Brookline Schools Close, Teachers Strike After Failed Negotiations

BROOKLINE, MA — All Brookline public schools are closed Monday after the Brookline School Committee and the Brookline Educators Unions (BEU) could not reach an agreement on the teachers contract during its fourth mediation session Sunday afternoon.

Because BEU members authorized a strike for Monday if a new contact was not signed by Sunday night, the town made the decision to close all schools Monday.

"There will simply not be the staffing capacity to operate all schools safely, nor can PSB provide the structured education required by the state for the day to legally count as a school day,” said Superintendent Linus Guillory in a statement.

Starting on Saturday and continuing into Sunday, the School Committee and the BEU met with the state mediator and discussed three main issues, including wages, educator diversity, and teacher prep and common planning time, according to the School Committee.

The BEU said that, after over eight and a half hours of bargaining, the School Committee failed to address the necessary issues, would not present any proposals on the record, and is not acknowledging that the BEU has pared down its list of original proposals to the bare essentials and has made proposals that give the town flexibility to plan and prepare.

"Brookline educators can no longer tolerate the School Committee’s dismissive attitude toward educators or its willingness to dismantle the quality of our schools,”

"We remain open to negotiating with the School Committee throughout Sunday and beyond, to resolve a fair contract that preserves the working and learning conditions that our students and educators deserve.”

In a statement, the School Committee said the mediator declared impasse at 3:50 a.m., which means that he will report to the Department of Labor Relations that further attempts at mediation will result in an agreement.

In addition, the statement says that the School Committee’s last proposal offered the BEU a 6 percent across-the-board increase in all wages, stipends, and longevity pay from September 1 2020 through August 31, 2021, followed by an 8 percent increase over the period of September 1 2023 through August 30, 2026 and an additional 1 percent on August 31, 2026.

The School Committee also said it proposed a forum in which educators designated by the BEU could meet with the Superintendent to address issues of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, as well as a joint labor-management committee to identify options and costs for providing additional common planning time for educators and more evenly distributing the existing five prep periods per week.

On Friday, the Norfolk Superior Court issued a a preliminary injunction against the BEU, prohibiting them from striking or threatening to strike, according to the School Committee.

The Court stated that if the union were to strike, “serious and irreparable harm will occur to the town, the students and their caretakers, and the public welfare.”

The Brookline School Committee said the Norfolk Superior Court issued a preliminary injunction against the Brookline Educators Union on Friday, prohibiting them from striking or threatening to strike due to state law.

The court stated that if the union were to strike, "serious and irreparable harm will occur to the town, the students and their caretakers, and the public welfare.”

A fifth mediation session between the Brookline School Committee and the BEU is scheduled for Monday evening. Guillory said in an announcement that additional school closures will be announced no later than 6 a.m. Tuesday.