Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead cancel school as teacher strikes continue

MARBLEHEAD – Striking teachers in Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead, and school committees have not yet reached an agreement, and all three communities have closed school for Wednesday.
Nearly 10,000 students in the three districts are waiting with their families for an end to the strikes, which started last Friday in Beverly and Gloucester and Monday in Marblehead.
“Yesterday there was a lot of back and forth. It felt really good,” Beverly preschool paraprofessional Judy Martin told WBZ-TV Tuesday. “We’re really confident. We just want a fair contract for everybody who works in this school system.”
The teachers’ unions want better pay for paraprofessionals and safer schools.
A judge ordered Marblehead, Gloucester and Beverly teachers to return to the classroom Tuesday. Their unions are now heading to court and could face fines because teacher strikes are illegal in Massachusetts.
“We want your kids in school but we also want to be able to be able to support them in the best way that we can and we don’t feel like we’re doing that,” Martin said.
Wednesday night, the Marblehead School Committee announced the committee and the Marblehead Education Association made some progress during negotiations, reaching tentative agreements about the teacher work year and tuition reimbursement.
This is a positive development,” said Marblehead School Committee Chair Jennifer Schaeffner. “We hope to continue this momentum and get our children and teachers back into the classroom. While we are hopeful, there is still much work to be done to finalize contracts.”  
Dozens of students rallied with their teachers and coaches in Marblehead on Tuesday. The strike not only keeps kids out of the classrooms, but off the playing fields, threatening weekend playoff games and cheer competitions – something many seniors, especially, don’t want to miss.
“It would just be devastating if we couldn’t play. All of the hard work we put in through the off-season. That would just be terrible,” said one student,
“So, we are supposed to have regionals this Saturday, but if we don’t get a fair contract then we can’t compete, and we didn’t know the last one would be our last competition,” said another student. 
School leaders say the unions are colluding to draw out the negotiations. All three contracts expired on August 31.
In Marblehead, educators will held a rally Tuesday afternoon calling for the district to reverse its decision to cancel school sports and events until the strike is over.
“We want to solve this. We want to be in our classrooms today. We don’t want to be here,” said Marblehead Veterans Middle School Teacher Jae Guttadauro.