Lisa R. Begley, Haverhill High School health and physical education instructor, is the incoming president of the Haverhill Education Association.
Haverhill educators are expected to be out in force Monday afternoon at City Hall in their continuing effort to bring “a fair and decent contract.”
What the Haverhill Education Association is calling the “Rally For Respect” takes place Monday, June 22, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., on Haverhill City Hall steps. The union represents teachers, clerical unit and education support personnel. The rally takes place while contract negotiations take place inside.
“Haverhill educators work tirelessly at their job of teaching the young people of the city, but have been offered a contract with historically small pay increases and changes in the contract language which will only create a less effective learning environment for all students. Such offerings show a clear lack of respect for what Haverhill educators do every day. This needs to end and a proper, decent offer needs to be made by the school committee,” an invitation reads.
Besides educators, HEA invites parents, students and friends to participate.
Even if a new superintendent is hired OR money Is taken away from Scully and distributed to the teachers… that would probably be a couple of dollars per week per person and does not address the issue.
The issue is, that Haverhill is NOT an affluent community and simply cannot afford across the board salary increases for everyone. What excuse can you come up with for the underfunding of the pension fund and the fact that Massachusetts is rated “F” with respect to its pension systems? There are too many places to spend and too few dollars to go around.
I don’t think its an issue of underfunding. We have the money to pay these teachers what they deserve. Take some money out of Scully’s salary ($200,000 a year) he doesn’t deserve even a quarter of what he gets paid and I’m speaking from personal expirience with him. He sweeps issues under the rug and all he does is blame the special ed kids for the budget. Stop blaming the kids!! Put the blame where it needs to be. Has anyone ever seen Scully in our schools? Nope and you never will. As long as he is getting his salary he doesn’t care. Give the money to the real workers in this city…THE TEACHERS. Scully has gotten 2 raises in the past 5 years and he’s given nothing to the teachers. He has a real lack of respect for these teachers.
Jack is right, and the Teacher’s Union had better consider if it is about to kill the goose that laid the golden egg! The City of Haverhill has not been able to keep up with its pension fund requirements (meaning we are UNDERFUNDED and hope to catch up sometime in the distant future), and the Annual Rate of Return on Investment is overstated which will only make the city’s financial situation worse. So where will all of these salary increases come from?
The City of Haverhill does not have an endless supply of money, is struggling to get by on the tax dollars it receives, Massachusetts is rated “F” with respect to its pension systems, and whether this gravy train is sustainable should be considered by all who intend to attend the rally on June 22.
Seeming angry or not, Jack does make good points. He is also highlighting truths about the hack attorney pretending to run the city.
Teachers are just trying to do their jobs. If he has issues with administrators then he needs to address that and not trash the stand in front of the class teacher. JMO
Unfortunately teachers can’t do their jobs due to the constraints and legal burdens placed upon them, which is partially why public schools in general are such a disaster. Having a child of an illegal invader who doesn’t understand English, or a child who continually disrupts classroom learning, or a child with absentee parents are all factors in taking away actual learning time in the classroom, leading to poorer performance. In Haverhill’s case, it’s made worse because it’s a poverty filled/poor city which can’t even afford to keep decent teachers to begin with, leaving less experienced, or simply burnt out teachers as the only one’s left. A new contract, even for slightly more money isn’t going to change the fact Haverhill is beyond broke, and is already engaged in borrowing money from the future to pay for today.
It’s not a matter of disrespect towards teachers, there are and WERE some great ones, but it’s a matter of simple math and economics, one of which The City of Haverhill will always lose until they accept responsibility for poor past decision making. This is especially true with The Mayor, who will never concede to his mistakes he made even before he became Mayor, he’s filled with way too much hubris and narcissism to even contemplate such.
Don’t worry though, more 40B is on the way, ready to stuff more poor kids in the classroom by stuffing as many humans in as small a living space as possible. Not so great for increasing the tax base by which to actually pay for things, like teachers. Too bad certain nominee trustees and a certain family beneficiaries are profiting off such poor cities like Haverhill, but hey, it makes Rep. Brian Dempsey happy because the checks keep coming.
Good luck teachers (not the union).
Yes he does make good points. And the city solicitor who keeps costing us more and more money and he isn’t worth what he is paid either. Time to get rid of him and also get a new superintendent.
Jack you seem to post angry on every issue here. JMO
I appreciate your opinion Rich. I thought I was actually mild in this post…lol ! I’m truly trying to help the teachers, several dozen who I know personally, because they’re being manipulated. I didn’t even get into, as I’ve done on previous comments here, why unions breed mediocrity and taxpayers lose every time under a union based collective bargaining agreement system, especially when it comes to teachers who spend 40% less time at work than those who work in the private sector.
And Rich, you are right…I am angry!! Aren’t you?
Aren’t you angry that your taxes are up over 25% in just the last 8 years?
Aren’t you angry there is now a meals tax in Haverhill?
Aren’t you angry there is a parking tax to park downtown?
Aren’t you angry you get charged to park in the parking garage downtown that YOU already paid to build?
Aren’t you angry the mayor bought a car and hired employees to drive around downtown to ticket cars just to raise $?
Aren’t you angry 30 city employees conspired to steal over $55,000.00 from taxpayers and they all kept their jobs?
Rich…I could go on and on about all the lies and corruption in this city I’m angry about.
You know what I’ve found Rich? I’ve found that the only people who aren’t angry are the people who are takers from the system and are benefiting by all the lies, corruption and incompetence. You’re not one of those people, are you Rich?
Teachers….Has the Teacher’s Union in Haverhill informed the rank and file members that the City of Haverhill is BROKE!!! Do the teachers not know that the Ponzi Scheme called a THEIR pension system is NOT working in Haverhill? There are hundreds more retirees withdrawing from the pension system than contributing to it. Do all of you teachers who will be at this rally know this? Why would anyone in their right mind being looking for a pay raise when the whole system in on the verge of financial collapse?
Teachers….listen closely please….I’m trying to help you….if it wasn’t for Brian Dempsey being the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee the City of Haverhill would be put into receivership by the State of Massachusetts because its finances are so bad. It’s a political move to protect Dempsey and the democrats in this state from looking like the fools they are. Democrats in Massachusetts can’t have the city of the guy who controls the state pocketbook have his own city taken over by the state because of financial incompetency….think about it. The fact that they play this political game does NOT change the numbers of what is financially happening in this city.
Teachers….the risk you are taking by seeking more money is insane. The incompetent fools running this city cannot play the shell game they’re playing forever. You’re putting your financial future in severe jeopardy. Do you read the news of what is going on across the country in city after city not being able to make good on pension obligations because of greedy teacher contracts? Do you somehow think it can’t happen in Haverhill? Does any one of you actually believe the mayor on anything he says about city finances??
Lisa Begley….You need to take responsibility for the FACTS regarding what your asking the teacher union members to do!!! You’re taking them down the path to disaster. And this is not a subjective opinion…look at the numbers Lisa!!!! They don’t lie.