By Denebola News Staff
On Tuesday, October 21, Newton teachers in all public schools throughout the city wore a T-shirt in support of the Newton Teachers Association’s quest for wages that compete with those of the surrounding school districts.
The back of these yellow T-shirts reads “COMPETITIVE WAGES=EXCELLENT SCHOOLS.”
The demonstration, which the Teachers Association calls “unity action,” came the day before official meetings began between the Newton School Committee and Teachers Association regarding the new teacher contract.
Denebola’s News reporters talked to several South students and parents within the Newton Community to get their reaction to the “unity action.” Here’s what they had to say:
“If this is an organized and articulate advocacy, and if they [the teachers at South] band together and agitate for more recognition via money, I’m all for it because we tend to ask a lot of our school system and our educators…I think investing in educators is the best way to ensure that the whole educational infrastructure will work more smoothly with less resentment and conflict”
– Teresa Peacock, parent of South student.
“Working without a contract is something they should be mad about.”- freshman Jessica Weng
“Teachers [at South could] get paid a lot more at other schools, and so they want competitive wages; they’re trying to infuse a sense of unity among themselves.” – junior Andrew Fu
“I think it’s not as effective. If they want the school board or someone important to see, why don’t they do something more significant?” – freshman Rachel Gu.
“[This shows that] if the teachers at South get together to protest the contracts that they’re dissatisfied with, they can get what they want…If the students can get together [like the teachers at South] for some of the same things, then they can achieve those things too.” – junior Andrew Farber
“If they wanted to do something interesting, they should’ve not come to school so we don’t have to come to school either.” – freshman Anne Spatz
“The wages at South are substantially lower than those at other high schools in Massachusetts despite Newton being wealthy; the teachers at South deserve higher wages because they are the best educators in the state” – senior Jasper Primack.
“People should be paid based on merit and performance and not on a set contract. If they [teachers] feel they aren’t getting what they deserve they should move to a school, public or private that would pay them. And if enough people start doing that then the market will adjust accordingly.” – William Berezin, parent of South student.
“It raised awareness in a civilized fashion that didn’t cause any trouble. They respectfully for their point across.” – Cliff Rhynd, parent of South student
“I generally sympathize with the teachers because historically they are underpaid…[unity action] sets a proactive and colorful attempted at advocating for oneself which should be encouraged among students.” – Michael Miller, parent of South student
“I think that we have such good schools, that the teachers deserve higher wages, because they do such a great job at South,” said sophomore Krish Maypole.
“I think that it was a good cause because teachers are usually underpaid.” – freshman Kristen Miquel
“I think that as a community we have very good and competitive schools, but we are not paying our teachers enough…in order to keep good teachers we should raise our salaries, and we should just pay our teachers for the work they have done.” – junior Amanda Stavis
“I think it was a good idea for the teachers to have worn the shirts because it raises awareness of their current situation. If they had not worn them, the parents wouldn’t even know that this is going on. The teachers that we have here are excellent and well prepared and deserve to be paid fair salaries.” – Violeta Gonzalez, parent of Newton Public School students
“I think that it was a good message to send because the teachers clearly had a united front. Iit was effective because the students know, but I dont know how many kids went back to their parents to talk about it.” – senior Isabel Silverston
“I think it works for them, but I don’t think it really spread, and none of them explained it either, so a lot of people did not know what was going on.” junior Katie Summers
“I think it’s great that they’re wearing the shirts. We’re always telling our students that they should be involved politically and socially, and since the relationship between teachers and administration affects the students as much as anyone, the students should know what’s going on.” – Paul Christensen, parent of South student
To learn more about the Teacher Contract Negotiations, visit https://nshsdenebola.com/newton-teachers-working-without-a-teacher-contract/
