Newton School Committee News

Dear NPS Families,

The decision to close schools tomorrow is solely in the hands of the NTA. The Superior Court has ordered the union to disavow the strike by 3:00 PM today.

Heading back into mediation this morning, we wish to share the following:

First, our goal is to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement with the NTA and ensure that our students return to school tomorrow.

We have put forth the most recent proposals on compensation. Yesterday, we put forth restructured proposals on every other major issue in this negotiation. We are now awaiting responses from the NTA on compensation and every major issue.

Second, to the extent that a mutually satisfactory agreement cannot be reached today, we will propose to the NTA that their negotiating team and the NPS team continue to mediate tomorrow while students and all other staff return to school.

The NTA has two full time union officers who are no longer classroom teachers. Likewise, the Massachusetts Teacher Association representatives are not classroom teachers. We will provide appropriate substitute coverage for their core negotiating team as needed.

We remain committed to returning our students to the classroom and agreeing to a competitive, sustainable contract with the NTA.

Sincerely,

Newton School Committee

Below please find updates to the information published earlier that reflect proposals made to the NTA during the day yesterday (Saturday, January 20, 2024.). These charts were shared with the NTA as well. The first chart shows projected FY26 NPS salaries compared to districts published by the NTA. We updated their analysis using the most recent NPS proposals, the NTA-selected districts and the NTA’s methodology. NPS is the median of these NTA-selected districts:

--NPS and NTA dispute the correct salary table for Weston

The second chart below shows how NPS proposals compare to the same NTA-selected districts: