Schools were closed for a second full day Tuesday as striking teachers and paraprofessionals and the School Committee failed to reach a deal in mediation for new contracts after the long holiday weekend.
All after-school activities were canceled and any missed days will be tacked onto the end of the school year, Superintendent Ben Lummis said in an update to families.
Monday featured a massive showing of support for striking Gloucester, Beverly and Marblehead educators during a nearly two-hour Solidarity Rally at Stage Fort Park that drew hundreds of teachers and others from across the region.
Strikes by public employees are illegal in Massachusetts, and a court ordered educators to return to work Tuesday or face a contempt hearing.
“Unfortunately,” Lummis said in Monday’s email, “the teachers union indicated today that they will not comply with a court order to return to school on Tuesday morning.”
If forced to close schools in the days ahead, Lummis said he would notify families by 6 p.m. the evening before.
“Grab and Go” breakfast and lunch will be available between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lots of O’Maley Middle School and East Veterans Elementary School.
Lummis said mediation efforts were ongoing, starting early in the morning and continuing late into the night.
“Tonight our educators are frustrated,” Rachel Salvo Rex, co-president of the Union of Gloucester Educators, said during a joint press conference with leaders of educator unions in Marblehead and Beverly, “frustrated by the lies spread by Mayor Greg Verga, School Committee Chair Kathy Clancy and Superintendent Ben Lummis.”
“Our educators are highly educated, highly skilled problem solvers and when we see a problem like we do every day in our classrooms, we seek solutions. That is all we are trying to do here, solve our shared problems.”
Retention of skilled veteran teachers and newer teachers is a major concern, Rex said. When “beloved Gloucester educators” leave the district to make tens of thousands more in neighboring districts “it breaks our hearts.”
“We are at a breaking point,” Rex said. “We need our elected leaders to act with urgency to solve this crisis before it’s too late. We know that other school committees are colluding with their high-priced attorneys to drag these negotiations out. Let me be crystal clear: there is no law firm in the world that can break the resolve of this group of educators.”
Verga and the School Committee also held a press conference on the strike Monday afternoon.
“I urge our teachers and paraprofessionals to end this illegal strike, to come to the table with a counter wage proposal, a desire to find common ground and to allow our students back in the classrooms where they belong,” Verga said.
That afternoon, the co-presidents of the Union of Gloucester Educators called for a return to open, face-to-face bargaining instead of using an independent, state-appointed mediator.
“We believe that what we are doing is not working and we owe it to our city and to our students to try something productive. Every day matters,” Rex and Co-President Maryann Aiello said.
“Our response is that we spent over six months meeting with them face-to-face in open session,” Clancy said during the press conference. “We had those discussions; we believe firmly that once they went on strike, the best and most efficient way to come to an agreement is through a state mediator.”
Verga said he was tasked with looking out for the financial health of the city’s municipal services and making sure every department was equipped to provide a high level of services.
He said Monday he and the committee were informed teachers would not be putting forward a counter wage proposal, a major sticking point for the School Committee.
He added that meeting GTA’s wage proposal would mean a Proposition 2 1/2 override resulting in a permanent tax increase, or cuts in services. He estimated an override would add about $400 a year for the average city taxpayer, and cuts would likely land on the Police, Fire and Public Works Departments, which have budgets large enough to close the gap.
Clancy said the School Committee went up on its initial wage offer on Oct. 29.
Under the union’s wage proposal, eight or more teachers would need to be laid off each year over the course of the three-year contract, which Clancy said was “unacceptable.”
Both sides were about $800,000 apart on salaries.
She said for the past four days, teachers have focused on minor administrative issues instead of key issues such as salary, new benefits and collaboration time between teachers.
Monday’s Solidarity Rally in Stage Fort Park drew hundreds of educators and supporters from Gloucester, Beverly and Marblehead and representatives from teachers unions from across the region. Boston Teachers Union President Erik Berg was in the crowd. Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page and MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy also addressed those assembled.
Remarks in solidarity of striking teachers were read out to the crowd from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and U.S. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts.
The rally was emceed by West Parish first-grade teacher Abigail Ash representing striking Gloucester educators, Caroline Nyada, representing the Beverly Teachers Association, and teacher Ashley Skeffington, a member of the Marblehead Education Association.
“We’re here, all for the same reasons,” Ash told the crowd. “We are fighting for equitable and fair contracts.”
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.