The Fall River Educators Association claims a tentative agreement, but the school board says no deal is finalized yet
FREA President Keith Michon mentioned that they had a meeting on December 20, where they thought they reached an agreement. This deal would mean better salaries and benefits for teachers, which sounds great, right? But it seems like only a part of the educators, about 1,000, are covered under this agreement.
The other groups, like nurses and support staff, are still in negotiations. Michon explained that while they have a tentative agreement, it still needs to be approved by a vote from both the union members and the School Committee.
At a recent meeting, School Committee member Kevin Aguiar expressed confusion over the union’s social media posts celebrating a victory. He pointed out that he didn’t recall voting on any tentative agreement. The city attorney confirmed that there are no finalized agreements yet.
As it stands, the School Committee can still make changes to the agreements, so they’re not locked into anything just yet. There’s a lot of chatter about how long these negotiations are taking, and it’s been almost a year now.
The FREA is planning a “speak out” event soon to discuss concerns about the ongoing negotiations for the other groups. It looks like this saga isn’t over just yet!
