that they’ve gotten this far and our teachers do not have a contract, whatever the terms are, means that the school committee and the mayor did not do their job.
Jane, it’s completely fair to argue for higher compensation based on the reasons you outline. The comparison to tech industry salaries and other compensation distracts from that argument.
Casey:
Schools will be open Tuesday. Not ideal, but not unheard of.
Feels like we are in the public leverage portion of the contract debate. To be honest, I really don’t care if the mayor was invited to speak or not, if she had the right tone or wrong tone, etc. I do wish this was settled, but I’m not going to weigh in on who’s at fault.
I tend to be a dollar and cents about this type of issue, tempered by fairness and market conditions. A few things to keep in mind:
1) Aides are not paid enough, and the Special Needs portion of the Newton schools is underfunded. Ask anyone how hard it is now to get an IEP now, and how Newton fights parents. Some of that is due to funding. I’m not sure what happens if teachers/Aides are paid more, but I’d push for more Special Ed funding on top of these increases.
2) We are not in a vacuum. Other communities pay more than us, and it does matter in the end. But it isn’t the only thing and Newton doesn’t have to set the market either.
3) A fair raise will mean different things to different people. This process produces anger and complaints every time. The mayor is not as bad as some here have said. The teachers union the same. The goal should be to negotiate in good faith. Teachers work very hard and have an important job. The salary is lower than other professions, but has excellent benefits, including retirement benefits. Those benefits were bargained for, but also reduce wages. Etc, etc.
4) I don’t understand why it takes so long, but in general it always does in Newton, for almost all contracts.
5) Part of the issue I think is that different unions communicate and often take the tact that a larger raise for teachers should equal a larger raise for police/firemen/city employees. This contract is not in a vacuum.
I am very sympathetic to the Teachers. I actually think what we have here is a underfunding of our city over many years, making these types of contracts more difficult to negotiate. Which might be why Jane was upset about the use of the operating budget for NewCal. (and why she has a point).
I would be interested to know the percentage of increase the NTA would accept. Sometimes knowing the GAP between positions helps to identify the path forward.
Newton teachers are compensated fairly well, actually. Senior teachers make six figures for 37 weeks of work per year. Of course, they fight to keep their compensation at least in line with inflation, and so they should – but it would be wrong for the public to think that Newton teachers are poorly paid. Many college-educated professionals, including college professors, are paid much less.
A teacher from a neighboring district
Mike Halle – This was my comment on the subject of professions that typically pay high salaries: “Teachers aren’t in that category – never have been, never will be.” Period. End of story.
Fig – I don’t know what’s deducted for Social Security, but teachers have an 11% deduction from each paycheck to fund their retirement. This is merely meant as a point of information because many people assume that the pension is a free benefit.
Jane:
I don’t think your deduction comes anywhere close to funding the pension but I readily acknowledge you contribute to it and you bargained for it.
Fig
“Fig” wrote: “I don’t think your deduction comes anywhere close to funding the pension but I readily acknowledge you contribute to it and you bargained for it.”
This is simply incorrect, to my knowledge. The Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System is entirely self-funded – unlike some other public employees’ unions, teacher’s don’t ask the taxpayers to fund their retirement. And if they did, it would be a part of the deal anyway.
All public school teachers in MA pay into the Mass. Teachers Retirement System (MTRS). The board of MTRS manages the funds deducted from our salaries. Newton has nothing to do with it and doesn’t pay our pensions.
What’s deducted from a paycheck for Social Security also doesn’t fund what is received in retirement over the long run. The whole situation is a real problem for all of us.
That, of course, depends on (a) when a person retires and (b) how long they live.
@Casey — the goal WAS to negotiate in good faith on both sides. It’s been over a year. That’s not good faith on behalf of the city to get it done. We all know that. To make teachers beg for a contract is shameful.
Over 10 unions have expired contracts. This seems to me that City Hall is not doing it’s job. We pay a lot of taxes and some of us have made other sacrifices to live here, in large part because of the schools. I paid my taxes, now pay the teachers and special aids who work tirelessly and are NOT PAID ANYTHING for collaborating with my kids 5 teachers! The mayor must stop taking money out of the operating budget for pet projects (NewCal)nwhen almost every union in Newton has no contract, including police officers and teachers! Take a step back and look at the big picture. If she was a CEO in a corporation she would have been fired. There is NO good faith, there is a total failure to do the job.
In case I didn’t make myself clear, I don’t think we have a teacher problem, we very clearly have a politician problem. The mayor is not doing her job. The school committee is not doing their job.
This is the third time in ten years the teachers will be going to school without a contract.
Newton has a problem and it’s not the educators. They’re professionals. They are educated, experienced and will teach and support our children.
When the government shutdown occurred, it was not the fault of the government agencies and employees, it was the fault of the elected officials who were tasked above all to keep the government running and failed. This is the same scenario. We even have our very own elected official – one of nine! – who can do something about the contract failure on this very thread giving us the equivalent of “thoughts and prayers”.
The teachers deserve so much better than this. The students deserve so much better than this. The town deserves so much better than this.
Jim,
My child required an aide in elementary school. It would be unethical to have placed my child in a restrictive classroom out of district. We would have sued and we have never needed an attorney while updating my child’s IEP. He is in high school and requires help during the school week which has faded.
My son would have required expensive psychiatric help had we done what you wanted the city to do. While our son is on the Autism spectrum he was able to access the curriculum with an aide, that stopped in sixth grade. He would not be college bound had we followed your plan.
My child would have suffered a life of depression had we followed your plan. Mainstreaming Children is a proven plan for many children and it is our community’s responsibility. My child might help cure cancer (science is a strength) but had he not had this education he would never enter adulthood as a functioning responsible adult.
Jim, I am answering your question- it worked my child.
He would have been devastated being separated from his neighborhood peer group and that would have lasted a lifetime.
Jane and bob:
MA has a teacher pension problem I thought. Isn’t the plan underfunded?
I did think both the city and state has to back up a default but if it is just the federal govt or the teachers themselves that would be important info to know.
Definitely not trying to spread false info so my apologies if I got the details wrong.
NewtonMom, I wasn’t suggesting out of district placement. According to a recent NPS published analysis, “For all grade levels combined, the percentage of students
receiving special education services in the Newton Public Schools this year is 19.0%.”
With that high a percentage, I was merely suggesting consideration of more concentration of those special needs students, within NPS schools, to promote economy — rather than more aides in every classroom.
Fig-I don’t know where you got that information, but it’s not accurate. Are you perhaps confusing OPEB with teacher pensions?
MTRS is one of the best managed funds in the country. The people on the MTRB (Board) are top notch.
My kids are grown and long out of Newton Public Schools, so I’m a little out of the loop. But, won’t the taxes from all the new development provide revenue to help support the teachers’ salaries?
I thought that was one of the upsides…
I actually got it from a teacher/friend in the boston school system being worried about the payout 20 years from now. Entirely possible I misunderstood, he tends to speak in rather broad terms. He was worried about long term viability.
Glad to hear the pension is in good shape and you like the pension managers.
Jim, that actually sometimes happens. One of my kids was in a co-taught class for multiple years with additional aides and two teachers, with a much higher number of special education/IEP students. It worked ok, but there are pluses and minuses to both.
But there was still 50% or more not on IEPs.
The school does try to create efficiencies when possible. But from experience, it is very difficult and frankly already underfunded. Also, IEP is a federal mandate, so Newton can’t simply make up its own rules. And happily so, again from personal experience.
Colleen,
Can you speak to the diverse roles that TAs play, their strengths, and varying the backgrounds that allow them to be an asset to the NPS? Are their jobs demanding? Are they passionate about bettering the lives of students? Do they sacrifice and go above and beyond for their students? What would happen to the Special Education world of NPS if they take your lead and reduce aides by 50%? My sense is that you are not cognizant, nor interested, in the labors of the teaching profession. Your posting history speaks to the fact that that being fiscally conservative is paramount.
Jim,
Glad that someone else responded, but an IEP is an Individual Education Plan, and therefore can not be grouped to save money. I think Newton is trying to do its best, but aides are needed, and they are needed during the school day and during after school (parent night at school, meetings, etc) and they should be paid for their time.
Aides are underpaid. Full stop.
I fear that as Newton gets wealthier and wealthier, the support for our public school system declines as more and more people send their kids to private school. Page 84 of this report indicates this is the trend.
https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=7479&dataid=11332&FileName=NOVEMBER%202018%20ENROLLMENT%20ANALYSIS%20REPORT_Online%20Version.pdf
I suspect this current contract dispute is a symptom of this larger problem.
Jason Colet/Colleen,
In my experience, we have had some amazing aides (and some not great ones). The ones that were the best not only met expections, but exceeded expectations and created systems for my kid to follow and attended parent night and school concerts that my kid was in and needed support. This was BEFORE they got paid, so often the aide was NOT there and my kid did his best without any support. But he knew the ones that really cared about him and went the extra mile (without being paid).
The great aides emailed me about my child’s day and what he struggled with and what he exceeded at.
The not great aide we had – once told me that she didn’t have an email so there would be no communication between parent and aide. That year my kid struggled.
It was hard to hear that the aide didn’t get paid for parent night, so I didn’t get to meet that person. My kid took a bus to school.
And the aide helped demonstrate social connections with my kid and his peers. She helped others approach my kid and develop that connection.
We have an amazing aide that I recently Googled because I found out he was also a musician and I wanted to find his music online. But what I also found was a document with NPS salaries. While the teacher’s salaries are absolutely quite low, the aides are not making even close to a living wage and that’s shameful. I don’t know how our aides can pay rent or put food on the table. It’s an embarrassment. They’d be better off working at Trader Joe’s or Costco, but they’re in the classroom because it’s their passion and we owe them more.
NewtonMom,
Aides are no different than teachers, some are exceptional, some are good, some are mediocre, and some are horrible. There are innumerable instances where aides are indispensable to student’s lives. To comprehend this, one must either have a child that benefits from these folks or are in the trenches with them to watch these educators change lives. I have heard stories where TAs have gone above and beyond in astounding ways. I was amazed to hear these anecdotes. Individuals want to put a price tag on anything that walks. However, they often are unschooled as to their claims.
Rick Frank asks, above, “won’t the taxes from all the new development provide revenue to help support the teachers’ salaries? I thought that was one of the upsides…”
Rick, I think the exact opposite is the case.
In addition to having to pay for all the additional city services required by the new development, for each kid living in the new development going to NPS, there is a giant financial loss to the City. The public school cost per kid far far exceeds any increased property tax revenue generated by that particular residential unit.
Awww Jim. You’re just making that up. Every project is different in terms of incremental costs for city services and tax revenue.
Greg, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for 2017, each Newton pupil costs $18,898.78 (so say for 2019, approximately $20,000.00 per Newton pupil).
That is BEYOND any additional “incremental costs for city services” necessitated by the project.
These total costs exceed the tax revenue. For instance, the Avalon Apts. is a net loss for Newton.
@Jim: And what does the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education say about the accessed value of a specific property and the number of school aged children that live at that specific address?
Because, well, math.
Bruce Wang, contrary to the implication in your comment stemming from declining ‘support’ of the Newton Public Schools as the more wealthier Newton kids go to private schools, the more money is available for NPS teacher pay because the City still gets the full tax revenue yet saves, which can be earmarked for teachers, a big chunk of the $20,000 otherwise spent by Newton for each public school pupil.
Greg, I believe the math was done previously on Village 14 as pertains, for example, the Avalon Apts. on Needham Street. A substantial net loss there. There’s no reason to think the residential/school age kids numbers and tax revenue per residential unit will be substantially different on other projects — or enough different to negate the significant loss.
@Jim: I give up. Every project is different. If you don’t have the numbers, you don’t have the numbers. Have a good weekend.
Greg, you have a nice weekend yourself. BTW I may see an old ‘friend’ of yours this weekend, whose initials are LM.
(Can you identify that person — coming from me.)
Please direct all this energy, brainpower and ire to our Facebook Group Newton Residents Civic Debate and sign our petitions re NTA and Abermarle and NewCal.
To effect change we need to direct our comments directly to the Mayor, City Council, School Committee and media please…..
This is by far the most important issue the city will face in the next 5 years. the schools can not afford a drop off on talent in the schools. I think we all agree that the kids are our future, whether you have children in the school system or not. The educational system is the key to lower crime rate (kids that feel they have a future are less likely to knock off a Store 24…I never heard of a Harvard student robing a gas station), better home values, etc.
There is no doubt that the teachers have been asked to bare a lot of burden in the past 10-15 years from taking smaller pay/benefits to paying for some of their kids school necessities (ie pencils, notebook paper, etc.) and they deserve better….much, much better. BUT, the Mayor also has a fiscal responsibility to all of the city to get the best deal as possible. I feel for both sides.