Dear Members of the WPS Community:
We are writing to provide you with a significant update on the status of collective bargaining with the Wellesley Educators Association (WEA).
Representatives from the School Committee and the WEA resumed bargaining on February 8, 2023. The parties met four times in February and have not yet reached agreement on the five contracts that cover the vast majority of WPS staff including teachers, nurses, directors, department heads, assistant principals, paraprofessionals, teaching assistants, secretaries, and other staff members.
During these sessions, School Committee made significant movement on many of the top priorities for the WEA in the hope of settling a new contract by the end of the month:
- A total compensation package that is the most generous in recent memory, an increase amounting to $9.23 million over a total of four years. The first three years of the package are nearly 19 percent higher than the three-year proposal that the Committee put forth in October.
- Parental leave language that is equitable for all new parents.
- Due process language for teaching assistants and paraprofessionals in Unit C.
- Additional individual prep and planning time in the contract for elementary teachers.
- Agreement on 34 additional items that were put forward by the WEA over the past year.
We understand that there is considerable interest from WPS families, WPS staff, and Wellesley residents about the status of negotiations. While negotiations are generally conducted in closed session, the School Committee felt that the time was right to provide specific information on Committee positions as well as our perspectives on issues that have not been settled.
To this end, we have prepared a detailed Frequently Asked Questions document that is posted on the Wellesley Public Schools website. This document outlines the School Committee’s positions on open issues, including the most recent compensation package offered to the WEA units. You may find the FAQ at the link below:
School Committee Collective Bargaining FAQ
The FAQ will be updated as new information becomes available. It is our sincere hope that we can quickly reach an agreement with our valued teachers and staff. We honor and appreciate the work that they do every day, and believe that is reflected in the proposals that we have put forward for consideration.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our educators for their outstanding service to the students, as well as all Wellesley residents for their longtime support of the Wellesley Public Schools.
Sincerely,
The Wellesley School Committee
Leda Eizenberg, Chair
Linda Chow, Vice Chair
Craig E. Mack, Ed.D., Secretary
Melissa Martin, Member
Catherine Mirick, Member