North Shore Teacher Strikes: Vacations Canceled, Saturday School Possible Upon Return

MARBLEHEAD, MA — As North Shore teacher strikes entered a third week in Marblehead and Beverly on Monday the punishing toll the extended closed classrooms will take on students may only just be starting to be felt.

When schools eventually do reopen, students and teachers face a relentless slog of a school year that likely includes the elimination of multiple vacations, an extended school year and potentially weekend school days if the strike continues through the Thanksgiving break, to reach the state-mandated minimum of 180 days in school.

Under a preliminary plan that Marblehead Interim Superintendent John Robidoux outlined to the School Committee last week, with 10 days lost, a threshold that would be hit on Tuesday after the School Committee voted to switch the first day of the strike with a professional development day in January that is now a full, in-session day, both February and April vacations would be canceled — outside of the Monday holidays — and school would also extend to June 23. Schools would also be in session on Dec. 23 ahead of the holiday break.

• Beverly Teachers Strike: 'Deeply Disappointed' Schools Stay Closed An 11th Day Monday

That schedule, which will not be voted on until the strike ends, does not include the need to make up any additional snow days during a winter season that has yet to begin.

Former Gov. Charlie Baker and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education prohibited remote learning from being counted toward the minimum 180 days of learning time — because of snow, or any other reason — in the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis as a means to force reluctant districts to fully transition out of remote and hybrid learning and return to school buildings.

Beverly students were out of school for an 11th straight day on Monday — not counting the Veterans Day holiday — and face a similarly daunting makeup schedule. School Committee Chair Rachael Abell had noted the potential need to push back senior graduation in that city.

"The disruption to students and families is real and we know the students who rely on our schools for so many services are suffering," Abell said in a message to the community Sunday night after a court-imposed deadline to get back to the classrooms passed without a new deal. "They need their teachers back to work. They need them to set aside their grievances, their anger and get back to the table to solve this crisis."

• Marblehead Teachers Strike: 'Ultimatum Offer' Rejected, Schools Closed Monday

If no deal is reached in Beverly and Marblehead on Monday, it is shaping up as another lost week with the Thanksgiving holiday and no school on Friday. The first day of the Beverly teachers' strike was Nov. 8 — meaning students there will have been out of the classrooms for nearly a full month even if an agreement is reached during the holiday weekend.

The passage of Sunday's deadline reimposes harsh fines on the unions for being in violation of a state law prohibiting public union strikes and triggers a state "fact-finding" mediation process that the Beverly Teachers Association said this weekend it would not comply with because BTA officials said it would only prolong the strike — and, thus, make for more days to make up throughout the final seven months of the school year.

• North Shore Teacher Strikes: Gloucester Union First Of 3 To Reach Deal

"The state's order gives the fact-finder until Dec. 4 to deliver their report," BTA co-President Andrea Sherman said on Saturday, "which gives our Beverly School Committee and our mayor (Michael Cahill) another excuse to delay the opening of our schools. We have good reason to believe that the BTA participating in fact-finding would lead to another six days of missed learning opportunities while management continues to delay.

"They are waiting to force us back to broken schools with no contract. We absolutely cannot, in good conscience, be part of any process that will further delay opening schools."

The Beverly School Committee and Mayor Cahill have continued to insist that teachers end their "illegal strike" and return to the classrooms during negotiations.

"It is our sincere hope that our educators return to school on Tuesday and join us in fact-finding to move forward with this process, so we may reach a resolution without further disruption to student learning," Abell said, adding that "if significant progress is not made soon, the School Committee intends to abide by the court order, end mediation and begin the state fact-finding process immediately."

Abell said the School Committee also voted this week to begin withholding teacher pay during the strike.

(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.)