A crowd of parents, students and community members chased School Committee members Jenn Schaeffner and Sarah Fox to their car outside Marblehead High School Sunday night, demanding that they stay and negotiate with striking teachers. The School Committee told the state mediator that it was holding on its positions and would not negotiate further Sunday night, according to the union.
Interim Superintendent John Robidoux canceled school for Monday, Nov. 15.
The MEA says it will be back at MHS to continue bargaining Monday at 10 a.m. There is also an “Enough is enough” march planned from Veterans school to Abbot Hall.
Earlier Sunday, residents staged a sit-in in the lobby of MHS, singing “Stand by Me” and “This Little Light of Mine.” Hundreds of people marched to music outside the high school.
Schaeffner said her bargaining team was preparing for the next phase in the mediation process, led by a state-appointed fact-finder. That fact-finder, an MIT professor, will hold hearings Dec. 2-4 and then issue a ruling. That ruling is not binding, however, according to the union.
The School Committee’s last wage offer to teachers was a 10-18% increase over four years, depending on education level and seniority, bringing Marblehead’s highest-paid teacher to $113,312. That’s the same amount that Gloucester teachers settled for earlier in the week.
Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said the School Committee’s offer would require a $3,173,899 override that would add about $334 to the average property tax bill.
The MEA said the wages for other, lower-paid teachers aren’t increasing enough.
“Everybody needs to move up,” said Sally Shevory, Glover School teacher and union co-president, adding the union wasn’t going to leave anyone behind.
The union said it had made significant concessions Sunday, both in wages and parental leave benefits.
