by Brian Keaney

Christmas came a little early for the School Committee this year.  At last night’s meeting, the teachers’ union, which next month will enter its third year of contract negotiations, presented the Committee with nearly 50 wrapped gifts.

The gifts, union president Tim Dwyer said, were symbolic of the “actual gifts that we make to the Town of Dedham each and every year.”  Inside the presents were notes saying things such as “my own money,” “effort,” and “extra time.”

According to Dwyer, teachers each year spend on average $398 of their own money on supplies, 88 hours on uncompensated professional development, and an additional 658 hours above what they are contractually required to work.

At the beginning and end of his comments Dwyer took veiled swipes at the Committee for signing a contract with Superintendent June Doe and other “most senior administrators,” but not with the teachers.

“One could look at the events of the last two years,” Dwyer said, “and draw the conclusion that this town is more than happy to amply reward the efforts of its most senior administrators but is far less inclined to deal fairly with the men and women who come to work each day to teach the young people of Dedham.

“Where your treasure is, there will be your hearts also.  Over the last two years, you have shown whom and what you value by where you have chosen to place this town’s resources,” Dwyer said.  “We are asking you tonight, in this season, to change your hearts and show that you value the educators in this district.”

In January, Doe received a flat $2,000 raise for the first year of her contract, which amounts to roughly 1.5% of her salary.   For the next two years she will receive a minimum 2% raise each year.  She also received a bump from $4,000 to $9,000 in an annual payment to an annuity.

“What’s good for the administration is good for us,” Dwyer said.

Chairman Dave Roberts then read from a prepared statement in which he said that while the Committee did value the teachers who provided students with a “positive, nurturing educational experience,” that the economy prevented them from meeting the teachers’ requests.

There has been a clear downturn in the fiscal picture of the town, state, and the nation.  In particular, as recently as October 1, the school’s operating budget was reduced by $78,717,” Roberts said.  “The School Committee continues to negotiate in a positive manner, keenly aware of the economic forecast.  Unfortunately the picture is not optimistic.

“Recent settlements with the Town’s municipal unions have, in some respects, set a standard,” Roberts said.  “The School Committee remains open to frank and realistic discussions.” 

Roberts added that budget cuts in recent years have led to a reduction of 23 staff positions since 2006 and that local aid cuts from the state “seem a certainty” for next year.  He said that the new revenue brought in by Legacy Place only served to offset these cuts and did not provide any additional monies for raises. 

Dwyer said that how the money from Legacy Place was spent is “a political decision, and we are here tonight to influence that decision.”

“We should be near the top of their priorities,” Dwyer said.

On November 16, Dwyer and Massachusetts Teachers Association Field Representative Dorine Lavasseur sent a letter to the nearly 250 members of the union who lived in Dedham but worked elsewhere. 

In that letter they wrote that the union “proved through the School Department’s own figures that money for a raise last year actually did exist in the school budget, only to be deliberately spent down on a number of discretionary projects and purchases at the end of the fiscal year” (emphasis in original).

Dwyer declined to identify those projects last night, though he told the Committee that “we are not asking the good people of Dedham to pay one cent more in taxes.  Dedham’s current economic resources are more than adequate to cover our modest demands.” 

The School Department did not respond to an email request confirming whether or not the salary reserves had been spent by press time.  In May the Committee voted 5 to 1 against a motion made by then-newly elected member Joe Heisler to take the salary reserves from past years and put them into the salary line item for the current year in an effort to save positions. 

At the time Dwyer said he would be open to the proposal to avoid layoffs, but last night said a zero percent raise would be unacceptable.  In his November 16 letter he said that a 4% raise over four years, which many municipal employees agreed to this fall, would also be unacceptable.

The teachers’ union, police patrolmen’s union, and police superior officers entered into an alliance this fall, though Dwyer noted that each union negotiated for themselves.  He said they “simply see eye to eye what a [0%, 1%, 1%, and 2%] raise amounts to.”  Parks and Recreation Department employees are also still working without a contract.

In his statement Roberts said that in October 2008 teachers rejected a 6% contract over three years, and in January 2009 the teachers’ bargaining team did not present a 5.5% raise over three years to the membership for a vote. 

Negations with the teachers began in January 2008, and their contract expired in June of that year.  There were 16 sessions before March 2009, when both sides agreed to mediation. 

Before it was clear what was actually in the presents, Committee member Tom Ryan asked what they were supposed to do with them.  Committee member Tracy Driscoll suggested that they instead be donated to the Food Pantry.

“I think that we should pass that generous gift along to the families that are suffering,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll’s comments were seen as “snide” by some of the teachers.

“I am insulted by Mrs. Driscoll’s comments,” said High School social studies teacher Deirdre Meloski.  “To even imply that we should think more about the families of Dedham is insulting.  I do more for Dedham than I do for my own town.”

There are two more dates for negotiations currently scheduled.