NTA EBulletin: December 7, 2025

MSJOC Joint Statement on Parent Teacher Conferences for the 2025-2026 School Year

On Tuesday 11/18, the Middle School Joint Oversight Committee voted to recommend for the school year 2025-2026 that each building maintain the schedules used in the school year 2024-2025 for parent teacher conferences. 

The central administrative team took the recommendation into consideration and agreed to retain the same number of parent conference dates, but with modified schedules to allow teachers to have common planning time to review mid-year assessment results and plan accordingly. 

Secondary Digital Learning Specialists

From Brian Hammel, Digital Learning Specialist, Secondary Schools, to secondary school teachers:

“Digital Learning involves integrating technology—both tools and instructional practices—to deepen and improve student learning. This academic year, our Secondary Digital Learning Specialists (serving middle and high schools) are centrally located at the Education Center. For support, please email us directly at npsdlssecondary@newton.k12.ma.us. We encourage all staff to visit our comprehensive Secondary Digital Learning webpage for resources: https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/staffresources/digital-learning.”

Two Arbitrations

The NTA recently participated in two arbitration hearings.

Sick Leave Bank Violation

The first hearing required two full days of testimony on October 6th and 23rd. The NTA filed a grievance last fall in which we claimed that (1) On or about November 4, 2024, the Newton School Committee, through its agents Joany Santa and/or Liam Hurley, violated the Unit C collective bargaining agreement by failing to apply the contractual criteria in determining eligibility for access to the sick leave bank for employee [redacted].

Precís of the Arbitration and what is at Stake

The district claimed, in the course of this hearing, that they have unilateral control over access to the sick leave bank. They claim they can, effectively, interpret the criteria the committee must use to decide on granting sick leave days to mean whatever they want them to mean; they claim that in cases of a tie on whether to grant an applicant sick leave bank days, they win; and they claim that the NTA can neither grieve nor arbitrate the Sick Leave Bank Committee’s decisions. 

Details below.

History

The member was on extended leave through the end of the the 2023-2024 school year and used 82 of their personal illness days. In spite of using this many of their own personal illness days, she still had 3.5 personal illness days remaining at the end of the year.

Joany Santa and Liam Hurly represented administration and Mike Zilles and Chris Walsh represented the NTA. The NTA members voted to grant the days. To justify rejecting the employee’s application, the administrative members of the Sick Leave Bank Committee argued that the employee had already been out a considerable number of days.   The administrative members of the team then claimed that in cases of a tie, the request for days should be denied, which it was.

The criteria the administrative members claimed gave them the authority to deny the request is this: prior utilization of all eligible sick leave. 

The administrators claimed this referred to the number of days the member had been out for personal illness in the past. But the second criteria simply requires the applicant to have used up all of their own personal sick days to be eligible for days from the sick leave bank. It does not permit the sick leave bank committee to consider the number of sick days the member had used in the past. 

Because the contract does not give an applicant the right to appeal the decision of the Sick Leave Bank Committee, the district claimed the NTA does not have the right to grieve and arbitrate whether the contract has been followed in making the decision. 

Hence, you can see why the triple threat of this violation of member rights is so concerning: the district claims the right to (1) determine for itself what the criteria in our contract mean; (2) claims that if the two NTA members of the Sick Leave Bank Committee disagree with the two administrative member their view prevails; and (3) claims that the NTA cannot grieve or arbitrate these decisions. They are claiming the right to make whatever decisions they want. 

Sick Days Allocation

The second hearing took place on Monday, December 1.

The Units A, B and E contain two sections that govern the allocation of personal illness days each school year. 

Unit A, Article 5, Section 2 states that:

“[a]fter fifteen (15) years’ service, an employee shall begin each successive year with a minimum of fifteen (15) days’ sick leave plus one (1) day for each year of service; after twenty-five (25) years’ service, an employee shall begin each successive year with a minimum of fifteen (15) days’ sick leave plus two (2) days for each year of service.”

The language is the same in the Units B and E contracts.

To prevent employees from accumulating vast numbers of personal sick leave days, the three contracts contain the following limitation in the subsequent section 3:

“Accrued unused sick leave shall not increase by more than fifteen (15) days each year.” 

The language could not be more clear, and the district’s refusal to adhere to this contractual language is twofold: (1) they think it would encourage more absences, and (2) they think it is unnecessarily wieldy to implement. 

Whether either of these claims are true, the language is in the contract, and the district must adhere to it. That is the position the NTA presented to the Arbitrator. If the district does not want to adhere to this language, then it needs to negotiate to remove it from the contract. 

MTA Officer Candidate Forum: Hold the Date

What: Candidate Forum for MTA Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates

When: Wednesday, February 4, at 4:15 PM

Where: TBD

This year at MTA annual meeting, the delegates to the meeting will vote for a new President and Vice President of the MTA to a two year term. 

There are three candidates running for each position, and they are running on slates:

• Educators for a Democratic Union (EDU), a caucus within the MTA, endorsed candidate Matt Bach, President of the Arlington Educators Association and MTA Board member representing District 22F, for MTA President and Deb Gesualdo, President of the Malden Educators Association for MTA Vice President.

• Deb McCarthy, the current MTA Vice President, is running for President on a slate with Dean Robinson, a professor at UMass Amherst, who is running for MTA Vice President.

• John Sullivan, President of the Belmont Educators Association and current Executive Committee member for Region G (our region) is running for MTA President on a slate with Gayle Carvalho, President of the Quincy Educators Association and MTA Executive Committee member for Region D.

This will be a very consequential vote. Educators for a Democratic Union endorsed candidates currently hold the presidency and vice presidency and a majority of Board and Executive Committee seats in the MTA governance structure. This will be first time their presidential and vice presidential candidates have been seriously challenged, with two exceptions, since Barbara Madeloni became President in 2014, and certainly the first time they have faced off against two other slates of candidates. For these reasons and others, this will be a decisive election for the determining the future direction of the MTA.

I urge all members to attend, but in particular, I urge any members who would like to attend this year’s MTA Annual Meeting as delegates. 

Moving the NTA Office (Again)!

Our landlord, the Russian School of Math (Yes, they own our building!) is breaking our lease, and we have to locate to a new office and meeting space. We are currently negotiating a lease for a space at 29 Crafts Street in Newton. We anticipate moving during February break, assuming all goes well with the lease.

Thank You Note from Jim Murphy

To the Membership of the Newton Teachers' Association:

Now that Newton's elections are over, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support of my campaign for School Committee.  Although the result wasn't quite what I'd hoped, I want you to know how much I appreciated the stand-outs, phone calls, sign requests, and more that NTA members undertook on my behalf.  I was, and still am, honored to have received your endorsement and support, and I hope that the campaign I ran lived up to that vote of confidence.

It's too early to know if running again is in the cards for me, but I certainly intend to stay active in education issues.  My current priority is the ongoing work to ensure that the graduation requirements that will replace MCAS scores will not try to bring them in through the back door by way of end-of-course testing.  And as concerns the Newton Public Schools, please know that I intend to hold the incoming School Committee accountable for their promises to increase transparency, address the insufficient level of funding for NPS, and mend the relationship with staff that the current School Committee broke.  I will find ways to stay involved and will remain a voice that calls for the support and respect that educators deserve. 

Thanks again for your support.

Sincerely,

Jim Murphy

Starbucks Striking Employees

Starbucks workers across the country are standing up for dignity, fair wages, and a real voice on the job — and they need our solidarity. As educators, we know that strong unions are built on collective action and the courage to demand better. When Starbucks baristas strike, they’re challenging intimidation, unsafe conditions, and a corporation determined to silence workers. Their fight is our fight. By supporting Starbucks Workers United — on the picket line, in our purchases, and in our conversations — we strengthen the broader labor movement. Let’s show them Newton educators stand with all workers demanding justice.

46TH Annual Ethnically Marginalized Affairs Committee

In solidarity,

Mike Zilles, President

NewtonTeachers Association