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Newton parents file class-action lawsuit, seek damages for teachers’ strike
Some Newton parents say they deserve payments to make up for the learning loss, emotional distress, and out-of-pocket costs caused by the strike.
Parents of some Newton students are seeking damages from the Newton Teachers Association in a class-action lawsuit stemming from the union’s 11-day strike that ended earlier this month.
Newton educators staged one of the longest teachers’ strikes the state had seen in decades, fighting for better compensation, more mental health resources, family leave, and more. The NTA eventually secured a new contract with many of the concessions that teachers were hoping that district officials would include.
Students returned to classes on Feb. 5, and February break was canceled to make up for the school closures.
Public employees, including teachers, are prohibited from striking under state law. Legislation that would change the law has been filed, only to be met with stiff opposition. It stalled again this week. The NTA racked up $625,000 in court-issued fines during the strike.
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In the recent lawsuit, parents allege the NTA “knowingly, willfully, intentionally” chose to break the law, causing “immense” damage to students and their families.
“The families affected by these illegal strikes have suffered real, tangible losses. Monetary damages are not just compensation; they’re a recognition of the pain and disruption inflicted upon them. It’s about restoring what was unjustly taken from these communities,” Daniel Suhr, an attorney representing the parents, said in a statement.
In the lawsuit, the Newton parents and attorneys argue that the damages inflicted on students and their families were “key to the strike.” The NTA’s strategy was to wait for the school committee to “cave” once the community could no longer tolerate the inconveniences caused by the strike, they wrote.
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“These tortious acts created real damage: learning loss for the students, emotional distress for the students and parents, and out-of-pocket costs for parents like tutors, camps, day care, babysitters, burned vacation and sick days, and missed work shifts,” the lawsuit states.
In a recent op-ed for The Boston Globe, NTA President Michael Zilles and member Ryan Normandin defended the union’s actions. The Newton School Committee failed to “meaningfully engage” in negotiations for 16 months, and did not negotiate in good faith when they did come to the table, Zilles and Normandin wrote.
The duo praised the new contract for the protections it places on prep time for teachers, its “excellent parental leave language,” how it ensures class sizes remain manageable, and its ability to increase the number of social workers in schools.
“Without this act of civil disobedience, we could not have won the transformational contract that we settled,” Zilles and Normandin wrote.
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