For months, the School Committee and the Harvard Educators Association (HEA) have been holding contract negotiations, but the public has heard little from either side. However, the parties’ recent decision to go to mediation has allowed both sides to speak more openly. As fifth-grade teacher Debbie Walker said at the School Committee meeting Monday, “During negotiations, both sides agreed to maintain confidentiality about the offers on the table. Now that we have entered mediation, we are able to be more transparent about the process.”
Attendance at the School Committee meeting was high, with more than 50 parents, teachers, students, and members of the public joining on Zoom. Many of the Zoom screens carried the logo of the HEA—“Education is the HEArt of Harvard.”
Walker was one of four educators who spoke during the public comment period. All the speakers are members of the HEA negotiations team. And all four emphasized that they hoped to reach a settlement as soon as possible, preferably even before the first mediation meeting, which is scheduled for May 11.
Third-grade teacher Lauren Crittendon said the HEA’s proposal had been “a salary increase of 8.5% over three years—a number below what most other Massachusetts school districts are settling for.” As evidence, Crittendon listed an array of recent contract settlements that ranged from 9% in the Ayer Shirley School District to 12% in Franklin.
Crittendon said the HEA had proposed 8.5% from the beginning: “We started at that very reasonable number, in order to make the process streamlined and take out any unnecessary posturing.” But, she said, “our approach did not succeed.”
While the School Committee did not make a public response during the meeting, it built the school budget for fiscal 2024 on the assumption of a 2% salary increase for teachers. Projected forward, that would come to 6% over a three-year contract.
The third teacher to speak, Kellie Carlucci, noted the inflation rate was 8% in 2022. To demonstrate good faith, Carlucci said, “We proposed an option of an 8.25% salary increase over three years, a reduction from our previous proposal of 8.5%. … Harvard educators are asking for a very reasonable and fair raise.”
The chair of the HEA negotiating team, Bromfield social studies teacher Kathleen Doherty, spoke last. She said the HEA has three proposals on the table, two of which “agree to some movement on health insurance.” How the cost of health insurance premiums is to be divided between the educators and the town is a major issue dividing the two sides.
Doherty also pointed out that the Personnel Board and the Select Board had both approved an 8.2% cost-of-living raise for nonunion town employees for fiscal 2024. “And yet,” she said, “the HEA did not propose 8.2% for one year like those town employees are receiving; we have proposed 8.25% over three years.” She explained the negotiating team knows the nonunion town employees have a different salary and benefit structure from the teachers. “Therefore, we are not proposing that we receive the same 8.2% one-year increase though many of our members would like us to.”
School Committee Chair Abby Besse wrote in an email that the committee is preparing a public response to the teachers’ statements, which she expected would be ready later this week. “Until then,” she wrote, “the School Committee remains steadfast, like the HEA, in coming to a fair agreement as soon as possible.”
Laura Yochum walks past a group of teachers protesting the handling of the contract negotiations between the Harvard Educators Association and the School Committee April 26, before the Candidates Night held at Town Hall. Members of the Harvard Educators Association (faces showing) from left: Trish Shepherd, Kathleen Doherty, Jackie Travers, Debby Walker, Kellie Carlucci, Rob Cullinane, Olyan Rosal, Ursula Millard, and Sangita Marya. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
