“The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday sided with the Boston Teachers Union in a five-year-old contract dispute, in which the union contends the Boston School Committee failed to hire 18 substitutes to fill in for absent classroom instructional aides.
The decision overturned a lower court ruling that favored the School Committee, and upholds a prior arbitrator’s award the union had secured. The ruling now requires Boston Public Schools to hire and maintain the 18 paraprofessional substitutes, a requirement under the union contract.
Erik Berg, the union’s president, applauded the decision in a statement, noting it “reaffirms a union’s right to pursue arbitration awards and seek recourse from the courts if employers refuse to fulfill the terms of a contract.”
“The district’s prior failure to maintain 18 cluster paraprofessional substitutes not only violated the terms of our current union contract, but also left educators scrambling to cover for absent staff,” Berg said. “When positions are left vacant, it throws schools into disarray and takes vital resources away from students with special education” and multilingual learners.”‘