HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – Hampden and Wilbraham residents attending the Oct. 24 Hampden–Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) School Committee meeting were welcomed by dozens of teachers and supporters, clad in red shirts, holding signs that demanded a “Fair Contract Now.”

HWRSD teachers have been working without a contract since their last one expired in June. The issues disputed by the HWRSD and the teacher’s union, Hampden–Wilbraham Education Association (HWEA), include definitive caps to class sizes, a payscale for school nurses that is tied to their education level, professional development compensation, and the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

“We’re just hoping the school committee hears what we have to say,” said Louise Moore, a Wilbraham Middle School teacher who held a sign in the hallway before the meeting.

School Committee Chair Patrick Kiernan read a prepared statement at the beginning of the meeting, in which he said, “Each of our teachers is a hero,” and asked those gathered to “please accept our apologies.”

He talked about the programs they have previously added at educator requests and the district’s financial limitations. Kiernan called HWRSD “a proud district that has seen too much division.” The audience applauded Kiernan’s speech.

Then, a long line of teachers, paraprofessionals, parents and one student stepped up to the mic to express their frustration.

One teacher, Lara Kirk, told the committee that when she teaches storytelling to her students she has them, “show, don't tell.”

“We, as a community, ask no less from any of you,” she said and added that the behaviors and actions of the school committee and administration conflicted with their words of praise.

Kirk said the administration has ballooned while professional development costs come out of teachers’ pockets. She also criticized the culture of micromanaging and redundant data collection. “Our students deserve teachers who are treated with respect. Our students deserve teachers who have a contract,” she said to a standing ovation from the audience.

Linda Kern a paraprofessional in the school district listed the various types of training and roles she has had to do as part of her job and she listed some of the unpaid volunteering that she does for the district. Kern said her pay is $20 an hour and she said it will not increase because it is capped.

“I know babysitters who make more,” Kern said, adding that she was “frustrated and saddened and that our value as paras is being negotiated at pennies on the dollar.”

Beth Cebula, an educator and Minnechaug grad, said teachers are leaving the district or considering it in large numbers.

“[Wilbraham Middle School] (WMS) is bulging at the seams,” Cebula said. She said that with 50 percent of WMS teachers living within the district, the concerned teachers are also parents and voters.

“The manner in which our teachers are being treated is despicable,” said Frank Mikuszewski. He said the 2.75 percent increase offered to the teachers was less than the cost of living increase estimated for 2020.

“You pay peanuts, you get monkeys,” and the students in the district don’t deserve monkeys, they deserve the best, Mikuszewski said.

Jessie Donovan, a teacher and parent said that “the cost of teaching has increased because the reality of teaching has changed.” Like many of the speakers, she praised the teachers, saying “facing low morale and feeling underappreciated they continue to go to work every day.”

Jamison Rohan, a Minnechaug senior, talked about how her teachers have done more than teach classes and volunteer to oversee clubs. She said her teachers have been her school moms, her school dads and her therapists. Rohan said, “Now I feel a sense of shame in our school system.”

After over half an hour of people speaking at the microphones, the school committee took the unusual step of entering an executive session in the middle of the meeting. Nearly 30 minutes later, they returned and Superintendent Al Ganem addressed the crowd.

“We’ve been hearing everything you've been saying. We appreciate your value,” Ganem said. He told those assembled that circumstances have changed since they were last updated by the union.

Ganem said agreements had been reached to set the length of the workday at 6 hours and 45 minutes, including five additional minutes at Stony Hill School and Soule Road School 10 additional minutes at Mile Tree Elementary School.

He said an agreement had also been reached on credits for college tuition with a district-wide budget of $36,000, and on the payscale for nurses.

Ganem also said Appendix B, which includes work outside of the regular school day, such as coaching, had been agreed upon, and that if teachers let the district know early that they plan on retiring, they will receive a $1,000 bonus.

The cost-of-living adjustment has been one of the major sticking points in negotiations. The union had asked for six percent over three years, which the school committee said will cost more than $2 million. The district had countered at 2.75 percent over three years. Ganem said the last figure the union had been given had changed and was not higher than had been offered but not the full six percent.

“I need you to understand we’re moving in a good direction. We know there were mistakes made and we want to be able to get beyond this,” Ganem said. “I want to continue the work we’re doing.”

Ganem reiterated the changes that have been made at educators’ requests, such as the addition of instructional coaches, the return to the “middle school model” and smaller class sizes.

Ganem responded against the notion that administrators have been getting raises while teachers were working without a contract.

“There has not been one damn raise given,” Ganem said. “Everything has been frozen until we settle Unit A.” Unit A is the teachers and educators covered under the HWEA.

In a statement released by the HWEA to Reminder Publishing following the meeting, Ganem’s characterization of the progress made in negotiations was disputed as “inaccurate.”

The union said that the school committee had agreed to a “diluted” version of the nurses’ payscale that would only benefit one nurse in the district. It also stated that the proposal by the committee at the most-recent “mediation session offered cost-of-living raises to only some teachers and that the cost-of-living raise for a significant portion of teachers, especially newer teachers, would be zero percent for each of the next three years.”

“We see his inaccurate report at the School Committee meeting as an attempt to divide us. We look forward to the next mediation session to test whether there is good faith behind the economic proposal the superintendent spoke about on Thursday night,” the union said in their press release.

They also said that they hope a tentative deal can be reached at the next mediation on Nov. 7.

Damian Konkoly of the HWEA?told Reminder Publishing in an email that teachers will begin standouts at pick-up and drop-off times to increase community awareness and, beginning in November, “teachers will stop participation on volunteer, unpaid committees.”             Konkoly stressed that this will not be a full-fledged “work to rule,” and teachers will continue to do many extra curricular things such as advising after-school clubs.

After the educators left, the school committee meeting continued. The committee agreed to send two representatives to a high school start-time study group for the districts that use Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative buses. The study group was suggested by Longmeadow High School.

A date for the symposium on substance abuse has been set for Dec. 3. Committee member Sherrill Caruana said it will be aimed at families of middle school students and be family-friendly, fun and educational. It will be hosted in the Wilbraham Middle School cafeteria and begin with a dinner at 5:15 p.m. and on-site babysitting options will be available. The keynote speech will be given by Dr. Jilla Sabeti and a panel of experts will facilitate discussions on the topics of health, school, youth, and advertising around substance use, specifically vaping.

School committee member Sean Kennedy is the HWRSD representative to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) which, along with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS), makes recommendations to the state on regulations changes.

The school committee voted favorably on banning styrofoam, creating competition among bus lines, taking action on climate change, state transportation funding for kids in foster care, eradication of poverty among students, free student access to menstrual supplies, the effects of charter school funding, and universal pre-K in Massachusetts. Kiernan expressed concern that the state will shirk its financial responsibilities and the district would be left holding the bag on the universal pre-K.

One resolution, the elimination of the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) as a license requirement for teachers, did not receive a vote.

“I think testing evaluates the profession,” Caruana said. Committee members Maura Ryan and Michelle Emerzian agreed.

“They’re saying eliminate MTEL and come up with something better,” Kiernan said.

Julie Keefe, director of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Learning, Elementary, talked about attracting diverse candidates with professional experience who may face difficulties on the MTEL, to which Caruana countered, “I think you can bring in diverse candidates who are qualified.”

A second part of the resolution involves allowing teachers to sit on the board that oversees teacher licensing. Committee member William Bontempi said, “It really should be a system for teachers, devised by teachers.”

Kennedy will bring the school committee’s concerns back to the MASC/MASS committee.

The Wilbraham Hampden Academic Trust gave an update to the school committee ahead of its Oct. 26 fundraising Gala. The representative said that in the last year they had awarded approximately $20,000 in grants to educators in the district. Those funds paid for robotics programs, public speakers, standing desks and iPads, among other things.

The school committee also received numbers for voluntary out-of-district education. There are 58 students living in Hampden and Wilbraham who are attending online schools, charter schools, or public schools in other districts. Out-of-district private and parochial school numbers will be available in January. The school committee intends to workshop a survey to find out the reasons why students are leaving the district.