FALL RIVER — Superintendent Maria Pontes attended the final School Committee meeting of her career on Monday, walking away with flowers and best wishes for a happy retirement. But while her work is winding down, the school district continues to have its hands full.
Monday’s meeting, held at B.M.C. Durfee High School’s auditorium, came days after a contentious superintendent selection process that saw a board member quit in disgust. And it was preceded by a rally outside the building where about 200 union teachers and staff held signs and demanded a new contract.
“We need competitive wages, that’s our biggest thing,” said Keith Michon, president of the Fall River Educators Association. “Locally, our salaries can be $10,000, $20,000 less than a nearby district where the need is not as great and the challenges not as great.”
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Fall River teachers’ union: Low pay is making it hard to hire
The teachers’ contract expires in August. Among the union’s other demands are better family leave benefits and safer working conditions; more than one teacher said mold levels at Letourneau Elementary School on Anthony Street are causing health issues.
FREA members flooded Monday’s meeting after the rally, holding signs and cheering when several teachers aired their grievances during citizens input.
The contract negotiations come as the school district has struggled to fill its ranks. The Fall River public school system has almost 250 vacant positions listed on its website, from part time custodians to a director of human resources. Of those, many are FREA jobs, including teachers.
The district has hosted multiple job fairs, buying ad space on billboards as far away as Brockton.
Several members who spoke to The Herald News and during the meeting’s citizens input portion suggested that hiring would improve if the pay were higher, in line with nearby school districts. Job listings indicate that Fall River teachers are paid an annual salary of between $48,089 and $84,113 depending on their level of experience.
“I love it here. I want to work here with this population, but I need to be able to afford it,” said Durfee Grade 9 ELA teacher Ashley Dupre, a teacher for 10 years.
She said she has heard of multiple teachers who’ve had interest in working in Fall River and been a good fit for the district, but “they go to Rock Street to HR to fill out the paperwork, they see our contract, and they say ‘Yeah, no, I can do better in New Bedford.’”
According to the New Bedford Educators Association’s contract, teachers in that city earn between $49,605 and $96,475, depending on their experience and educational level.
Amber Souza, a ninth-grade math teacher at Durfee High, is in her second year of teaching. She said her experience as a Durfee student inspired her to return to the school after studying at Bridgewater State University.
“But I also need to make sure I can pay my bills,” she said. “I’m engaged to my high school sweetheart and I want to be able to afford a place to live. … I’m 25 and I want to start that next chapter of my life.”
FREA members said the shortage of teachers in Fall River has led to unacceptable practices, like students winding up in the cafeteria if their teacher is absent with no substitute.
“I had two students come into my school today talking about how they didn’t get two-thirds of their math course for the year because they had been without a position for the majority of that time,” said Robert Gorman, a computer science teacher at Durfee.
Kaylee Kusinitz, a junior at Durfee, said, “I’ve noticed a trend among my teachers: if they don’t get their pay, they don’t stay.”
Kusinitz suggested local teachers are lured to other cities and towns with lower crime rates and smaller class sizes, whereas Fall River’s biggest incentive is having a brand new facility in Durfee High.
“Ten percent less pay speaks much louder than this new building,” she said.
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Superintendent Pontes leaves as school district remains in flux
Monday marked the first School Committee meeting for new member Collin Dias, who was sworn in last week after Sara Rodrigues abruptly resigned her position.
Rodrigues, first elected in 2021, left the board at its June 5 special meeting, where disagreement over the hiring of a new superintendent curdled into shouting and accusations of political favoritism by several members. Rodrigues cited the lack of professionalism as her reason for quitting.
Several speakers chastised the board for its behavior; more than one, including Jessica Pacheco, shamed the board for losing Rodrigues, who she described as a “strong advocate for special needs students.”
The meeting “has negatively impacted our city’s reputation and the already dampened morale of our district’s educators,” said Junia Leite. “When the leaders of this city behave as you all did, it is no wonder that we struggle to attract, let alone retain [teachers].”
A divided board chose Assistant Superintendent Tracy Curley as its next schools chief; she will take the position pending the successful negotiation of a contract.
Pontes will retire at the end of the school year. The longtime Fall River educator received bouquets of flowers from colleagues in the department and on the school board, who applauded her decades of dedication.
“Nothing that I have done has been done alone,” Pontes said. “Every single person that I worked alongside, whether it’s teachers, our custodians, our nurses, our administrators, and everyone in between, thank you for lifting me up and for supporting me along the journey. I appreciate all of you and I look forward to hearing great things about the work that you continue to do every single day.”
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
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