Marblehead High School students are planning a walkout on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. to show support for their teachers who have been working without a new contract since Aug. 31.
“We will go to the front circle and walk around the building,” Senior Class President Jared Kaplowitch told the Current. “Students may bring signs that are respectful and appropriate.”
The 15-minute walkout is being organized by several student leaders, just a few days after MHS athletes produced a video expressing both support for educators and hope that a strike can be avoided. The students referenced a possible strike next week. The Marblehead Education Association has not commented on the possibility or the timing of a strike.
“Our teachers at MHS work extremely hard and go above and beyond their basic contracts,” said Laurel Kearney, president of the Class of 2028. “Students want our teachers to feel valued and supported by students, parents and the entire Marblehead community.”
Preparing for a strike?
Interim Superintendent John Robidoux said he hasn’t heard anything official, and hopes the educators won’t strike.
“A work stoppage by the MEA is not only illegal, it would have a significant impact on students’ education and social-emotional well-being and may also impact all school-related activities,” Robiudoux said.
School Committee Chair Jenn Schaeffner said Robidoux is planning to make school lunches available to students who may need them during any work stoppage.
‘Never a good time for a strike’
Former Marblehead superintendent Phil Devaux, who led the district from 1995 to 2002 and again 2005 to 2007, is watching the situation closely.
“There’s never a good time for a strike,” Devaux told the Current. “If they have a hard strike that means no more athletic teams, no football game at Fenway Park … all that stuff. High school seniors won’t be able to have college recommendations written by their teachers. There’s a ripple effect.”
Devaux has the same advice for both the School Committee and the teachers union.
“This is way too soon to go to the level of striking because they’ve not gone through the normal processes of mediation followed by binding arbitration,” Devaux said. “They haven’t even completed the bargaining sequence as outlined in the law. Why are they skipping all the steps?”
Devaux continued, “To me, there’s nothing that can’t be resolved except for the money. At the very least, they should reduce all the items that can be resolved and then, when you get down to it, it’s only about the money.” The teachers and School Committee are approximately $4.6 million apart on proposed wages over the next four years.
Devaux predicted that any override for the schools this spring will fail.
“I’d bet my house on that,” he said. “The schools have already lost two overrides in a row.”
One suggestion he has is to raise the teachers’ starting salary and knock out the first few seniority wage steps.
Devaux points out that teachers have agreed to seven, three-year contracts that have led them to this point.
“The predicament they find themselves in is the result of both the School Committee and the teachers union voting yes on all those contracts. The teachers contributed directly to those contracts.”
Bottom line: Devaux says the two sides aren’t working hard enough to get to a compromise.
“They meet for like an hour, call each other names and then leave. I think this can all be resolved if they just go through the normal steps.”
The MEA and the School Committee post bargaining updates online for the public to review.
