This month, the School Committee and the Belmont Education Association (BEA) are accelerating negotiations, with high-level talks shaping next year’s contracts for educators. Although no monetary figures had been discussed by March 10, the parties have engaged in collaborative discussions about their values and priorities for educators, administrators, and students.
Negotiation sessions began in October and are scheduled throughout April. Both sides hope to reach a deal before the end of the school year.
In interviews with The Voice, BEA President John Sullivan and School Committee Chair Meg Moriarty said time during the school day for students and educators is one of the main issues being discussed. With many proposals on the table, the parties recently agreed to add five bargaining sessions to the negotiation schedule.
Collaborative Discussions
Sullivan said the union is interested in increasing educators’ time to prepare for classes, expanding educators’ voices in decision-making processes, improving the well-being of students and staff, and improving benefits and compensation for staff and teachers.
Previous coverage
- School Committee, Union Focus on Contract Negotiations
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“Educators are the ones that see or work with our students every day, and they should have a voice in the initiatives and the projects that we’re working on at the school and district levels,” he said.
According to Sullivan, it’s also essential for Belmont to offer educators competitive salary and benefit packages to attract and retain staff.
“Other places are offering higher salaries, particularly for our lowest paid employees … one of our goals is a living wage for our education support personnel (ESP), which is unit C and D,” he said.
According to a cost-of-living tracker developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the living wage in Belmont for an adult with one child is $66,028 after taxes. Living wage is determined using cost estimates for meeting basic needs, including food, childcare, medical, housing, transportation, civic, internet and mobile, other needs, and taxes. Financial savings are not included in the calculation.
“Our ESPs cap out at $30,000 a year,” said Sullivan.
Moriarty said the school committee is also committed to maintaining stable staffing district-wide.
“These are pretty high-level, values-driven proposals that you’re seeing,” said Moriarty, adding that negotiations had not yet addressed specific financial details, as of March 10. “While we all recognize that there are financials to them, I think we’re still talking through the nuances of the proposals and trying to just understand one another’s asks and priorities,” she said.
Additional priorities for the school committee include increasing student learning time, increasing time for educators and administrators to prepare for their classes, and some additional professional development.
“The number one priority right now whittles down to time,” she said. “Both parties are working very collaboratively … I would say that’s a big win from my perspective … we’re really trying to understand each other.”
Looking Ahead
Part of the collective bargaining process involves discussions about creating joint committees where the union and the school committee work together to oversee various changes in the schools.
“There’s a few joint committees that are being proposed by the district, and just the same as in the past, the union has proposed some joint committees to us,” Moriarty said.
“I think that it’s just a way of the two parties trying,” she added. “[They] have identified the need to make a change to something, and rather than unilaterally making that change, they’re inviting a joint discussion of it, to work together to do so.”
BEA and BSC will continue collective bargaining throughout April.
Additional Collective Bargaining
In addition to collective bargaining with BEA, the school committee has also engaged in negotiations with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and recently agreed on a new, three-year contract for custodial, maintenance, and food service staff.
According to a letter from Moriarity to the Belmont Schools community, the new agreement includes increased opportunities for overtime compensation for new employees on probationary contracts, improvements to break and lunch provisions, increases to uniform allowances, clearer work expectations for custodians, improved vacation policies for custodians and maintenance staff, increased collaboration between school and town facilities teams, competitive pay adjustments, and cost of living increases for staff.
“This agreement will help us attract and retain high-quality staff to support our schools and students for years to come,” Moriarty wrote.