WESTHAMPTON — Over the course of her 13-year teaching career in the Hampshire Regional School District, Allison Coates has never received more than a 2% pay raise.
Meanwhile, art teacher Warren Smith, a 37-year veteran in the district, says it’s “somewhat demoralizing” to keep finding out that what he and his colleagues do is not valued by the people who employ them.
Coates and Smith were two of 40 members of the Hampshire Regional Education Association — the union with 109 members representing classroom teachers, paraeducators and administrative assistants in the Hampshire Regional School District — standing in the rain outside the high school on Friday morning before school started, advocating for a new contract through signs and solidarity. The members say the main reasons behind the weekly standouts are low pay and a current lack of a contract.
“We’re sopping wet right now, should probably be grading or doing something else in the morning that’s also outside our contract … but instead we’re out here in the pouring rain,” Coates said. “Our community is great … all of us as educators are proud of what we provide to students, and we’re really hoping that we get at least a fraction of what we’re asking for.”
The union and the Hampshire Regional School Committee have been in contract talks since February. The previous contract ended on Aug. 31 and with no agreement reached between the two parties, Hampshire Regional educators are currently working without one.
Thomas Cleary, chair of the regional committee, declined comment, citing ongoing union negotiations.
The union says the School Committee has offered teachers annual raises of 1.75%, 2% and 2% over the three-year contract. That is up from the original 1%, 1% and 2% offer.
Meanwhile, the union is seeking yearly teacher raises of 4.5%, 4.5% and 5%, down from their original proposal of 8%, 5% and 5%.
In addition to salary increases, the union is looking for benefits including increased parental leave, added days for bereavement-related travel, and a modified approach to how sick days are accrued.
“Looking at cost of living increases, and the increase in health insurance … we’re behind, and in some cases really behind, most of the other districts, which feels unfair,” said union co-Vice President Michael Braidman.
According to data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education updated in June, the average salary at Hampshire Regional is $74,105, which is higher than Northampton and Easthampton, but lower than Amherst, South Hadley, Belchertown, Hadley and Southampton. The statewide average teaching salary is omore than $10,000 higher at $86,118 per year.
As a form of protest, in May teachers began work-to-rule, meaning they only work the hours and tasks outlined in their contract.
After summer break, teachers returned to school with the intention of maintaining work-to-rule guidelines, but Braidman said “teachers couldn’t stomach not doing the things that are important to us for our jobs.”
“The work-to-rule actions make teachers’ lives harder, sometimes have negative impacts on students, and are not really affecting the School Committee that we’re trying to convince, and so we have dialed back some of our work-to-rule expectations,” said Braidman.
Throughout negotiations, the union said, the School Committee has shown an “unwillingness to truly engage in salary negotiations.”
“I do believe that there are people on our school committee who value what we do and would like to see us fairly compensated for it,” said Braidman. “But a small group of School Committee members are the bargainers … and we have found that they have not really come to the table most days prepared to engage.”
Braidman said from the beginning, when both sides were expected to have a wage proposal, the committee did not have a proposal and waited to see what the union asked for.
Another time, Braidman said, a business manager whose job it was to look at the numbers on a “creative proposal” for wage increases by the union “was not brought to the bargaining session that day, so they were not able to respond.”
Braidman added that the School Committee has filed for mediation twice, including early in the negotiation process, “long before we felt that we had reached any kind of an impasse. … For these different reasons, we feel like there hasn’t really been an appropriate amount of effort devoted to negotiating with us since the start.”
The mediation requests went to the Department of Labor Relations, which instructed that the two parties go back to the bargaining process.
Smith, the longtime art teacher, explained that teachers feel demoralized.
“No one is here just because they’re punching the clock. We really care about the kids … and it will affect morale of the staff, and it will affect students, unfortunately.”
Holding umbrellas and wearing hooded sweatshirts, teachers held signs reading “It’s about fairness and values” and “Fair contract NOW for Hampshire educators” as they stood on the lawn at the end of the driveway where school buses and cars entered, some honking in support.
“We are spending an inordinate amount of time outside of work trying to fight for something that should be a basic condition of work,” said Jules Marciano, a math teacher at the high school. “We are all exhausted standing out in the rain in the morning, coming to work early, going to School Committee meetings late, working to educate the public on what’s going on. And we haven’t really seen the fruits of that labor yet.
“I would say the general tone in the building is one of disappointment,” he said.
John Sniffen, a school adjustment counselor with the district for 24 years, said he is worried about losing staff.
“Everybody’s becoming more aware of the discrepancy between our salaries and other districts,” Sniffen said. “As nice as it is to work here, I think people are going to be thinking twice about looking elsewhere where they can actually get a better paycheck.”
Said Braidman: “We have already lost several longstanding and respected faculty members who have gone either to teach in other districts for higher pay, or have left the teaching profession entirely for other options. We are definitely afraid that that trend will continue.”
“We’re sort of actively hemorrhaging talented and experienced faculty at the moment, so it does not bode well for the future of the school,” he added.
Union members plan to show up to Monday night’s School Committee meeting at around 7, and they plan to continue rallying outside the school on Friday mornings.
Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com.