October 17, 2023 By Carol Britton Meyer
The School Committee recently filed for mediation regarding ongoing contract negotiations with Hingham Education Association Unit B (paraeducators union) because they feel an impasse has been reached.
The Committee started meeting with Unit B last December -- 14 meetings so far -- with negotiations stalling ever since.
At the same time, HEA President Jacqueline Beaupre told the School Committee Monday night that the union (Unit A, teachers) voted overwhelming earlier that day to the first phase of a "work-to-rule" job action.
This means that the union has directed its members to refuse duties that are not specifically mentioned in their contract. "What is a quality education worth?" she asked.
In an email from Beaupre to the Hingham Anchor following the meeting, she explained that "the educators of Hingham are experiencing challenging negotiations despite last year's historic operational override. Last week the School Committee unilaterally declared an impasse with the Unit B paraeducators. On Monday, the Unit A educators voted to start work-to-rule actions." See related press release:
https://tinyurl.com/heaworktorule
Many people participated on Zoom at last night's Committee meeting, while the meeting room was packed -- with numerous comments advocating for better pay for paraeducators, among other issues.
Public comment period extended
Committee Vice Chair Michelle Ayer, who stepped into the chair role because Nes Correnti was unable to attend the meeting, noticed the large crowd and extended the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting by 15 minutes to allow ample time for remarks.
The School Committee is not permitted to comment on items discussed during the public comment period because they are not on the agenda.
A number of paraeducators advocated for a "living wage," with one stating, "Our value has been dismissed by this committee" and that an HEA representative has repeatedly asked to bargain in open session to no avail.
Teacher Ben Louchheim urged parents to support paraeducators' request for higher pay and to push the Committee "to do what is right."
Bonnie McArthur, who identified herself as the bargaining chair for the paraeducators working for the Hingham Public Schools, called for a return to the bargaining table "to negotiate a fair contract" to pay paraeducators a living wage.
A teacher said the lack of paraeducators to help out in classrooms is an issue. "I know the administration has good intentions, but we're moving backward. We need definitive plans to fill the gaps."
A paraeducator asked someone present at the meeting to read a letter from her to the Committee, noting that she gets $17.79 an hour and that after dental, life insurance, tax, and other deductions, a recent paycheck netted $26. She called the situation "criminal and disgusting" in the letter.
Pam Amster, who taught in the HPS for many years before retiring in 2018, strongly advocated for the paraeducators, calling for a "fair and decent contract." She noted that implementation of the HPS equity and inclusion policy is possible due to the efforts of the paraeducators, calling them "resourceful, clear-thinking, creative, collaborative, and well-trained men and women."
At the end of the meeting, Ayer thanked the HEA representatives for attending and speaking out as she considers their perspectives to be an important part of guiding the work of the School Committee.
‘Some strong points were raised’
She also acknowledged that there were some strong points raised, including updating the FAQs on the website to clarify that not all teachers receive annual step/lane increases, that the School Committee is trying to find ways to ensure no one receives a negative paycheck, and that ensuring para supports are in place for all students requiring those services is a priority for the SC and the administration.
Referring to a comment made about voters being "misled and duped" prior to approval of the recent $7.9 million operating override, Ayer clarified that while she didn’t hear the speaker directly state that it was the SC that misled/duped voters -- but that seemed to be what was inferred -- she wanted it on the record that the Committee neither misled nor duped anyone prior to the override vote.
The speaker who felt duped thought the override figure included a raise for the paraeducators and thought some others believed the same.
"The School Committee was incredibly transparent during the months-long budget process and spent hundreds of hours making presentations, hosting community conversations, filming public service announcements, and holding public hearings and forums that included detailed explanations about what was and was not included in the budget, and that these presentations detailed the proposed percentage increase that was included in the override budget for the various bargaining units," Ayer told the Hingham Anchor in response to an email following the meeting. "So, we were very forthcoming on the salary increases that were proposed in the override budget."
As background, the Salary and Negotiations Subcommittee of the School Committee has reached tentative agreements during negotiations with the paraeducator union on the vast majority of proposals but have hit what member Kerry Ni called an "impasse on a few major ones, mainly wages."
The School Committee has repeatedly stated that an increase in paraeducator wages is needed and budgeted for an equity adjustment as part of the override budget, according to Ni. "However, every contract we enter into must be sustainable; otherwise we are looking at cutting positions and services, and we all worked too hard for that."
The Committee is limited by Prop 2-1/2. "The town can only raise taxes by that amount without another override," she explained.
Negotiations remain stalled
At the subcommittee's last meeting with the paraeducator union on Oct. 4, "it became clear that we are still far apart on a few very important issues, mainly wages, and that progress has stalled," Ni explained to the Hingham Anchor after the meeting in response to an email. "The Committee let the union know that we believe that we have hit an impasse and that we would like to enlist the help of a mediator through the Department of Labor Relations (DLR) to help us move things forward so we can settle this contract."
Mediation is a regular part of the collective bargaining process, Ni said. "This process allows an independent third party mediator, who is skilled in negotiations, to work with the Committee and the union to come to agreement on the areas where we are still far apart. Mediation is designed to move the process forward, because we very much want to reach an agreement."
Ni said the School Committee asked the union "to let us know if they would like to file jointly, which would be preferable, by the end of that week, but we didn’t hear back. We checked in with them the following Monday, and when we didn’t hear back by the end of the day on Tuesday, the Committee filed unilaterally with the DLR for mediation."
The union has since filed a response stating that they do not believe that the parties are at impasse, "so the DLR will have to sort that out before we can start the mediation process, but we are told that they are efficient, so we should know next steps soon," according to Ayer.
Ni emphasized that the goal in filing for mediation is "to move the process forward so we can reach agreement on a fair contract as soon as possible, and our [paraeducators] can start receiving additional benefits and higher wages under a new contract. We view this step as a good thing and welcome the help of an independent third party if that is what it takes to get there."
Information about the Unit B mediation process will be posted on the Hingham Public Schools website in a few days.
As of Oct. 16, there was one paraeducator opening at the middle school, one at East Elementary, and two at the East pre-school.