Marblehead Teachers Strike: School Closed For 4th Straight Day Friday

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead Public Schools are closed for a fourth day on Friday after the School Committee said there were "no signs of the strike ending."

The Marblehead Education Association will face escalating fines for the strike — public sector strikes are against the law in Massachusetts — after an Essex County Superior Court judge on Thursday issued a $50,000 fine beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. if teachers do not return to the classroom.

That fine will increase $10,000 for each additional day and, thus, could total $180,000 if the strike lasts a full week through Tuesday.

"We continue to participate in mediation to reach an agreement that is sustainable and meets our students' educational needs," Marblehead School Committee Chair Jennifer Schaeffner said shortly after 6 p.m. on Thursday.

The MEA was expected to hold a news conference to address the state of negotiations and fines later Thursday night.

The Marblehead High football team will be able to take the field, however, for its playoff game this weekend despite the ongoing teachers' strike after Superintendent John Robidoux reversed an earlier decision to suspend all extracurricular activities for the duration of the work stoppage.

Robidoux said in a statement on Thursday that the activities can continue "utilizing non-teacher, non-union personnel to support these activities."

• Marblehead Teachers Strike: 'No More Games' As Strike Cancels 3rd Day

The extracurricular ban threatened to force the high school football team to forfeit its playoff game against Grafton this weekend. Parents had sought a court order to allow the team to be able to play.

Robidoux had said that since the strike effectively suspended the collective bargaining agreement all those activities should be canceled while the sole focus turned to getting students and teachers back in the classroom.

Schaeffner said during a news conference earlier this week that she supported the superintendent's decision because of safety and equity reasons — agreeing with Robidoux's stance that allowing a football game to proceed while not other activities could be a violation of Title IX.

• Marblehead Teachers Strike: School Canceled For 3rd Day Thursday

"The past several days have been wrought with discussions and decision-making that have been very difficult," Robidoux said in a statement provided to Patch early Thursday afternoon. "It is abundantly clear that the student's classroom education is unfortunately on hold as we cannot safely open schools with our educators on strike. I made the initial decision regarding cancellation of all activities in accordance with the strike that is taking place because educators indicated that they would not be coming to work.

• Marblehead Teachers Strike: School Closures 'Deeply Disappointing'

"After taking time to do my due diligence and meeting with the athletic director and our administrative team, I have determined that we can equitably and safely allow for high school athletic and extracurricular activities to take place as scheduled this weekend."

Robidoux called the reversal of course "just a small step in normalizing the student's experience during these challenging times."

(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.)