What to expect: With no new contract, teachers will work ‘bell to bell’

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MANCHESTER, NH — Manchester students and staff will return to school on Wednesday, September 5, although teachers are working without a contract. The contract expired in June, and contract talks are still pending between the Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) and the Manchester Education Association (MEA).

Community members, parents, and students may be wondering what to expect from teachers “working to contract.” To that end, we sat down for a conversation with two teachers and a school counselor, who are also active with the MEA, to get some answers (see video and interview below).

School Board response

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Girard

On behalf of the school board negotiating committee, School Committee member Rich Girard, who serves as chairman, of the committee, said, “By its actions, the MEA has made its priorities clear and they speak for themselves.”

Superintendent response

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Vargas

District Superintendent Dr. Bolgen Vargas said, “Our teachers and staff are dedicated professionals and will always aim to create a positive learning environment in the classroom and in our schools. Our families and students can expect a warm welcome to the school year. I have full confidence in our teachers that they will continue to put the needs of our students first.’

“The lack of resources in our classrooms is not new to Manchester but is, unfortunately, a long-standing issue. The record is clear that, since my arrival, I have advocated to add much needed resources to our schools. I have made strong appeals at the state level, in the Manchester community, the Board of School Committee and the Board of Aldermen, and to our current and prior Mayor. I have provided the Mayor with a list of what is urgently needed regardless of the teacher contract negotiations.”

Vargas did not share any plans for communications to parents, students, and the communities about the impasse or what it means for students.

Mayor response

Mayor Joyce Craig said, “It’s my opinion that the most important part of quality education is the teacher in front of the classroom. I have all the confidence in the world that our teachers will continue to do an excellent job educating our students,” Craig said.

MayorCraig
Mayor Joyce Craig

“I’ve been talking about cost downshifting from the state to the city, and it has impacted how we spend our money. We’ve also lost revenue due to students from sending towns opting to go to high schools in other communities. I’ve been in Concord advocating for the city and the school district. When I came into office, I invited the state representatives to City Hall along with the department heads and superintendent to discuss specific legislation we were following so the state representatives had an understanding of the impact on the city and could make educated votes,” Craig said.

“My daughter is going to Central. The principal sent emails to the parents with information about the opening of school; he did not mention anything about teachers working to rule,” Craig said.

“At a recent school board meeting, a teacher said the district has consistently failed to provide enough supplies. At the same meeting, Dr. Vargas (the superintendent) acknowledged this is the case. This summer, a lot of nonprofits handed out backpacks full of school supplies to kids; hopefully this helps. Many businesses are willing to provide help — if they know what’s needed. I’m sure the school district will keep a close eye on how the first week goes and what the needs of our students are,” Craig said.



Working to Contract: What it will look like

The two district teachers and guidance counselor featured in the above video, and interviewed below are:

  • Maxine Mosley is a counselor at McLaughlin Middle School and is in her 40th year. She is the vice president of the MEA.
  • Melissa Bezanson teaches math at West High School, is starting her seventh year, and is beginning her first year as the yearbook advisor.
  • Sue Hannan is in her 13th year as a Language Arts Essentials teacher at Hillside Middle School and is president of the MEA.

Teachers will not contribute supplies, books, or student food

As is now typical throughout the country, parents have become accustomed to sending in classroom supplies not funded by the district, from markers to boxes of tissues. A report published in May by the National Center for Education Statistics showed that “94 percent of public school teachers have spent some of their own money on school supplies without reimbursement,” according to CNN. “In schools where 75 percent or more of the students participated in free or reduced-price lunches, teachers were spending, on average, $554 on school supplies.” Manchester fits this profile.

Hannan said, “This is probably the only profession in the world in which we are expected to supply almost everything we need to do our work, and we do it extraordinarily well. Most other businesses provide the tools you need to do your job. Some books will be turned around and bookshelves covered because almost all the books on the shelves were purchased by the teachers.”

Mosley said, “Classrooms may not be as decorated as you might expect.” Bezanson added, “Our rooms are going to look very sterile. Our students who cannot afford notebooks will have no notebooks. I buy them, and I’m keeping my personal belongings away until we get our contract finalized. It will be a hot first week without the fans I bring in! With the amount of money we spend on the classroom, we support our students, but the school district doesn’t want to support us. It’s disheartening. Some of my teacher friends have left for other districts, and it’s not because of the money. They get the curriculum, and supplies are handed to them on day one. Wow, that’s like gold to a teacher.”

Hannan added, “We also provide a lot of food for them because we understand that this is difficult times for a lot of families. We understand that if they don’t have energy, they’re not going to learn. We have to remember that our teaching environment is our students’ learning environment, and that’s very important.”

“We’re working with the school district committee at the table and having an in-depth conversation about what we need in our classrooms and in our offices. Rest assured that we will provide everything that the district provides us. In some cases, it’s not very much, or it’s very old. A speech pathologist told me she is using a book from 1974, and everything else she has brought in. This is harder on the educators than on everybody else.”

Said Mosley, “I’m sure people in the community will ask what they can do to help. We are not asking families to bring us supplies. We are asking families to take a hard look at how their tax dollars are being used, and whether their tax dollars for education in Manchester are being used fully to fund education, and is the education system getting the money that our students and our staff deserve? This is more than about our salary and about our contract. This is really a stand to show the community what is not being provided to their children.”

Teachers will work only during prescribed hours

“According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average length of an American school day is just over 6.5 hours. But teachers work much longer than that,” according to CNN.

“More than 3.5 million full-time teachers in the United States are required to work 38.2 hours a week on average, (…) but when taking into account all other school-related activities teachers participate in — like after school conferences, staff meetings and extracurricular programs — they actually end up working 53.3 hours during a typical work week. (…) For most other professions, a typical American work week in 2017 was 42.3 hours, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

Hannan said, “Teachers will still assign work, and will correct them during their prescribed hours. We will not take them home like we usually do. Teaching is probably the only profession in the world where the amount of work taken home on a daily basis is extraordinary, and the time that is required after school is extraordinary. We will do everything our contract requires us to do, but we won’t be going beyond that at this time.”

“Our teachers will be here from bell to bell every single day in the school calendar,” said Mosley.

Negotiations are ongoing

Many Manchester teachers work second and even third jobs to make ends meet, as is typical elsewhere in the US. CNN reported about a national survey, “Besides the teaching work they take home, many educators take on extra work or second jobs to supplement their incomes. In the 2015-2016 school year, 17.9 percent of public school teachers had a job outside of the school system, according to data from the NCES. Another 44.5 percent took on extracurricular activities within the school system that netted additional pay.”

Mosley said, “I have been here for forty years; this is not the first time we have worked to the letter of the contract. It gets more difficult every time. This time is perhaps the most difficult I’ve ever seen, because for many of our staff, their steps (pay grades) were frozen for three years, so over the life of their career, they’ve already lost between $60,000 and $100,000 plus dollars. That’s a lot of money to ask any family to lose. We have over thirty people who have resigned the district to go to other jobs, not all about the pay scale, but many of them are. People are walking into other districts where starting pay is $10,000 to $15,000 more than we have because they are being paid on the correct step. The community needs to understand that this is a much larger question than the teacher contract: Are we funding education in Manchester at the level that our community deserves?”

Hannan said, “We understand the financial constraint on the city. In previous years, the state funded a large portion of retirement, but now a large part falls on the school districts. It takes a very large chunk of district funds away from what we would use for educating our students. While that is happening and there is nothing we can do about that, we can work very closely with the district on everything else.  While salary and benefits are required parts of negotiations, we can work on our rights as employees and our working conditions. Many of those have been cut , so it would be great to move forward on them. There are priorities: some things don’t need to come up until later in the year, like the school calendar. We have introduced many things that are low cost or cost free, such as joint committees that work on everything from special education to equity. We have those who are  finished as a classroom teacher and could be offered incentives to leave with dignity, especially those at the top of the scale, and then bring in those fresh faces who are excited to come into the schools, learn what we’re doing, and have a positive impact.”

red for edMEA asks for red on Mondays

“We are inviting people to wear red on Mondays to support public education, not for the union, but to support teachers and other staff who are working without a contract. We have a systemic problem with funding and something needs to change,” said Mosley.

MEA says quality of education will continue

“We have had a very difficult time getting things done at the negotiating table, but we want to assure everybody in the community that the issue won’t come into the classroom. What does come into the classroom is us as professional educators. As counselors, we want to help each student to achieve their very best,” said Hannan.

Mosley said, “Our staff will be there to greet your children when the opening bell rings on Tuesday. Your children will be fine and they are going to get a great education. I stay because I love the kids and Manchester offers us a lot of opportunities to grow as a professional, and to be a leader with my peers. I can’t think of a better place to educate students, where students need you more.”

“We pride ourselves on building our relationships with our students,” Bezanson added.

Why they stay: Manchester’s diversity and legacy are a source of pride

“This is my second career. I left it to be a teacher here. I’m a product of the Manchester public school district and West High School and am proud to be here. I was offered another job elsewhere, but chose to be here in West High School. I love my relationships with my peers and principal. I chose Manchester to come back and make a difference,” said Bezanson.

Mosley said, “Diversity is what makes Manchester so special. We are so fortunate to have students come here from all over the world. They teach us so much and allow us to educate them. We have such wonderful families to work with who just want their kids to get a good education and have a good life.”

Hannan said, “It’s a draw for people who like the city aspect and like to have classrooms that are productive and exciting. You have an extraordinary group of people here who do so much. Our children are so excited to come in and learn. Our diversity is an amazing thing, but we also have a very deep root of Manchester people who were born and brought up here, who stay here or come back here, and want their children here because they know what a jewel this place is.

“We have a legacy of second and third generation of Manchester educators. People are raising their children to go into education and to stay in the school district and to stay in the city. That’s an amazing shout out to what this city is all about,” said Mosley.


The Manchester School District has posted 2018-19 School Bus Schedules, You can also link to the MTA city bus route schedule, here.

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