The Melrose Messenger

City Council and School Committee Look Toward Decisions and Challenges in New Year

By Ellen Putnam

This week, the City Council re-elected Leila Migliorelli as City Council President, while School Committee member Dorie Withey took over as Chair of the School Committee. This week’s meetings of these elected bodies highlighted some of the decisions and challenges they will face in the coming months.

In December, the School Committee voted to officially retire the Beebe School building and transfer it to the City Council for general use. The Beebe School was closed as an elementary school in 2003 and currently houses the Melrose Public Library during the library construction project. The City proposes to demolish the building and use the site as the location for the new police station, which will be part of the $130 million public safety buildings project that Melrose voters approved a debt exclusion for in November 2023.

The Appropriations and Oversight Committee of the City Council will be voting in an upcoming meeting to transfer the Beebe School property to the Mayor for City use. A number of abutters to the Beebe School property were present at this week's meeting. One abutter spoke during the public comment period, asking the City Council to evaluate whether the current plans, which he called a “superstructure,” were really appropriate for the city’s needs and the space.

After the library moves out of the Beebe School, the City plans to demolish the building and build a new police station on the site. These plans will be taken up by the City Council in coming weeks.

In addition to the public safety buildings project, the City Council will be holding hearings over the next few months in which they decide on the City’s budget for fiscal year 2026 (FY26), which begins in July. The Mayor’s Office has also published a survey (which can be found here or in paper copy at City Hall or in the Milano Center) soliciting residents’ feedback on spending and program priorities for next year.

In coming months the School Committee, led by Chair Withey, will be facing the dual challenges of setting a budget for the Melrose Public Schools (MPS) and negotiating new contracts with Units A and C of the Melrose Education Association (MEA) (Teachers and Paraprofessionals, respectively), which will expire in June of this year.

In recent years, a number of costs within the MPS budget have risen faster than the 2.5% annual property tax increase allowed under Proposition 2½, meaning that level funding would result in service cuts. Last June, Melrose voters rejected an override proposal that would have raised property tax revenue by $7.7 million and fully funded Interim Superintendent John Macero’s proposed needs-based budget. With those additional funds unavailable, the School Committee laid off 13 educators and transferred or reduced other positions. This year’s budget prioritized classroom teaching positions, so a number of support staff positions, including curriculum directors, administrators, coaches, and paraprofessionals, were cut.

MPS is already anticipating an even tighter budget for FY26. In the fall, Mayor Jen Grigoraitis predicted that “based on a lot of incomplete information, we are anticipating about a $1.9 million shortfall” to maintain this year’s level of services with the revenue the City is currently projecting for FY26. And at this week’s meeting, Superintendent Adam Deleidi shared that, based on his own calculations, MPS “will need to make additional difficult decisions that add up to a rough estimate of between 2 and 4 million dollars” in budget cuts relative to this year’s level of services.

Presenting the findings from his entry plan to the School Committee this week, Superintendent Deleidi concluded, “The budget has negatively impacted every area of the district. The Melrose Public Schools continues to ‘do a lot with a little.’ But with the continued rising costs of so many aspects of education, we are faced with a challenging future.” Asked directly how budget cuts are likely to impact students’ education, Deleidi elaborated, “The kids are going to be fine, for the most part. I do worry about the marginalized populations who can slip through the cracks. I don’t think it’s going to be a massive disaster. We’re going to be alright, but alright isn’t good enough.”

Chair Withey addressed the Committee as well, sharing her own perspective on the budget season ahead. “As we look ahead into FY26 we can’t ignore the reality of our financial situation,” she said. “The failure of the override has placed a strain on our ability to fund key priorities and it’s clear that we’re going to have to make difficult choices in the coming months. And we’ll need to be honest and clear with the Melrose community about what is before us and the impact of our decisions here.”

This week’s meeting also showed signs that both the School Committee and the MEA are preparing for what could turn into a fraught contract negotiation process, although both sides expressed the hope that negotiations would remain civil.

The contracts that the School Committee and the MEA negotiated in 2023, which are expiring in June, increased salaries for Melrose teachers and paraprofessionals, but salaries in MPS are still low compared to some other districts in the area. Superintendent Deleidi noted that he has spoken with multiple teachers who said they could be paid as much as $30,000 more annually in other districts, and it is only the love of the Melrose community that keeps them here. He expressed concern that Melrose’s comparatively lower pay “puts us in a really bad situation long term. When eventually people retire, we can’t fill positions because they don’t have that love of the community” that would encourage someone to take a pay cut to work for MPS.

Teachers’ unions in many communities have focused in recent years on improving working conditions and benefits and increasing compensation for teachers as well as for paraprofessionals. Paraprofessionals are educators who are not licensed teachers but who support teachers and provide legally mandated services for students on special education plans. They are often paid significantly less than other educators. In Melrose, teachers and paraprofessionals are covered under two separate contracts, Unit A and Unit C, both of which are expiring in June.

Although teachers’ unions are prohibited by Massachusetts state law from going on strike, unions may choose to strike anyways and incur fines if a court imposes them. This fall, teachers’ unions in Marblehead, Gloucester, and Beverly went on strikes that closed schools in those districts for multiple weeks. And in 2023, when negotiations over Melrose’s current contract broke down, the MEA approved a strike, which was only averted by an agreement at the last minute.

In an indication that collective bargaining will be starting in earnest soon, the School Committee voted unanimously to retain outside counsel from the law firm Valerio Dominello & Hillman, which specializes in employment, labor, and school law. Mayor Grigoraitis noted that the City of Melrose typically does use outside counsel for contract negotiations, and the funds that will be used to retain this firm are federal ARPA funds that have been encumbered and can only be used for this purpose.

“I think we need all the expertise and insights we can get at the table,” said School Committee member Jennifer McAndrew. “It’s not because I anticipate confrontation. In fact, I am really looking forward to productive and respectful negotiations with the union.”

MEA President Leslie Means and Vice President Joellen Beaudet spoke during the public comment section of the meeting to weigh in on the School Committee’s decision to retain outside counsel. “Our union and the team that represents them is committed to productive, efficient and respectful negotiations,” they said, “and we are hopeful that if your team tonight does choose to hire additional legal counsel, you will look for an attorney and a firm who offers you a strategy that is also committed to those same values.”

Posted January 9th, 2025