Striking teachers in Gloucester, Beverly, Marblehead rally together

GLOUCESTER – Teachers fighting for new contracts in Gloucester, Beverly and Marblehead, Massachusetts held a rally together Monday afternoon on the North Shore.
The rally happened at 2 p.m. at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester in their push for better pay and benefits. 
“I think we should give them what they’re asking for,” Gloucester resident Gabriel Cunha said. “Gloucester public education has always been the best.” 
“Our paraprofessionals in Marblehead start at $11.97 an hour. Who can live on that?” said Marblehead Kindergarten Teacher Hanna Partyka.
“When we are dealing with a dysregulated child, they are the ones that are jumping in and helping all the other children not to become dysregulated, to help them with their academics while we are trying to deal with the crisis situation,” said Beverly Special Education Teacher Mariola Jenkins.
The President of the Massachusetts Teachers Union was at the rally on Monday afternoon and emphasized that teachers statewide are facing these issues.
“In the wake of social media, the pandemic, we see greater and greater social, behavioral, and mental health issues,” MTA President Max Page said.
Teachers in Gloucester and Beverly went on strike Friday. Negotiations in both cities resumed Monday during the Veterans Day holiday.
“We’re feeling ready to go. We are optimistic that today we’ll start making some progress,” said Vice President of the Union for Gloucester Educators Matthew Lewis.   
“Our focus as we enter a new week is to ensure our children can get back to school as soon as possible and limit the impact on their learning that this illegal strike has already had,” Kathy Clancy, Chair of the Gloucester School Committee, said in a statement Monday morning.
The teachers are hoping for a contract with better pay, more paid parental leave, and more prep time.
“We are asking for 10 extra minutes of prep time for elementary teachers,” Lewis said. “We’re asking for decompression or safety rooms in every school.” 
“In over three days of mediation, the union has not brought meaningful proposals on the key issues that led to this illegal strike. Instead, they have focused on minor administrative items. We are here at the table, working, and waiting for the union to move forward with a salary proposal the city can afford,” Clancy said Monday afternoon. 
The negotiations are expected to continue late into Monday night.
“We are trying to solve other issues that are not monetary, right, like simple respect issues like responding to our emails within five school days whenever possible,” Gloucester First Grade Teacher Jennifer Grant said.
Gloucester Mayor Greg Verga said that the union has not put forth a new counter-proposal on Monday and that the one from days ago is too expensive.
Gloucester Superintendent Ben Lummis canceled school on Tuesday. He said moving forward he will let parents know by 6 p.m. the night before if school will be canceled, and that any missed days will be made up at the end of the school year. 
Families are able to pick up both breakfast and lunch at O’Maley Middle School or at East Veterans Elementary School on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“It does seem that the demand for wages and what is a so-called living wage seems to be at the forefront,” Chair of Beverly’s School Committee Rachael Abell said. 
The Marblehead School Committee resumed negotiations with the teachers’ union Monday.
Schools in Marblehead will be closed on Tuesday.
Teacher strikes are illegal in Massachusetts and the teachers unions usually end up paying up thousands of dollars in fines. A state judge called on the Gloucester and Beverly unions to publicly end their strike by Monday morning, but the teachers returned to the negotiation table at 9 a.m.
“We are committed to this action until we have the contract that our students, our community, and our members deserve,” Lewis said.   
Back in February, teachers in Newton held a 15-day strike, one of the longest teachers strikes in Massachusetts history. 
It cost their teachers union $625,000 in fines. The union had to pay the school district $275,000 and the state $350,000.