Malden Schools Close As Contract Negotiations With Teachers Stall

MALDEN, MA — The Malden Public Schools will be closed on Monday in anticipation of a strike by members of the Malden Education Association (MEA), the school district announced Sunday night.

The announcement came after a day of negotiations at Malden City Hall failed to yield a new contract in the lengthy bargaining process between the Malden Public Schools and the city’s school educators union.

The Malden Education Association previously announced on Friday that its members had voted to authorize a strike if a new deal wasn’t reached over the weekend. Members have been working on expired contracts since the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.

The Malden Education Association said on Sunday that the School Committee’s bargaining team had “walked away from the bargaining table.” Haverhill schools are also closed Monday due to a teachers strike in that district.

“Our team and our silent reps were ready to continue bargaining,” the union continued. “The School Committee’s bargaining team chose to get up and refuse to continue bargaining.”

Malden Schools Superintendent Ligia Noriega-Murphy announced school closures in a separate statement.

She called Sunday negotiations “incredibly productive,” saying that School Committee negotiators made “a significant number of agreements and a very competitive and unprecedented salary and benefits offer.”

“Considering how much movement was made today, we would have hoped the bargaining could have continued at our next regularly scheduled meeting, and that no avoidable disruption to the education of our students and the routine of our families would occur,” she continued.

With a strike still looming, though, the Malden Schools have announced that all school activities will be canceled in addition to classes. Those include before and after-school programs, athletic practices and games, and all other extracurricular activities.

All school bus transportation will be canceled, except for students who attend special education programs outside of Malden schools.

Strikes among public employees are illegal under state law. Strikes have moved forward in the past among area schools, though, most recently in Brookline. The Brookline School Committee eventually sued the Brookline teacher's union over strike threats, and a judge handed the union a $50,000 fine.

The Malden Education Associations represents teachers and other educators in the Malden Public Schools. Its contracts expired this year amid what has been an ongoing negotiation process over recent months.

The union has called for contract elements including wage increases for education support professionals, school staffing improvements, safety improvements, efforts to fight housing insecurity among students, smaller class sizes, more planning time and salary increases for teachers and administrators.

In joint comments Friday, the Malden and Haverhill educators unions said “school committees in both communities are showing no interest in addressing needs we see as critical to our students’ success.”

“We are saying enough is enough,” the unions said. “Our students deserve better, our communities deserve better, and we deserve better.”

Noriega-Murphy joined Malden Mayor Gary Christenson in responding to the Malden Education Association's strike authorization vote on Friday.

“We are deeply surprised and disheartened that the leadership of the Malden Education Association is willing to inconvenience families and disrupt the education of more than 6,000 students in order to advance its collective bargaining positions, especially as we are not currently at an impasse,” Christenson said.

“Contrary to reports that the School Committee has not responded to proposals, the Negotiations Subcommittee has been and will continue to negotiate in good faith until we reach agreement on a contract that is fair to our employees, is in line with the economic realities facing the City, and meets the needs of our students and families,” Christenson continued.

The Malden Public Schools enroll just over 6,000 students.

The Malden Schools have directed families to check the school district’s website for updates on class schedules and any further cancelations.