Newton is the battlefield for the showdown

between teacher unions and private schools/business. As it was for the pot, and is for the construction business.

And wow, more than two weeks with schools closed!

I should clarify my position. As I said, with the current proposal I am not sure. The mayor claims:

Let me be clear: We have provided every possible available dollar for the needs of our students and the settlement of this contract. There is no additional money. The operating budget and the one-time funds have been fully committed.

As far as I know, that could be a statement I could regard as true — and it seems it would take a lot of crunching numbers to dig deeper. (What does the NTA think about this?)

But overall in the matter I side with the NTA. The mayor (a millionaire who sent her kids to private, I believe) doesn’t believe in public schools but instead seems interested in supporting private schools and developers. She earned my mistrust in various ways, including rigging the pot elections, and selling the town to developers who are destroying neighborhoods. And yet with all this wonderful $ from that devastation we still can’t fund the schools? Also I feel official communication channels are blatantly used as propaganda for personal agendas.

The NTA was exasperated, they have been working for a long time without a contract, and were unable to negotiate with city officials, as far as I know. They felt underappreciated, which is a leadership failure. And clearly, at least some good money was there. If the current offer had been on the table long ago, probably we wouldn’t be where we are now.

Of course, the NTA and its backers, the MTA and the NEA are not doing this out of generosity towards the children. No party really cares about kids or communities. The NTA is now striking with a vengeance, they have done their math and they want every last penny that’s available. Its backers want a win here so they can move to another district. The other party wants to put a stop to the movement, in favor of private and business.

Overall, I think satisfying the NTA demands is more in line with my desire to make Newton public schools better. I moved here for the schools, and I think in the long run this greater investment will make Newton a more desirable place to raise your family, much more so than additional development.

What is happening now is the equivalent of the medieval storming of a city and slaughtering the population to set an example. After this carnage, other towns in MA (and the nation) will think twice before ignoring teachers and their demands.