NTA eBulletin: November 1, 2026

NTA Hoodies for Sale

Ryan Normandin, Second Release Officer

Do you love NTA swag? Are you finding the NTA t-shirts a little too chilly on T-Shirt Tuesday or Wear-It Wednesday? Are you looking for a versatile top that can go with absolutely any outfit?

Then the new NTA hoodie is for you!

Complete this Google form to purchase your very own warm, comfortable, and incredibly stylish NTA hoodie! The more orders we get, the less you’ll pay (between $50-$59), so tell your colleagues to get their orders in!

Nomination Papers Due this Friday, November 4

Ashley Raven, Election Chair 

Hi union siblings! This is a reminder that the nomination period for NTA officers and representatives closes Friday, November 6th at 4 pm. Anyone interested in running for an open position must fill out a nomination form, gather 15 signatures of current NTA members, and submit it by Friday. Nomination forms can be emailed to elections@newteach.org or turned in to the NTA office (29 Crafts Street, Suite 470). 

Open Positions:

President

Second Release Officer

First Vice President

Second Vice President

Recording Secretary

Treasurer

Assistant Treasurer for Membership

ALL Association Representatives

Open Letter to Union Membership

Fran Rametta, Member, Angier Elementary School

What does the Newton Teachers Association do for us? It may seem straightforward and apparent to the membership. Union leadership publish a weekly newsletter to share about various initiatives and reps hold monthly informational meetings to keep us up to date on current issues. CAT captains and communicators organize us to advocate for our rights as employees, especially during contract negotiation years. There are multiple committees, comprised of members, doing the work every day.

But a lot of what leadership does happens behind closed doors, kept behind the scenes because of confidentiality requirements. Many individuals have benefited greatly from their support, guidance, and advocacy in a variety of situations and for a variety of reasons. My turn came this past year when I became ill and needed to take a medical leave, which is not as easy to navigate as perhaps it should be. In my vulnerable and fragile state, when it was unclear that I would be granted a paid leave, I leaned on our leadership quite a bit and they took care of me. They advised me of my best course of action, came to meetings with me, and shared moral support in a kind and caring way. They were always available to me; I felt taken care of, and it was comforting. And they have been doing this, quietly, for members across the years and across the district. I’m so grateful.

That is why I want to publicly thank NTA leadership for being such a strong, responsive, and compassionate group of people. I appreciate all they do for us as a collective and as individuals as well. And I’m so proud to be an NTA member.

Thrive

As I said in an earlier email, I do not receive unsolicited positive feedback about Thrive. 

Anna Nolin attached feedback documents that the district gathered about Thrive in her October "Inside Voice." Those documents are on individual workshops. After Thrive this year, the NTA will provide an opportunity for members to share feedback on their overall experience of Thrive. 

I would like to express some perplexity about Dr. Nolin's characterization of our examination of one of the workshops sponsors, Lifetime Fitness, as an "NTA Blast." This email, she stated, mortified the presenter, Sarah Moller.

I wrote in that post that "I mean by this no criticism of the substance of the workshop offered: "Fiber: The Missing Piece of SEL [The Surprising Connection between Fiber, Brain Health and Social Emotional Learning]," nor of the speaker, Sarah Moller." If Ms. Moller was mortified, that was certainly not my intent, and I apologize if this was the unintended consequence. 

However, I stand by the value in pointing out that Lifetime Fitness is a large national corporation owned by private equity that offers services quite likely beyond the financial reach of NTA members. It is not a local business; whatever profits it generates do not remain in Newton. The same is true for Barry's, another national fitness corporation owned by private equity, which Dr. Nolin has invited to offer promotional pricing to employees on Thrive day, Tuesday, November 3. 

Neither Lifetime Fitness nor Barry's can meaningfully be characterized as "local businesses," any more than a local branch of Bank of America can be characterized as a "local bank." Bank of America is a multi-national corporation. Village Bank is a local bank. The comparison here would be with the West Suburban YMCA, which, while part of a national non-profit organization, has been a community fixture in Newton for over 140 years. 

I believe I have asked a question that still needs answering: Should the Newton Public Schools be using Thrive day to advertise companies whose services few working in the Newton Public Schools could possibly afford, whose profits will not remain in Newton, and whose contributions to the Newton Public Schools, if you want to call them that, are largely transactional?

GLP-1 Negotiations

Since my last update, we met with members of the City of Newton and the School Committee to continue to try to work out a compromise that would allow members to access GLP-1 medications for weight loss at a more reasonable cost point. 

The City, per our request, contacted three companies who offer employers administrative services to provide employees with access to GLP-1 medications directly from manufacturers at a reduced price, with the employer sharing part of the much reduced cost. 

If we are to reach an agreement with the Newton Public School and the City of Newton on GLP-01 medications, we believe it should entail payments to NTA bargaining unit members who have purchased GLP-1 medications this plan year, and an implementation of a new program for direct purchase of medications, with the district sharing in the cost, beginning in July 2027. 

The NTA followed up our bargaining session on Tuesday, October 27, with a formal proposal on Friday, October 30. We have a "pre-hearing" conference scheduled at the Department of Labor Relations on Monday, November 9 to address our charge that the district failed to bargain in good faith by unilaterally removing GLP-1 medications from the Blue Cross Blue Shield list of covered treatments without FIRST bargaining any change. 

It is unfortunate that we are trying now to catch up to the reality of members losing this coverage, but we hope that we can reach a compromise before the pre-hearing conference.

To be continued...

******

In solidarity,

Mike Zilles, President

Newton Teachers Association