To the editor:

As a retired physics teacher at Wellesley High School and member of the Wellesley Educators Association, I would like to point out what initially attracted me to leave a position at nearby school system to work here in Wellesley. At my previous school, the teachers’ union and the School Committee were continually in dispute over contracts, meaning the teachers often worked for years without a contract. The result was a breakdown in trust between the School Committee and administrators, on one hand, and the teachers, on the other. Trust, once weakened or lost, can be difficult to rebuild. When I came to Wellesley, the situation appeared to be quite different. The relations between administrators and teachers were much healthier, to the extent that the principal at the time was willing to admit to mistakes and promised to do better. One can ask for no more.

It, therefore, deeply saddens me to see the situation here begin to deteriorate in the same direction. The School Committee needs to take the lead in reversing this decline in trust by not just saying that they value the contributions of all educators, but by clearly showing they do by providing all educators a living wage, adequate support, due process, and time to take care of their own families.

I support the WEA’s “Fair Five.”

Brian Finn
Wellesley resident