AMHERST — A continued impasse in talks between the Amherst Pelham Education Association and the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee is prompting both sides to do outreach and make appeals to the community.

The School Committee, in a letter sent out late last week titled “status of contract negotiations,” praised the employees, including the teachers, paraeducators and clerical staff who make up the union for the Amherst and Pelham elementary schools and the regional schools.

“We are proud of our schools and the many dedicated and hardworking staff that serve our students — bus drivers, custodians, food service workers, paraeducators, teachers, clerical staff and administrative leaders,” reads the committee letter.

The letter says the School Committee is following the law by bargaining in good faith with the union and its representatives in an effort to settle a contract. That work began in January 2022, and then, after 13 meetings, the committee sought in late June to move to mediation. The state’s Department of Labor Relations assigned a mediator, the first mediation session was held in September, and the sides have met five times since, supplemented by a session last Friday.

The same day as the School Committee communication was issued, the union held a forum at the middle school, with members noting that the committee refuses to move off mediation, and to talk about the work staff does to support students outside of contracted hours and other obligations.

High school English teacher Keith McFarland was among those who spoke about more demand on his time than when he started 23 years ago, including more emails and more students on Individual Educational Plans, or IEPs.

“Our curricula are not canned lessons, but written and researched by teachers ourselves,” McFarland said. “We simply don’t have enough time in the day to communicate, write lessons to meet all students’ needs, and assess.”

He and others talked about a proposed 2% cost of living adjustment as a “demoralizing” offer when teachers are going above and beyond their contracted workload.

Pelham kindergarten teacher Will Lawrie, for instance, mentioned the hours he took away from his own family to create enrichments, such as “math bags.”

What’s on the table

While the last contract expired last summer, the town and regional districts follow the terms of the expired contract, and teachers, paraeducators, and clerical staff have the same protections as before. Compensation-related items such as stipends and annual seniority increases, or steps that average around 4% increases in pay, are still happening.

The regional school committee’s last offer was for a cost-of-living adjustment of 2.5% in fiscal 2023, the first year of the contract, matched in fiscal 2024 and then down to 2% for the third year.

Other adjustments offered have included increasing the starting pay for paraeducators by 3.9%. With the proposed 2.5% cost of living adjustment, the starting pay for paraeducators this year would be $18.25 per hour, among the highest starting pay in the region.

In contrast, the union’s last offer included a cost of living adjustment for teachers and clerical staff of 3.25% in the first year, 4% in the second year and 5% in fiscal year 2025, and a cost of living adjustment for paraeducators of 6% for each of those years. In addition, their proposal includes the introduction of different compensation “lanes” for paraeducators, with higher wages for those with education credits or degrees beyond high school.

Middle school math teacher Jen Oliver said during the forum that the staff doesn’t appear valued, even teachers with doctorates. “We are a community known for valuing education. How ironic, because right now, we are not valued by the School Committee,” Oliver said.

“During the pandemic, families and teachers, we all worked together to get through the challenges,” Oliver said. “We love teaching and we love the kids, but we are tired.”

The union and School Committee have reached tentative agreements in some areas, including on several non-compensation-related items.

There remain questions about whether there is enough money in the budget to reach a deal, though Kip Fonsh, a former School Committee member from Leverett and union president when he was a social studies teacher, told the School Committee this week that excuse is often used, no matter the circumstances.

The regional School Committee spreadsheet for the Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury municipal budgets shows a total annual increase in revenue on average of $2.5 million, which must be spread across all town services.

The total compensation increases for fiscal 2023 in the Amherst Pelham Education Association’s most recent proposal are approximately $1.9 million, and the total compensation increases for fiscal 2023 in the School Committee proposal is are approximately $846,000.

The district is also projecting critical deficits in next year’s budgets of $1.1 million for the regional schools and $800,000 for the elementary schools.

The School Committee said its objective is to reach a fair and sustainable contract.

“We value our educators and invest over 80% of our annual budgets on staff salaries and benefits,” the committee letter states. “The compensation packages we offer are competitive and among the strongest in our area, and we offer opportunities for career advancement, such as for paraeducators to become teachers or for teachers to become administrators.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.]]>