The Marblehead Education Association has sent a letter to interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness and the School Committee, expressing support for their union colleagues “who have been put on administrative leave unfairly” and demanding immediate action.
McGuinness placed four Glover School staff members on paid adminstrative leave today while the district calls in an attorney to examine its student restraint policies. [Learn more about Marblehead student restraints HERE.]
The MEA says the district has “failed to provide a safe environment for all students and staff, as they are entitled to. We stand in solidarity with the affected families and students during this difficult time, as we believe that the district leadership has failed to take responsibility for their actions.”
The MEA says it is “exploring all possible legal remedies, including collective action, to ensure that our members are protected and that everyone who learns and works in our schools feels safe and supported.”
In its letter, the MEA wrote, “As you are aware, an alarming number of educators at the Glover Elementary School have suffered physical injury caused by the dangerous behaviors of one or more dysregulated students, despite repeated requests for resources and support from the Department of Student Services.
“Instead, by its inaction, the Marblehead Public Schools has allowed an unsafe working
environment to develop at the Glover Elementary School specifically, and, generally, among all the
Marblehead Public Schools whose educators are subject to the lack of an adequate protocol for
addressing such behaviors among students.”
The letter demands that the Marblehead Public Schools “meet immediately with the union to develop a mutually acceptable program to guarantee the safety of students, teachers and property at the Glover School and all other Marblehead Public Schools.”
It also demands that pursuant to state law, the “Glover Elementary School student (and any other student or students) whose behavior has been documented to raise specific concerns about the infliction of bodily injury or other serious harm, including to themselves or other students, be immediately suspended from school and placed in an interim alternative educational setting until a mutually acceptable program to ensure the safety of students and staff can be developed.”
The School Committee, including McGuinness, is scheduled to meet Thursday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. at Marblehead High School.
