This story was updated at 5:30 p.m. with new details from Assistant Superintendent of Finance an Operations Mike Pfifferling.
The Marblehead Education Association, which represents teachers, tutors, paraprofessionals and custodians, is accusing the administration of botching payroll, “inflaming tensions amid an expired contract,” according to a statement released by the MEA Thursday afternoon. The union calls the move a “blunder” and “completely unacceptable.”
“As students and educators recently returned to school, Marblehead school administrators failed to update pay rates to agreed-upon steps and tracks. Stipends and paychecks for summer work were similarly withheld from educators, due to what interim Superintendent John Robidoux shrugged off as ‘an unfortunate clerical error,’” the MEA wrote.
Reached for comment about the payroll, Robidoux told the Current, “Employees were paid. There was an unfortunate clerical error that has already been rectified between our department and the town.”
Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Mike Pfifferling offered more details, saying, “The issue surrounded the loading of staff into the payroll system for the year’s first payroll. The error affected 90 staff members, which is approximately 30% of the 10-month teaching staff. As soon as we received the first notification from our staff, we immediately investigated and began working towards a quick resolution. The school Business Office and town Finance Department spent the majority of the day re-calculating and re-entering the payroll difference for the 90 affected staff members.”
The MEA said teachers, who have been working without a contract since Aug. 31, feel disrespected.
MEA Co-President and sixth-grade teacher Jonathan Heller wrote, “My email inbox is flooded, and my phone has been ringing off the hook with messages. We are already some of the lowest-paid educators in the region, and the School Committee keeps telling us that we do not deserve a fair wage. Now, we’re starting the new school year without a contract, and they can’t even get our paychecks right? It only makes us feel more disrespected.”
MEA Co-president and third-grade teacher Sally Shevory added, “Our members have bills — daycare, rent, mortgages — and the school administration’s mess is just piling on more stress for Marblehead’s educators. We show up every school year being asked to do more with less, and people are sick and tired of it. I can’t tell my mortgage company that my payment isn’t on time this month because of a ‘clerical error.’”
Veterans Middle School nurse Meaghan Kalpin said, “Maybe if they weren’t so focused on paying an unscrupulous law firm to deny classroom educators a living wage, they’d be able to focus on these basic operational needs of our schools.”
The MEA and School Committee have met multiple times to hammer out a new contract, without success. The committee has called in a state mediator to intervene with the custodians’ contract. Teachers walked out of a negotiating session last month. The next meeting is set for Sept. 10.
Teachers are asking for a pay increase, more paid parental leave and improvements in safety protocols.
The School Committee meets tonight, Thursday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m.
