Marblehead parents filed a lawsuit protesting the suspension of extracurriculars during an ongoing teachers strike, as picket lines continued outside schools in three North Shore towns and tensions escalated Tuesday.
Marblehead educators went on strike Tuesday after voting to do so Friday if a deal could not be reached over the weekend. Teachers unions in Beverly and Gloucester voted to strike Thursday and remained on their picket lines for a second day Tuesday.
Teachers strikes are illegal under Massachusetts state law, and both Beverly and Gloucester educators have been court-ordered to return to work.
Along with school, the three districts have stated no extracurriculars will be taking place during the strikes, sparking a swell of pushback especially focused in the Marblehead community where the boys football team is scheduled to play in the Division 4 quarter-finals Friday night in Grafton.
A number of Marblehead parents filed an emergency motion of injunctive relief requesting the court order the school district to “immediately withdraw their ban of all scheduled Marblehead School athletic and extracurricular events” in Essex Superior Court on Tuesday.
Both the Marblehead union and school committee pointed the blame at the other for the cancelled extracurriculars.
Members of the school committee said Tuesday that though they’ve received a lot of pushback from the community, they have no guarantee teachers would be available to supervise all the scheduled extracurricular activities.
“We did not create the situation,” said Thatcher Kezer, Marblehead Town Administrator on Tuesday morning. “The union created it by taking a legal strike. So the blame’s not on us.”
MEA leaders said Monday they are not preventing coaches or extracurricular staff from taking part in after school activities.
“The only people that are keeping them from participating is our school committee and our superintendent,” said MEA President Jonathan Heller at a joint press conference. “And again, we want them to play. We want them to sing. We want them to go out and have an opportunity to win that championship ring.”
Tensions remained high across all three districts Tuesday, with school committee accusing the teachers unions of “colluding” and unions accusing the other parties of stalling negotiations.
The unions have stated contract priorities emphasizing raising pay for paraprofessionals, along with other workers, and gaining paid family leave.
School committee representatives said Tuesday teachers demands are outside of budget constraints. Marblehead School Committee Chair Jennifer Schaeffner said the teachers proposed 34% increase would create a $7.5 million shortfall in the budget and “require a property tax override” to avoid layoffs of about 75 staff.
Gloucester educators said they “got played” following seemingly productive negotiations Tuesday.
“We thought everyone was ready to collaborate and we were strung along,” said West Parish Elementary School teacher Beth Parkhurst in a press conference Tuesday night. “Eight and a half hours later, it is clear the Chair of the School Committee, Kathy Clancy, was a direct barrier to getting to our first yes.”
The three current strikes followed strikes seeking similar contract goals in Andover, Haverhill, Malden, Newton, Brookline, and Woburn in recent school years, some of which lasted over a week.