The Fall River School Committee convened a special meeting on Monday, September 30th, primarily to hear public input and discuss collective bargaining strategy. The meeting began with a roll call, pledge of allegiance, and an open meeting law statement. During the public input segment, several individuals voiced strong concerns regarding the ongoing contract negotiations. Josh Lafer highlighted issues with staffing shortages, including a lack of inclusion teachers and veteran teachers taking on extra classes, and noted approaching double-digit teacher resignations since the school year began. Paige Voci, an expecting mother and fifth-year teacher, shared her personal struggle with insufficient sick days for maternity leave, comparing the committee's offer of 2-4 weeks to the union's counter-proposal of 4-6 weeks, and to more generous policies in other districts. Robert Gorman criticized the committee's bargaining tactics and their attorney's responses, arguing that past contracts have left Fall River educators behind, especially after the Student Opportunity Act funding increase, and warned of declining teacher morale. Kristen Anderson echoed these sentiments, expressing disappointment over 23 days without a contract and questioning her dream of becoming an educator in Fall River due to perceived disrespect and low pay. School Committee member Kevin Agar clarified the distinction between the city's budget and the school committee's budget, refuting claims that the mayor was prioritizing police and fire contracts over teacher contracts. Following public input, the committee voted unanimously to enter executive session to discuss collective bargaining strategy with representatives for professional teaching employees, administrators, cafeteria staff, maintenance, custodial, safety and security personnel, civil service clerical employees, and paraprofessionals. The committee reconvened briefly and then adjourned.
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Education
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actually never for I'd like to call to order the Monday September 30th special meeting of the fora school committee uh Deb would you please call the role Mr here Mr Bailey here Mr Das here Mr Cory here miss ly here miss Pereira here may Coogan here salute to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one
0:35nation under God indivisible Liberty and jce for all pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings are trans or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and
1:04permissible we have a few uh people that would like to speak at public in input tonight um we're going to respectfully ask you hold it to three minutes uh first up is uh Josh laer theall Street Fall
1:26River good evening uh I want to thank you guys for Gathering gaing to have a special session to plan for our bargaining since you likely won't be able to gather again to prepare for bargaining before the school committee meeting on the 21st there are just a few things that uh I'd like to be on the top of your mind when you go into the back room to plan we're about halfway through
1:47term one now and time is flying fast uh we're in a Race Against Time to staff all the schools and we're a little bit behind the ball I've had conversations about this around this school and across the district um we have teachers who don't know how to give progress notes on their special ed students because they don't have an inclusion teacher in the class friends in the middle schools
2:07veteran teachers who are burning the candle at both ends taking on extra classes uh we have schools that are already approaching double digigit resignations since the school year started I guess we'll have to wait until the 21st to see what those numbers are actually borne out um but the students in Fall River can't wait for the committee to drag their feet on reaching a deal so as you go into that back room
2:27I would like you guys to think of them uh as you plan on what you're going to come back to the table with thank you thank you I hope I say this right Paige vzy uh Taunton I'm going to need a motion to wave the rules move second I have a motion second all in favor I opposed unanimous three minutes please Paige thank you good evening members of the school committee I would like to take
2:53this opportunity to share with you some internal struggles I face daily as an expecting mother with my first child this is my fifth year working in the district with taking a limited amount of sick time sick days I've accumulated 54 sick days this number might sound like a lot but I still fall 6 days short of being able to take the full 12we maternity leave if I end up having a
3:16c-section 16 days short of the 14we maternity leave option for those mothers who need to recover from a major surgery I just want you to keep in mind those 54 days going towards my maternity leave are only applicable if I take no sick time prior to the birth of my child in November being pregnant isn't easy and it comes with a variety of symptoms but I have no other option besides showing
3:39up to work no matter how I'm feeling because there's I simply don't have any other options starting in my third trimester I have to go to the doctors every two weeks to make sure my baby is healthy and my last month I have to go every week woman Health offices aren't open on Saturdays and my office closes promptly at 4:00 have you ever tried to get out of dery when school lets out
4:01it's nearly impossible if only we had designated spots and exits for teachers or if I could take a quarter sick day for my appointments but you denied those proposals too as a fifth year teacher who just blew through all my sick time and is going to have my loans forgiven what is my motivation for staying this year with no sick time bank there is nothing financially tying me to the
4:22district you're holding the door open for me to walk out if you want to help retain and attract new teachers I'd suggest offering a subst stantial maternity leave we proposed on February 27th 12 weeks of maternity leave for our members the following three school years on June 11th over 3 months later you responded with an offer of 2 weeks 3 weeks and 4 weeks for those respective following 3
4:46years in a show of in a show of good faith we quickly counted our proposal to meet in the middle at 4 5 and 6 weeks you have yet to adjust your proposal over the past 3 months and we have adjusted ours twice to get our family something anything better than what you have offered tell me how that shows good faith in bargaining you have budgeted my salary you have budgeted for substitutes
5:09and even though the reality is my students aren't going to have a substitute for my class they will be sent to the cafeteria where all the dery students go when their teacher is out so tell me how are you losing money on giving us four weeks Arlington got four weeks Somerset got four weeks Salem got six weeks Newton got 8 weeks and Boston got nine weeks you offered two weeks what is the difference between our
5:30community and theirs besides the obvious fact that their teachers get paid more why should my son have to suffer the consequences of this school committee's L lack of respect for new families I urge you to recognize that maternity leave is an area that we cannot afford to lag behind other districts we are already behind in terms of pay compared to other districts it is time for you to take the lead for once
5:52providing your members with some parental leave is a good place to start thank you thank you Mr chairman Mr EGA just we heard again I think every time we start hearing that the dery substitutes are thrown into the cafeteria I've asked in the past to get clarification on this from the superintendent they say that does not happen these people keep coming up saying it's happening so there's a
6:19disconnect between what people are saying and reality so I'd ask once again that we get a report for how many days the students are gathered in the cafeteria in bulk or whatever if there's no substitutes thank you next up I'm going to need a motion to wave the rules so move second uh the gentleman's from Brockton I got a motion a second all in favor I opposed unanimous Robert Gorman
6:43three minutes please Robert uh before I begin Mr agar we could pull up the coverage paper that goes out every morning and show you that whenever it is unfilled by a teacher calf is written right in there instead of a teacher covering please feel free to email that to me we'll do thank you uh good evening once again again this special meeting was called for the purposes of discussing strategy and bargaining and
7:03while every public comment I make is an optimistic attempt at closing the Gap and understanding between us judging by a representation at bargaining they' fallen on deaf ears it feels like I could say absolutely anything up here and we would end up with the same cookie cutter response from your honorable attorney so let's save everybody watching at home some time Jump Right to the end and go over that response
7:22together he'll start by talking about your last offer he'll make vague overtures about how this is the best offer in the Commonwealth but those at home paying close attention will begin to notice that he's added qualifiers over time at first it was the best offer in the Commonwealth period then it was the best offer in the Commonwealth where reductions in staff weren't speculated on I'm sure next time it will be the
7:42best offer in the Commonwealth out of Bristol County in the last week the truth that they're trying to avoid is that it isn't the best offer anywhere because it's an offer that still leaves fall Rover schools behind to confuse you at home he'll make references to step increases that were already agreed upon in past contracts as though they were items brought forward to be bargained
8:01over in the current process which is frustrating but not the worst part now the biggest part of the honorable attorney's Spiel that I take issue with is when He suggests that there were no bad contracts through ignorance or malice on behalf of the school committee he's conflating bad contracts with bad faith negotiating when he says this bad faith negotiating would be the school committee withholding information
8:21keeping numbers from us which nobody is accusing you of doing but bad contracts happen all the time when we negotiate a contract as the attorney has mentioned none of us have a crystal ball none of us know how the economy is going to turn out so we get what we can with the information we have and assurances that will be made whole if the district for some reason has a boom between contract Cycles as school
8:42Committee Member Uh Kevin agar touts with every contract there are winners and there are losers we've been referring to past contracts as bad contracts because for some strange reason the F has been the loser in the vast majority of recent contracts none more so than the last one the Faller School District received a historic increase in funding that teachers fought for through the student Opportunity Act
9:05now that you have these resources you're not even going to give us our fair share you're going to create 500 additional positions less than half of which are F members you talk about how the kind of catching up we're looking to do isn't something that is possible in a single contract and I agree which is why this isn't something that we started just now this is something we started last
9:25contract cycle State adjustments like the student Opportunity Act are once in a career adjustments you will never get another opportunity to invest in holding on to effective teachers like the one you have right now and what did you do instead of budgeting property for adequate pay you spent it allocated it elsewhere right away so you could plead poer at the bargaining table but you
9:44already know all this so I have to ask what kind of Legacy are you trying to leave behind here Mr Mayor do you realize that if you're successful here if we were ever forced to take the last offer on the table that you would be responsible for destroying morale in F public schools that every single teacher that would ex as a result would spread the word that Fall River doesn't respect
10:02its teachers that Fall River sees its teachers as an Expendable resource that Fall River has perfected the art of retaining teachers for an average of five years or fewer that can't be your vision for the future of Education in Fall River I know you want to do better than saying yes the pay is low but our teachers know what they were getting into I know you want to be the mayor that allowed Fall
10:21River to stand proud amongst its surrounding districts in respect of its teachers instead of kicking the dirt and saying well we did our best don't don't you want to be the mayor that was true to his word a mayor that would advocate for education in Fall River three minutes please Robert you adverti yourself as a mayor that was pro-education I don't want the question left on the table who did you expect to
10:40do the teaching thank you thank you for your time next up Mr Mayor Kristen Anderson Robison Street Fall River Mr Mayor um I'm sorry Mr Das thank you um just on the last input um through you to um Mr agar um just when did you um ask just so I can we can keep record um when did you ask for that request for information for the um cafeteria substitutes just so we
11:07input Mr D last several months so okay I can share with you um Kristen Anderson Roberson Street far are you going to read it thanks Deb three minutes please good evening school committee hello again I'm here to express deep concern regarding the ongoing neglect of fair compensation for our dedicated Educators despite their commitment to shaping future Generations they continue to face
11:30stagnating wages that need to reflect the increasing demands of the profession 23 days Educators have been working for 23 days without a contract how much longer can you let this go on how can you let them put their best foot forward with their students for last year's wages how much longer can you say you're trying your best how much longer can you say you're willing to negotiate just to
11:57humiliate educators I've told my story of how I want to become an educator for the Far Over public schools because of the teachers that I've had at the last several meetings but these days I question this childhood dream that these teachers have given me I question it because like them I want to teach to make connections with students to help them succeed and give back to the district that gave me and helped me so
12:25much but what will I get in return disrespect from the school committee well below expected pay government assistance just to buy groceries to hold a job on passionate about how can I live with these wages and why would I want to work with the school committee that disrespects and humiliates their Educators in bargaining we need to we need this pay correction because while I talk about how in 2 years it will affect
12:54me it's affecting these teachers now teachers that have worked for years some majority of their adult lives and ones trying to get roots in a district as new Educators if you want to know what I think I think the school committee continues to push off giving teachers their pay corrections as they know the city fire department and police department's Contra contracts are also coming up and they'd rather meet their
13:20needs than the backbone of the community teachers without teachers we wouldn't have the these other professions we wouldn't have students deciding they want to go back to back to the city to give back in any profession they chose we need to we need this contract to be ratified now not tomorrow or in a few weeks but now these Educators have been 23 days without a contract this school year has started
13:49don't make this harder for our students and Educators if they strike then what our Learners are without teachers and they aren't being taught they aren't aren't learning you won't have enough people to staff the buildings and schools will need to close students will slip from routines and when and if you settle the students will have to go back into routines all over again enough is
14:12enough give them the pay correction now before you lose more Educators and it affects students Learning Time find a way to fix it thank you thank you um item number three is a request for executive Mr chairman on that last citizen input I'd like to correct the record and I think we should get something out to uh the general public generally speaking Rel related to budgets so the individual who wrote in
14:42if I followed it correctly was trying to say that the mayor actually has money he's worried about the money that he's going to have to pay to police and fire on the city side of the budget so therefore don't settle a contract with the teachers and I think that just should be clarified for the public and that the city has their part of un funds the schools have their part of funds the
15:04city has to put whatever is required by law into the school budget for the city and the school committee to be able to allocate those funds to the teachers to the staff to the needs of the buildings those two things are totally separate and I think a lot of people in the community are getting confused with how much money the the the raises were for the city this school committee has
15:25nothing to do with raises on the city side if the city Administration chose to give raises on the city side that they simply cannot afford moving forward and they created structural deficits on the city Side that's up to the mayor and his people but what this school committee does is gets the pot of money that we've had over the last several years and then we plan and we expend those funds out
15:45along the years in a in a comprehensive way so that we won't have mass layoffs there's not a structural deficit moving forward that's what this school committee is doing so the the whoever the writer was is in error but I think it should be rectified and put out for the public to know what are the roles of the city what is the budget on the city side and what is the budget here like I
16:05said if the if the May CH to create a a contract that's going to be unfunded going forward and have to reduce 20 or 30 positions in each of the Poli and fire that's on the mayor that's not on the school committee so I just think we need to clarify what the roles of each side are and then we're trying to do the best we can with the available money we
16:23have so that there's not mass layoffs and get a fair contract that's what I think needs to be put out there are you thank you okay we have a request for executive session Mr um Assad is there a reason to go sure yes there is want to read them please um first be Master laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining agreement including uh hearing grievances relative to allw
16:47professional teaching employees the forward School System including coaches Title One teachers nurses occupational physical therapist and specialist in the teaching profession represented by the for educators Association and the chairs determined that an open session may have a detrial impact on a bing position of the committee M general laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with
17:08respect to Collective Bing relative to all administrators and employees represented the forward administrators Association as the chairs determin that an open session may have a detrimental impact on a bing position of the committee Mass General Law chapter 3A section 21A fre to discuss strategy with the respect to collect the Bing relative to all cafeteria employees for school system represented by the American
17:28Federation state county and Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 is a chair has determined that an open session may have a detrimental impact on a barging position of the committee masteral laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collect the bargaining relative to all maintenance employees of the forward school system represented by the American Federation of State County
17:47Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 is the chair's determined an open session may have a detrimental impact on a bogging position of the committee Mass general laws chapter 30A section 21 A3 to the discuss strategy with the respect of uh to collect the Bing relative to all custodial employees of the forward school system represented by the American Federation of state county and
18:07Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 as the chair has determined that an open session may have a detrimental impact on the barging position of the committee Mass general laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 discuss strategy with the respect to collect the Bing relative to all Safety and Security employees of the forward school system represented by the American Federation of state county and
18:26Municipal Employees Council 93 local 18 as the chair has determined that open session may have a detrimental impact on a barging position of the committee Mass general laws chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to Collective Bing relative to all Civil Service civil clerical employees of the forward school system represented by the for of Department of Civil Service
18:47clerical employees Association as the chers determined an open session may have a detrimental impact on a bogging position of the committee M general laws chapter 3A section 21 A3 uh to discuss strategy with you respect to collect the buing relative to all par professionals employees of the forward school system represented by the forward Federation of PA professionals the chairs determined an open session may
19:10have a detrimental impact on a bogging position of the committee we will reconvene that may may up be statements at that time I need a motion in a second mov second I have a motion a second Deb please call the role Mr drag yeah yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Das yes Mr Cory yes M larvi yes M Perera yes yes may cougan yes recess to Executive
19:43session we're back in session Deb please call the rooll Mr aan here Mr Bailey here Mr Das here Mr Cory here Mr larvi here M Pereira here mayor Coogan here motion to adjourn second I have a motion a second to adjourn Deb please call the RO Mr AA yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Das yes Mr Cory yes M lvy yes M Pereira yes mayor Coogan yes we are adjourned