Schools in two North Shore counties close as educators picket

Rachel Rex, co-president of the Gloucester union, said Thursday night that their schools are “in crisis.”

“The only way educators can see a path forward is through the actions we take,” she said. “Teachers and paraprofessionals are fighting for safe schools, paid parental leave, competitive wages, basic dignity and respect at work.”

But Kathleen Clancy, the committee’s chairwoman, said in an emailed statement Thursday night that a strike would “suspend student learning, halt after-school programs and athletics, and force parents to scramble for child care options with little or no notice.”

“Every day the strike continues, our most vulnerable students lack convenient access to warm meals, essential learning continuation and critical mental health services,” Clancy said. “This action will put many parents in a difficult situation where they will have to sacrifice working hours and wages. All this is completely unacceptable.”

In Beverly, Julia Brotherton, co-president of the Beverly teachers union, said a strike is a last resort for teachers.

“None of us want to do this, but at this point we have no choice,” Brotherton said at a Thursday evening news conference. “We love our jobs… We want nothing more than to be back in our classrooms as soon as possible.”

Rachel Ebell, chairwoman of the Beverly School Committee, said in a statement Thursday night that officials hope the case comes to a “swift conclusion.”

“We know that BTA’s decision to take this illegal action unfairly undermines the education of our students,” she said.

So far this strikes by teachers and other public employees in Massachusetts are prohibitedThere have been a wave of teacher strikes across the state over the past couple of years, which have been largely effective because each one was followed shortly by contract agreements. The strikes follow requests from school boards in both communities asking the Department of Labor Relations to end potential work stoppages.

The Newton strike earlier this year brought teachers and their employers into a bitter 15-day battle. It is the longest teachers’ strike to rock the Massachusetts community in three decades. The duration and intensity of the strike, which turned neighbor against neighborhas left parents, school officials and community leaders wondering which other educators will be next on the picket line.

From 2022 Andover, Brooklyn, Haverhill, MaldenAnd Woburn also went on strike. Last year Melrose also voted to allow the strikebut this was quickly averted after his teachers and school committee came to an agreement for a new contract the next night.

Gloucester faced a $3.1 million budget deficit earlier this year, but the city stepped in and provided $1 million in additional funding in May to help mitigate the cuts. According to the Gloucester Times.

Officials in the 2,900-student district blamed rising costs for special education and transportation as the reason for the shortfall.

In Beverly, Mayor Michael Cahill publicly admitted so that the teachers of his city do not leave their jobs.

In May, more than 300 teachers gathered at a school committee meeting to protest proposed budget cuts. According to the Salem News.

This is breaking news. Stay tuned.

This article compiles material from previous Globe reporting.

Deanna Pan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @DDpan. Mandy McLaren can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @mandy_mclaren. Izzy Bryars can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @izzybryars.