Proposed Changes to the High School Schedule

By now, staff at both high schools have likely been informed of the proposed schedule changes for next year. The most significant change is a shift from a four-block day to a five-block day. The proposal would also eliminate E-Block, increase the number of classes teachers teach each year from six to seven, and replace E-Block with a 72-minute student study hall. Under the proposal, each teacher would proctor one of these study halls during the year, either in the first or second semester.

From what I can tell, this change is largely driven by budget considerations, as the new structure would allow the District to employ fewer teachers at the high school level. I do not envy the District’s position. The State of New Hampshire has historically underfunded public education, and the State Supreme Court has ordered the legislature to address this issue multiple times over the past three decades. Unfortunately, those rulings have not been enforced. At the same time, the City has consistently worked to close funding gaps created at the state level. In my view, neither the City nor the District is responsible for the financial pressures that have led to this proposal.

That said, I do have several concerns about the plan. Under the new schedule, teachers could be assigned up to four different courses in a semester. With each class lasting 72 minutes, this would represent a substantial increase in workload. While our current teacher contract permits up to four class preparations at the secondary level, that language was developed when typical class periods were closer to 50 minutes. In addition, our class-size language does not apply to study halls, which means there is no contractual limit on the number of students who could be assigned to a single study hall. More broadly, there is a fundamental concern that this proposal increases teacher workload while reducing the amount of time available during the school day to prepare for instruction.

The Nashua Teachers’ Union is currently considering how best to respond to these proposed changes. I have asked all high school building representatives to arrive an hour early to our regularly scheduled Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday so we can discuss possible next steps. I am also seeking direct feedback from members. One of the building representatives has created a short, anonymous survey regarding the proposed schedule. Neither question is required, so you may answer as much or as little as you wish. If you are able to take a moment to respond, your input will help guide the NTU as we determine how to proceed.

High School Proposed Schedule Change

Professional Development Day: February 16, 2026-Update for Paraeducators

I’ve begun receiving a few questions about the Professional Development Day scheduled for February 16, 2026 (Presidents’ Day). To be clear, Presidents’ Day is a mandatory work day for three bargaining units: teachers, paraeducators, and clerical staff. It is not a mandatory work day for Food Service workers since they already did their mandatory day back in September.

The teacher, paraeducator and clerical units will participate in professional development on that day; however, the clerical unit will only have professional development in the morning only and will then return to their regular work schedule for the afternoon.

Paraeducator Update

About a week ago, a very observant paraeducator building representative brought several concerns to my attention regarding the Presidents’ Day professional development schedule for paraeducators. In the original plan, paraeducators were scheduled for a six-hour workday that included a one-hour unpaid lunch. In addition, the afternoon workshop was not set to end until 3:00 p.m., even though many paraeducators typically finish earlier and need to go to second jobs, which would have created a hardship. There was also a logistical concern with the time clock—if up to 300 paraeducators were attending professional development at the same location, clocking out for lunch with only one time clock would have been extremely difficult.

Fortunately, I was able to work through these issues with management, and I want to specifically thank Dr. Scarpati and Krystal de Gray for their willingness to collaborate and find a workable solution. The updated plan is as follows:

• Morning Session: 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

• Lunch: 30 minutes. Additional Chromebooks will be available so paraeducators can clock out electronically, reducing congestion at the time clock.

• Afternoon Session: 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

• 2:30 – 3:00 p.m. Option: Paraeducators may either leave at 2:30 p.m. and be paid for six hours, or remain until 3:00 p.m. and work on productive tasks—such as Medicaid billing, email, Google Classroom, or similar responsibilities—to be paid for six and one-half hours.

Thank you as well to the paraeducator representative who initially raised these concerns. Your attention to detail made a meaningful difference.

Below is the professional development schedule for the remainder of the school year, including Presidents’ Day:

Professional Development Schedule 2025-2026

If you have any other questions about professional development day, please ask your supervisor for more information.

Special Educators Preparing Lessons for ESY Update

Last week, the Special Education Department--including SLPs, Case Managers, BCBAs, Behavioral Specialists and others received a clarifying email on an earlier request that they must "be prepared to submit, by June, at least two weeks' worth of materials, assignments, and instructional plans for ESY." The clarifying email now says that they "strongly encourage" people to do this. I am thankful that management has made this request voluntary but as the union president, I would like to strongly encourage that you don't do this. The people in the special education department have enough work on their plate. People are paid to work in the summer and this work should be done by people who are paid to work in the summer. So, please take this request off your plates, you have enough to do and if anyone gives you a hard time about, please reach out to me directly.

ASL and FEC Contract Update

A drafting error was identified while the ASL and FEC contract was moving through the approval process. The error has now been corrected, but it did cause a brief delay. As a result, the contract must return to the School Board for approval on Monday, then back to the Board of Aldermen.

My expectation is that the contract will be fully approved within the next few weeks. Since this agreement was created from the ground up, it is more important to ensure everything is accurate than to rush the process.

FY 2027 Nashua School District Budget

The Nashua School District has begun the process of developing the budget for the 2026–2027 school year. As with last year, this is expected to be a challenging budget cycle. If no reductions were made to the current budget, the proposed increase would be approximately 6.5%.

In Nashua, the city budget typically increases by no more than 3–4% per year in order to prevent property tax rates from rising faster than the cost of living. Keeping with that past practice, this year, the Mayor has asked all city departments, including the School District, to keep their budget increases below 3%, which leaves a budget gap of 3.5% for the Nashua School District.

To put this into perspective, the School District’s budget is approximately $135 million. Each 1% of the budget represents roughly $1.35 million, which is equivalent to 20–25 teaching positions. For this reason, as we did last year, I will be asking NTU members to attend upcoming School Board budget meetings to advocate for our positions and our schools.

Please mark the following key dates on your calendar:

• February 18, 2026 – Superintendent presents the proposed budget to the School Board

• March 9, 2026 – Public hearing on the FY 2027 Nashua School District budget

• March 11, 2026 – Board of Education budget approval meeting

All of these meetings will be held at Nashua High School North and will begin at 6:00 p.m. We may hold a rally prior to the meetings on March 9 and March 11; however, I will first consult with NTU leadership before finalizing any plans.

There are additional budget-related meetings scheduled that are less critical for member attendance. You can view the full schedule of Board of Education meetings from January through March here:

BOE Meeting Schedule

During last week's School Board meeting, I also asked administration and the Board to commit to voting on any position cuts, even if those cuts are proposed after the budget has been approved. During last year’s budget cycle, several positions were eliminated after final budget approval. While I understand that enrollment data is sometimes not finalized until later in the process, any proposed reductions to existing positions should be brought before the School Board for a public vote so that changes are made in an open and transparent manner.

Several School Board members agreed that this approach is appropriate and noted that it has been the practice in past years, though it did not occur last year.

Questions? Comments? Need Assistance?  Contact a member of the Executive Board

Trying to email Gary? Make sure to use president@nashuatu.org