Schools in Newton, Massachusetts, will be closed for a fifth day Thursday as the teacher strike continues.
The calls for a fair contract continued Wednesday as educators and their supporters returned to the picket line. Negotiations went on through the day, but Newton Public Schools announced shortly before 8 p.m. that there would not be a return to class Thursday.
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The Newton Teachers Association said progress was made Wednesday on parental leave, but members are angry to remain without a contract.
The school committee said it had agreed to talk about a four-year deal, as the union wants, instead of a three-year deal.
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"The weather hasn't stopped that spirit at all," Newton North High School teacher Maria Hegarty said earlier Wednesday. "We want to be in our classrooms more than anyone involved in this struggle."
"Strikes by teachers unions in Massachusetts are illegal," Mayor Ruthanne Fuller noted during a press conference Tuesday evening.
Negotiations got nowhere on Tuesday.
"We're very far apart," said Newton School Committee Chair Christopher Brezski.
Brezski said the committee delivered a proposal that offers competitive wages and benefits for teachers without causing layoffs.
"There's no cuts under our proposal under their proposal. If it were implemented, we would have to lay off 60 teachers next year, and we would have to lay off approximately 60 teachers over the following five years," he explained.
But union members don't buy that and said the committee's offer doesn't address the mayor sticking points on wage increases, family leave policies, and additional resources.
"Mayor Fuller and her school committee are not serious about settling this contract," said Ryan Normandin, who is negotiating on behalf of the Newton Teachers Association.
The NTA remained defiant while under mounting pressure form of court-imposed fines. They sit at $175,000 Wednesday night, with another $200,000 set to be added Thursday if no deal is reached.
"We are ready to hold the line as long as it takes," said Newton North High School Spanish teacher Ana Tellado.
Tellado is staying optimistic that the committee will bring something promising to the table before Wednesday's deadline.
"I'm hoping that they enter in dialogue because there will be no contract agreement until they start putting proposals and counter proposals. They are giving us the silent treatment," she said.
To support the teachers on strike, a delegation of clergy went to Fuller's officer Wednesday to hand her an open letter that's co-signed by many city faith leaders, the teachers' union said in a release.
In that letter, released Wednesday, 14 religious leaders called on Fuller to "release the funds necessary to adequately address the concerns raised by the Newton Teachers Association in the current negotiations."
"The public schools have long been one of Newton's treasures, and the current teacher shortages and short staffing of services for the most vulnerable of our students is at the level of crisis," the letter read.
The church leaders said they are "disturbed by language coming from the mayor's office that suggests that in making this decision, the educators do not have the best interests of Newton's students at heart."
"We pray for a speedy resolution of the situation and the end of the strike, with the understanding that the wellbeing of our public schools’ staff is inextricable from the wellbeing of the children they serve," they wrote.
If the fines have no effect by Thursday night, the judge will be holding a new hearing Friday to find another way to end the strike.
