SOUTH HADLEY — A hush settled over the teachers lining the halls of the South Hadley Senior Center on Wednesday evening — the same kind of silence they often elicit from their students — before it gave way to chants.

“What do we want? Fair Raises! When do we want them? Now!”

As soon as the chants ended, one teacher started a familiar call-and-response clap used to quiet a classroom. Class was in session, as more than 50 members of the South Hadley Education Association gathered to protest a 0% wage increase for the past school year, an offer made just a week after the School Committee approved four new positions.

“If they want to have strong schools in the future, they have to pay their teachers,” said Hannah Leith, a South Hadley High School Spanish teacher. “Otherwise, they’re going to leave.”

South Hadley teachers have been operating without a contract for the past year. Negotiations were paused while the town floated $9 million and $11 million override requests, both of which failed at the ballot box. SHEA President Amy Foley said the union agreed to put a hold on contract talks, knowing the tough financial position the town was facing.

Now that contract talks have resumed, members say they do not feel the same respect from district administration and School Committee members on the other side of the bargaining table.

“We need an offer that we feel values us as educators, values our time, and also helps us meet the needs of our own personal budgets in an economy that is growing at more than 0%,” Foley said.

The latest proposal from administration, offered on June 12, called for no pay raises for the 2026-2027 school year, a 1.5% cost-of-living bump for the 2027-2028 and 2028-2029 school years and a 1.75% increase for the 2029-2030 school year. This proposed agreement would apply to all four unions in the school district.

“The South Hadley School Committee remains committed to negotiating a fair and responsible contract with SHEA,” School Committee Chair Eric Friesner wrote in a statement. “Current budget challenges make this task difficult, but we’re optimistic that we can continue to work together to do what’s best for our community and students.”

For educational therapy assistant Adriana Cierpiao, the proposed raises equate to 2 cents an hour.

“I feel like it’s unfair that the job that we do is not paid enough,” she said.

Cierpiao joined her fellow educators on the corners of Newton and Lyman streets before greeting the School Committee at its meeting. A sea of blue from SHEA shirts filled the seats during public comment and Foley’s SHEA report.

“For the past year, I have publicly stated that the reason South Hadley is in this budget situation was not due to mismanagement,” Foley said. “I have defended this town and believe that difficult circumstances were the result of larger financial challenges. After recent decisions, I am struggling to say this with the same confidence.”

Foley was referring to decisions surrounding next year’s school budget. After the overrides failed in April, the town ended up approving a $61.4 million budget for fiscal year 2027 by using $1.5 million in free cash, all of which went to the school district to stave off steep cuts to sports, extracurricular activities, Advanced Placement classes and current staff levels.

That decision provided the district with roughly $300,000 above its level-service budget, with the goal of helping reverse a school choice deficit that has grown to about $3 million annually.

In a 4-1 vote, the School Committee agreed to use the funds for four new positions: a vocational director, a dean of students and family engagement at Michael E. Smith Middle School, an adjustment counselor at Mosier Elementary School and a digital literacy teacher at the middle school.

At the School Committee’s June 2 meeting, Superintendent Jennifer Voyik broke down how each of the four positions will stop students from leaving the district.

The vocational director will certify vocational programs under Chapter 74 and create a tuition process that would bring in $300,000 a year, she said. The new dean of students would focus on behavioral and bullying concerns — a major reason many families have left the district — to allow the principal to strengthen and expand curriculum at the middle school, while a new digital literacy teacher would allow for the reopening of the school’s library. Finally, the new adjustment counselor would help the district reduce the caseloads of current counselors, who currently serve 61 students each.

But staff told the School Committee that adding positions with no future plan to fund them while simultaneously underpaying current employees will only exacerbate school choice deficits.

Special Education Department Chair Robert Stackow estimates that over half of the teaching staff and at least 75% of support staff have second jobs. During the School Committee meeting, Lisa Manzi said she is working five jobs to save enough for her children’s college. With the amount of labor, education and experience the South Hadley staff bring to school each day, Stackow said the lack of pay is hard to swallow.

“People have been pretty vocal about not wanting the educators in this town to be compensated,” Stackow said. “I think that they were very much interested in compensating other entities in town and just very much ignoring us.”

Michael Cote, a staff member at South Hadley for 10 years, worked construction and bartended over summers as a paraprofessional to make ends meet. Despite his promotion to a transitional therapeutic classroom, he now works these jobs throughout the year.

“I don’t want to go and leave this district because I know that the support I have with my colleagues is unmatched, and I know that our community in South Hadley High School is unmatched,” Cote said. “It’s frustrating, not feeling valued.”

Leith is weighing her options. She has watched many senior staff leave the district for better pay elsewhere. Just this year, half of the high school science team took jobs in different districts.

“Health insurance prices are going up too,” Leith said. “It’s not just that we’re not getting cost-of-living increases, but also our health insurance has gone up significantly.”

SHEA Vice President Meghan Aucoin said a recently completed member survey revealed that 59% of respondents had applied for a new job and 36% were currently looking for one.

“You’re asked to make strategic investments,” recent South Hadley graduate Colin Zraunig said. “[It’s] sitting right in front of you.”