At a Wellesley Educators Association (WEA) meeting on Sept. 16, the union renewed contract negotiations with the School Committee’s bargaining team, advocating for a proposal that included a request to restructure the elementary school schedule to increase instructional time on Wednesdays and increase teachers’ planning time, developmentally appropriate class times, and expanded learning opportunities for elementary students.

WEA contracts expired as of June 30, 2026. The union is currently negotiating with the Wellesley School Committee over wages, working conditions, elementary schedules and other issues affecting educators and educational support professionals across Wellesley Public Schools.

We asked to sit in on the meeting, but were told by School Committee Chair Niki Ofenloch that previously agreed-upon ground rules stated that such a request had to be vetted by both the WEA and the School Committee. The WEA said they were fine with media sitting in, but the School Committee cited short notice and a lack of time to discuss such a request among the bargaining team. Two WEA-appointed community members serving as WEA silent bargaining representatives also were not permitted to attend the meeting, a move the WEA said did nothing to “increase transparency.”

One of the silent bargaining representatives was Christina Horner, a Wellesley resident and former School Committee member, who commented, “How can we profess a commitment to community engagement and intentionally practice exclusionary practices that are designed to silence the voices of our educators, and lack both honesty, transparency, showing a blatant disregard to the stakeholders of this community?”

The other representative was a Brockton Public School teacher, who echoed Horner’s disappointment.

In an email to us, Niki Ofenloch said, “the School Committee’s position is that inclusion of members of the public was not agreed upon when the parties established the ground rules for the current round of negotiations in November. We do not agree with the WEA’s position that the current negotiations are open bargaining. We also reject the WEA’s alternative position that members of the public are somehow part of the WEA’s bargaining team.”

The School Committee has opened a collective bargaining public website , to share information related to the status of negotiations. The site includes an updated global settlement proposal that the School Committee shared with the WEA during the Sept. 16 bargaining session.

Separately, the Wellesley School Committee met for a retreat on Sept. 11. An Executive Session portion of the retreat was set aside “to hear and discuss a complaint brought against superintendent; and to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel regarding the Superintendent’s contract.”

Executive Session portions of meetings aren’t open to the general public and aren’t live streamed or recorded for public viewing. Minutes of such meetings are eventually released, often with redactions.

We don’t know what the complaint part was all about, but there are any number of parties who might file such a complaint. The WEA has had a longtime deeply adversarial relationship with the superintendent—nearly three years ago, during the previous round of Collective Bargaining for the 2023-2026, WEA membership voted 94% “No Confidence” in Lussier. In addition, some community members have expressed deep concern about issues such as the high rate of families that opt to send their kids to private schools, and a continued slip in national rankings for the high school.

The proposed contract part of Executive Session is straightforward enough. The School Committee on Sept. 22 will either vote up or down the contract negotiated with the superintendent. Included is an extension of Lussier’s contract though SY2029, at an annual salary of $300K+, with provisions for cost-of-living updates. The contract also lays out time off, benefits, duties, what-if scenarios (what if Lussier resigns? What about termination?), and more.

Here’s a link to the Sept. 22, 6:30pm agenda for the School Committee remote online meeting. The agenda includes a live stream link.

MORE: Wellesley School Committee votes 3-2 in June 2026 to enter negotiations for extending Supt. Lussier’s contract