Bravo bravo bravo thank you Alex for standing up for teachers where Bill Olsen and Harkness and Keele not only won't but rather thrash teachers with their statements you have put this to words in a way that WEA leadership has not and I hope people read and consider your points which are shared by 95% of wps teachers. teachers stand strong and don't cave for the pathetic best we can do offers from this elite town, the town has chosen its path don't bail out out. Poor leadership decisions. With your family's financial stability. Time for Olsen to feel the heat and answer questions like how a town saving jobs keeps hiring hiring hiring new positions he says can only be afforded with teachers taking less contractually required. See you in court Bill

Thank you Alex for putting to words what teachers currently are feeling. I hope floks in town consider the points and I hope Super Olsen answers some questions about this

Westford USED TO BE a great place to teach I too feel like puking when I reflect on how valued educators are treated here NOT with appreciation by the super and current SC like the G&R album lies lies lies

I have a new hero and his name is Alex Finnegan!

Very impressive and persuasive letter Alex. Thank you for providing this information. We need new candidates for school committee, you know.

To be honest I am surprised that the patch printed this. Does anyone know why? How long did Alex have to lobby to get this up?

Andrew
I read the patch daily and missed this yesterday can you PLEASE link it on the homepage where it's visible ?

I keep hearing the comment that the average teacher salary as compared to Westford residents. Those residents get 2 to 3 weeks of vacation a year NOT 2 - 3 months of vacation a year. That is a huge difference that equates to a lot of $$ in salary. Why doesn't that ever come up in the arguments? I think the teachers do a great job - but if you factor in the pension and vacation benefits their compensation is a lot higher than is represented in just annual salary numbers.

And teachers work MORE 'off hours' hours that MOST (not all) of those people who get 2-3 weeks vacation and 95% of what they do is at the office on office time. How many Sundays (all?) do teachers spend planning an grading a significant part of the day during the year? I think teachers should stop taking home the amount of work they do and let the town see what its like when Sundays are yours again and kids wait a month to get papers back. The summer evens that out but doesnt make the pay even IMHO

Skip a year and get the year 1 (this year) step towards the end of the year with 183 days and 1 less meeting per month probably gets close to a yes vote. getting that obligated step at the end of year THREE (starting in year 4 paycheck) as the town offered last week? Another insult! TEACHERS STAND STRONG and dont back down on whats FAIR!

How these teachers are not working to rule is beyond me

Westford Parent,

I've done this before many times but I'll do it again.

FIrst of all you should be comparing masters degrees to masters degrees of which only 25% of Westford has (or higher degree)

Teachers in Westford must work 185 days. Holidays don't count, vacations don't count. You ever notice how the Holidays line up with Vacations? Many of the weeks (all?) teachers have "off" you aren't at work a day or two either. Difference is it counts towards your total. Should you also lose your job you get paid your remaining vacation time. Teachers time off isn't regarded as vacation.

Private sector assuming M-F job is 5 days a week x 52 weeks =260. So private sector w/no days off would work 260. There are 13 legal holidays in MA that you either have off or are supposed to get Holiday rates, most people get 2 for thanksgiving . Thats 246. WHen you have worked anywhere for any length of time 3 weeks is pretty standard, thats 231. When you look at an accomplished masters degree 5 is common thats 221. 221-185=36/5 @ 7 weeks

It's actually less than that as most teachers go in on "off" days to prepare the class for the new year or just catch up but lets say 7 week difference. Nowhere near 3 months, and since a month has 4.3 weeks it's not even two months. Don't get me wrong 7 weeks is great, but thats part of why they became teachers. The hours they put in during the school year more than make up for those weeks.

But there are lots of jobs w/lots of time off. Radiology, Oil rig worker, Firemen, Nurse, Flight attendant, Pilot, lobster fisherman. If teaching was such a dream job half of them wouldn't leave in the first 5 years & they wouldn't fall (or not fall) in the other two links.

And they do factor all those other things in to their total compensation. There health insurance isn't much different than the private sectors (sometimes it's worse. The pension they pay %77 more than you. Plus for anywhere from 6-10 years they paid $ into social security that they won't get back because you can only have pension or SS.

http://suite101.com/article/why-teachers-quit-a90154

http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2008/12/11/the-30-best-careers-for-2009

http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/2012-ranking-200-jobs-best-worst

Pension. Teachers pay 11% of their gross Salary towards their pension. Thats 77% more than you pay (6.2) The employer pays the other 6.2% for you. If you were to put the town employees on the SS system your entire payroll would increase by 6.2% I'm not sure of what the total retirement costs are with insurance but that 6.2% of town payroll I would go a long way if it didn't cover it.

Compare other Master's degree's Salary, days off and stress levels. Double $ easy. We need incentive for teachers to stay. The jobs we should be comparing them to are other teachers. Every time I do it it's to show it's not a valid comparison.

The most unfortunate reality of this SNAFU is even if the contract were to be settled tomorrow bridges of goodwill have been burned by the town this year that won't readily be rebuilt, teachers now have quite a different outlook on partnerships with management around these parts

Since the SC was allowed to make public selected pieces of Teacher Contract Negotiations these public documents should be fair game for review as well

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4arwsqqslxs6mtl/4XuJ8F6dbz/CONTRACTS

While hard for me to understand why teaching positions are being added when the schools are over staffed, according to the SC goals for class size, I do applaud the SC and BoS for holding firm on the contract issue. It can't be easy what with the constant outpouring of emotional wailing by the WEA. The money tree does not grow in Westford.

Dan D. Please answer the question: If the Money Tree doesnt grow in Westford HOW and WHY are more and more teachers being hired? Unless you can answer this 'unanswerable' question please be careful about applauding the town for holding firm on something you dont fully understand

Thank you Mr. Finnegan for your letter. You seem to have a wealth of facts to support your arguments. I have heard from others in town that the Police unions did not receive step increases, however, did receive promotions to offset the elimination of their step increase. Do you know if this is true?

To respond to some of the comments made by others to your letter:
Yes, teachers get 2 months off each year, however, what most people don’t know is what they do during our off time during the school year and in the summer time. Teachers typically work a 10 to 12 hour day, not to mention weekend and holidays and of course those “vacation weeks”, as planning and grading take an enormous amount of personal time.

Often times teachers give up personal time to help students, write letters of recommendations, and attend overnight field trips.

In the summer many teachers choose to take courses (at their own expense) to keep their license current. For example, a $1,500 - $3,000 course (per the current contract) is reimbursed a maximum of $750. In addition, they spend hours planning and revising lessons for the next school year.

I am sure many teachers would welcome you to their classrooms to shadow them for a week/month/year. In fact, I’m not sure that even School Committee members have even spent this kind of time with their teachers.

I don’t believe it is a good practice to assume that you know what is required of everyone’s profession. After all, many professionals make their jobs look easy, but I don’t assume that I know what is required of their position. Please attempt to do the job before you carelessly make judgments about the amount of time or effort that goes into it.

Dan, simple question, you say there is no money tree but you can't explain how new positions continue to be added and funded yet there is no money tree, don't you wonder about your assertion in light of all the hiring that's being done around here ? You praise the SC for holding firm in spite of how funds are being managed around here...seems a bit naive ignorant of the situation as a whole no?

Dan D said "While hard for me to understand why teaching positions are being added when the schools are over staffed, according to the SC goals for class size, I do applaud the SC and BoS for holding firm on the contract issue. It can't be easy what with the constant outpouring of emotional wailing by the WEA. The money tree does not grow in Westford."

How do you reconcile those statements?

I can understand admiring "stick-to-it-tiveness" but there is a line where it becomes stubborn-ness and stubborn-ness can be destructive. We have top notch schools at bottom dollar. ANd given all the info I outlined above, any budget problems should not be absorbed by teachers.

Hartley said "Thank you Mr. Finnegan for your letter. You seem to have a wealth of facts to support your arguments. I have heard from others in town that the Police unions did not receive step increases, however, did receive promotions to offset the elimination of their step increase. Do you know if this is true?"

I don't. I research a lot. I mean hundreds of hours on this topic so the knowledge I have on other towns is probably more than most, but something that specific I would have to look into. But I think for now there are bigger fish to fry.

Hartley said "I don’t believe it is a good practice to assume that you know what is required of everyone’s profession. After all, many professionals make their jobs look easy, but I don’t assume that I know what is required of their position. Please attempt to do the job before you carelessly make judgments about the amount of time or effort that goes into it."

Bravo. I don't think it's good practice to assume anything, especially what someone w/no credentials tells you. I often use jobs that I've either had, or are very familiar with (I.E. I know 3 firemen, 4 teachers, 2 accountants, 3 real estate agents, and too many nurses to count.) I know them all well and enough about their jobs to know they aren't what the majority think they are. Other ones I don't touch, because I don't know what it's like to be a postal worker, a cop, a doctor etc.

I used fireman in my example above just to show the educational, compensational and hourly requirement discrepancies between them and teachers. But I wouldn't want their job, I'm happy they step up and glad to pay my part. And I would want a teachers job even less! (Police work I might find interesting) If it's so wonderful why isn't the "I don't get summers off" crowd lining up to do it. We are so quick to point out inequities in what "they" get but "I" don't. But rarely do I see anyone giving any thought to the inequities that "they had to do" but "I didn't" The reality is you could have had any job you wanted, and many are still young enough to switch. But talk to someone who actually does the job. Base your opinion on reality, not internet chatter. Anti teacher rhetoric, I feel, is at an all time high. ANd I feel like it's because of all this uninformed passing around of "false facts" like 6 hour work days, 3 months more vacation time, high pay. I've shown you the vacation time isn't true, it's one of the lowest paying master's degrees, and you think they work 6 hour work days you're in fantasy land. They work 30 hours a week like accountants only work during tax season, athletes only work when they are on the field, musicians only work when they are on stage etc.

DanD the town was stupid reckless to put the reopener clause in finalized contracts -this type of bargaining is one of the cases against westford in MA labor court. I want to see those cases have their days in court next year and thus some accountability for those who have been running the ship aground

Alex no but its only a matter of time before skeletons the school committee wants burried deep in the closet from the public come tumbling out.....I am confident someone like yourself with as much info as you have know what I mean....lots the public SHOULD know

Hi folks,

Just to confirm, auto-commenting has been disabled here due to the sensitive nature of this topic. Hopefully increased moderation will help the discussion continue. If there are any technical errors, please let me know. I'll get to your comments as soon as possible.

WEA teachers need to understand the two cases pending for court next year, though never sure things in court, are very strong cases which can compel the town to pay steps yearly with all back pay, interest, and possible punitive damage costs. Be very catious on settling for anything that is offered prior merely because it's 'possibly', the best offer and then never get a day in court and have the town turn around and pull the same junk next negotiation. At this point it's hard to see settling considering how little is being offered and the president accepting it wold set. DANGER DANGER Will Robinson!

Mike, I think they put those in there intentionally thinking that they wouldn’t actually have any power to reopen any negotiations. Unless they violate something that is unilateral amongst all town employees, like if the police paid a 65/35 split for health insurance and the firemen pay a 70/30 split. It is hard to argue parity (the “me too” clause) because the jobs are not the same. The town has the responsibility to bargain in "good faith" (you'll have to research that term, too long to get into here) But any union on a non unilateral issue would have a hard time using parity to argue their case because all the jobs are different. Different hours, responsibilities, pay rates everything. So, in my opinion, the "reopener" clause was only put in there to put further pressure on teachers to agree to pay cuts. How? Well most people don’t know how this all works, and the S.C. and BOS now presents it to the town as "If we give the teachers a step increase, we have to now reopen all contracts and give everyone step increases" Which isn't true.

I've been involved in those exact same hearings with Verizon which has two unions. The parity would only apply to town wide equalities like health insurance, pension etc. So when the town tries to scare people into thinking it would be disastrous to grant steps because of the reopener clause, it's just further evidence of "whipsaw-ing" The town can in good faith bargain with the teachers separately from the other unions....

And they obviously have in the past, they start at lower pay, their raises are stretched out longer, no overtime, holidays and vacations don’t apply in the same way as other unions.

I'm not a lawyer, but I've done an awful lot of reading about how all this works and been there when things were arbitrated, argued, decided and made friends with the union bigwigs when I was at Verizon just to learn about it (I'm a curious guy) W/verizon, the CWA union and IBEW union have parity with pensions and benefits etc. But not pay because the jobs are different. (IBEW is the tech workers, CWA is the call center) 
However, where what I’m going to dub “pseudo-parity” can be introduced involves good faith bargaining. The other unions reach top step much faster, and many average higher take home pay, some with less hours, almost all with less educational requirements. The town is trying to use parity to say that teachers need to agree to the same step and cola concessions other unions have. It doesn't work like that.

And now depending on the results of courts, they might royally *anger* off those other unions because now if they go to arbitration it may just be thrown out.

Another thing that can be introduced and there is much legal precedent for it is the town's claim it can't afford to pay the steps. Ok, they are already in trouble this year then because they have the money put aside, just didn't pay it....

But other wise they can have their entire budgets looked through and have someone else justify whether or not the $ is there (w/my limited experience, I think it's clearly there)

Also what can be introduced is a pseudo-parity argument with what the other town unions total compensation is. It's not parity per se, but arguing the highest educational requirements, lowest starting pay and smallest/longest raises (and I would highly advise them to include actual days worked) they can argue that it is not reasonable to expect teachers to agree to the same concessions, the labor court can decide that what they have now IS concession enough. If the courts come to the decision the money is there (like in the $5 million dollar savings account Westford has) they can make them pay everything retroactive w/interest. They can even use the concessions other unions have made to show they have the funds. Meaning the $ saved by the other unions could pay for the teachers steps. The people are right in pointing out there have been conflicting decisions and it may just turn out to be one of the litigants lucky/unlucky days. They have all the paperwork, transcripts, evidence that I don’t have, I’m just basing my opinion on my past experience and what I’ve observed but I think the teacher’s case is very strong. I think the negotiating team for the town made a lot of errors and it seemed the S.C., BOS just kept compounding them from a legal standpoint. All just imo of course.

Vincent Dirico said "
You seem to have forgotten some major facts:
If the steps had just been paid this year: can you tell me with a straight face that any teacher / administrator / union organizer / union member / YOU / ??? would have said BOO about the new positions and over staffing? I DOUBT IT! The people I listed are not just victims. The teachers are NOT the only group "giving": all other town employees, tax payers, ... ARE "giving". It just so happens one group does not want to go along this year."

First, I'm not a teacher or the union, but yes I would have said something. I've created spreadsheets comparing town compensation benefits, population changes, school enrollment changes including sped, along with the staffing changes regular and sped, average teachers age etc. Hours, Days, Weeks, pouring over every detail I can find. I have about 3 other letter to the editors filled with all the stuff I've found. i can understand why you would think otherwise, but I really have no allegiance to teachers or unions. If the teachers were the towns problem, I would voice that...

But it's very easy to read the budgets (hard to understand them but they are there) & see how the money is being changed each year. Mass.gov also provides a lot of information from which I've made spreadsheets. The info is there if you want to find it. They have been laying off all along, losing sped teachers steadily, & hiring regular teachers. In 2008 the sped percentage of enrollment was 10.97% & the percentage of sped teachers was 10.39% In 2011 the sped enrollment percentage is 11.5% but the sped teacher percentage is 6.27. WIth only 22.4 Sped teachers out of 357. In 08 it was 37.6 Sped teachers out of 361.9. Checking the math figures looking for inaccuracies, the projects, anything I can get my hands on. The people you list as "giving" it's true but ur expecting teachers to give a whole lot more for the reasons I outlined in the original article. I'm pretty well informed, and if it was the superintendent or S.C. that was being treated unfairly I would say why I thought that and prove why.

BTW, Alex Finnegan (me) and Local are the same person. I wanted to post this letter but Andrew informed me I have to use my full name. There was a problem in just altering my profile so I had to start a new account, & a couple times I've signed in as Local out of habit. But thats the reason for two people, not to inflate opinion & I'll try to make sure I just use this account from now on. Andrew can verify all that.

Care to address any of the points I made in the letter?

If I could get away with it I would pay teachers next to nothing because they will do the same work anyway, they might hem and has but why waste money when we don't have to? If we don't pay for trash it piles up if we pay less then market value we will still find warm bodies to hire

I know we here in westford have millions and millions in reserves above what's required for bond rating so I don't know what will happen if the judge sees that funds after we have been claiming 'no money' We might have boxed ourselves in a pickle

I for one would love to see School Committee reply specifically to the assertions in this letter item by item the way Alex has done. I personally think they would have a heck of a time doing so without diverging from world of reality.

While I'm working on the real numbers you might find this an interesting read. It's short and to the point. It shows how the public and private sector actually stack up, it's worth the read. You just might realize that people have been giving your false information.

http://www.massbudget.org/report_window.php?loc=Compensation_3_11.html

Keep in mind throughout this article the difference between average (mean) median and mode

Average age a teacher starts is 30, average retirement age is 70. Your example assumes everyone works that schedule. You don't get 80% pay unless you work a minimum of 30 years, which many don't.
As of 2010 average retirement payout was $38,637. What makes that possible is what I just mentioned and the fact that pay stays the same barring any cola increases voted on by congress I think. So you retire now at 48k at 65 die at 78 still making 48k or close to it. If you look at the table here on page 22 you will see what I mean. The longer you live the less you make, which is why many teachers will work as long as they can, this retire at 55 idea is not as common as many people think. Over 40 years the teacher has contributed between $250k-$400k and covers 67.5% of their payout once all teachers are averaged in. The rest of that they try to cover with investment interest. If you retire at 65 and live to the average 78 thats 13 years at $48k = $624K which like I said on average 67.5 is contributed by the teachers.

Your SS example does not use masters degree wages. Your comparing a regular person to a master's degree. Because private sector masters degree earn much more than teachers. If you were to use Westfords median income over the last 40 years you would max out SS $39K and you would have contributed a minimum of 30k less towards your retirement.

If you contributed your SS obligation and put your other 4.8% towards a 401k (and have a masters degree/wages) you would fair better than a teacher's pension.

Here is the link I forgot earlier followed by several others since you are interested in the subject. But the pension system isn't anymore unfunded than SS, but it costs the state and town>taxpayer less. The last link is very informative deep reading. Basically your calculation of retiring at 18K is wrong, to be a fair comparison you need to put in each years wages at average masters degree pay. Then you need to contribute your other 4.8% to be equal to teachers to a separate retirement fund, which would put you on top of a pension.

http://www.mass.gov/perac/valuation/2010commonwealth.pdf

http://www.ehow.com/info_7997662_retirement-death-benefits-teachers-massachusetts.html

http://www.skill-works.org/Downloads/CommonwealthGrowingApart.pdf

Where does the average age a teacher starts his or her career comes from? Is it really 30? Why is that? Is it people joining the profession after already trying something? My example figured 40 years of work 25 to 65. I used 40 years b/c i expect I'll have to work at least that long. No one said anything about retiring at 55 - 30 years and a 75% payout is still unreasonable. Under a 30 year career the ss payout would be even less.
The SS example might not use master degree wages but i never got 7 weeks off with my masters degree. And, I worked plenty of off hours as I'm sure most folks do with masters degrees - possibly even 7 weeks or more of extra hours like the teachers as stated above. 5 weeks of vacation with a masters degree is rare unless their title includes a C as is CFO, CEO, COO. 3 weeks is the norm and teachers get a week at christmas, a week for the Feb break and a week for Mar's break. 5 weeks might be available after 10 years in the private sector.
Defined benefit plans are usually better than defined contribution plans. The market risk isn't there in defined benefit plans. As Mass Teachers Retirement site says, "nothing is guaranteed" in a defined contribution plan. You do not make less the longer you live in a contribution plan. You may have problems with the cost of living increasing and your pension remaining the same but that is not making less.
I haven't seen any 70 year old teachers in Westford. Do we really have some that are 70?

I'm looking at your links now. Teachers aren't working until 70 if you look at the ehow link. 70 is the average age of those collecting benefits which would mean that you have teachers older and younger. I would figure most in their 70s, 80s, and hopefully 90s are being offset by much younger teachers that could work but are retired. The average payout of 38 seems low because of these teachers that retired 20 or 30 years ago. The average current salary is 62K. If that average teacher retired, he/she would get more than 48K provided they have enough years of service. Since that average salary corresponds to an average age of 44, the payout would be much more for that average teacher. I'm guessing the teachers near retirement are making far more than the 62K figure.

love the actuarial report! Sometime i'll have to print that out and really study it. Right off i find it fascinating that 31 people from age 0 - 24 can already have over 5 years of service. Amazing! Less than 5% of teachers are over 65 so i really dont think many of them are working until 70. Seems the numbers suggest 60 as the retirement age.

MTA (Massachusetts Teacher Association) President Paul Toner is coming to Westford today at 345 to Stony Brook to advise WEA teachers to stand firm against the tactics and contractual violoations employed against them this year in Westford by the town. I have been told MTA leadership is agast that Westford unilaterally is attempting to strip teachers of previously agreed upon items negotiated and in place from past negotiations.
Andrew, I am not sure if this event is 'closed' to WEA members only but if not I would recommend you try and cover it. I am SURE he is not going to advocate that WEA teachers should accept their obligatated step which was due to them this year at the end of a 3rd year (so they can watch town town hammer them even more in the next negotiation which would likely 'tinker' with steps again like a conswindeler on the street playing a $5 bait and switch shell game)

As per the meeting WEA meeting today. Partial work to rule right now, full work to rule first month of next year. If the towns offers a deal with no step, step and 2 steps in year 3 teachers sounded like they would reject this as a insult. YOU GET THE CONTRACT YOU ARE WILLING TO FIGHT FOR" said Pres Toner and we didnt fight to get a screwdeal like that!!

Also discussed is any agreement reached would mean ULPs go away, not acceptable as these will lay the groundwork to this SNAFU not happening next time around. Discussed was teachers should wait out next spring and see how those go, lets be real the offers on the table now are about as bad as it gets so WHY NOT WAIT!? Dont settle for 30 pieces of silver stand proud, tall, and UNITED!

Teachers there clapped and clapped when those in attendance voiced feelings such offers should be unanimously rejected till the town honors steps in the year they are due like Paul Toner said and not years down the road...

President of CC Teacher Union also referenced NO LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION written by teachers when working w/out a contract as being very successful at Concord Carlisle in the past. What the teachers did this year is going to be child's play to what could happen if the town doesnt pay full steps with retro, easy way hard way either way

Thanks Andrew for covering this story. PLEASE note I keep hearing the school committee has~will require WEA negotiation team to sign a statement swearing total silence about 'shady details' which it wishes to keep very private. Perhaps this is good lead and you might ask questions of both parties about this' Teachers certainly shouldn't entertain YES vote on any offer W/knowing all the cards on the table.
How very shady this whole thing is becautious and ask questions

The line of conversation I hear is this gag rule would very much include certain pieces of info not coming to light even AFTER a contract agreement was reached.

Teachers: consider this-
IF the SC really is doing everything possible to put their best possible offer on the table why is there 'sunset clauses' attached to the tradeoffs for less pay? When the contract expires your salary forever reflects 2-3 years no cola and the town insists you revert back to days/meetings of old? Best possible offer? I don't think so they must really think we are dumb or weak

"love the actuarial report! Sometime i'll have to print that out and really study it."

No better time than the present as you have already shown you don't understand what you are reading.

"Right off i find it fascinating that 31 people from age 0 - 24 can already have over 5 years of service. Amazing!"

Why is that so amazing. That is State employees not teachers, a toll booth operator can start at 19 pretty easily.

"Less than 5% of teachers are over 65 so i really dont think many of them are working until 70. Seems the numbers suggest 60 as the retirement age."

You are right. The retirement age I had wrong, nationally it's 58 for teachers. In MA it's 62. Westford I don't know.

Page 19 of that actuarial report average age is 44.2 Average years of service is 12.8 = Average starting age of 31.4, which would explain the average retirement age of 62 as that would equal 30 years of service.

MA and WIsconsin are different on so many levels it's ridiculous to compare the two. MA pensions are no where near as favorable as other states.

I was befuddled by Mccuskers comments also, for someone negotiating my contract she didn't seem to have any fight left in her if she is good with 3 years of big fat zeros and allowing a step to be paid at END of year 3 rather than start of year one!
Please if you bring this back try to make clear without violating negotiations ground rules what a terrible deal that is. if the Mary Mccuskers of7 years ago was told this is what we brought back she would have called for heads! Don't give up on us Mary by selling the towns deal with the Devil as acceptable, lead us to reject it like we know you can with the given hell attitude we elected you with

Please note: when Kevin S stated that the deal nearly reached last week was a 'they're screwing us' deal the applause was the longest of the night. There was a message being sent by the teachers with this applause, take note. This might be a offer the negotiations team is bound to return for a vote but it's a deal that needs to be voted down as soundly as the last offer. remember: your work is being cheapened by these offers that allow Westford to fall further and further behind neighboring towns that it compares itself to, over and over.

Hi all,

There was a comment earlier that was not allowed because of its reference to another user, which has been stated as inappropriate due to the charged atmosphere here.

If that user resubmits that comment without referencing other users, I'm happy to approve.

The town can start by tapping its $5 million dollar reserve fund over what's required for bond rating before any brick hitting

What does this articles author think about teachers being asked to delay their step 3 full years so the town can use the money to fund new positions? What say you sir?

How are Westford's teachers "so called professionals?" What about their job, schooling and performance do you know that would cause you to think that?

"take a look at slides 21 and 22

https://dms.westfordma.gov/imageapi.php?docid=Qmx1ZVJpdmU2OTI1NnItU3lzdGVtcyAxNyA1

then pray for a 2.5 override, when that fails you got what you asked for

Back to the Cs"

What exactly are you looking at in those slides? What line items and what do they mean? I want to understand what you are implying.

Also, what does "Back to the Cs" mean?

"Right we expected nothing less!

More sacrifice: 2 California cities voters embrace pension cuts
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/06/05/national/a011240D80.DTL

Did you see the union numbers from Wisconsin? Walker stopped taking union dues from checks and 60% (?) of union members decided they no longer wanted to belong/pay. Funny how that works!"

First of all you know that California Public employee pensions (what's being talked about in that article) and California teacher's pensions are two totally separate things? The vote was not against teachers. This is from a 2011 report

"• Teachers. Retirement benefits received by this group are significantly less generous than most other public sector employees. This is partly because teachers covered by CalSTRS are not in social security, their retiree health care is provided by school districts and tends to be less generous than the State of California, and their pension formulas of those terminating before full retirement age is less generous than other public funds."

Comparing California or WIsconsin or most other states to MA is a losing battle for you. MA has long required 11% contribution, Wisconsin I'm pretty sure was 0%, California is/was 8%. Many states are just now upping it to 5%-8% up to 10%. Also, some allow you to collect SS benefits as well. Not MA. The pension abuses you hear talked about are not from MA teachers.

"Since the average SAT scores of individuals entering the teaching professions is in the lower 25% & the schools these individuals attend are rated in the lower 25%, why do these individuals believe that they should be paid like they are indispensable to society."
I can understand that a cop on detail should be paid $72 to $80/hr or a toll booth operator being paid $65/hr because of the hazards that they face but teachers working less than 1000 hrs a year expect to be paid astronomical salaries."

Are u being serious? Because none of what you just said has any context or evidence. Do some research on how many hours MA teachers work, and consider that Westford has higher expectations. You think they work less than 5.5 hours a day? C'mon now.

"In MA and federal law, a highly compensated non-union employee ~$32,000/year is not required to be paid overtime.
The hours the teachers put in during the school year is between 4.5 and 5.5 hours/school day. The most dangerous intersections in Westford are the exits to the school parking lots at 2 to 10 minutes after the end of the last period."

You don't' understand MA labor laws at all, why bother posting stuff that is wrong? Highly Compensated = $100k+. Teachers qualify as exempt, to benefit the state.
www.foleyhoag.com/.../FoleyHoag_MassWageHour_newCover.ashx
Pages 5 and 7 points out it's to save employer cost.

Your traffic cause hypothesis is just plain silly.

"Alex,

The Celtics played last night. The Truth's shooting was painful to watch though."

Ahh, very non-sequiter, that's why I didn't follow. I'm a huge celtics fan, but had to get rid of cable this year to cut down expenses. Just have Hulu now $7 a month.

Pierce imo is the streakiest player on the team, final seconds when they put in his hands I'm always nervous.

"I saw a LOT more in WI: Walker exhibited fiscal responsibility, 38% of union homes supported Walker, the tax payers had Walker's back.

Someone standing up for the tax payer, now that is a refreshing idea!"

Walker threw the baby out with the bathwater. I wouldn't call that fiscal responsibility. You are also only looking short term, how are Walker's actions going to affect the education system? Some of you don't believe it but teaching is a hard, stressful job. It involves a lot of hours (incidentally I've been monitoring Westford Teachers hours for the last few weeks as I know some and 12 per day is average) lots of schooling, and very little appreciation. 50% of teachers leave in 5 years because it's not the 9-3, 3 month vacation and low stress job they thought it was.
Wisconsin's pension system for teachers was unreasonable, but aside from bringing that in line if Walker thinks his heavy handed actions or further cuts are going to positively affect education he is not thinking long term.
I don't think Walker solved anything, I think he has opened the door to a lot of problems he didn't anticipate. He cannot abolish supply and demand and his actions now, might actually cost Wisconsin more money in the future.

Short term solutions have been a large part of the problems we are in, how are short term solutions the way to get us out?

Vincent said "I appreciate what teachers do.You seem to have forgotten some major facts:If the steps had just been paid this year: can you tell me with a straight face that any teacher / administrator / union organizer / union member / YOU / ??? would have said BOO about the new positions and over staffing? I DOUBT IT! The people I listed are not just victims.The teachers are NOT the only group "giving": all other town employees, tax payers, ... ARE "giving". It just so happens one group does not want to go along this year.I expect: some interference from a liberal wacko judge, a prop 2.5 override down in flames and then a through clean out IS NEEDED! It seems this one group is dead set on that, so be it!"

I have pointed out countless times other town employees you report as "giving" have less education, start at higher pay, reach top pay in almost double the time, some make more money, some make more money & work less hours.

To say that teachers need to give also as anything else would be "unfair" shows a complete ignorance of what is going on w/your town employees.

The question you ignore over & over again is why are your taxes so high? Your schools are super efficient w/your money, & your teachers are paid below average. Where is your money going? Those are the facts. Far less than average spent per student, far fewer $$ sped children, teachers paid on average at the 40th percentile. Yet taxes are so high,why? It's not your schools, where is it Vincent?

So the teachers are victims now! That is a bit much. I agree the town should cut costs across the board. That also includes the school system. Some of those cuts should come out of administration.

Teachers are the easy scapegoats... If some people thought last year was rocky just wait for negotiations next year when the poop really hits the fan, SC members are already talking around town about how they anticipate a replay but the teachers OKing last year's deal was a one time thing I am willing to bet most are unwilling to repeat. My gut feeling is if negotiations don't go smoothly a work to rule situation by next spring, NO WAY teachers believe there isn't money for steps and COLA after they gave seen all these new added positions. No way.

Lawsuits working out about as good as Mitt Mentum right now old buddy sad to say

Superintendant Olsen said all last year he was tring to 'save jobs' by playing hardball at the table and offering his teachers basically nothing, I would like to see Andrew S do a Patch Questions this year on how the addition off all those positions this year and a proposed school budget for next year that includes many NEW staff positions is consistent with his 'saving existing jobs' pledge. Having a hard time putting those pieces together myself and would love some help from Andrew next time he sees Bill Olsen. I KNOW I am not the only one around here with this on my mind right now. #feelingprettydeceived