As Newton Public Schools enters its next contract negotiation year, changes are also soon to come to the teachers’ union leadership.
After a year of serving as the Newton Teachers Association’s second release officer, Ryan Normandin is running for union president. He is joined by NTA first vice president Elizabeth Ross Del Porto, a close colleague who is running for his current position.
NTA president Mike Zilles announced his retirement at the end of the school year at the NPS Convocation on September 1. Normandin was elected to serve alongside Zilles a year ago following the departure of Christine Walsh.
The pair announced their candidacy last week for the union’s top roles and launched a joint campaign site. The election will take place in March 2027 and the roles will begin next summer.
Ross Del Porto is currently a second grade teacher at Angier Elementary School’s ACHIEVE program for students with learning disabilities. Prior to joining union leadership full-time, Normandin was a math and physics teacher at Newton South High School for more than a decade.
Both Normandin and Ross Del Porto have prior experience in union leadership roles. Ross Del Porto has previously served as a building representative for her school and has been on the professional rights and responsibilities committee.
According to their campaign site, the two have a combined 39 years of teaching experience. In an interview with the Newton Beacon, Normandin and Ross Del Porto said their priorities are getting the next contract negotiated as soon as possible, improving community relations and speaking up for teachers who feel the district’s administration has initiated curriculum changes at too fast of a pace.
“We’re both on the negotiations team, and we’re both strong proponents of trying to do everything we can to settle the contract before it expires, which hasn’t been done in modern history,” he said.
In years past when a contract expired before a new one was signed, teachers continued to receive protections under the prior contract, but had to wait for backpay based on cost-of-living adjustments made in the following agreement, which contributed to financial strain on teachers.
Normandin and Ross Del Porto are currently running unopposed for the positions. One of the campaign’s slogans is “with you and for you,” a message to the union’s members about how they plan to advocate for their fellow teachers.
Ross Del Porto said she is entering the negotiation process this fall with an optimistic attitude.
“We have a new mayor. We have a new school committee. Our communications have been really positive so far,” she said. “I’m very excited to be joining negotiations again. That was a really powerful experience for me, with positives and negatives.”
The second release officer position was previously appointed by the union president, but a bylaws change made soon before Normandin was first elected allowed independent campaigning for the role. Normandin and Ross Del Porto are the first to campaign together for the union’s top leadership positions.
The two candidates shared their concern about the “breakneck pace” of curriculum changes that are coming to NPS and have already begun. The district approved a new math curriculum this past spring, recently received a grant to supplement existing genocide education and conducted curriculum reviews of math, literacy, science, technology education and physical education.
“We think that there is a way for both the superintendent to realize her vision, and to do it in such a way that we’re not burning teachers out,” Ross Del Porto said. “That’s probably the thing we hear about the most, a sense of [being] overwhelmed about the pace — not necessarily a disagreement with progress and growth and change.”
Superintendent Anna Nolin previously told the Newton Beacon that curriculum changes are frequently met with criticism from teachers, when discussing the controversial rollout of the new Math Pathways program.
“For every change initiative, revolving around curriculum, the same feedback has been given. The pace is too quick, and it is poorly planned,” she said in a statement. “We can always improve and strengthen our practices…but that does not mean that it is disorganized.”
At the August 27 virtual school committee meeting, Chair Alicia Piedalue said that the school committee bargaining team members plan to recommend livestreaming contract bargaining sessions for the first time in NPS history. Normandin said this move is not set in stone and must first be presented to the rest of the bargaining team at its first meeting this month, after which a final decision will be made.
Normandin and Ross Del Porto said they are close colleagues who have known each other for years and already communicate frequently every week. Ross Del Porto said knowing she would be running with Normandin helped her decide to try for the role.
“We share values and we share an approach to getting the work done and we both have a mutual respect for each other on a union level, but also a personal level,” she said. “It’s a close working relationship and that was probably number one for me — that I could see myself serving with the person running for president.”
Normandin echoed her sentiment, adding that Ross Del Porto brings a valuable perspective as an elementary school teacher. Both Zilles and Normandin were previously high school teachers.
“The most important thing is the relationship between the two people in that office, because you need to be able to work together in scenarios where things happen fast,” he said.
Normandin said he is currently polling the union on their top priorities as the district heads into a contract negotiation year.
“Our priorities are what our members tell us that their priorities are, and we want people to understand that and understand that we’re all trying to help kids and help make the schools as great as the schools can be,” he said. “And we hope that this school committee will choose to engage with us in a more respectful and more appropriate way than the previous school committee.”
Both candidates encouraged union members, parents and the community to reach out to rylizabeth4nta@gmail.com with any questions and concerns during the campaign process.
“We’re ready to have the meetings. We’re ready to make the proposals. We’re ready to make fast turnarounds on counter-proposals” Ross Del Porto said. “A lot of our members were there the last time, and I see that as a real advantage in terms of expediency, because we have our procedures in place for discussions and voting, and we’re ready to go.”