By adamg on Wed., 1/31/2024 - 10:56 pm
Word just went out. The Newton Beacon reports that with the teacher strike about to enter its tenth school day, some Garden City non-profits and businesses are offering programming for students.
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Community's stepping up for the kids
By mg
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 12:02am
I'm glad to see that community organizations, both public and private, are stepping up to provide programming for kids during daytime hours - including some free or pay-what-you-can.
It's a good idea
By Sock_Puppet
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:15am
And kind. And also good business, because those vacation camps they were planning aren't going to happen.
Newton: "We just don't have
By Carty
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 6:28am
Newton: "We just don't have the money." (Because we voted to not have the money.)
Don't let people tell you it's complicated, it's not. We are simply witnessing how much the wealthy citizens of Newton value their teachers in real time.
Hyperbole much?
By BostonDog
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:04am
They are already some of the best paid in the state and the high school is brand new. It's famous as being one of the most expensive in Massachusetts.
The teachers have a right to negotiate but you can't say the town doesn't value their schools.
They *love* their obscenely
By Carty
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:08am
They *love* their obscenely expensive school I'm sure, I am saying they don't value their teachers.
And again
By BostonDog
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:16am
If they didn't value their teachers they'd agree to the contract as proposed and then lay off a bunch of school staff to keep the budget even. (Or make cuts elsewhere to things Newton also cares about.)
Maybe the town should agree to the proposed contract but it's not a matter of being heartless and dismissive of teachers.
You forgot the option that
By Carty
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:27am
You forgot the option that they could simply raise taxes.
I read the issue is 15 million?
By Pete Nice
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:33am
That really isn't that much if that's all the union wants. Being able to fill 50 counselor spots in a year is asking a lot. Not sure what the rush is on that. Not sure why they can't wait till the summer to figure that out. It's not like they can fill all those spots this week or even this year.
What option?
By Rob O
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 10:04am
The city cannot just raise taxes. That is against state law.
The mayor asked for a tax override in 2023. It didn't pass. There is no more money.
Is your position that because the override didn't pass, the citizens of Newton are not entitled to a public education system? The NTA is the only entity that thinks this 15 million dollars can be conjured out of air.
The override vote could have
By Carty
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 11:29am
The override vote could have gone differently, no? That was the *citizens of Newton* who voted not to raise their taxes, right?
I can't tell if I am getting worked or people really don't understand this stuff.
Correct
By Rob O
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 11:38am
The override could have gone either way. That's how democracy works. "No" won with a percentage of the vote in the low 50s.
Now what?
Newton shouldn't get public schools?
Newton should fund the public schools with the money that the citizens allocated?
Newton should fund the public schools with money that doesn't exist and face that fiscal crisis in the future?
so ... the citizens f'd
By Carty
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 11:56am
so ... the citizens f'd around (did not pass the override) and found out, is that fair?
The only thing anyone is finding out
By robo
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 1:29pm
Is that the NTA is a bunch of bullies that could care less about the kids and only care about money. An illegal strike for money that doesn’t exist is a bad look.
It's almost as if
By Will LaTulippe
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 3:25pm
Someone shouldn't have impregnated a woman, and then left daytime education and oversight of the kid to people they've never met.
I'm not even sure what you are saying ("got" found out, perhaps?
By Rob O
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 1:36pm
Newton did not pass the override. It should (and is) giving the school the money that it does have.
If that results in such a bad contract that all the good teachers leave, then maybe the citizens of Newton will pass an override in the future to increase school funding and hopefully better the school system.
OR maybe the current level of funding is sufficient and the school system will be just fine.
I just don't see how, given the facts, the NTA expects their position to go over.
Signed, someone who voted for the override
you get what you pay for
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 11:56am
Clearly Newton doesn't want public schools.
Clearly
By Rob O
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 1:37pm
It's not like 64% of the budget goes to the schools.
This was no ambush
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 4:16pm
The people of Newton rejected the override. Wages are increasing and it is stupid to think that teachers in Newton would accept less pay. If the mayor and the council want to throw up there hands and say they can't negotiate then the strike will go on. The mayor can start making the cuts and layoffs, but Newton has no one to blame but Newton.
The cuts are going to come from teacher layoffs
By robo
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 4:28pm
So the teachers will only have themselves to blame too.
Less pay?
By BostonDog
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 4:43pm
The proposals from both sides always called for a pay increase.
If you were on the school committee or the Mayor, what would you do? Every employee and every department (not just schools) thinks they are underpaid and underfunded and doing critical work.
Saying the residents of Newton are horrible people doesn't solve the problem.
Arbitration could raise
By cinnamngrl
Fri, 02/02/2024 - 7:19am
Arbitration could raise teacher pay even more. This is what the residents voted for. The mayor is afraid to tell Newton the truth.
Sorry, but are you insane?
By Rob O
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 4:52pm
No one is proposing pay cuts.
The NPS budget is increasing at 5% when the City budget is increasing at 3.5%.
Everyone is getting raises, big raises. The NTA is striking over just how big those raises will be.
An override is not required to operate Newton schools. Perhaps an override was necessary to prevent the NTA from throwing a temper tantrum. But that's another matter.
Its not a temper tantrum, it
By cinnamngrl
Fri, 02/02/2024 - 7:17am
Its not a temper tantrum, it is collective bargaining. You can't outlaw the power of workers.
Teachers: We literally cannot
By NoMoreBanks
Fri, 02/02/2024 - 11:26am
Teachers: We literally cannot afford to live in the community we teach, we are working second jobs, we cannot fill support positions like Paras because the salary isn't enough for the work.
You: BUt ThE ScoOOL BulziDING is SO NIcE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bruh, would you accept shit wages because your office has really shiny new luxury desks???
The wealthy citizens of Newton
By Sock_Puppet
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:23am
Have a lower median income than the median Newton teacher income already. Which is to say, believe it or not, teachers in Newton already make more than most people who live in Newton.
If it was only asking people who make more than teachers to vote teachers a raise, it would be one thing. But that's not what's going on. You're asking people to vote that teachers should get bigger raises than they get on income that's already more than they make. And they didn't.
Why do you think it's odd to
By Carty
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:32am
Why do you think it's odd to pay teachers an *average* salary? Or even significantly over the average? They are highly educated professionals who live in very expensive places to whom we entrust our children's minds.
May you and the people you love avoid doctors and lawyers with average salaries.
.
By FenwayFrank
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 8:44am
For better or worse, lawyers and doctors aren’t paid out of public coffers.
I don’t know enough about the situation in Newton, but I can imagine residents are understandably frustrated.
If You Can Afford To Live In Newton....
By John Costello
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 8:58am
Pay the teachers.
That's it.
Aw, your taxes are going up a few dozen dollars a year? Too bad.
Give them the aides they need.
There are new mandates from the state every year. Parents getting their kids who don't need IEPs onto IEPs so the kid can get better grades by doing less work.
Parents, especially in wealthy districts, who email the teachers on the weekends suggesting their kid really should get an A when their kid has the cognitive ability of a grape or that they really need to know the grade from the test the kid took an hour ago so they can go skiing at Waterville Valley.
Mandates from the state "You have to add 3 days of teaching about the Nik Nok people of the Seychelles to your curriculum next year - fit it in with all the other mandates".
I know a lot of teachers (and administrators). They work hard. Very hard. Well after the workday is "over".
These people have professional degrees just like you. Pay the teachers. Get them the help they need.
Whataboutism
By John z
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 10:16am
Stop trying to change the subject.
Not entirely accurate
By Transphobia Watch
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 9:04am
The Committee for Public Counsel Services pays attorneys, as well as psychologists, expert witnesses, transcribers, and others required for lower-income folks to get their due process. They pay attorneys $85 per hour at the moment. Some of the attorneys don't even do the work to warrant this measly rate, literally not bothering to meet their clients until they show up in court to not-really-defend-them. Others spend considerable hours doing social work that they can't bill for: giving clients rides to appointments, getting job interviews set up and making resumes with them, and scouring Facebook for free furnishings and kids' items so they have a spotless home that can be inspected. While many of the court-appointed attorneys are amazing, on the whole, they are less effective than privately hired attorneys.
40% of people in Massachusetts have Masshealth, which pays doctors and other healthcare providers. Numerous studies show that despite providers' claims that "I don't even have anywhere to see what kind of insurance someone has," people with public insurance receive poorer quality of care.
Doesn't even have to be that
By NoMoreBanks
Fri, 02/02/2024 - 11:32am
Doesn't even have to be that complicated. The VA Hospitals directly employ tons of doctors (and nurses, and lawyers!) There is literally an entire federal government branch for law, legal shit, and lawyers. The military has their own hospitals and their own doctors.
Those people are largely paid semi-commensurate with the field, or the positions go unfilled.
But nobody is complaining about the surgeon putting a soldier back together making surgeon money.
I got news for you
By Pete X
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 9:10am
About how doctors are paid.
Teachers aren't like doctors
By JohnAKeith
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 9:40am
If teachers want to be treated like doctors and lawyers, try acting like them.
Hint: They don't strike when they just don't get their way.
Are you sure about that?
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 4:17pm
Are you sure about that?
LOL
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 7:56pm
A couple of my mentors in public health started off their career by organizing a strike by interns that kicked off a series of court decisions saying that doctors couldn't be treated like slaves because they were still in training.
House Officers Strike at Boston City Hospital. Look it up.
More of them are unionized than you think.
Thank you!
By JohnAKeith
Fri, 02/02/2024 - 11:13am
#whatabout
They don't?
By brianjdamico
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 8:02pm
I don't know about lawyers, but doctors in Germany this week, England last month, Elmhurst Hospital in Queens in May (first doctor strike in NYC since 1990), a strike was averted but authorized by doctors in LA County near the end of last year...
Average
By Sock_Puppet
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 10:16am
I don't think it's odd at all to pay teachers an average salary. Teachers in Newton are already getting more than an average salary. But now they want to climb farther above average faster than the people paying those salaries. They have asked, the people have declined, and now they're hurting kids to get their way.
The comparison with doctors and lawyers is absurd. Are you unaware of the difference in educational requirements?
Teacher: four years undergraduate, plus licensure.
Doctor: four years undergraduate, plus four years medical school, plus three to seven years residency.
Point of fact
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 10:24pm
In Massachusetts, full teaching licensure requires a Master's Degree.
You have 5 years to get one if you don't have one when you start teaching. If you don't get an M.Ed. by that time, you don't teach anymore.
READ: https://www.doe.mass.edu/licensure/academic-prek12...
People will lose their minds...
By lbb
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 10:29am
...but I don't think it's unreasonable for teachers to receive above-average wages. Teachers aren't valued in the US as they are in many other countries, in any sense of the word.
Probably because most of them
By Dre
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 10:39am
Probably because most of them are women.
More and more of society's ills are thrust upon the teacher's plate. It's also great that so many learning and emotional disabilities are being recognized. However, teachers aren't given the time and resources to factor these into lessons and planning time. There are only so many hours in day, which include plenty of work outside of the building. Oh yeah, they have to recertify their license every 5 years which includes professional development, classes, and the fee, all out of the teacher's pocket.
I'm not a Newton teacher, but I stand with them. My friends with students in Newton seem to be, too.
Bubbles
By Rob O
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 10:49am
Everyone's in their own bubble.
In yours, the parents are with the NTA. In mine, just the opposite.
I would really like to see a poll because its hard to tell what the percentages are.
This
By lbb
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 12:29pm
This. Teaching in the United States was much more respected and valued when teachers were mostly men.
Exactly!
By J.R. Dobbs
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 8:23am
It's not like these people are responsible for our children's safety, well-being, and education for 50+ hours a week.
The gall of these teachers, man.
So you think this middle
By cinnamngrl
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 8:45am
So you think this middle class teachers stepping on the poor of Newton?
Taxing the wealthy
By Just walkin'
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 9:32am
Newton has exactly the same flat percentage tax as any other municipality in Massachusetts. That means there is simply no way to tax "the wealthy residents of Newton" without also nailing the people who really are living in the edge, possibly because they did everything to live in a district with good schools. And there are a lot of older people who have lived in their same modest Newton home their entire adult lives. They are the most vulnerable to tax increases.
I hate when wealthier people hide behind those less fortune in order to save a buck of their own. But there is simply no way to tax the wealthy and spare the vulnerable. (No, a residential deduction doesn't solve the problem, at least property values are so crazy.)
Then add on top Newton's small commercial tax base. And the fact that the entire city has been running on what is basically an austerity budget. We are finally fixing the pool that leaks enormous amounts of water every day, but we pave the roads out of the free cash left over at the end of the year.
We need to spend more money on schools. Lots more.money. But that's different than spending a one time surplus on an ongoing teachers contract. Get a fair contract done now.
Oh please
By Rob O
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 10:00am
Newton Public Schools have a higher teacher retention rate than the districts that the NTA uses as comparators. If the compensation package were as bad as the NTA is pretending, how would that be the case?
Also of note, the other elected officials in Newton, who have no reason to carry water for the Mayor's budget allocation, are saying that there is no more money to put toward the school budget. This includes the elected school committee and 23 out of the 24 city councilors. Only the NTA, with its magical powers, sees more money that the mayor is purportedly hiding.
One override for schools passed
By mg
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 5:40pm
Newton voters were presented with two override votes in the same election, both of which included money for schools. One passed, the other didn't.
It's overly simplistic to say Newton voted not to have money for schools. Increasing Newton taxes passed. Unfortunately, the override had to be broken into two separate ballot questions and some people were willing/able to increase their taxes once but not twice in one year.
Is there a point at which the
By anon
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 6:59am
Is there a point at which the school department decides to cancel the rest of the school year? (In the 1994.baseball strike, MLB canceled the remaining season and postseason 34 days into the strike.)
Oh relax.
By J.R. Dobbs
Thu, 02/01/2024 - 9:04am
For the love of larry it's only February 1st.
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