A large group of educators and representatives from the Springfield Education Association gathered at Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy to advocate for a new contract with desirable benefits. The union is currently in negotiations with School Committee representatives after almost 11 months without a contract.
Reminder Publishing photos by Ryan Feyre
SPRINGFIELD — Almost one year removed from its previous contract, the Springfield Education Association is seeking a new agreement that reflects better working conditions and more competitive benefits commensurate with surrounding districts.
Donning blue union shirts and holding signs that read “all students deserve great public schools,” educators gathered on April 30 outside Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy for one of their many recent protests for a new-and-improved contract.
Brenda Dunn, the vice president of the teachers’ union, said a few agreements have been reached with the School Department regarding work and learning conditions, but the two sides are at an impasse when it comes to sick days and salary increases.
In an interview, Dunn said the union is asking for 15 sick days instead of the current 10 and salary increases of 4%, 8%, 4% and 4% over the next four years. The negotiating team on the School Department’s side has only offered a 3% salary increase for each of the four years, however.
“There are some ways we’ve made great progress,” Dunn said. “But we’re not making progress on some of the things most important to our members.”
The union, which represents over 2,300 educators in Springfield, has gone without a contract since June 30, Dunn said. Over the past several months, the body has conducted “stand outs” and “sit ins” across the city to advocate for a fair agreement that meets the needs of its educators and students.
That staunch level of activism has also bled into the public speak-out sessions during School Committee meetings over the last several months, where union representatives and teachers have shared their stories in front of the committee to further demonstrate the necessity of a new contract.
The union has been negotiating with the School Committee’s lawyers, principals and district administration, Dunn said.
Eight educators testified in front of the committee during its April 30 budget public hearing, which occurred right after the union organized its stand-out. Many of the speakers emphasized the importance of more sick days and higher salary percentage increases to keep up with surrounding districts.
“We’re here today to encourage you to revise the proposed budget to make our compensation packet more competitive with surrounding communities,” said Tracy Little-Sasanecki, the president of SEA. “I’m here this evening to give a historical background as to how we have come today, with Springfield being the only district in the area besides Holyoke, who is in receivership to not have 15 days [of sick time].”
According to Little-Sasanecki, educators in Springfield Public Schools received up to 15 days of sick time until a new contract was established in 2014 that dropped the number of days to 10.
“We are now fighting to gain back what we lost in 2013,” Little-Sasanecki said.
Susan Edwards, a 30-year educator in Springfield Public Schools, argued that the decrease in sick days has a harmful effect on parents of young children, those with chronic health conditions and educators who must care for elderly family members.
Edwards said she developed a solid unused bank of sick time that allowed her to recover from her cancer of 18 years and help sickly family members without having to worry about losing pay. When the number of sick days changed to 10 however, Edwards said her sick time dwindled at a faster clip due to COVID-19, a fractured ankle she suffered and frequent hospital visits for family members.
She said she had to “tough it out” and maintain her sick time, because if she ran out, she would have had to pay her insurance $400 each day she missed.
“I personally know of four teachers who’ve had to pay back $5,000 or more during a year because of their loss of sick time,” Edwards said. “Most teachers are not abusing their sick time. In a world of increasing pathogens in which children are sicker, parents are living longer and need help from their grown children, and more needs and chronic personal illnesses, we need to be competitive.”
Patrick Roach, the chief financial and operations officer for Springfield Public Schools and member of the department’s bargaining team, argued at the April 30 School Committee meeting that the school department’s offer is competitive.
“We did a new scale in year one, including new placement for vocational teachers … 90% of the members would be above 3% COLA with that,” Roach said, of the offer. “And to put that in perspective, I think Westfield’s COLA is 1%, Wilbraham is 1.75[%], Chicopee is 2%, Longmeadow is 2.25[%] and West Springfield is 3%. So, we tried to be extremely competitive compared to our surrounding districts.”
Roach added that the educators would also have 3% COLAs in years two, three and four.
“I know the School Committee has given us authority beyond that, but the teachers are really dug in on sick times,” he said. “We would really like to put the money into salaries. We can’t do both.”
Aside from COLA raises, Roach said the department is also offering steep raises to some teachers. For example, a teacher on a master’s step two over the four years of the contract would get an almost $18,000 increase, which would be about 32.3%. A teacher on bachelor’s step eight over the term of the contract would receive about a $17,000, or 26.6% increase, Roach said.
As for sick days, the department’s proposal is to put days into a sick bank for teachers who do not have a lot of years under their belt or for those who have medical needs. At the time of the April 30 meeting, Roach said the School Department was unsure how the union felt about the department’s sick bank proposal. “This would be really important for us to resolve,” Roach said. “We haven’t received a counteroffer on that yet.”
Despite this, many of the educators who spoke during the speak-out portion later in the meeting were unwavering in their demands. A couple of educators, including Dunn, were afraid that retention rates in Springfield would plummet if a desirable agreement was not met.
Springfield educator Cynthia Farmer said there are currently 218 open positions across SPS. She noted that around 92 of those positions are covered by paraprofessionals who lack the educational level required to be a teacher, while the other 126 are covered by substitutes and other educators.
In total, Farmer said there are about 51 grade 1-5 classrooms and 17 pre-K classrooms without regular teachers. Additionally, SPS is short 60 special education teachers, Farmer said.
“These openings put a strain on everyone in our schools, students, educators and administrators,” Farmer said. “We need to have the best working conditions and compensation package to ensure us a desirable place for educators to come and work instead.”
Dunn agreed with this sentiment, saying that an undesirable agreement could lead to teachers leaving to go elsewhere.
“Almost everyone I talk to loves Springfield,” Dunn said. “But they feel they deserve a competitive wage, and they’re willing to go somewhere else if they don’t get that.”
