Tentative Agreement Ratified by WTA, Westwood School Committee

Westwood School Committee and Westwood Teachers Association (WTA) have come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement extending into FY 2026, which gives WTA its requested pay increases without further reduction to staff positions. 

After rejecting contract offers in January and March, WTA took a vote on March 8th in favor of ratifying School Committee's latest March contract offer. 

School Committee itself ratified the agreement at its meeting on Thursday night, March 9th, 2023.

At Thursday night's meeting, Superintendent Emily Parks gave a presentation on the revised proposed School Department budget for FY 2024, which includes unexpected, hefty funding from the state. 

The proposed state funding, through not finally voted upon at the state, is expected to pass. This has allowed School Committee to offer WTA a new collective bargaining agreement in March which includes pay raises that WTA has been seeking, without further reductions to staff positions, beyond what was initially proposed in January.

Following the presentation, a public hearing was quickly opened and quickly closed, with no public comment on the record. 

At the end of School Committee's meeting, the committee similarly quickly took a vote to approve the new collective bargaining agreement.

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