Newton's school doors stayed closed Monday, as the strike by the city's educators rolled into another day without a resolution in sight. In a battle over contracts, nearly 2,000 members of the Newton Teachers Association (NTA) hit the picket lines again, after a weekend of fruitless negotiations, The Boston Globe reported. Despite ongoing talks with the Newton School Committee, an agreement has continued to elude both sides, keeping the city's educators out of their classrooms for a second consecutive day.
According to The Boston Herald, Mike Zilles, NTA President, lambasted Mayor Ruthanne Fuller directly, saying, "We need the mayor to stop doing one thing," he said. "We need her to stop saying she supports the schools and they’re her priority. Because they’re not, and we need her to make her priority by funding them." The failure to agree on a new contract comes after over a year of negotiations and several months since the expiration of the previous contract.
In defiance of a Massachusetts state law prohibiting public employee strikes, the NTA had voted to authorize this action last Friday. It prompted a Middlesex Superior Court judge to issue an order for the teachers to return to work, complete with the threat of fines for non-compliance by Sunday afternoon. Mayor Fuller, in a late Sunday email to families expressed her disappointment: "It is frustrating and deeply disappointing to report that Newton’s schools will be closed again tomorrow, Monday, January 22," she said. "I believe firmly the adults can negotiate to resolve these issues and have a competitive contract that honors our teachers, and is sustainable for our community …. while our children are in school learning."
The NTA has been clear about its demands, which include increased support for mental health in lower-grade schools, paid family leave, and equitable wages for support staff like teaching assistants and behavior therapists. During Sunday's negotiation, the School Committee claimed NTA members stalled the talks and raised their demands. Still, NTA representative Ashley Raven countered that narrative in a statement to The Boston Herald, saying, "We have been trying to show up prepared with a sense of urgency to bargain and negotiate so that we all can get back into our classrooms," and lamented, "And we’re not feeling that same sense of urgency from the School Committee. Yet they are the ones who are telling the community that we are the reason why students will not be in school tomorrow."
Even as the teachers stood their ground, the local community showed up in force to back the NTA, with supporters joining the educators marching along the picket lines outside the Newton Education Center, and later, City Hall. This demonstration of camaraderie reinforced the NTA's position as they continue to advocate for what they deem as necessary supports and compensations to sustain their crucial role in the educational system of Newton.
