LYNN — The city’s public school teachers held walk-ins at all 26 schools Wednesday morning to demonstrate the need for a fair contract, smaller classrooms, and lower caseloads.
Teachers gathered outside of the Lynn public schools today, 15-30 minutes before classes started. They held signs with demands, while they chanted, marched around school buildings, and handed out flyers to parents, so that the community would understand what they are fighting for, said Sheila O’Neil, president of the Lynn Teachers Union, Local 1037.
“We want our contracts to be settled fairly and swiftly,” said O’Neil.
When the bell rang, teachers walked into the schools with their students.
“There was no work stoppage,” said O’Neil. “It was about doing it prior to work day and getting on into work and servicing our students because that is our commitment.”
The Lynn teachers are demanding the district to address excessive class sizes for teachers and caseloads for therapists; to sufficiently increase wages to stop educators from leaving the district in droves; and to ensure clean and safe school buildings, sufficient classroom supplies, and access to technology.
The Teachers Union provided the school committee with a testimony on May 9, that multiple classrooms in every Lynn high school and middle school exceed 35 students per class size, O’Neil said. Lynn English High School, for example, has a class with 43 students in it per one teacher; while Lynn Classical High School has classes with 38 and 40 students, some of whom are English learners (EL).
“That is not helping them to learn English or to be successful,” O’Neil said.
Many speech and language specialists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists don’t want to come to the district because they would need to work with 150 students.
“Therapists have no prep time, no time to do their meetings, no time to do their reports,” O’Neil said. “Everything is done on their own time. Every minute of the school day is done servicing students.”
The Teachers Union’s contract with the school district expired on Aug. 31, 2021. Since then, the union has been bargaining with the district, while teachers, paraprofessionals, and therapists continued working in the Lynn public schools without a contract.
But the negotiations stalled on May 4.
“We had brought them (the school committee) a package that we thought we could get a deal on that night,” said O’Neil. “They left us in a caucus for two and a half hours. And they came back with no counters, just a denial of the things that we had given them.”
Teachers and unions fought for The Student Opportunity Act, signed into law in 2019, which changed the funding formula for Chapter 70 (the major program of state aid to public elementary and secondary schools) and has brought millions of dollars into the district, according to O’Neil.
“The money needs to be spent to make sure that we can retain the educators that we currently have and to hire the most qualified (teachers) for our district. Because it is about the students, we want the best for them,” said O’Neil.
The City Councilor-at-Large Brian LaPierre joined the walk-ins on Wednesday as a parent, educator, and elected official, he said.
“Our Lynn teachers deserve a fair and just contract,” said LaPierre. “They have gone above and beyond the call of duty and continue to put their best foot forward during overcrowded, and at times, untenable teaching and learning conditions. I hope this gets resolved quickly. The LTU has been both patient and collaborative during the collective bargaining process.”
The Ward 3 Councilor Constantino “Coco” Alinsug stopped by at the teachers walk-in at the Aborn Elementary School as well.
Alena Kuzub can be reached at [email protected].
