SPRINGFIELD — Members of the School Department’s negotiating team told the School Committee during its Jan. 23 meeting that contract negotiations with the Springfield Education Association are still ongoing.
In their presentation to the committee, the negotiating team said they are currently working through language with SEA and will continue to do so in future bargaining sessions.
“We’re listening, understanding what the issues are, and the progress that we’re making has actually been productive,” said Jose Escribano, the district’s chief of family and community engagement and member of the School Department’s bargaining team. “We’re at the table and we’re discussing things and kind of moving along forward with the contract negotiations.”
As of press time, SEA Unit A members have worked over 100 days without a contract. At a November 2024 meeting, two representatives from SEA presented initial proposals to the School Committee that spelled out what the union is looking for, including things like an improvement in student learning conditions by way of reducing pre-K class sizes, “a dignified increase” in salary over three years, additional staff support; setting caseload limits; providing space for student evaluation, the implementation of an equity plan and revamping the pay scale for vocational teachers.
The SEA representatives also presented a petition that pleaded the bargaining representatives to “engage in meaningful and productive negotiations with our union to reach a fair and equitable contract.”
The petition had around 2,000 signees at the time.
Health and safety demands from SEA
As part of their new contract, SEA representatives are currently seeking certain health and safety measures, including 15 sick days and the state’s Paid Family Medical Leave, or a plan comparable to the state plan.
A few Springfield teachers provided testimony in front of the School Committee on Jan. 23 to show support for the 15 sick days and Paid Family Medical Leave plan. The teachers who spoke told stories of how the department’s current offering of 10 sick days was not enough to deal with major health issues.
Fighting back tears, Rhonda Hall-Reynolds, a special education teacher at Elias Brookings School, told the committee about how she had to drive her husband, who suffered a cardiac arrest in 2020, to Cambridge to get the necessary help he needed, then back to Springfield to teach her classes.
When she exhausted her sick time, she asked the School Department if there was paid medical leave, but the department said that the city had not opted into the state plan.
Her husband eventually died in 2023.
“If we had paid family medical leave, I would have been able to spend more time with [my husband],” Hall-Reynolds said. “In full transparency, I was there for my students, I was there for my husband as much as I could be … it’s important for the people and the city of Springfield to opt in.”
Christine Jasiewicz, a special education teacher, told the committee that a lack of paid medical leave made it difficult for her when she had to be there for her two newborn babies when they were going through health issues.
At one point, she said she was dealing with billing statement totaling over $1 million but no paycheck for over three months because she had to be out of work with no sick time.
“My family suffered tremendously during these times, [and] we continue to struggle,” Jasiewicz said. “Springfield must reinstate 15 sick days and provide paid family medical leave for its educators … no one should ever have to choose between their family and their paycheck.”
Updates from negotiating team
Patrick Roach, the chief financial and operations officer for Springfield Public Schools and member of the department’s bargaining team, told the committee that the bargaining team and SEA have a “long way to go” until they get to any financial proposals because they are still currently working on language.
“The union still has a significant number of language proposals that will take time to be negotiated,” said Terry Powe, the principal of Brookings Elementary School and a member of the School Department’s negotiating team. “The district believes that some of the language should not be in a collective bargaining agreement, because it doesn’t pertain to all schools at this time.”
Roach said that the bargaining team and SEA were able to work out a plan to institute air conditioning in all schools within the next five to seven years, but proposals by SEA still amount to $72 million in total, according to Roach, which is about a 45% increase above current teacher salaries.
He added that paid family medical leave is something they will talk about once they get to those financial discussions with SEA, but as of right now, those costs were not included in the uinion’s proposal, yet.
“We still have a long way to go until we get to the financial proposals, and we’re going to be working through all of them,” Roach said.
The bargaining team once again told the committee that they made an initial offer in October of a 2.5% salary increase, and they have the intent to go higher if SEA retracts some of their other “costly proposals.”
The bargaining team said no counter has been made by SEA to date.
Despite the fact many issues still need to be worked out, some progress has been made. The bargaining team told the committee that the School Department is making operational changes in pre-K, vocational settings and with specialists; and subcommittees have been formed to work through language.
“We’ve made significant process through collaborative and respectful conversations,” Powe said.
Questions from School Committee members
A couple School Committee members, including Joesiah Gonzalez, had questions about how the department’s bargaining team, which represents the School Committee, was formed.
“I’ve never seen a document come before this body to approve a list of individuals that would represent us or to select the negotiator,” Gonzalez said. “That to me is problematic.”
Meanwhile, School Committee member Denise Hurst and Vice Chair LaTonia Monroe Naylor mentioned the fact that in some districts, School Committee members are represented on their bargaining teams, but that is not the case in Springfield.
The committee’s attorney said he would look into the School Committee’s policy manual to see if there is any language about forming a negotiating team.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, who is also the chair of the School Committee, responded to the School Committee’s inquiries by saying that the School Department’s administration is tasked with putting together a negotiating team under Education Reform Act 1993, and has been for many years.
The current bargaining team was created prior to the hiring of Superintendent Sonia Dinnall.
