Dear Members of the WPS Community,
On Monday evening, April 3, Town Meeting voted to approve the Fiscal Year 2024 omnibus budget for the Town of Wellesley, which included the School Committee’s budget for next year. As part of this process, there was a great deal of discussion and debate about the context for this budget, including declining enrollment, increased costs of services, and proposed investments in our schools. There was little question that the status of contract negotiations was in the forefront of everyone’s mind.
While Town Meeting surfaced various perspectives with regard to the school district, it is clear that we collectively care about our students and understand the vital role that our educators and support staff play in ensuring a high quality education for all students. We also want to acknowledge how unsettling this moment feels with an unresolved contract, which we know has affected the climate within our school community.
We want to assure the community that the School Committee has continued to seek ways to resolve this contract. This has included making significant movement on each of the WEA’s priorities. At our last mediation session on March 22nd, we went even further by offering an unprecedented financial package in which we accepted all of the cost of living adjustments that the WEA had remaining on the table. We look forward to the WEA’s response at our next mediation session, which is tomorrow afternoon. We believe all of the pieces are in place to settle the contract in the coming days. For more information, please visit the WPS website.
The School Committee values all of our educators and will continue to work toward a fair and equitable contract settlement that is fiscally responsible and maintains competitive and fair compensation for our staff.
Sincerely,
The Wellesley School Committee
Leda Eizenberg, Chair
Linda Chow, Vice Chair
Craig E. Mack, Ed.D., Secretary
Christina Horner, Member
Catherine Mirick, Member