SOUTH HADLEY — The town’s public school teachers, paraeducators and other staff members are now “working to rule” after negotiations for a new contract reached an impasse Wednesday night.
Work-to-rule, which went into effect Thursday morning, means that union members will work no more than their contracted hours, and will arrive at and depart from the school at the same time as students. The action also means that teachers will not stay after the school day to finish grading papers, preparing for school-related issues beyond their hours, and engaging in other non-stipend or volunteer positions.
“I feel terrible for what’s happening,” School Committee Chairwoman Allison Schlachter said Thursday afternoon. “I understand it’s a way of showing a strong voice and a show of solidarity, but what I don’t like is that it hurts kids. I don’t like that kids are left without help on and off the bus — it’s an issue of safety.”
Nonunion workers from the district’s administration met early Thursday and were able to get volunteers from the central office to help with the four-hour bus duties, according to Schlachter.
The South Hadley Education Association, whose approximately 270 members are entering a second year without a contract, voted last week to trigger work-to-rule if an agreement with the School Committee was not reached during a negotiating session Wednesday night. That session took place shortly after union members staged a rally in front of Plains Elementary School for an hour.
Amy Foley, the union’s president, said that one of the reasons membership voted to take this action is because the district leadership is new and “on some level, they don’t have the experience or knowledge of how each building works.” She added that the School Committee has “little to no experience” in negotiating a contract.
“I think one of the motivators for our membership to vote to go work-to-rule is because they’re hoping the (School Committee) will see how much teachers in this district do voluntarily day in and day out, and that it will open the discussion and open their minds when it comes to giving teachers a fair contract with fair pay,” Foley said. “Educators in general are happy to do that work day in and day out if they feel as though they are being treated fairly and with respect. And at this point, I can say that our membership is definitely not feeling as though they’re being treated fairly or with respect.”
Schlachter sought to assure families this week that the school administration has developed plans to address “whatever needs” may arise as a result of the negotiations. In a letter to families, she also asked for understanding in instances such as arrival and dismissal times.
“The School Committee stands ready, as it has throughout the process, to work towards a fair and responsible agreement with all the contract holders and is grateful to SHEA for its agreement to accept our request to meet at the next earliest possible time to achieve our goals,” Schlachter wrote in a letter to parents.
However, it will be more than a month before the two parties will reconvene negotiations, as the next mediation session is slated for Dec. 12.
“This is not what we wanted,” Schlachter said, adding that the union insisted on meeting as a whole, not by separate units. “They refused to come together for next week. … They say we’re dragging our feet, but that’s clearly not the case. When we weren’t able to reach settlement agreements in the spring, we were willing to meet over the summer to start mediation, but all 14 dates were declined. … and waiting until December is a really long time.”
Unlike previous years of contract negotiations, Foley said the school district is using two attorneys and is looking to negotiate on a unit-by-unit basis rather than collectively.
“They have two lawyer schedules that they’re trying to work around,” she said. “It’s not as soon as we would like, but we are definitely committed to staying at the table and working on a fair contract.”
One area that the union is advocating for is improved pay structures, with a special priority for the district’s paraprofessionals and educational therapy assistants. Currently, the entry-level pay for paraeducators in the district is $12.17 per hour. The pay is the lowest offering in Hampshire County and below the minimum wage of $15 per hour, Foley said.
She further asserted that an increase to $15 per hour would still not allow the school district to compete with other industries.
“Paraprofessionals can go work at a Pride station for close to $20 an hour, they can go work at Target for $18 an hour. And these are the people in our district that are working with our students who have challenges, the most challenges,” she said. “And so we proposed a counter pay scale that would start at $17 an hour.”
Schlachter said the School Committee was in full agreement in April that the baseline pay for paraprofessionals needed to be increased, and proposed a new salary scale.
“We are not in favor of keeping a salary schedule that supports low pay,” she said.
Under the School Committee’s proposed salary schedule, paraeducators with a high school degree would make $15.44 per hour, which would take effect July 1. The first year of the contract would be for fiscal years 2020-21 and members of this tier would receive a retroactive payment of 2% to the current scale. The increase from $12.17 per hour to $15.44 per hour represents a 24% increase, Schlachter said.
For year three of the three-year contract, the committee has proposed a 2% increase.
The union has proposed changes to the new scale with a 4% increase in year three of the contract.
As it currently stands for teachers and specialists, Schlachter said the School Committee has proposed a four-year contract with increases of 2% in year one, 2% in year two, 2.25% in year three, and 2.5% in year four. Teachers and specialists would receive a retroactive payment for year one and a retroactive payment going back to July 2022 for year two.
The union has proposed a four-year contract for teachers and specialists with increases of 2% for year one, 3% for year two, 4% for year three, and 4% for year four.
Schlachter noted that the union has also proposed that top-step employees receive an additional 2% above the aforementioned increases for years two, three and four.
After the 2% cost-of-living increase, these top-step members would make $76,885.56. With the 17% proposed increase, they would then make $90,896.93.
“The financial impact of this proposal would result in the highest paid teachers in the district receiving a 17% increase over the final three years of the agreement, with the total increase over four years totaling to 19% for educators at the top step,” Schlachter said, noting that half of the teachers and specialists in the union are on the top step of the salary scale.
With the union’s most recent proposal, Schlachter said this would increase the total budget by $1.4 million over the duration of the contract just for this group.
She also provided those figures in a letter to parents to provide a little more transparency and detail as to what those percentages mean in terms of the district’s budget.
Schlachter expressed a desire to resolve the conflict.
“I want to work together with teachers,” she said. “I want to come to a mutual and responsible decision together, where we can all feel a shared sense of accomplishment.”
Foley said that “our membership is really dedicated to the students of South Hadley — we do have their best interests in mind.” She’s hopeful that work-to-rule will open up some important conversations on the value of the work union members do, and will lead to the contract being settled sooner rather than later.
“We really got nowhere in mediation as far as the teachers, we got nowhere as far as the paraprofessionals and we got nowhere as far as the administrators in our union goes,” she said. “We continue to bring counterproposals and (are) making every best effort to work with the district that we don’t feel is making their best effort to work with us.”
Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.
