NORTHAMPTON — It has been just over a week since teachers and other school staff started working-to-rule — meaning they stick only to their contractual hours and obligations — in response to stalled contract negotiations between the Northampton Association of School Employees and the School Committee.
JFK Middle School students Noah Daube-Valois, James Payne and Roan Dunkerley, who are in the seventh grade, said they are feeling the impact of work-to-rule.
“It’s stressful,” said Payne, whose mother is a teacher at Jackson Street School, as he sat on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday morning.
The three students said they went to the middle school that morning, but instead of going into the building, they walked about 3½1/2 miles to City Hall. They held handmade signs with messages reading “Pay teachers what they’re worth” and “We demand fair contracts for our teachers.” Behind them, a sign saying “We love our teachers” peeked out of a green backpack.
Because of work-to-rule, it’s harder for students to get extra help after school, the young protesters said, and there is less time for some extracurricular activities.
The three students are in the middle school jazz band, for instance, and said that until recently, practices were held weekly. Now they will be practicing only once every two weeks.
“That’s affecting us a lot,” Daube-Valois said. “Our concert is coming up.”
Payne said he has a friend who is struggling in math and needs help after school but is now unable to get it. “It’s a big deal,” he said.
Daube-Valois, chiming in, said he has struggled to get questions answered after school hours. “I’ve emailed my teachers asking something I needed to know right away, and I can’t get the answer,” he said.
As they were talking, a bicyclist stopped by to talk with the students. “We have some pamphlets you can take,” Daube-Valois said. The students have been handing out flyers about a June 4 “Northampton Schools Emergency Community Forum” at the Florence Civic Center sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Workers Center, Western Mass. Jobs with Justice and the Area Labor Federation.
In Massachusetts, the law prohibits public employees from striking. “They can’t strike from school,” Payne said of the Northampton Schools teachers and staff, “so we’re doing it for them.”
Before their protest, Payne said he advertised the event on Instagram. The three students all said their parents were supportive of their decision to skip school to rally for their teachers.
They acknowledged that their demonstration was smaller than they had hoped, but said they thought some students may have been worried about getting in trouble.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.