NEWTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Negotiations resumed in Newton Monday after union and school committee negotiators failed to reach an agreement over the weekend to end the ongoing teachers strike in the city.
Members of the Newton Teachers Association voted to authorize a strike on Thursday evening and headed to the picket line on Friday. Schools were closed as a result.
Despite multiple rounds of new talks, officials on Sunday said schools would be closed again on Monday.
“I have such empathy for our 11,600-plus students and their families and caregivers who are scrambling,” Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller told reporters.
The Newton Teachers Association’s last contract expired in August.
In talks around a new agreement, union representatives have pushed for higher pay raises, parental leave for all educators, and the hiring of more social workers to address student mental health.
Union representatives have also criticized Fuller, calling on her to “fund the schools” in various statements.
“Mayor Fuller needed to be here yesterday and she needs to be here for all negotiations, because we all want to get back into class as soon as humanly possible,” said Newton history teacher David Bedar on Monday.
Back on the picket line Monday morning, educators said they left Sunday’s negotiations feeling disappointed.
Previously speaking Sunday night, School Committee Chair Chris Brezski said parties were nowhere near a deal on a new contract.
“It’s not a number that we would, in any universe, be able to meet right now and it would require devastating cuts to programs and services for our kids,” Brezski told reporters.
Brezski said the teachers union recently increased its demands.
Newton Teachers Association Union President Mike Zilles, though, claimed that is not true.
“The proposals we put on the table today are the same proposals we had on the table for over a year,” he said Sunday. “We did not increase them.”
As both sides prepared for another day of negotiations Monday, Brezski was asked how long the current strike may continue.
“I don’t know,” he said. “The NTA continues to move the target.”
Union officials said they were hopeful both sides would be able to find a middle ground.
“The school committee negotiating team needs to show up with the same sense of urgency that the NTA negotiating team is showing up with in order to settle the contract so we can get back into the schools,” said union representative Ashley Raven.
Negotiations resumed around 10 a.m. Monday. Teachers and their supporters then gathered early Monday afternoon for a rally at City Hall. Paused near 1:30 p.m., negotiations were scheduled to resume at 5 p.m. and continue until 7 p.m.
School buildings remained closed in the meantime, with all school-related events and activities postponed until the strike ends.
Newton Public Schools officials have offered meal pick-up options for families and promised to share updates by 7:30 p.m. each day on the status of the strike.
The Newton Teachers Association includes more than 1,100 teachers and upward of 800 aides, administrators and support staff.
The Newton Public Schools span 22 schools, with more than 11,700 students, according to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Though strikes among public employees are illegal in Massachusetts, Newton educators are following educators in Brookline, Malden, Haverhill, Woburn and Andover who have all gone on strike since 2022.
Strikes have varied in length but have forced school closures in each case. With educators defying the state strike ban, their actions have carried the potential for fines, as districts have sought court orders requiring teachers return to work.
In Newton, city officials obtained an order from the Middlesex Superior Court requiring teachers end their strike.
With the strike ongoing, parties were back in court on Monday for a court hearing where attorneys for the city of Newton and the state asked a judge to impose fines.
The judge had not made a decision regarding fines as of around 4 p.m.
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