associations and the MTA,” Madeloni said. “They will
bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to a board
that has a huge impact on the lives of educators. I urge
you to take the time right now to vote.”
Naughton, who taught in the Millis Public
Schools for 36 years before retiring, is running for
re-election. He served as president of the Millis
Teachers Association for 19 years and has been
Executive Committee. He has
been a member of the MTRB
since 2011 and was chosen by
his fellow MTRB members
to serve as a trustee on the
Pension Reserves Investment
Management Board.
At the NEA Representative
Assembly in July, Naughton
proposed an amendment
requiring the NEA to oppose
efforts to replace defined-benefit retirement plans
with mandatory defined-contribution plans, which
shift investment risk and fees to individual teachers.
The amendment passed overwhelmingly.
“I am only too aware of the unfair attacks on
teacher benefits that have been taking place across the
country — including right here in Massachusetts,”
Naughton said. “I am committed not only to defending
our existing defined-benefit retirement system, but
Dennis Naughton
T wo MTA-endorsed candidates — Jacqueline Gorrie and Dennis Naughton — are running for seats on the Massachusetts Teachers’
Retirement Board.
Two of the board’s seven members are elected to
four-year terms by the members of the Massachusetts
Teachers’ Retirement System. There are three
candidates for the two seats.
Voting is now underway. Ballots — which have
been mailed to active and retired teachers who are
members of the MTRS — should be postmarked
no later than Dec. 5 to ensure they will be received
and counted on time. Anyone who has not yet
returned a ballot is reminded that the deadline is fast
approaching. The MTRS is also permitting electronic
voting. MTRS members may vote online by entering
the unique code that arrives with each mailed ballot.
Instructions for online voting are included in the
mailing.
The MTRS, the largest of the Commonwealth’s
104 contributory retirement systems, provides
retirement, disability and survivor benefits to
Massachusetts teachers, administrators and their
families.
MTA President Barbara Madeloni said it is crucial
that MTA members who are eligible to participate
in the election do so. Gorrie and Naughton, both
MTA/NEA Retired members, “have shown decades
of commitment to public education, their local
also to increasing the dollar amount upon which our
cost-of-living adjustment is calculated.”
Gorrie has been a member of both the MTA
Board of Directors and the NEA Board, and she has
served on and chaired numerous committees at both
levels. She is currently a Statewide Retired District
Director on the MTA Board.
Gorrie retired after 36 years of teaching
kindergarten in Taunton. During that time, she
served the Taunton Education Association in
numerous capacities, including 10 years as
president and many years
as vice president/grievance
chair, secretary and building
representative. She served on
many negotiating teams and
currently serves as the retired
member on the TEA Executive
Board.
Gorrie said she would be
honored to represent her fellow
educators on the MTRB.
“Educators must define the future of our
profession,” she said. “Working to protect our
pensions and benefits only reinforces my belief
that educators should feel supported as they enter
our profession, be respected as they grow in our
profession, and be treated with dignity as they retire
from our profession.”
Jacqueline Gorrie
Message to legislators: Put educators on the BESE
By Scott McLennan
C arrying petitions signed by nearly 5,000 people who support adding educators to the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education, Arlington Public Schools speech and
language specialist Mary Cummings told legislators
that it’s difficult to fully understand the profession of
teaching “unless you’re in it.”
“Our public schools are the best in the country,”
and that’s because of the efforts of public school
educators, Cummings said as she testified before the
Joint Committee on Education on Sept. 9 in support
of legislation that would designate two seats on the
BESE for educators.
House 375 and Senate 269 stipulate that the
governor would choose one BESE member from a
list of three candidates submitted by the MTA and
one from a list provided by the American Federation
of Teachers Massachusetts.
Under current law, actively employed educators
are prohibited from serving on the 11-member board,
which sets policy for all public schools in the state.
But the appointed board does have seats designated
especially to represent other interests, such as
parents, students and business.
Responding to questions from legislators after
testifying in support of the bills, MTA President
Barbara Madeloni told the Education Committee
that the existing BESE seat designated for a labor
representative is not the same as having educators on
the board.
“The labor designee looks at broad issues of
working conditions, and that’s different from what
a teacher or a paraprofessional will be looking at,”
Madeloni said. “An educator will look at what
regulations mean to the 5-year-olds or to the 15-year-
Representative Sean Garballey (D-Arlington),
lead sponsor of the House version of the bill, recalled
that when he was a school committee member, he
considered it vital to know the views of classroom
teachers when the committee was debating policy.
“It’s a perspective missing on the board ... and
it’s important to add that perspective,” Garballey
said. “It’s not about creating tension, but to
strengthen the board.”
Senator Ken Donnelly (D-Arlington), sponsor
of the Senate bill, said that a board with so much
influence over a profession needs input from those in
the field.
“I was a firefighter, and a lot of people know
about fires. But not many people have been in a
burning building,” he said.
MTA leaders, members and staff also testified
in support of a bill to shift the cost of national
background checks from employees to the state
and a bill that would reverse the course of a 2014
Supreme Judicial Court ruling that drastically alters
the application of “just cause” in terminations of
educators with Professional Teacher Status.
Speaking in support of Senate Bill 350, which
would restore the ability of an arbitrator to determine
whether an educator was justly terminated for a job
infraction, Madeloni said that the SJC disregarded
the Legislature’s intent, which was spelled out in the
Education Reform Act of 1993.
“This is a dangerous decision that overturned 20
years of case history and now leaves educators’ right
to a fair dismissal process in shambles,” she said.
Madeloni also spoke in support of House Bill
494, which would make the state responsible for the
costs of national background checks for all current
and future public school employees with any direct
access to students. Licensed educators who have
already paid would be able to deduct the $55 fee
from their next license renewal, and non-licensed
employees would be reimbursed the $35 fee if they
have already paid it.
‘It’s a perspective missing on
the board ... and it’s important
to add that perspective. It’s
not about creating tension, but
to strengthen the board.’
— Sean Garballey
State Representative
