You Ask, Patch Answers

When Will the 2013-14 School Calendar Be Finalized?

One of the reasons for the delay in the vote of a 2013-14 Framingham Public School calendar, as some issues were part of the new Framingham Teachers Association contract.

Last week, a half dozen Framingham Patch readers asked when the Framingham Public School 2013-14 school calendar will be finalized. The week before, Patch heard from a handful of parents, too. The calendar is still in draft form and will need a vote by the Framingham School Committee before it is finalized. One of the reasons for the delay in the vote, was some of the items within the calendar needed to be approved (and negotiated with) the Framingham Teachers Association. The Framingham Teachers Association voted on the contract last Tuesday and the Framingham School Committee unanimously ratified it on Thursday night. The next scheduled School Committee meeting is Monday, May 20 and a vote on the school calendar is scheduled for that …

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School Committee Issues Statement on Teacher's Contract

Hugo: "Our goal for this contract was to balance the sometimes competing needs of avoiding structural deficits, rebuilding educationai services for our students and providing a fair contract for our teachers."

Press Release from Framingham School Committee Chair Beverly Hugo issued Friday morning, May 10: The Framingham School Committee is pleased to announce that the vote for ratification of the teacher's contract resulted in favor of ratification 7-0. This concludes the contract negotiation process for the Fiscal Years 2013-2015, which took over a year to complete. The collective bargaining process is a complicated one that attempts to resolve many conflicting concerns in view of the realities of cost and the best academic interests of our students. Under Massachusetts law, this process is to be carried out in a confidential setting. In this case, public announcements - while they allowed for transparency  ultimately slowed the pace of our …

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UPDATED: Teachers Association Votes in Favor of New Contract

Superintendent of Schools and Framingham School Committee issued statement on Monday announcing specific details of teachers agreement reached with union.

UPDATED 7:55 p.m.: Framingham Teachers Association voted 88 percent in favor of a new contract, said FTA President Sam Miskin. *** The Framingham School Committee issued a statement on Monday, May 6 that a  tentative agreement has been reached with the Framingham Teachers Association. Framingham Patch reported on April 10 that an agreement had been reached by the two sides in closed door negotiations. The agreement comes after over 12 months of negotiations, which at times were assisted by a state mediator. Framingham Teachers Association members will vote this afternoon (May 7) to ratify the contract at Fuller Middle School. They held an informational session for members at Fuller yesterday. The Framingham School Committee anticipates …

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Teachers, District Reach Tentative Contract Agreement

The Framingham School Committee will ratify the contract after teachers vote; Framingham Teachers Association members are expected to vote after school vacation week.

After a year of sometimes contentious negotiations, Framingham Public Schools and the Framingham Teachers Association have reached an agreement on a new contract.  Superintendent Stacy Scott announced during Wednesday night's School Committee meeeting that a memorandum of agreement had been finalized earlier in the day, during a mediation session.   Framingham Patch reported early Wednesday, that the two sides were at 99 percent agreement before its scheduled Wednesday morning session. "With the contract settled, we look forward to providing undivided attention to student achievement for our district once again," Scott said, citing the need to focus on addressing rising enrollments, develop facilities and reenergize programs such as …

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UPDATED: 9-Hour Mediation Session Described as 'Productive' by Superintendent

Framingham Superintendent of Schools is hopefully for a contract to be ratified in April.

UPDATED: 2:30 p.m.  A 9-hour mediation session was held Monday into Tuesday morning between the Framingham Public Schools and the Framingham Teachers Association. Framingham Superintendent of Schools Stacy Scott described the session as "productive." "We accomplished a lot yesterday," said Framingham Teachers Association President Sam Miskin. "We came to agreement on all the main issues with only the topic of supervision and evaluation remaining," said Scott to Framingham Patch. "We worked until about 12:30 am and were able to work out many of the details of the proposals," said Miskin. The Framingham Teachers Association has been without a contract since August. They are seeking a new contract and want three key items: A fourth item …

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER: 'We Love this Town and Care Deeply About Our Students'

Framingham High history and social studies teachers: "As the School Committee continues to delay the settlement of a fair contract, the morale of the teachers continues to dwindle."

The teachers of the Framingham Public Schools have been without a contract for over 190 days. As the School Committee continues to delay the settlement of a fair contract, the morale of the teachers continues to dwindle. However, we know that the parents and greater community have incredible respect for the work we do. As dedicated professionals, who work passionately to guide the learning of your children, we need your support in reaching a fair contract with the School Committee. We are committed to the academic and social success of our students. We work every day both inside and outside of the classroom to help students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve academic goals, gain meaningful employment, go on to a bright …

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Supt. Hopeful on Contract; FTA President 'Little Progress Made'

The next mediation session on the Framingham teachers contract is scheduled for March 18.

Framingham Superintendent of Schools says the administration hopes to have a contract, after the next mediation session. Union President says "we have made very little progress." Those two statements say alot about how the negotiations are going between the Framingham Public Schools and the Framingham Teachers Association. "We have scheduled a final session for mediation on 3/18. We hope to conclude then," said Superintendent of Schools Stacy Scott to Framingham Patch. "After sitting through another 4 hour negotiations session, we are still not finished," said Framingham Teachers Association President Sam Miskin, in an email to union membership Friday morning. On Thursday night Miskin wrote "For months now, we have been urging the school …

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER: 'Our Students Have Been The Only Real Victims'

McElwain: "Miskin, and to whatever degree they are involved, the FTA board, the MTA, and indeed any individual, who took part in authorizing, authoring or supporting this 'stress plan' has done a great disservice to our teachers and our community..."

This community’s response to the outing of Mr. Miskin’s message and survey, sent to more than 1,000 FTA members, was completely proportionate to the threats he poses. There is absolutely no misunderstanding, unless it’s his.  The fact that he has not retracted his letter and his survey has not been taken down, only modified, removing the request for School Committee member’s place of worship, and their children’s names and schools, continues to infuriate anyone with the sensibilities to recognize these kinds of tactics. (And in fact, the survey may have been modified only because a number of us reported it to Google yesterday, as a clear violation of their policy on hate, violence and illegal or offensive activities.)  Further, this has …

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER: Teachers Union President: 'For Any Misunderstanding ... I Apologize'

Framingham Teachers Association President: "We have made very little progress."

The recent communication that has become controversial has been blown out of proportion – our focus has been on making connections. For any misunderstanding about the intent, I apologize. We are teachers – we put kids first every single day in our classrooms and schools. We are not out to hurt anyone – and we are certainly not going to involve children. EVER. Period. We have been in lengthy negotiations for a contract and we are looking for ways to ensure the committee, as elected officials, is as invested in and feeling the same levels of urgency that our membership has felt. We asked about children, social groups and places of worships, not because we want to picket a church service or “stress” any particular child, but because our …

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Brad Evans

12:41 pm on Tuesday, March 12, 2013

@FramTeacher 2013 - you cant leave it to the Kindergerten process to fix the class size issues.. It only fixes it for that year - at a certain moment in time. Imagine if you will all Middle school classes at 25 students in all schools.. Now, it is October and 3 new families move in to Framingham, one with twin 12 year old boys (7th grade) and one with a 6th grader. As soon as you assign these …   more ›