Over 5,000 educators from 11 school districts along the North Shore worked together to coordinate demonstrations over the course of a week to raise awareness to calls for paid family leave.
“We are happy to come to work and take care of other children,” said Rebecca Burke, a special education coordinator at Rumney Marsh Academy in Revere and expecting mom. “We should be able to have the opportunity to bond with our own children without being deducted sick days or going unpaid.”
Educator unions in Beverly, Gloucester, Revere, Ipswich, Hamilton-Wenham, Masconomet Regional, Danvers, Salem, Marblehead, Georgetown and Chelsea all participated in rallies before school and “walk-ins” starting on Monday to draw attention to the lack of paid family leave in their districts.
All of the rallying unions have contracts set to expire this year and are currently involved in contract negotiations, the MTA said in a release. None of the districts currently provide educators with paid parental leave periods, instead allowing teachers to use sick or personal time when they have new additions to their family.
The Revere Teachers Association is asking for 12 weeks of paid parental leave, Burke said, a benchmark that reflects state policy.
Several unions cited the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave policy, which covers most public employees in the state but does not include teachers or other municipal public sector employees. The state policy provides up to 26 weeks of leave for qualifying family and medical leave and includes up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
Many teachers and school staff spoke to their personal experiences using sick time to bond with their new children, going unpaid after birth and the difficult decision to cut their leave time short to return to work.
“When I had my second son, I was forced to use the sick days that I had accrued over time,” said Rachel Rex, a biology teacher and Gloucester Teachers Association President. “This inequity forces educators to make difficult choices of deciding to care for themselves, to care for their own families or to care for the students that we serve every single day in our profession.”
Educators from the districts also argued the policy has a positive effect on teacher shortages and district issues.
“This will make us better educators,” said Chelsea Teachers Union president Kathryn Anderson. “And being able to offer paid family leave will make it easier to retain staff and to fill job openings at a time when most schools are scrambling to fill vacancies.”
The rallies come after a series of high profile contract negotiations and teachers strikes throughout the last couple years, including Newton, Andover, Haverhill, Woburn and Brookline.
In February, Newton educators won up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave, with at least four weeks fully paid and the option to take more with sick time. In November, Andover educators won eight weeks of fully paid parental leave with the option to take four additional weeks of accrued paid sick time.
Several of the unions noted upcoming School Committee meetings in May, calling on community members to join and speak to the issue.
“I believe my co-workers will not ratify a new contract that does not remedy the severe inequities in compensation and leave benefits,” said Taylor Cross, a Beverly Middle special education teacher and expecting mother. “I’ve seen the negative impacts on our Beverly schools and students when we ignore these problems.”