NTA EBulletin: September 28, 2025

Resolution of Differences with the District

on the use of Holy Days

We have reached a resolution and mutual understanding with the district concerning the use of holy days.

The district has agreed not to restrict the use of holy days to a specified list of days or dates. You may use a holy day at your discretion to observe or celebrate a day according to your own sincerely held religious belief.

The district has asked that when you record a holy day in the ESS software, and when you inform your building or department supervisor you are going to be out for a holy day, that you NOT say any more than that you are taking the day off as a holy day. Do not enter an explanation in the comments box in ESS; do not explain to your supervisor why you are taking the day off other than to say for a holy day observance/celebration. 

Before the criteria for determining appropriate use of a holy day was to determine whether the day you were requesting fell on a prescribed list of holy days, Now, the criteria is whether you are taking the day off in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief.

This change widens the scope of days that you may take off as a holy day. You may, for instance, now use a holy day to attend your own, your child's, or one of your parents' wedding. 

In using holy days, remember that you only receive four (4) "other" days per year. These "other" days are used to cover (1) bereavement, (2) court appearance by summons,* (3) commencement exercises where you, your spouse or your child receive a degree, (4) selective service exam, (5) absence due to a automobile accident on the way to work or (6) attending the MTA Annual Meeting.

Once you have used all four of your other days, any additional days you must take off for one of these purposes would be either unpaid or paid by using personal day(s). 

With this change, the responsibility to determine whether you are taking the day off in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief shifts to you. Like sick days, holy days too can be abused, as, for example, by using them as additional personal days. Do not abuse the use of these days. If you do, and there is reason to suspect you are not taking the day off based on a sincerely held religious belief, the district has the right to investigate, and if the evidence warrants it, to discipline you. 

*Note that days off for court appearance by summons (court order, subpoena, indictment, etc.) are handled differently than days off for jury duty. You do not use other days for jury duty. The latter are paid according to this Article/Section which appears in Units A, B and E, Article 9, Section 3 and Unit C, Article 10, Section 3 of the NTA collective bargaining agreements:

"A teacher who is subpoenaed to serve on a jury and who has attempted to get an exemption and has been denied said exemption will be granted paid leave for that period of time he/she is unable to work, with a deduction from said pay of any monies received for said jury services."

School Committee Endorsements

Last spring, the NTA Representative Assembly (RA) voted not to endorse any candidates in this year's local elections. When Chris Brezski and Marc Laredo each endorsed the same slate of candidates, this persuaded us that the NTA should also make endorsements in this race. 

In the past, the NTA has made endorsements based on a vote from the Representative Assembly. This year, we want to open the decision up to the entire membership of the NTA, so it will be clear that the NTA is its full membership, and that any endorsements the NTA makes is a decision made by a supermajority of NTA members.

The Representative Assembly (RA) of the NTA recommends that the NTA endorse three specific candidates who are running for school committee, pending a vote by the full membership.

This week, we will be sending you information on how to register to vote, a list of the candidates recommended by the RA, links to the full answers each of the candidates for school committee provided to a survey we sent them, and a summary spreadsheet of how each candidate answered each question. Marc Laredo also completed our survey. We will share his responses as well.

In solidarity,

Mike Zilles, President

Newton Teacher Association