Teacher Negotiations

The teacher negotiations team is off to a great start. AFT Northeast Regional Director, Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins is going to be working with our team. Stephanie is a licensed attorney with many years of experience in contract negotiations and I am excited that she’ll be assisting us. In addition to Stephanie, we’ve also added two new members to the team, Patty Gagnon from Sunset Heights and Jocelyn Kudla from Charlotte Avenue. Besides our new members, we also have several returning members. Here is the teacher negotiations team:

NTU Teacher Negotiations Team: 2024

Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins Esq.

AFT Northeast Regional Director

Susan Chmura

Nashua High School North

Patricia Gagnon

Sunset Heights Elementary

Ken Heaton

Nashua High School South

Gary Hoffman

Fairgrounds Middle School

Jocelyn Kudla

Charlotte Avenue Elementary

Linda Lennon

McCarthy Middle School

Alyson Miller

Nashua High School North

Dave Varano

Birch Hill Elementary

Our next negotiations planning session is September 12th. To assist the team, I am asking all NTU members covered under the Teachers’ Contract to complete this survey by September 10th:

Teacher Negotiations Survey

I will be updating the membership on Paraeducator and ASLI negotiations later this month. If you would like to help with contract negotiations for any of our contracts, please feel free to reach out to me directly via email.

Stipend Committee Survey

If you are an advisor for a club, group or program sponsored by the Nashua School District, please fill out this survey. The stipend committee is gathering data for future negotiations, proposals and discussion with the Nashua School District. Do not take this survey if you are an athletic coach as those positions are no longer in the NTU contract. 

Advisor Survey 

Primary Election Day – Professional Development 

I am fielding questions about September 10th, the Primary Election Day here in Nashua. September 10th is scheduled on the calendar as a PD day for all four units currently covered by NTU contracts. There is an MOU that was approved on May 28th by the Board of Education. It is just like the one that was approved last year and the year before. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Special Educators

I recently expressed to Superintendent Andrade my desire to make some changes to the way the Special Education Task Force currently operates. The task force was created as a resolution to a grievance that Elementary School Grievance Chair Patty Gagnon and I filed on behalf of special educators at the elementary and middle school levels back in 2022. However, the task force has not accomplished the goal it was originally intended: to improve the working conditions of our special educators. Therefore, I’m holding a brainstorming session for any special educator who would be willing to help me come up with ideas to make the task force more effective. I’m scheduling the meeting for 4 pm on Friday, September 13th at the NTU Office at 7C Taggart Drive. Since it is a Friday, I will provide refreshments.