FALL RIVER — Though a Fall River Educator’s Association Facebook post may herald a new “tentative agreement” with the Fall River School Committee, at a meeting on Jan. 2, committee members claim no deal has been finalized.
FREA President Keith Michon confirmed that, on Dec. 20, “there was an agreement between our bargaining team and their bargaining team,” the result of which established sizable increases in salary for multiple occupational steps for every year of employment, an increase in hourly wages, flexible parental leave, and other desirable terms such as bereavement for miscarriages, and stipends for specially licensed educators.
During bargaining negotiations, Michon said, educators, who are represented by FREA and Massachusetts Teachers Association during these negotiations, are sorted into three groups. Michon said the tentative agreement that has been reached applies only to Unit A employees, which includes about 1,000 educators.
Fall River teachers chant at a Fall River Educators’ Association rally at B.M.C. Durfee High School on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024.
Michon said that Unit B and C are smaller subgroups that include service-providing or administrative staff — such as nurses, speech pathologists, or occupational therapy assistants, and behavioral support staff, respectively — and remain in the bargaining phase.
A tentative agreement — or what the School Committee called a “pre-tentative agreement” — has been reached, but not ratified. Michon explained that bargaining teams for each side may reach an agreement, but the terms must then be approved once and for all by a vote from union members and from the School Committee.
Michon said that the School Committee “could’ve ratified” Unit A’s terms of agreement, but ultimately, didn’t.
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Keith Michon Jr. teacher and President of the FREA speaks at the Fall River School Committee meeting Monday in opposition of a plan to move elementary school students out of Tansey Elementary School to use the building for pre-K students in the fall.
The School Committee took a different approach to the process.
Confusion over the process signaled a lag in communication that “bothered” School Committee member Kevin Aguiar, who at the Jan. 2 meeting pressed Bruce Assad, city attorney representing the Fall River School Committee, about the meaning of FREA’s social media posts dated Dec. 20 that celebrated a victory following the bargaining team meeting.
“I don’t recall ever voting on a tentative agreement,” Aguiar said at the meeting.
Assad confirmed that there are “no tentative agreements with any unions that we are going into executive session on today.” He added that the committee must first review the terms and conditions agreed upon by bargaining teams.
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As it stands, the School Committee may make changes to the resulting measures of bargaining agreements, and to their knowledge, they aren’t “stuck” as Aguiar put it, with what happened at the last negotiation.
School Committee member Collin Dias questioned an email sent by Superintendent Tracy Curley that called the union’s bargaining a “pre-tentative agreement”; Assad said he used his own term to help clarify “that was not a tentative agreement.”
Members of the Fall River Educators Association stand out in front of Morton Middle School.
How much longer until teachers and the school board reach a contract deal?
In a September 2024 interview at a FREA rally outside of B.M.C. Durfee High School, Robert Gorman, a math and computer science teacher, said that negotiations will go on for “as long as they need to,” but that no one looked forward to seeing them stretch into the new year.
At the time, he remembered talks going on for eight months. Now, the timeline for reaching a deal is nearing a year.
On Facebook, FREA posted reminders on Jan. 8 about the information session the next day, but the outcome of those talks has not yet been revealed.
In another post, FREA announced a “speak out” is planned for 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 13, before the School Committee meeting at 5:30. The event is an attempt to shed light and share concerns about units B and C, for which a bargaining agreement has yet to be reached.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River School Committee disagrees with teachers union negotiation