Marblehead Teachers Rally As Sides Debate Wages, Safety, Support

MARBLEHEAD, MA — More than 450 Marblehead teachers and staff rallied outside of Tuesday's collective bargaining session as the School Committee and Marblehead Education Association negotiators debated wages and agreed to additional bargaining dates ahead of the teacher contract expiration on Aug. 31.

While School Committee Chair Sarah Fox called the session "productive" on Tuesday night, MEA leaders said on Wednesday that union members remain unified in that this is "the time for the School Committee to recognize that our students' learning conditions are our members' working conditions" and "what we have proposed to the School Committee are reasonable solutions to the very serious problems facing Marblehead Public Schools."

"We cannot continue to fall further behind neighboring communities," said Sally Shevory, a teacher at Glover Elementary School and co-president of the Marblehead Education Association. "Our schools will continue to lose high-quality educators to districts with better working conditions, a better school climate, better compensation, modern parental leave, and more robust student services."

Fox said in a statement Tuesday night that both parties agreed there is room for improvement to benefit some students requiring additional support, and that they had agreed to a next bargaining session on July 16 after the MEA had previously indicated it would not negotiate over the summer.

The MEA said the union filed an unfair labor practice with the state labor board in response to the
School Committee's change of the bargaining location from Marblehead High School to Brown Middle School and that's why it planned the standout, march and rally on Tuesday.

"The School Committee members believe they can do whatever they want with impunity," said Michael Fu, a math and computer science teacher at Marblehead High School. "We believe that our schools need to be run in a collaborative way that respects educators' voices and expertise. We are fighting for respect and dignity in our contract."

Fox said the MEA presented a wage proposal that "included a 40 percent wage increase over three years for members of the Unit A and a 50 percent wage increase for all other units over three years."

The MEA called the School Committee's proposal "disappointing" on Wednesday night and said it amounted to a 4 percent cost-of-living increase over three years, plus the additional of steps.

"(The MEA) delivered our proposals for a transformative agreement which lifts all our members out of poverty and puts them on a path to a living wage and calls for fair and competitive salaries for Unit A educators," the union said. "Once again, the MEA is proposing solutions to solving the educator shortage here in Marblehead, while management remains unwilling to make a serious
effort to do the same."

The MEA said key negotiating points also include school safety and a recognition of the increasing demands they face in the classroom in the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis.

"For the past four years, we, as staff, have carried the students through each and every day," said Kristen Grohe, a teacher at the Village School. "Our school culture has deteriorated, the demands of our work have grown, and we have been asked to accept pay that has not kept up with inflation.

"We are fighting for a competitive cost-of-living increase for teachers that will help us attract and retain highly qualified professionals and will help us attract and retain highly qualified professionals. We are fighting for a humane and fair cost-of-living increase for our Education Support Professionals. When your hourly wage is only $15, to be offered an increase of 30 cents is beyond insulting."

Negotiations between the parties are set to resume on June 16.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)