Swampscott Suspends Teacher At Center Of Contract Fight: Union

SALEM, MA — The Swampscott Education Association said Swampscott Public School's suspension of its president Thursday for three days is "egregiously excessive" and "not a coincidence." Nancy Hanlon, a speech and language pathologist at the Stanley Elementary School, has been leading the union's bitter contract negotiations with the school system.

The Facebook post by the union Friday afternoon did not specify why Hanlon had been suspended. Patch has asked the Swampscott Education Association and Swampscott school officials for comment and will update this story when we hear back from them.

Last month, the union started a work-to-rule action to protest the ongoing contract negotiations. Both sides have sent out fliers critical of the other, and the two sides cannot even agree on how much an across-the-board, three percent cost-of-living increase the Swampscott Education Association is asking for in the would cost taxpayers.

Swampscott Public schools said the 3 percent raise would cost the district $3.1 million over the three-year contract in the flier it released earlier this month; in its response to that flier a week later, the union said the cost was closer to $2 million.

Since negotiations began in April, the union has rejected every proposal from the school system because it did not include the 3 percent raise. The school district says more than half of its teachers already earn between $75,000 and $100,000 per year, and another third earn between $50,000 and $75,000. One-in-five Swampscott teachers earn more than $100,000 er year.