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NEWTON, MA — Despite repeated hopes that the ill will and mistrust forged leading up to and during the 15-day Newton teachers’ strike can be reconciled for the benefit of the schools and students, educators and leaders have continued to voice frustration in recent days over how the sides conducted themselves during the work stoppage and the perception of its gains and costs.
Newton teachers who spoke during public comment during Tuesday’s School Committee meeting blamed Superintendent Anna Nolin and Chair Chris Brezski for ongoing misrepresentations during the strike and at a forum they held on Feb. 22, while Brezski said during that form that all communication from the Committee during the strike was “100 percent factual.”
“I will take 100 percent responsibility for our communications that came out during the strike,” Brezski said. “They were 100 percent factual. Sure, people who complained and said that we have this avenue for blasting emails to the entire community that the union doesn’t have, that’s true. I don’t disagree with that.
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“I do think everything we said was 100 percent factual.”
Brezski said the communication was necessary to counter some of the chatter that was coming from the union and other sources via social media.
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“I truly believe we negotiated in a respectful manner,” Brezski. “I do. We were not fighting the battles on social media. We were recognizing our position as elected officials. We were recognizing that we respect all these teachers. They are going to be back in the schools teaching my kids, hopefully, sooner rather than later, and we were not and are not trying to create ill will.
“But we need to be honest with people. I can’t sit here, or there at that time, and not provide transparency. Blow smoke about how everything’s great. No, we needed to be honest.”
But Newton teacher Ryan Normandin, who often acted as one of the Newton Teachers Association spokespeople during the strike, said on Tuesday that it is the district leadership that is not being honest about certain aspects of negotiations and the ultimate settlement.
“Every time I tune in to watch Anna Nolin and Chris Brezski run a community forum it hurts,” Normandin said. “Maybe they’re working for the larger community. But I have six different chat threads of educators watching these forums who express how painful it is every time the two of you do one of your presentations.”
Normandin said the communications that Brezski said were “100 percent factual” during the strike were, in his words, “awful, biased propaganda that was posted on the official district Facebook and Instagram, which were eventually rightfully removed.”
Newton second-grade teacher Elizabeth Ross Del Porto said some of the sentiments shared during the strike and in the immediate aftermath were “misleading at best, dishonest at worst.”
“I’d like to address your repetitive claim that somehow this whole thing was part of a (Massachusetts Teachers Association) agenda,” she said. “The implication being that the incredible, talented, dedicated Newton professionals are somehow just dupes for them. I wonder if you can appreciate how patronizing and infantilizing that is.
“There is a reason for the term ‘truth in reconciliation.’ We are ready, eager, hungry to get back to normal. And we are watching and listening very closely. Moving forward and healing will require reconciliation. But, first, truth.”
Nolin did say during the forum that the sides need to come together as union negotiators and school leaders and “clear the air.”
“We need to train our culture on high-trust behaviors,” she said. “There are not a lot of high-trust behaviors here. There is a lot of writing blogs and doing social media and going right to the top. I can’t tell you how many people rat on their teachers to me, the superintendent. I am, like, the last person who can help you when something has gone wrong with your child and a teacher.
“Something is not clicking in terms of the human-to-human trust behaviors with parents, with staff, the whole thing.”
Nolin added that Mayor Ruthanne Fuller “does not control the culture of our school system.”
“We have to do it,” she said. “We have to do it together.”
The Wednesday night scheduled Q&A session between Brezski and Nolin and the public at Zervas Elementary School was canceled: “Due to unforeseen circumstances.”
“We hope to reschedule it sometime in the near future,” said a post on the NPS social media page. “Thank you for your understanding.”
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