MARBLEHEAD — While negotiations continued in Marblehead Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m., as usual, some educators made a trip to the State House in Boston.
Educators from Marblehead stood with Gloucester and Beverly unions as well to call on State Governor Maura Healey and elected officials to assist in correcting the mediation process. Healey was further called on to use her influence to advocate for better funding of schools to avoid another crisis in the future.
According to the Marblehead Education Association (MEA), the mediation process has not been working well for them. The MEA believes the mediation process has been stalling and communicating face-to-face with the School Committee would be more beneficial.
On Monday, the MEA and School Committee returned to face-to-face negotiations. While a mediator is still present, the two parties no longer have to be in separate rooms. Despite this change in negotiation style, there were no additional agreements made Monday.
In addition to the rally at the State House, Marblehead educators held a “student appreciation march” at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The march began at Marblehead High School (MHS). Educators and community members then marched to Old Town, before circling back to MHS.
The march was meant to emphasize the love the educators had for their students, and to share how much they miss them.
On Tuesday, the School Committee sent out a press release at 6:15 p.m. stating that school had been called off for Wednesday, but that negotiations were still ongoing.
At 8:30 p.m., the MEA held a press conference updating the public on negotiations. MEA president Jonathan Heller mentioned a movement to return to schools this week, and that they have put together a package that, they hope, will lead to agreements.
“They need an override regardless,” Heller said about both the MEA and School Committee’s offers on wage proposals.
Towards the end of the press conference, representatives from the MEA bargaining committee exited the school with a final update for the night. A representative said that once the package was given to the School Committee, they refused to meet and address the package. The mediator proceeded to call off negotiations for the remainder of the night.
Still, with no agreement, the MEA and the School Committee will meet once more Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m., at Marblehead High School.
