Newton teachers reach a deal with school committee, ends strike

After drawn-out negotiations that cancelled school for nearly 12,000 Newton Public Schools students for two full weeks, the Newton Teachers Association and school committee reached a deal on a new four-year teacher contract Friday evening.

Speaking at a press conference Friday evening, union leaders said the new contract secures the organizations top priorities. It includes an increase in the cost of living adjustment rate, increased pay for "Unit C" members, also known as para professionals or instructional aids, longer parental leave and an agreement to staff every of Newton's 22 schools with a social worker.

"We taught every other district in this state what will happen if they try to balance their budget on the backs of their students and educators," said Newton South teacher Ryan Normandin.

School committee leaders say the contract respects their values, including respect for educators.

"It reinforces and expands meaningful support for students; meaningfully increases compensation for all employees, particularly our building and classroom aides; maintains Newton as a leader in benefits," said school committee members in a statement. "[It] provides important flexibility for our leaders to strengthen and innovate our system,"

The group added that they understand that the strike has been painful for families and the whole city of Newton and asked for patience as everyone takes time to heal.

The deal comes after protracted negotiations that mostly progressed this week following the start of the strike on Jan. 19. The union has operated without a new contract since August 2023 and negotiations had begun as far back as October of 2022.

In recent days, the 2,000-member union and school committee seemed the furthest apart on cost of living adjustments — at one point as far apart as $15 million — but their financial proposals seemed matched as of late Thursday.

Still, remaining issues keeping schools closed on Friday involved managerial policies dictating things like when to call in a substitute teacher and amount of planning time for teachers. The two parties reached a compromise on those issues around 9pm.

The Newton Public Schools serves just under 12,000 students in a largely affluent community where the median household income is about $176,000 and median value of a home is about $1.1 million, according to recent U.S. Census data. Educators protested that their pay, which averages roughly $93,000 in the district, has not kept pace with inflation.

Friday's deal was announced shortly after Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Christopher Barry-Smith granted the Newton School Committee's request to increase the daily fine on the Newton Teachers Association for each additional day of striking. Had the walkout continued past Sunday night, the fine assessed against the union would have increased from $50,000 to $100,000 per day. As of Friday, the total amount owned by the union had reached $625,000.

School will resume Monday morning. Because no school was held for 11 days, the district will need to schedule make-up class time. The school committee voted Thursday night to use four days of the February vacation week to cover some of those days. It's unclear how the remaining seven days will be recovered so that the system can meet the 180 days of school required by the state.