Springfield Education Association: A History of Advocacy and Change

The Springfield Education Association (SEA) has a rich history of advocating for educators and students in Springfield. From its early focus on salaries and working conditions to its more recent involvement in broader social justice issues, the SEA has consistently worked to improve the lives of its members and the quality of public education in the city.

Early Struggles and the Finance Control Board Era

The SEA's history is intertwined with the challenges faced by Springfield Public Schools. Caity Welz, a social studies teacher at Springfield Central High School, remembers when the district was unilaterally "gutted" by the state-controlled Springfield Finance Control Board in the early 2000s. As the city faced insolvency, the board took over Springfield’s finances. During that period, the city reneged on its contracts with employees and saw a mass exodus of teachers. Since then, Springfield officials have been able to “run the government like a business.”

Contract Negotiations and Teacher Advocacy

In recent years, the SEA has been actively engaged in negotiating a new contract for its over 2,100 members. These negotiations have focused on key issues such as salary, benefits, and working conditions.

Salary and Compensation

One of the SEA's primary goals is to ensure that Springfield educators receive fair and competitive salaries. The "Four, eight, four, four!" chant heard at a School Committee meeting on April 10 represents the raise schedule union organizers say would help close the gap between Springfield educators’ salaries and their statewide counterparts. “We’re behind,” Springfield Central High School teacher Declan Kennon told The Shoestring.

The SEA has also fought for increased longevity pay for experienced teachers. The ratified agreement included doubled longevity pay:

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After 15 continuous years in the district: $2,000
After 20 continuous years in the district: $3,000
After 25 continuous years in the district: $4,000
After 30 continuous years in the district: $4,200

Furthermore, the SEA has advocated for fair compensation for specialized instructional support personnel (SISP). As such, speech language pathologists (SLPs) and psychologists who are paid on the district salary scale will receive a salary that is 10% above the comparable district scale.

Working Conditions and Benefits

In addition to salary, the SEA has also prioritized improvements to teacher working conditions and benefits. One of the union’s core demands is to be granted paid family medical leave, a benefit that was already guaranteed to private sector workers via a Massachusetts law passed in 2018. Massachusetts Teachers Association locals elsewhere have fought for - and, to varying degrees, won - equivalent benefits from their districts. “If you want to run this place like a business, run it like a business,” Burgess said.

Union members are also working to change Springfield’s current sick-day system. Teachers’ current contract offers 10 paid sick days per year, which carry over if unused. Union members said that when the Springfield Education Association asked for the number of sick days to be raised to 15, the city proposed a sick-bank system instead.

Other improvements to working conditions and benefits include:

All Educators will have at a minimum one self-directed 40-minute prep per day.
Commitment to re-write sick bank language to include being able to use it for parental leave and other guarantee use.
Joint Labor management team to work on opting into the state’s Paid Family Leave program.
Language from the district contract that allows a day off that does not count as one of the four days to attend their own graduation or the graduation of a family member.

Health and Safety

The SEA recognizes the importance of creating a safe and healthy environment for both students and staff. To that end, the SEA has worked to:

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Development of a District-wide Healthy and Safe Schools Task Force
Emergency School Response Plans review and training.
Ensures that school buildings are safe and healthy.
Requires school visitors to check in.
Includes language about violence protection and searches.
Ensure that employees are notified of ay thing placed in their personnel file and educators right to access their personnel filed.

Teacher Leadership Teams (TLT) and Working Conditions

The SEA has also focused on empowering teachers through Teacher Leadership Teams (TLT). Teacher Leadership Teams will have 10 minutes at the start of each TLT meeting -without the principal present - to discuss matters relevant to the TLT.

Other improvements to working conditions include:

Dress Code moved from Educator Working Conditions to the contract.
Family Teacher communication that requires each school offer a line of communication between educators and parents. No marks shall be changed unless the educator is notified first and has been given the reason for the change.

Student Discipline and Support

The SEA is committed to creating a supportive and equitable learning environment for all students. To achieve this, the SEA has advocated for:

Affirms a commitment to implementing restorative justice practices as the core of student discipline with the SEZP providing ongoing training and support in its implementation.
Provides that each school will have pre-referral program focusing on ensuring all students get the support they need to succeed.
Educators in Student Support Services positions will have their job responsibilities outlined in the job posting. A labor management committee will review those position descriptions.
The work year for student support positions will include five days before school starts and five days after the school year ends,
Expectations of student support positions will be outlined in the student support and Educator Handbook.

Counselor Roles

The SEA recognizes the vital role that counselors play in supporting students' academic, social, and emotional well-being. To ensure that counselors are equipped to meet the needs of their students, the SEA has advocated for:

Counselors will receive Professional development that will provide them with the PdPs that they need for DESE licensing.
Job responsibilities will be outlined in each job posting.
If counselors are mandated to be in lunchrooms, they cannot be the primary person responsible for student discipline. It is re-affirmed that if counselors do not get a duty-free lunch, they will be compensated.
A joint labor management team will meet to support the continued development of a comprehensive counseling program, and to update job responsibilities as needed.

Libraries and Librarians

The SEA understands the importance of libraries in promoting literacy and providing students with access to information. The Zone will make every effort to ensure that students have access to a library space staffed by certified librarians or teachers with library training and experience,

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SEZP will also work with the city libraries to provide students with orientation, outreach and engagement with public library resources.

Union Leadership and Activism

The SEA's strength lies in its active and engaged membership. Springfield Education Association President-elect Riley Hernandez said that this is the most energy he’s seen from union membership since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gabe Isackson's Presidency

Gabe Isackson's presidency marked a unique chapter in the SEA's history. Isackson, a Parkview High School educator, accepted the post with the condition that he would continue teaching full-time. "I'm not ready to leave the classroom," he said. "The classroom comes first."

Isackson was the first Springfield National Education Association president in recent history to serve in the time-consuming role without taking a full or partial leave of absence from his district teaching job. To manage both roles, Isackson delegated some day-to-day responsibilities while remaining the face of the Springfield NEA. He led the union's bargaining teams, presided over meetings, addressed the school board, and met with district officials.

Aaron Graves' Election and Controversy

The election of Aaron Graves as SEA president was met with controversy due to a past incident involving a student. Less than a year before his election, Graves had appeared before the Springfield School Board to defend himself against allegations that he had put a 7th-grader in a chokehold.

Graves campaigned with a clear agenda, listing “safer and more orderly schools” as his number one goal. However, the incident raised questions about his judgment and ability to represent all teachers and students.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association and Collective Action

The SEA is affiliated with the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), a statewide union that has been increasingly active in recent years. Throughout the state, Massachusetts public schools have seen a renaissance of union activity. In the past six years, ten local units of the Massachusetts Teachers Association have gone on strike - something that’s illegal for public-sector workers in Massachusetts - with the support of the MTA’s leadership. However, the majority of wins have thus far been restricted to the eastern - and, often, wealthier - parts of the state, where higher property taxes can mean more public education funding.

The idea that a democratic union is an end in itself undergirds the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s Educators for a Democratic Union caucus - a rank-and-file movement in which Hernandez is active. In the fall of 2023, for example, when the American Federation of Labor was drafting a resolution to back a ceasefire in Gaza, there was some discord in the Massachusetts Teachers Association about whether to sign on. The big question was “whether or not we think [the union] should even take up these political endeavors,” Hernandez said. Ultimately, Hernandez and other organizers drafted a letter in support of a ceasefire, which then got passed around their respective schools.

The Threat of a Strike

The SEA has not ruled out the possibility of a strike if its demands are not met. The district last went on strike 45 years ago, defying the state’s 1973 law barring public-sector strikes. On April 29, 1980, most of the city’s 1,800 teachers headed out to the picket line, where they stayed for 18 days.

To Hernandez, the question of whether to strike is about more than just pay raises. “Is [a strike] strictly to gain these economic and material benefits for workers?

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