NORTHAMPTON — John Zyskowski, a fourth-grade teacher at Bridge Street Elementary School, typically spends about four hours each week communicating with parents about students, particularly those with high needs.
But lately, that kind of communication has gotten more difficult. Since last Monday, educators and school staff have been working-to-rule — or not working outside their contractual obligations and hours — in response to stalled negotiations between the Northampton Association of School Employees (NASE), the union that represents teachers and other school staff, and the School Committee.
Speaking of all the extra time he spends keeping parents updated about their kids, he said, “My ability to do that and limit my hours to the contract is limited,” Zyskowski said while standing outside the school early Thursday morning. “That really is hard for me. I got into teaching to work with kids with the highest need.”
Zyskowski has worked in journalism, landscaping and contracting. But about teaching, he said, “It’s by far the hardest job I’ve done.”
“If there’s not much more movement,” he added about the negotiations, “I’ll consider looking at other districts. And it breaks my heart — I love Northampton.”
Alongside Zyskowski on Thursday morning were about 20 other people, including teachers, school staff and parents, holding signs. Every day before and after school, they said, people are standing out in front of schools across the district in support of NASE.
Educators and parents standing outside of Bridge Street Elementary School on Thursday said they have experienced some effects of the work-to-rule.
“I have felt constrained in how much I want to ask teachers and school employees to do,” Sigrid Schmalzer, a parent of two students at Bridge Street, said while standing in front of the school wearing a red “Fund Our Future” T-shirt. “I’m not comfortable asking as much as I usually ask.”
She said she has been in front of the school most mornings in support of NASE.
Last summer, Schmalzer said she participated in a committee to hire a teacher at Bridge Street and that they had narrowed in on a strong candidate who slipped away. “She was shocked she’d have to take a significant pay cut to work here,” Schmalzer recalled. They ended up hiring another strong candidate, she said, but she still worries generally about teacher retention in the district.
Preschool teacher Jean Flegenheimer, who stood outside the school with a sign reading “Honk if you support our school employees,” said she didn’t think the effects were felt by the youngest students.
But working-to-rule has made some teachers’ jobs more difficult, said Kelly Junno, a third-grade teacher at Bridge Street who herself attended Leeds Elementary School. “We’re out here basically during the time that we would be spending in our classrooms working,” said Junno.
“We all prepare materials in our classrooms in order to do our jobs and have our day,” she continued. “It’s hard because we can’t use the copy machine before or after school.”
Junno was overseeing a student environment club after school, but the work-to-rule is interfering with that, she said.
She encouraged others to come stand with them. “This is for everybody,” she said. “It’s not just for teachers to stand out here.”
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.