BEVERLY — Beverly might have to cancel February or April school vacations, delay graduation or hold school on weekends to make up for lost time from the ongoing teachers strike, School Committee President Rachael Abell said Monday.
Abell said in a statement that the School Committee’s options are limited when it comes to making up missed school days. Students had lost six school days as of Monday due to the strike. State law mandates that public schools open for at least 180 days.
“These students have lost too much learning already and we should all be focused on getting classrooms back open as soon as possible and we ask the BTA to meet our urgency in resolving this crisis sooner, not later,” Abell said.
Abell said the School Committee has met the Beverly Teacher Association’s three-year compensation demands provided by the union last week and has “made progress” toward the remaining items of concern. But she said the BTA had “summarily rejected” all of the proposals that the School Committee sent them on Monday afternoon.
“The unfortunate situation that we find ourselves in every night remains the same, there is not enough money to accomplish everything that the BTA is demanding,” Abell said.
Hundreds march for teachers
Hundreds of students, parents and teachers marched from the high school to the middle school in support of striking teachers on Monday.
Organizers said about 1,000 students took part, matching the event’s billing as a ‘1,000-student march’. Police estimated the crowd at 700.
The march was originally scheduled to go to City Hall, but was moved to the middle school because of the poor air quality caused by local wildfires.
The line of walkers extended all the way from the high school to the middle school, which are a half-mile apart. At the middle school, students sat in a circle outside the school holding signs such as “You can’t put students first if you put teachers last” and “Schools just wanna have funds.”
“My teachers have always done everything in their power to help me and their other students,” Beverly Middle School student Evelyn Morris said in remarks to the crowd. “Today I stand in front of you all to do the same for them.”
State hearing scheduled for 2 p.m.
The Commonwealth Employment Relations Board was scheduled to hold a hearing at 2 p.m. on Monday on the School Committee’s emergency motion for additional relief.
The motion asks the board, which is part of the Massachusetts Division of Labor, to consider “alternate or additional remedies or enforcement mechanisms” to end the strike.
Beverly Teachers Association Co-President Julia Brotherton said the School Committee’s law firm will argue that the committee does not have to bargain with teachers because the strike is illegal.