North Shore Teachers To Host 'School Crisis' Forum In Beverly

BEVERLY, MA — Educators from across the North Shore are hosting a public "school crisis" forum in Beverly on Thursday where they hope to highlight the challenges facing classrooms across the region with multiple unions about to enter the new school year without a collective-bargaining agreement.

The group North Shore Educators United, which includes teacher unions from Chelsea to Gloucester, is coordinating the event at the First Baptist Church at 6:30 p.m. where teachers representing Gloucester, Beverly, Marblehead, and Revere, as well as potentially Danvers, Masconomet, Ipswich, Salem, Hamilton-Wenham, and Chelsea, will share personal stories about the state of their classrooms.

"With back-to-school in full swing, educators across several North Shore school districts are currently negotiating to address pressing needs for students and staff," the NSEU said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. "This forum will provide an opportunity for elected officials and the community at large to listen to the crises occurring across the region.

"Most educator contracts expire at the end of August, and there is urgency to solve these pressing problems to ensure students and staff have the schools they deserve."

While Danvers educators reached an agreement on a new deal in June, most teachers' unions across the region remain at odds with districts over compensation, family leave, preparation time and other issues with deals set to expire within days ahead of the new school year.

The Marblehead School Committee this week requested state mediation amid what they consider an impasse in negotiations with school custodians on a new collective-bargaining agreement following the expiration of the previous deal on June 30.

The request came after the latest failed negotiation session last week and amid an objection from the Marblehead Education Association.

Then on Tuesday night, teacher contract talks broke off as the School Committee accused the Marblehead Education Association of walking away from the bargaining table during a break requested by the union.

The School Committee Bargaining Subcommittee said in a statement Tuesday night that the MEA informed it that was "unilaterally adjourning the negotiations immediately" during the 10th bargaining session, and just days before the teacher contract is set to expire.

While the Salem School Committee Negotiating Team and Salem Teachers Union both reported agreement on many issues following last week's marathon bargaining session, there appears to remain a large gap when it comes to compensation.

Salem Teachers Association Vice President Karen Tucker said in a statement following what she called a "highly substantive" 4.5-hour bargaining session last week that her union presented a deal that includes "a reasonable wage proposal that stretches out increases over four years and gets Salem to a place where it is competitive with surrounding districts."

The Salem School Committee said in a statement following the bargaining session that the STU proposal would require the district to identify $58 million in staff and service cuts over four years within a budget that this year is $74.5 million in total. The School Committee said its previous proposal would still require $20 million over three years.

"We hope to negotiate the STU in a productive conversation about city and district finances and reach an agreement that compensates teachers fairly without compromising supports and services for students," the School Committee said last week.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)