Mediation between School Committee and WEA will continue in April

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March 23, 2023

 

Mediation between School Committee and WEA will continue in April

For the past two days, the Weston School Committee has participated in mediation with Weston Education Association (WEA) at Case House. The process involved the School Committee and the WEA meeting in separate rooms with a state-appointed mediator shuttling between us to present offers and provide feedback.

While we had hoped the mediation would have delivered more progress, the session ended without an agreement on a new contract. The mediator offered dates as early as Friday, April 7, and Saturday, April 8, for our next session, which the School Committee has agreed to attend. The School Committee also agreed to attend sessions over April break, as we had agreed to attend sessions during February break. We’re awaiting the WEA’s availability.

The School Committee offered numerous concessions and proposals during mediation, including several addressing the WEA’s priority concerns:

    • 5 days of paid sick leave for teachers to care for sick family and household members*.
    • 3.5 hours per week of contractually protected scheduled preparation time for classroom elementary teachers while students are in the building.
    • A salary increase of 9% over 4 years.
    • Upholding the several other agreements we had reached during the past year of mediation.

We look forward to reaching an agreement with the WEA that is fair to our teachers, responsible to our community, and above all, puts our children first.

As always, we remain committed to finding a resolution with our educators.

 

The Weston School Committee

 

* ”Family and household members” include child, step-child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, step-parent, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, sibling, or grandparent.