NTA EBulletin: December 10, 2023

Click on the image above to send an email to Mayor Fuller, and, if you haven't yet, write your own postcard!

Email Campaign to Mayor Fuller

A final push on the email campaign. We've sent out 793 emails so far. Help us get that number to over over 1,000 this weekend. If you haven't already, please click here NOW to send an email to Mayor Fuller.

On the heels of the pandemic, Mayor Fuller deliberately created two budget crises, one in the spring of 2022 and one in the spring of 2023. She led an override campaign which failed largely because Newton citizens did not believe her when she said there was a need for an operating override. 

It's hard to believe Mayor Fuller. On the heels of the pandemic, she created two totally unnecessary budget crises in the schools, because both years she ran huge surpluses in the city budget. And it is equally dismaying that the school committee continues to tell the NTA, and the public that they must work within the budget allocation the mayor has promised them. 

Mayor Fuller has ample resources at her disposal to fund a fair contract for members of the NTA and implement the changes that Superintendent Nolin proposed in her "entry plan."

If you haven't already, please click here NOW to send an email to Mayor Fuller. Tell her to fund the schools using the enormous surplus of funds she has at her disposal. All you need to do is enter your name and contact information. The "Action Network" will do the rest for you. It only takes a minute!

Mediation Update

We met on Monday, December 4, from 4:15 until 6:15. The school committee agreed to our proposal to drop four half steps from the bottom of the Unit C salary schedule---one half step each year and a final half step on August 31, 2026. 

On salaries, they proposed a slight increase in the COLA--they moved from their prior proposal of 2% in year one, 2% in year two and 3% in year three to 2% in year one, 2.5% in year two and 3% in year three. For Unit C, however, they proposed a 2.5% COLA in year two for members on all steps except the top step, and 2% for members on the top step. They explained that in their view members on the top step are already well compensated.

The school committee COLA proposal was, as it has been since June, contingent upon the NTA accepting all their other proposals as a package, with none of our other proposals included. They are still, in other words, asking for major concessions without even paying a reasonable cost of living increase.

Our next mediation session is on December 18. You can sign up here to be a silent observer at this mediation session.

Following our mediation session, there is a school committee meeting scheduled at 6:30.

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If you haven't yet, please send Mayor Fuller an email by clicking here. 

In solidarity,

Mike Zilles, President

Newton Teachers Association