School Committee, TTA Contract Negotiations Set to Begin

Open collective bargaining sessions will be a first for Tewksbury

The School Committee (SC) and Tewksbury Teachers Association (TTA) met in a closed session on December 7, 2023 to hash out the rules for the contract negotiations that begin this afternoon. One of the rules agreed to was negotiating in open session, which means the public can watch the discussion and both the SC and TTA will be able to openly discuss any developments.

The rest of the agreed upon rules can be found in this PDF.

Per a letter sent out today by School Committee Chair Bridget Garabedian, negotiations will begin this afternoon, Jan. 4, at 4:30 p.m. Sessions will be recorded and streamed live when Tewksbury Telemedia is available. Today’s session will be streamed and can be found on YouTube on Tewksbury TV, Comcast Channel 22 or Verizon Channel 34. The next scheduled meeting is Jan. 23 at the same time.

As of right now, that session will not be streamed, but that may change if availability changes. 

Current TTA President Connor Bourgoin told the Carnation that he looks forward to the upcoming negotiations.

“I speak for all educators in our union when I say we are excited to reach a tentative agreement with the School Committee that reflects a fair contract for both units of the TTA and their respective students,” said Bourgoin. “I remain hopeful this will be a quick and collaborative process.”

Garabedian also included an FAQ about the collective bargaining process, which can be downloaded below.

As part of the open negotiation process, the SC and TTA are hosting web pages where interested residents may find forms, statements, current contracts and other materials related to the collective bargaining process.

Find the SC page here, and the TTA site here.