Teachers ratify contract following 15 days of picketing

The Newton teachers’ union voted Sunday night to ratify a new contract with the School Committee that includes increases in teacher salaries and wages for classroom aides, as well as an expansion to paid parental leave, following the state’s longest teachers strike in three decades.

The contract was approved as some 12,000 students prepared to head back to their classrooms Monday for the first time since the walkout began Jan. 19. The 15-day strike ended Friday when the Newton Teachers Association and the School Committee struck a deal that will cost $53 million more than the previous contract.

The new contract received nearly unanimous approval from union members Sunday night, with 97.5 percent voting in favor of the deal, according to Ashley Raven, a spokesperson for the union.

“It’s really heartening,” union member Talia Gallagher said following the vote. “Ninety-eight percent of our members voted to go on strike, and just about 98 percent of our members voted in favor of this contract, so I think that speaks to the great job our bargaining team did at the table to represent our union.”

The agreement includes a 12.6 percent cost of living increase over four years for teachers, a compromise after the union initially sought a 19.2 percent increase over four years, and the School Committee offered 7.4 percent. The deal also includes raises in pay for classroom aides and a side agreement to add more social workers, but not one for every school, as the union had sought.

In a statement after the deal was struck Friday, the School Committee said the contract “reflects our values including respect for our educators” while alluding to the tension and division the impasse caused in the community over the previous two weeks.

“It is up to us to show our kids how a strong community responds to challenges,” the School Committee said Friday.

The two-week strike divided the community as the stoppage forced parents to seek other childcare options while students were out of school, and special education students went without needed therapies.

The Newton Teachers Association is facing a $625,000 fine from the courts for carrying out the illegal strike, which is expected to drain most of the union’s funds, plus at least $275,000 paid to the district under the return to work agreement.