Malden Schools To Reopen Tuesday After One-Day Teachers Strike

MALDEN, MA — School will be back in session in Malden on Tuesday after negotiators reached a tentative agreement to end a one-day strike by the Malden Education Association this week.

Representatives of the Malden School Committee negotiating team and the city’s educators union emerged from talks around 9 p.m. at City Hall on Monday night to announce the deal.

The Malden Public Schools weighed in moments later to confirm that schools would be open after being closed on Monday due to the strike.

“We are thrilled to have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract that provides our teachers and other educators with competitive compensation for the incredibly important work they perform every day,” Superintendent Ligia Noriega-Murphy said.

The education association celebrated the deal on social media, also thanking supporters who flocked to Malden over the weekend and through the day on Monday.

Neither the Malden Public Schools nor the Malden Education Association went into detail on the terms of their tentative agreement.

The district did confirm a three-year deal, though. Union President Deb Gesualdo separately told reporters at City Hall that the agreement includes a commitment to work on combating housing insecurity among students and families.

Housing insecurity was one of several asks from the union in negotiations to date. The union was also seeking salary increases for educators and wage increases for education support professionals among other things.

Malden educators had been working on an expired contract since the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.

Malden educators were joined on Monday by other union educators from neighboring communities, supporters from the general public, and politicians including Sen. Ed Markey.

Negotiations then resumed at City Hall.

With a tentative agreement now in hand, the Malden Public Schools and the Malden Education Association still need to finalize some specifics of their deal. The agreement will next go before both the School Committee and union members for ratification.

The Malden Public Schools on Monday said details of the deal will be released after a review by the Malden Education Association and the School Committee.

“This agreement enables us to reopen the school doors on Tuesday, to welcome students and staff back into the buildings to resume great teaching and learning,” Noriega-Murphy said. “We are eager to move forward together as a united school district, with a renewed commitment to serving the students and families of the Malden Public Schools.”

Where Malden students will be back in school on Tuesday, classes are canceled for a second straight day in Haverhill as an educators’ strike there stretches onward.

Haverhill and Malden both saw union members authorize a strike on Friday pending weekend negotiations. Negotiations proceeded without a deal on Sunday, leading educators to the picket line and prompting school closures on Monday.

The Haverhill Public Schools said in a notice on their website early Tuesday morning that negotiators made progress on Monday.

“But frustrations can be seen on both sides and no agreement has been reached,” the district continued.

Strike are illegal among public employees in Massachusetts.

The Haverhill Public Schools won a court order on Monday afternoon requiring educators to stop their strike.

Local union leaders have said they plan to continue to strike regardless of that order, though, as reported by WCVB.