Speaker 1: It's night side who Dan Ray, I'm WBS Costin's Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back, everybody. It's a little bit after
Speaker 2: nine o'clock on a Friday night. It is Friday, November eighth,
Speaker 2: those of you who are keeping score, and the election
Speaker 2: is behind us, and I think we all should be
Speaker 2: happy for that. However, it worked out because if you
Speaker 2: remember twenty twenty, at this time, we were all trying
Speaker 2: to figure out who had won. It looked as if
Speaker 2: Joe Biden had won, but it wasn't official. It wasn't
Speaker 2: made official that Biden had won until Saturday, Saturday afternoon,
Speaker 2: if my memory is correct, and I think it is so,
Speaker 2: it seems we talked about this last night. Seems to
Speaker 2: have been settled. It was decisive. We talked about last night,
Speaker 2: and we may get back to some of that tonight
Speaker 2: at ten o'clock, because that, I know is on people's minds,
Speaker 2: and I do hope you talk about it over Thanksgiving,
Speaker 2: but we'll talk about that, I'm sure before Thanksgiving. Just
Speaker 2: take a big deep breath that he can exhale. Can
Speaker 2: you imagine if right now it was you know, there
Speaker 2: were a couple of states out and one was at
Speaker 2: two sixty four, and one was at two sixty three,
Speaker 2: and it was depending upon hanging jads or votes. Anyway,
Speaker 2: enough of that, I want to talk about the teachers strike,
Speaker 2: and I want to put it in some context, okay,
Speaker 2: And I am going to tell you that probably some
Speaker 2: of the things that I'm going to say are not
Speaker 2: going to make teachers happy. But that's not my job
Speaker 2: here at Nightside. My job is to generate some conversation
Speaker 2: and make people think about a subject matter. And the
Speaker 2: subject matter at this point is the families, the children
Speaker 2: and the families and the parents of people who live
Speaker 2: in the three communities north of Boston which are now
Speaker 2: affected by teacher strikes in some form of fashion. And
Speaker 2: we're talking about Marblehead, which has been on strike or
Speaker 2: is on strike, Gloucester and Beverly. Marblehead is the latest
Speaker 2: to join, and I guess technically they're not quite on
Speaker 2: strike yet, but they released a statement tonight which I'll
Speaker 2: read a little bit here just to get a sense
Speaker 2: of fairness to them. Massachusetts Marblehead Education Association votes to
Speaker 2: authorize strike effective Tuesday if no agreement is reached over
Speaker 2: the holiday weekend. So we can't say that they're all
Speaker 2: on strike. But the local president up there said our
Speaker 2: schools are in crisis, and the educators of Marblehead have
Speaker 2: collectively said enough is enough. After seven months of negotiations,
Speaker 2: we're no closer to a solution and the school committee
Speaker 2: has failed to recognize the urgency of the situation. Our
Speaker 2: schools need fear wages. Okay, it's not the schools who
Speaker 2: get the wages. It's the teachers who get the wages
Speaker 2: and the administrators. But that's okay, that's euphemisms safe working conditions.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that it was dangerous to work in
Speaker 2: Marblehead schools if there are problems with the safety that
Speaker 2: needs to be addressed and adequate resources to meet the
Speaker 2: needs of our students, and I don't know what that means.
Speaker 2: Are there are they lacking supplies, you know, paper, computers?
Speaker 2: I don't know. And because of their refusal, I assume
Speaker 2: it's referencing the school committee. We must take action to
Speaker 2: protect the future of our community. Okay, they talk about
Speaker 2: the starting salary for kindergarten pair of professionals is currently
Speaker 2: eighteen thousand, three hundred and thirty eight dollars, and our
Speaker 2: tutors who provide critical services for special education students earn
Speaker 2: only twenty seven thousand dollars a year, and then the
Speaker 2: committee's refusing to allow us our existing to access our existence, bereavement,
Speaker 2: lee for pregnancy loss. It is beyond the pale and
Speaker 2: they should be ashamed. Well again, this is a statement
Speaker 2: from the teachers Union in Marvel Head. Here's the deal,
Speaker 2: and I'm interested in hearing from you, those of you
Speaker 2: who live in Newton. You went through a teacher strike
Speaker 2: last January, and my recollection is that that teacher strike
Speaker 2: lasted nearly three weeks, three weeks after school vacation, after
Speaker 2: the holiday vacation, Christmas vacation, and they were back in
Speaker 2: school for a few days and then out on strike.
Speaker 2: I remember at the time that the mayor up there,
Speaker 2: Ruth inn was very, very extremely upset. Ruth Iann Fuller.
Speaker 2: She's longtime mayor of Newton and considered, you know, supportive
Speaker 2: generally of public education. She's a pretty progressive Democrat. Not
Speaker 2: that there's any Republicans who could become mayor of Newton.
Speaker 2: That's a very democratic city. And the parents had they
Speaker 2: were caught unawares. There are a lot of families that
Speaker 2: need two jobs uh to uh to to pay the
Speaker 2: property taxes in a city like Newton, or a city
Speaker 2: like marble a town like Marblehead or or Beverly or
Speaker 2: or Gloucester. UH that the salaries of the school department
Speaker 2: is paid for by the in those towns. There's there's
Speaker 2: not a lot of commercial industry in any of those towns,
Speaker 2: but there's no consideration of what are the parents going
Speaker 2: to do? As I mentioned to Nicole Davis during the
Speaker 2: during the eight o'clock hour, UH. In days gone by,
Speaker 2: there always was a nuclear family nearby. Siblings, you know, brothers,
Speaker 2: you know, adults, brothers and sisters, and you could leave
Speaker 2: a child or two child or two children over with
Speaker 2: a sibling with their with their cousins or they're all
Speaker 2: out of school or whatever. Maybe they might have and
Speaker 2: some aunts or some grandmothers or grandfathers. Well, today people
Speaker 2: live quite far away. Families are the nuclear family is
Speaker 2: quite different than it was once. But there's very little
Speaker 2: consideration given to the parents. And I honestly believe, and
Speaker 2: I know that the teachers unions aren't gonna happy happy
Speaker 2: for me to say this. I honestly believe that this
Speaker 2: is about the teachers' salaries, and it's they talk about
Speaker 2: the students. But just think about this, the relationship. If
Speaker 2: you're a student and the teachers are saying, will you
Speaker 2: go outside with us and join the picket line? If
Speaker 2: you're a student, what are you going to say? Okay?
Speaker 2: I mean you don't have a lot of choice. You
Speaker 2: don't have as a student because obviously you want to
Speaker 2: be good to your teachers and you hope your teachers
Speaker 2: will be good to you. So I think that there
Speaker 2: should be a law which would say that students should
Speaker 2: not be allowed to be even asked or participate in
Speaker 2: a picket line. It should be between the school committee
Speaker 2: and the teachers' unions. That's number one. No students should
Speaker 2: be put in that situation because it's a very awkward situation,
Speaker 2: and very few students are going to say no, my
Speaker 2: parents do not agree with this strike. They want me
Speaker 2: to be in school and they do not want me
Speaker 2: to be in pickoline. So that's number one. Number two,
Speaker 2: the Massachusetts Teachers Association is feeling pretty feisty these days
Speaker 2: because they were the motivating force that has now eliminated
Speaker 2: the MCAST test requirement for graduation that went down to
Speaker 2: defeat as one of the ballot questions on Tuesday. I
Speaker 2: suspect that the next step by the Teachers Association will
Speaker 2: be to eliminate the mandatory m CAST testing in the
Speaker 2: third grade and the fifth grade and the eighth grade
Speaker 2: before the big test that students need to pass with
Speaker 2: by the way, I think five chances to pass that test.
Speaker 2: But but that issue is now moot, so we'll leave
Speaker 2: it alone. And you have a very strong teachers union here,
Speaker 2: and if you want to go to the Department of
Speaker 2: Education website, there is a website where they list all
Speaker 2: of the average salaries of teachers in Massachusetts cities and towns,
Speaker 2: and you can go and see what teachers are making
Speaker 2: in your cities and towns. And the teachers' unions always
Speaker 2: talk about the para professionals, But when they negotiate and
Speaker 2: they get the ten percent rays over two years or
Speaker 2: whatever it is, fifteen percent raise over three or whatever
Speaker 2: it is, the percentages apply generally across the board, so
Speaker 2: that the teacher who's making one hundred thousand dollars, when
Speaker 2: they get that five percent raise, they go to one
Speaker 2: hundred and five thousand dollars. That pair of professional who's
Speaker 2: making twenty thousand dollars. When they get that five percent raise,
Speaker 2: they get an extra thousand dollars because it's on a
Speaker 2: percentage basis. So I'd love to know what you think.
Speaker 2: Do you think the teachers' unions it's illegal for teachers'
Speaker 2: unions to strike, just as it is illegal for police
Speaker 2: unions and for fire unions and for public safety unions
Speaker 2: to strike. Do you think that these teachers' unions should
Speaker 2: pay a higher price, meaning that they should be told
Speaker 2: if you do strike, we will have a penalty that
Speaker 2: will be automatic, which cannot be renegotiated when the agreement
Speaker 2: is made, because the judge can say we're going to
Speaker 2: find you ten thousand dollars a day. And at the
Speaker 2: end of the strike, when they come to a final agreement,
Speaker 2: the teachers' union, I assume, can then say to the
Speaker 2: city or town, look, as part of this agreement, we
Speaker 2: want you to forgive the strike, forgive the fines. Now.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's possible, but I suspect it
Speaker 2: probably does happen. And maybe once these judges say, oh no,
Speaker 2: we're going to find you ten thousand dollars a day,
Speaker 2: ten thousand dollars a day or twenty thousand dollars a
Speaker 2: day or whatever it is, and you stayed out for
Speaker 2: three weeks, the union has to come up with the money,
Speaker 2: and obviously in the only place they're going to come
Speaker 2: up with the money either is from the Teachers' Union
Speaker 2: writ large, meaning the Teachers Union of Massachusetts, or from
Speaker 2: the specific union that was fined. So I'd love to
Speaker 2: hear from you. You don't have to live in Marblehead,
Speaker 2: Gloucester or Beverly to be in this set of circumstances.
Speaker 2: The other thing I want to add is to the
Speaker 2: best of my knowledge, and I stand to be corrected.
Speaker 2: I always stand to be corrected here on night side.
Speaker 2: I do not believe that any people who are teachers
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts have ever been dragooned to become a teacher.
Speaker 2: They have not been drafted. There's no compulsory teacher service.
Speaker 2: All of them made a decision at some point that
Speaker 2: was the career they wanted to choose. Now, they probably
Speaker 2: knew that they would not make a million dollars a year.
Speaker 2: They would not be making salaries commensurate with what professional
Speaker 2: athletes or maybe doctors or warriors are making. That's a
Speaker 2: decision they made teachers' unions. Again, they work very hard,
Speaker 2: but but they have probably a lot more vacation time
Speaker 2: than most people. So it's a lifestyle choice. It's a
Speaker 2: vocation that they chose, and to strike in the middle
Speaker 2: of a school year, in my opinion, is unfeared of
Speaker 2: the students, and it's also unfair to the parents of
Speaker 2: those students and the guardians of those students because when
Speaker 2: the schools are closed, the students have to be housed
Speaker 2: somewhere during the day other than the school. I'm going
Speaker 2: to open up the phone lines. If you're a taxpayer,
Speaker 2: you have a dog in this fight. If you're a
Speaker 2: teacher and you want to tell me why I'm so wrong,
Speaker 2: bring it on. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty,
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine, three one ten thirty, triple eight
Speaker 2: nine two, nine, ten thirty. We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: this until ten o'clock. So if you want to get
Speaker 2: in dial now, we're coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 1: NIGHTSID Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, I have just checked during the break on
Speaker 2: the average teacher salaries in Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead for
Speaker 2: the year twenty twenty to twenty twenty one. If you
Speaker 2: like to check on this, here's the website profiles dot DOE,
Speaker 2: which stands for Department of Education dot massmass dot edu
Speaker 2: slash State Report slash Teacher Salaries, so you can find
Speaker 2: it pretty easily. Profiles dot DOE for Department of Education
Speaker 2: dot m ASS from Massachusetts dot edu slash State Reports
Speaker 2: slash teacher salaries in the year twenty twenty to twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one, that is now four years ago. In Beverly,
Speaker 2: the average teacher salary eighty four thousand, seven hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty five dollars. I suspect there's at least one contract
Speaker 2: cycle in between there, so it's probably bigger than that.
Speaker 2: More than that Gloucester eighty six thousand, three hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty dollars. Again, that is the average salary according to
Speaker 2: the Massachusetts Department of Education in Marblehead eighty four thousand,
Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty five dollars. So between these three towns,
Speaker 2: the one that pays the teachers as of twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one the most was Gloucester. Both Beverly and Marblehead are
Speaker 2: a couple thousand dollars less. So eighty six, eighty four,
Speaker 2: eighty four. Those are the teacher salaries in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: to twenty in the school year twenty twenty to twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one. Let's see what people have to say here.
Speaker 2: We're gonna go to Ginny. Who's first up? Ginny is
Speaker 2: in Boston, Ginny, I could care less on what side
Speaker 2: of the argument is that you're on, but I'd love
Speaker 2: to hear your point of view. Welcome to night Sider.
Speaker 3: Thank you. So what I want to clarify is that
Speaker 3: you mentioned about the power of professionals. Yes, they are
Speaker 3: not in the same union as the teachers. So when
Speaker 3: the teachers get a raised, they don't get a raised.
Speaker 3: I think you said that they do get a raised.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well here's what my well, here's what my understanding is.
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what. I know that in Newton
Speaker 2: the teachers were arguing all along that the power of
Speaker 2: professionals needed to be more highly compensated. The teachers in
Speaker 2: new absolutely make like ninety one thousand dollars. This is
Speaker 2: four years ago. These are the stats from four years ago.
Speaker 2: I'm sure the average salary is now over one hundred
Speaker 2: thousand dollars in Newton. Okay, it should be well, that's fine,
Speaker 2: maybe it should be two hundred thousand dollars. Okay, But
Speaker 2: I guarantee you, as a consumt t once of that
Speaker 2: negotiation in Newton, that there were similar wage increases given
Speaker 2: to the para professionals in Newton, because if that didn't happen,
Speaker 2: then it would have been a total sham for the
Speaker 2: teachers to use the underpaid para professionals as their argument
Speaker 2: for increases for the better paid teachers. If you understand what.
Speaker 3: I'm saying, I think they argued so that the para
Speaker 3: professionals could get more money because they deserve more money.
Speaker 3: As you said, some of them only make eighteen thousand
Speaker 3: dollars a year. I mean, they don't have the whole
Speaker 3: loads that teachers have, but they work hard and they're
Speaker 3: there from I'm not distributing that, but.
Speaker 2: But are you Are you trying to tell me that
Speaker 2: when the unions go on strike, threatened strike, or whatever,
Speaker 2: and they negotiate and they finally get let us say,
Speaker 2: let's let's be let's be conservative, and let's say they
Speaker 2: a ten percent increase over three years. Let's keep it simple.
Speaker 2: You're telling me that the par of professionals, who may
Speaker 2: not be in the union, but they but the union
Speaker 2: negotiates on their behalf. The par of professionals also get
Speaker 2: a ten percent raise. If that's what the teachers are getting.
Speaker 4: No, I think you're dead.
Speaker 2: Wrong because at that point, the.
Speaker 3: Par of professionals are in their own union. They're not
Speaker 3: in the union. What's the teachers?
Speaker 2: Well, why why aren't they?
Speaker 3: I don't know, why aren't they?
Speaker 2: Actually?
Speaker 4: Well, all I can.
Speaker 2: Tell you is this is that the teachers are Here's
Speaker 2: what is really sad. The teachers are using the low
Speaker 2: salaries that are being paid to the pair of professionals.
Speaker 2: They're trying to use that as an argument for the
Speaker 2: teachers to get more money, because that's what they're doing.
Speaker 2: Would you agree with that?
Speaker 5: No, I don't agree with that.
Speaker 2: Of course you are.
Speaker 4: That's fine.
Speaker 2: Why don't you agree with that? Why don't you agree
Speaker 2: with that?
Speaker 3: Because I think the teachers are for themselves and not
Speaker 3: for the power professionals.
Speaker 2: Well, well, they're using the para professionals. They're using the
Speaker 2: pair of professionals because when they quote the the the less,
Speaker 2: the smaller the money. If you say, okay, there's someone
Speaker 2: who's a para professional and most people don't understand what
Speaker 2: that means. But they're working full time at the school.
Speaker 3: Are a teacher aide, you might call it a teacher aig.
Speaker 2: You know what it is, right, But what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: I'm saying we the people understand, well, that's fine, but
Speaker 2: they are making they're making twenty three thousand dollars a year. Hypothetically,
Speaker 2: the average person is going to say, look, you can
Speaker 2: make twenty three thousand dollars flipping burgers at McDonald's and.
Speaker 3: They like to be with children, and some people like that.
Speaker 3: You know, people want to be compensated.
Speaker 2: So well, I'm trying to figure out where you are
Speaker 2: you a teacher or are you a para professional?
Speaker 3: I'm not neither.
Speaker 2: Okay, so at all?
Speaker 3: You see, you know all why I work in education?
Speaker 3: While I worked in education.
Speaker 2: What did you do in education?
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't want to tell you. And it's
Speaker 3: thirty six years Yeah, okay, so you were.
Speaker 2: You were in education and you don't want to tell me.
Speaker 3: But that's okay, No I don't that's I don't have to.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, don't. I don't have you in the
Speaker 2: witness stand Here. I'm simply asking you questions because I
Speaker 2: want to qualify you so that people will know of
Speaker 2: your credibility. Okay, what I'm saying to you is, if
Speaker 2: the teachers really are concerned in Gloucester, Marblehead, in Beverly
Speaker 2: about the low pay of the para professionals, they should
Speaker 2: go to the to the school committee and say, look,
Speaker 2: we're pretty well paid, we don't need an increase right now,
Speaker 2: but can you give some money to these poor pair
Speaker 2: of professionals. I then would be on the picket line
Speaker 2: with the teachers saying they're doing the right thing by
Speaker 2: the para professionals. They're using the pair of professionals. They're
Speaker 2: using the para professionals to generate sympathy for their strike.
Speaker 2: That's what they're doing.
Speaker 3: Well they may be, they may be, but you know
Speaker 3: what they deserve the raise. Who is going to say
Speaker 3: more than eight hours a day with twenty one, twenty
Speaker 3: two twenty three children, is anybody?
Speaker 4: What about the.
Speaker 3: People in the business world, what are they making you
Speaker 3: have to look at that.
Speaker 2: I mean, let me ask you this, what did selective
Speaker 2: service drag these teachers? Did they draft the teachers. If
Speaker 2: they did, I was not aware of that.
Speaker 3: It takes a special person to be a teacher. Nobody
Speaker 3: drafted them.
Speaker 2: Good well, they all chose the profession, you know, Jinny,
Speaker 2: Now you're exposing your bias a little bit. They chose
Speaker 2: a profession. Okay, there are people who I know who
Speaker 2: have chosen professions in which they're dedicated, et cetera. All
Speaker 2: I'm just saying is, you want to go out on strike,
Speaker 2: go out on strike. But let's talk about how much
Speaker 2: money you make and let the average person who in
Speaker 2: the town of Beverly or Gloucester or Marblehead. They're going
Speaker 2: to see there, and particularly by the way, older folks
Speaker 2: on fixed incomes are going to see their real estate
Speaker 2: taxes increased dramatically. Thank you for your career in education,
Speaker 2: and thank you for your perspective which whatever you did
Speaker 2: in education, thank.
Speaker 3: You, thank you as well.
Speaker 4: Good night, good night, we'll keep.
Speaker 2: It rolling here on night side. Uh. The fairly simple
Speaker 2: concept there. If you're making one hundred k as a teacher,
Speaker 2: and you're going to use as an example the para
Speaker 2: professional who's making twenty eight thousand dollars, you know you
Speaker 2: can forgold maybe an increase, and you can say the union,
Speaker 2: the teachers union, can say, let's take care of the
Speaker 2: para professionals. They're the ones who are really they're helping us,
Speaker 2: they're making our job easier. Let's take care of them.
Speaker 2: But I don't hear the Teachers' union saying that six one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four ten thirty six one seven nine three one ten thirty. Look,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of benefits to being a teacher. Okay,
Speaker 2: there's security, there's a pension. A lot of people who
Speaker 2: work now in the private sector there's no more pensions
Speaker 2: in private sector. You can put your own money away
Speaker 2: and hope that the stock market doesn't crash. Feel free,
Speaker 2: join the conversation, whatever your point of view. Jinny was fine.
Speaker 2: I'm delighted she called. I wish she might have shared
Speaker 2: with us exactly what she did in education, But that's fine. Uh,
Speaker 2: we'll be back on Nightside right after the break the
Speaker 2: news here at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's keep rolling. John in Boston. John, you next
Speaker 2: on Nightside, Welcome, sir, go right ahead.
Speaker 4: Oh nice, Jan, Just a couple of things, Dan I
Speaker 4: know the teachers basically they get two months off out
Speaker 4: of the because I've known teachers that worked other jobs
Speaker 4: during that period of time it made a substantial amount
Speaker 4: of income, so they're not working a full year. But
Speaker 4: also some of the things that concern me, Dan is
Speaker 4: if they are using basically they call them power teachers,
Speaker 4: para professionals whatever, by basically it's part time teachers that
Speaker 4: they're including dear low income and with the income of
Speaker 4: full time teachers, use that as a excuse of not
Speaker 4: getting paid enough. They're kind of given a mean average
Speaker 4: that isn't really fair. And again, you.
Speaker 2: Know what the fairness here in fairness? What the numbers
Speaker 2: that I've given you, and I hope you were listening,
Speaker 2: that the average teacher as of twenty twenty the school
Speaker 2: year twenty twenty one in Beverly eighty four thousand and
Speaker 2: seven sixty five, in Gloucester eighty six thousand and three
Speaker 2: sixty in Marblehead eighty four thousand and three sixty five.
Speaker 2: That's based upon statistics from a page out of the
Speaker 2: Department of Education Massachusetts state report. Again, the para professionals,
Speaker 2: the school aids, whatever phrase, the people you would like
Speaker 2: to use. They're not included in that. So, if let's
Speaker 2: say there's a teacher in the classroom, the average salary
Speaker 2: for the teacher's eighty six thousand dollars, and that if
Speaker 2: the para professional is making twenty five thousand dollars, that
Speaker 2: whole classroom, it's a it's a cost to the taxpayers
Speaker 2: of eighty six plus twenty five. So you know that
Speaker 2: classroom that is more like one hundred and ten thousand
Speaker 2: dollars in terms of salary. The teachers are basically pointing
Speaker 2: at the para professionals and saying they're underpaid. They probably
Speaker 2: are because they make it twenty five thousand dollars. But
Speaker 2: the teachers aren't saying give them an increase. They say,
Speaker 2: we want an increase, and I'll give them an increase too.
Speaker 4: So they are including I'm a little confused that the
Speaker 4: para professionals they're not working full time for that low
Speaker 4: amount of They yes, they are, I mean there's a
Speaker 4: paraprofliction part time teachers.
Speaker 2: No, well, in some cases they could be. No, they're
Speaker 2: not part time teachers. There's somebody who maybe doesn't have
Speaker 2: a teaching certificate, has graduated from college and is going
Speaker 2: to get another degree or whatever, or maybe they're maybe
Speaker 2: it's difficult. There's there's a lot of school systems that
Speaker 2: there are no teacher openings because it's being a teacher
Speaker 2: is a good job. It's an important job, and it's
Speaker 2: a job to which a lot of people ascribe. Nobody
Speaker 2: is dragging teachers, kicking and streaming screening into buildings to
Speaker 2: become teachers. They all have chosen that career as a vocation.
Speaker 2: And if they can't, if they're really that unsatisfied with
Speaker 2: the with the salary they meet, if it's salary that's
Speaker 2: driving them, they need to think about maybe a different profession.
Speaker 2: But most of them want to work there, and most
Speaker 2: of them, you know, a looking for a pay raise.
Speaker 2: Everyone wants to see a pay raise. Obviously with inflation,
Speaker 2: we understand that, but at what cost? And why is
Speaker 2: it that parents are basically told, hey, you've got to
Speaker 2: take care of your kids next week as we're going
Speaker 2: on strike, and the parents are saying, wait a sec,
Speaker 2: I got a job. My husband, you know, the the
Speaker 2: wife's got a job, the husband's got a job. We
Speaker 2: need two salaries in order to pay the real estate
Speaker 2: taxes in this community, they kind of caught between the
Speaker 2: rock and hard place, John, is what I'm saying. The
Speaker 2: victims here really are the parents and the guardians of
Speaker 2: the students. Who who when the teachers are on strike,
Speaker 2: who takes care of the students?
Speaker 4: Exactly that. I mean a couple of months ago, I've
Speaker 4: met two different fifth grade teachers. One of these is
Speaker 4: really undisturbing. It's a little bit off the subject, but
Speaker 4: still she was teaching a fifth grade teacher as students
Speaker 4: and there's a girl in her class identify as a
Speaker 4: cat and there's nothing. She went to the prisconal said,
Speaker 4: I want to call the girl's mother. The prison wouldn't
Speaker 4: let her call the mother. And another teacher had the
Speaker 4: same type of problem.
Speaker 2: That's a whole different John.
Speaker 4: That is a little long, I know, but what they're
Speaker 4: teaching the kids and now they're on strike on top
Speaker 4: of that kind of thing, right.
Speaker 2: And those decisions, those decisions John, okay, are probably imposed
Speaker 2: by the political leaders in different communities and be the
Speaker 2: school administrators and the teaching.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is. It's coming down from the states in
Speaker 4: the government.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying is you can't blame a teacher for that.
Speaker 2: If a teacher is called. Just as if you're in
Speaker 2: the military and uh and they tell you, hey, you
Speaker 2: got to uh, you know, go to the mess hall
Speaker 2: and you're on miss hall duty, or you got to
Speaker 2: go fix that truck that's that's not working. Or worst
Speaker 2: case scenario, you're in a combat zone and they say, hey,
Speaker 2: get your machine, get your gun, we got to take
Speaker 2: that hill over there. It's kind of what you sign
Speaker 2: up for. You got to do it or you're going
Speaker 2: to be in You're going to be in problem. I mean,
Speaker 2: if all of a sudden a teacher decides to do something,
Speaker 2: you're taking me down a rabbit hole. I don't want
Speaker 2: to go here, John, I just want to stay.
Speaker 4: On the get I'm saying, is someone told me to
Speaker 4: tell you to that, then I would leave teachers bottom line.
Speaker 4: I don't know, Dad, it's a financial issue, but uh,
Speaker 4: it's especially in these hot economic times going on a
Speaker 4: strike and you're going to strike against.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean it's illegal, Okay, it's it's illegal, And
Speaker 2: when it's all said and done, the union will pay
Speaker 2: some fines. But I think the fines that they charge
Speaker 2: the union should be a little bit more costly, and
Speaker 2: they should make it clear that we're not going to
Speaker 2: abate those fines. If you stay out for a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks like they did in Newton, all those fines
Speaker 2: are going to be collected. You know, you know, we're
Speaker 2: playing for real here. We're the only and if if
Speaker 2: the teachers union stays out, at some point they have
Speaker 2: to consider saying to the leaders of the teachers' union,
Speaker 2: you've got to tell these teachers to go back to Striker.
Speaker 2: You're going to be in contempt of court. And you
Speaker 2: know what the what the implications of that are, John,
Speaker 2: I got to run.
Speaker 4: Thank you much, take it, thank you.
Speaker 2: Let me keep going here. I want to try to
Speaker 2: get as many folks in as I can. Love to
Speaker 2: hear from you. If you're up in a Beverly glocester
Speaker 2: or marblehead, and if you're courageous and you're afraid people
Speaker 2: won't recognize your voice. Next up is Beatrice in Bridgewater.
Speaker 2: Beatrice in Bridgewater, You're next on Nightside.
Speaker 6: Welcome, Welcome, thank you. I have a different perspective because
Speaker 6: I used to work in the main office in a
Speaker 6: regional school, and I know that every year the schools
Speaker 6: would take it more and more special needs students because
Speaker 6: the state pays the more to take those students, and
Speaker 6: those are the students that the para professionals are with
Speaker 6: every day. The para professionals are working with students with
Speaker 6: special needs, with behavior problems, and I will tell you
Speaker 6: they do not get enough money.
Speaker 2: But I'm not going to disagree with you on that right.
Speaker 6: But I'm going to tell you something. I worked twenty
Speaker 6: two years in the private sector, and I have a
Speaker 6: pension from that job. I worked eleven years in the
Speaker 6: school system, and my pension from there for half the
Speaker 6: time is more than twice what it is from the
Speaker 6: private sector. So there are a lot of benefits. But
Speaker 6: us administrations of the school take more and more of
Speaker 6: these children with problems, and the prayer professionals are with them,
Speaker 6: and they do not get enough pay. Now, we had
Speaker 6: one student at our school who was in a wheelchair,
Speaker 6: who could not even feed himself, and he had a
Speaker 6: para professional with him from the time he came into
Speaker 6: that school until he got on his van to leave.
Speaker 6: And that's all she did all day was with this
Speaker 6: one student.
Speaker 2: And guess what those let's let's I just want to
Speaker 2: keep the focus clearly here. First of all, interesting points
Speaker 2: you made about your pension, You're right there. You worked
Speaker 2: in the private sector a long time ago. If you've
Speaker 2: got a pension, because pensions have been eliminated in the
Speaker 2: private sector. Public pensions are different stories. Those are are very.
Speaker 6: Very generous, very lucrative.
Speaker 2: Very well, I'll say generous. You say lucrative. Okay, fair enough,
Speaker 2: you say tomato. I'll say to my okay, however, I
Speaker 2: want to see that child who has special needs. I
Speaker 2: want him to him or her to be taken care of,
Speaker 2: and I want them to be able to be mainstreamed
Speaker 2: if possible. I know what the lingo is, and I
Speaker 2: get all of that, and God forbid that your family
Speaker 2: or my family would have to deal with a child
Speaker 2: who has significant special needs. And that's sort of what
Speaker 2: we do as a society. It's almost like an insurance contract.
Speaker 2: It's like we say, Okay, everybody's going to pay a
Speaker 2: little more in their taxes and we will provide what
Speaker 2: the best we can as a society for people who
Speaker 2: really need some help. No one, no one objects to that, okay.
Speaker 2: And if the para professionals are not being treated well enough,
Speaker 2: compensated well enough, let's increase their salaries. But what bothers
Speaker 2: me is that the teachers' unions in Massachusetts, who are
Speaker 2: making pretty good money if you go to this Department
Speaker 2: of Education website.
Speaker 6: Most oh, I heard you say that, and I agree
Speaker 6: the teacher money paraprofessionals, right.
Speaker 2: But what I'm saying is the teachers' union basically around
Speaker 2: on strike, they ask the kids to show up outside
Speaker 2: at the rallies, which I don't think is important. That
Speaker 2: puts the child of the student in a very awkward
Speaker 2: position because that no child is going to have the
Speaker 2: backbone to say, gee, I think you're asking me something
Speaker 2: which is inappropriate. But they love to have the students.
Speaker 2: We're doing it for the students, and the kids are
Speaker 2: out there because they have a day offer school and
Speaker 2: they get to make some signs and all of that.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of things about it which bothered me.
Speaker 2: It's as simple as that. And I also think that
Speaker 2: that if teachers' unions are not doing a good enough
Speaker 2: job negotating for the teachers, then at that point, let's
Speaker 2: get the legislature involved and let's let's pass some piece
Speaker 2: of legislation which requires the cities and towns to go
Speaker 2: ahead and charge people more money. I mean, the disruption
Speaker 2: that's going to occur in these three communities potentially is unfair.
Speaker 2: It's unfair to the parents who basically build their lives
Speaker 2: around the idea that kids are going to be in school. Beatrice,
Speaker 2: I'm past my break.
Speaker 6: I hate Okay, I just wanted to give you a
Speaker 6: different point of view. Because they need more para professionals,
Speaker 6: and they need the para professionals need more money.
Speaker 2: I agree with you, and I think that the teachers
Speaker 2: should basically say, hey, look we're doing pretty well. If
Speaker 2: there is some extra money, let's spread them amongst the
Speaker 2: para professionals.
Speaker 6: Exactly.
Speaker 2: Thank you, great night. Take a very quick break. I
Speaker 2: got three calls. Some of you are a little late here,
Speaker 2: but I'm going to try to get all of you in.
Speaker 2: So Louis, Susan and Jamie work with me here. I'll
Speaker 2: get you all in. I don't think we're going to
Speaker 2: have time for any other calls, so we're going to
Speaker 2: switch topics at ten o'clock. You should have called earlier.
Speaker 2: Coming back on night.
Speaker 1: Side now back to Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Okay, going to try to get everybody in here. Susan
Speaker 2: and Hingham Susan next on Nightsiger right.
Speaker 5: Ahead, Hey Dan, just wanted to point something out.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 5: You gotta remember teachers only work one hundred and eighty
Speaker 5: two days in a year, and if you're making eighty
Speaker 5: five thousand a year, you're making four hundred and sixty.
Speaker 3: Dollars a day. You've got right.
Speaker 5: But all these vacations.
Speaker 2: No, no, in fairness to the teachers. And I want
Speaker 2: to be fear to the teachers. I'm being pretty critical.
Speaker 2: I think the point you make is a good one.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, they do spend some time
Speaker 2: I'm sure of getting ready for the school year during
Speaker 2: the summer and all of that. So you know, I
Speaker 2: mean again, it's yeah, did they they chose this profession.
Speaker 2: That's they chose this profession. You know. I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I'm agreeing with you. I'm saying, but I don't want
Speaker 2: to beat them over the head with It's what I'm
Speaker 2: trying to say.
Speaker 5: No, you have to beat them over the head because
Speaker 5: they shouldn't no nothing, they shouldn't, like you said, they
Speaker 5: shouldn't be out of school for any reason at all,
Speaker 5: And they still get paid. Even though they're on strike,
Speaker 5: they still get paid and they're not working. If even if,
Speaker 5: even if they didn't strike and they didn't have a
Speaker 5: contract and they're still negotiating, they still maintain their benefits
Speaker 5: and everything from the contract that expired. It's just you know, continues, Okay,
Speaker 5: So there's no reason for them to strike. They're still
Speaker 5: getting paid. It doesn't like expiring.
Speaker 3: By the way, you don't get a paycheck anymore.
Speaker 5: No, no idea came on them for disrupting a child's education.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm sorry, but they're in it for the money.
Speaker 5: They're greedy grabbers, I can say it. They're greedy grabbers
Speaker 5: because it's all on the tax payers. And their pensions
Speaker 5: end up being eighty percent of the last three years.
Speaker 2: They're bigger the teacher pensions. It's a good pension. It's
Speaker 2: a good pension. Susan, thank you. I'm gonna jammy a
Speaker 2: little bit on time here because they got two other
Speaker 2: folks to get in as well. But appreciate your call,
Speaker 2: you know that. Keep calling the program. You made a
Speaker 2: lot of sense, you too. Take it easy. Let me
Speaker 2: go next to Jamie in Chilms for Jamie. Your next
Speaker 2: one nights.
Speaker 7: I go right ahead, Kay Dan Jas listen every night
Speaker 7: every night, but I don't always call it. The only
Speaker 7: other time I called was on your most recent Mother's
Speaker 7: Day episode. I wanted to give a shout out to
Speaker 7: my grandmother.
Speaker 2: Well, what's your thought on this, Jamie.
Speaker 7: I feel very frankly that I totally understand the conservative
Speaker 7: point of view here, but I just want to bring
Speaker 7: up the fact that the whole idea of the Americans
Speaker 7: with Disabilities Act was brought about by Republicans and is
Speaker 7: rooted so much more deeper throughout disability history. And so
Speaker 7: I think tonight brings up your two guest begers thing
Speaker 7: up a cool just the point where we have this
Speaker 7: idea of military protections and protecting our veterans, and so basically,
Speaker 7: how do we bring that about out with the contractors
Speaker 7: and the extra services such as the para professionals who
Speaker 7: are bringing upon these extra charges, and then how are
Speaker 7: they fitting all into this idea of people who don't
Speaker 7: live here versus who's in charge with the administration. How
Speaker 7: is that structured and the pushing pull of the union.
Speaker 7: Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Well, the kids you're getting in a couple of other
Speaker 2: issues here, in terms of the students who have come
Speaker 2: here with families, migrant families, and they're here and they
Speaker 2: are going to be educated. I just want to focus
Speaker 2: on the union goes out on strike, they encourage the
Speaker 2: kids to walk the picket line with them or here
Speaker 2: at demonstrations, and the people who are really feeling the
Speaker 2: burden of the parents who are trying to work in
Speaker 2: order to make enough money so they can pay all
Speaker 2: their taxes. And now what do they do with their
Speaker 2: kids when the strike is on. I mean, they weren't
Speaker 2: told three weeks ago we're going to have a strike
Speaker 2: in early.
Speaker 7: November, right, And so what is the question though, is
Speaker 7: are you saying why did this come about?
Speaker 3: I guess so.
Speaker 7: I'm just reminding everyone because I think it's a uniting
Speaker 7: issue that comes brings in all those other points together
Speaker 7: where in between.
Speaker 2: I do understand the point you made, Jamie, and I'm
Speaker 2: very happy that you called. And uh, and I want
Speaker 2: you to call more often. Okay, but I gotta excuse me,
Speaker 2: I gotta jump to one more call here before the
Speaker 2: hour's up. Yeah, no, thank you, Thanks Jamie, talk to
Speaker 2: you soon. Lewis and Wilmington. Lewis, You're going to wrap
Speaker 2: the hour first, go right ahead, Lewis.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I blame the town managers from these communities that
Speaker 8: has gone this flop, and so at this point later
Speaker 8: on the communities need to remember these people that are
Speaker 8: running their town business are failing at this. The other
Speaker 8: thing is the teachers union shouldn't plan to strike before
Speaker 8: school started, not in the middle of the season now
Speaker 8: which there is a law, so it needs. Union leaders
Speaker 8: need to be arrested or order your people back to work.
Speaker 8: You did this at the wrong time and this classes
Speaker 8: must continue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree with that point. I think I
Speaker 2: don't think they need to be arrested, but I think
Speaker 2: they get called into court and they're told, hey, look,
Speaker 2: you're the leaders of this. You have to tell your
Speaker 2: union members to go back to work, because we're not
Speaker 2: only going to find the union, but we're going to
Speaker 2: hold you in contempt of court if you're if your
Speaker 2: membership doesn't. This is such an incredible look Lewis. Last
Speaker 2: winter in Newton, last January, I think the teachers union
Speaker 2: was out on strike for like fourteen days, nearly three weeks.
Speaker 2: I mean in the middle of the school year. That
Speaker 2: was horrific. The Teachers' Union is basically flexing their muscle politically.
Speaker 2: They flexed it politically on getting rid of the mcast test,
Speaker 2: and we're going to see more of this and affecting
Speaker 2: more communities unless some judge or some group steps up
Speaker 2: and says this cannot stand. If you want it, if
Speaker 2: you want to walk out, if you want to threaten
Speaker 2: to strike, do it in August, do it in July
Speaker 2: on your own time. Don't do it in the time
Speaker 2: of the students. I think you made a great point.
Speaker 5: Okay, good night now, Kevin, great.
Speaker 2: Knight, Lewis, appreciate the call. Okay, well, the folks who
Speaker 2: are just calling now. Unfortunately we're out of time. So
Speaker 2: when we get back, we're going to talk about the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party. Did they need to regroup after this horrific
Speaker 2: political result on Tuesday night? From the Democratics. From the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party's point of view, they lost the Senate, they
Speaker 2: lost the White House, and I think they will continue
Speaker 2: to be in the minority in the House of Representatives.
Speaker 2: And Seth Moulton, a cognitis from Massachusetts, made some comments
Speaker 2: in The New York Times, which has generated a lot
Speaker 2: of controversy. We hope to have Seth Moulton on with
Speaker 2: us sometime next week. But I think the point that
Speaker 2: he made from a political point of view, although he's
Speaker 2: taking a lot of heat for tonight, makes a lot
Speaker 2: of sense. I'll explain why right after the ten o'clock
Speaker 2: News