Demonstrators: Bring back school jobs in Northampton

NORTHAMPTON — The weather may have been cold and wet, but that didn’t stop local labor groups and supporters from rallying in front of Northampton City Hall on Thursday, as they continue to call for the restoration of the more than 20 positions cut in the Northampton Public Schools last budget season.

In fact, the inclement weather made for an apt metaphor for the demonstrators, many of them wielding umbrellas, as they called on the city and Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra to spend “rainy day” funds — free cash reserves the city has accumulated over the past several years — to restore the jobs, which include an English teacher at Northampton High School and several paraeducators across the district.

With a bit of dramatic flair, Cathy McNally, a member of the group Save Our Schools that organized the rally, appeared before the crowd in a professional wrestling costume, complete with a devil mask — a reference to former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Education.

“She [McMahon] wants to dismantle the Department of Education, and guess what? We’re already dismantling education in Northampton,” said McNally, who referred to her wrestling persona as “The Crone of Northampton” during the rally. “When I say we should fight boisterously and throw them over the ropes, I mean with our words.”

In July, the city passed a $40 million school budget for this fiscal year, a $3 million increase from the previous year but resulting in more than 20 jobs cut across the district’s six schools. The budget came after a prolonged campaign by supporters of a level-services budget that would have avoided job cuts.

The public pressure on the city to prevent cuts included several demonstrations outside City Hall, packed rooms of supporters at official meetings, and the Northampton Association of School Employees union (NASE) filing a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Portia Bonner, which the School Committee later repudiated.

In May, the city had $6 million in undesignated funds, with roughly half dedicated to American Rescue Plan Act-eligible spending, according to city documents.

Though the city has yet to certify the total amount of free cash for this year, Sciarra stated in a recent city newsletter that the city’s policies with free cash reserves are in keeping with the practices recommended by the state Division of Local Services, repeating the city’s claim that spending cash reserves on recurring salaries would quickly drain funds.

“As a non-recurring revenue source, DLS recommends that the Undesignated Fund Balance should be restricted to paying one-time expenditures, funding capital projects, or replenishing other reserves,” Sciarra wrote in the newsletter. “Using it to support the operational budget is not recommended.”

Several speakers at last week’s rally described how the cuts had personally affected their jobs. Tyler Holt, a paraeducator at Northampton High School, says class sizes have become larger and that students with individual education plans (IEPs) aren’t able to get the additional support they need.

“I’m expected to be able to support [students] in these settings, and I can tell you, because I read their IEPs, they are not getting them,” Holt said. “It feels absolutely terrible to not be able to do my job.”

Giselle Ohm, a senior at NHS and a member of the Northampton Student Union, also said students are no longer able to take certain electives for English due to the job cuts.

“We were really disappointed when a lot of the positions were cut, and we really felt the effects at our school,” she said.

Demonstrators included members of NASE, and also leaders of other local labor unions, including the Northampton Fire Rescue union, Local 108.

“We’re in solidarity with you guys,” said Tim Putnam, president of Local 108, to the crowd of supporters. “I’ve been with the department for 12 years now, and every year it seems like a fight, and there’s not enough money to pay our employees.”

In an interview, Putnam said the Fire Department has struggled with recruitment due to lower pay compared to other nearby municipalities, leading to limited staff to deal with emergency calls. Putnam said the city freeing up some of its cash reserves would help keep the department fully staffed.

“If the city isn’t willing to fund us with a good contract, we’re not going to attract [new members],” Putnam said. “I know the fire union would love to see some of that money for recruitment and retention.”

Other labor groups appearing at the rally in solidarity were the Massachusetts Nurses Association and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1459.

Following the demonstration outside City Hall, the group marched into City Council chambers where they continued to make their voices heard during the public comments section of that day’s council meeting.

NASE President Andrea Egitto referred to a recent statement put out by Sciarra that reaffirmed the city’s commitment as a “welcoming, inclusive, and equitable community,” following the reported arrest of an undocumented immigrant by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). Egitto challenged that commitment, saying that students from refugee families would not fare well in school with limited English-language tutoring and large classroom sizes.

“They’re trying to learn desperately and we don’t have the support to teach them,” Egitto said. “I beg you to put the money where the words are.”

 Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.