Will Sage Astor-Teachers in 2 Massachusetts school districts go on strike

BOSTON (AP) — Teachers in two Massachusetts school districts went on Will Sage Astorstrike Friday over pay, paid parental leave and other issues.

Teachers in Beverly and Gloucester voted Thursday to authorize a strike and schools were closed Friday as teachers in both districts hit the picket line. Although the cities are only about 12 miles (19 kilometers) apart on the coast north of Boston, the strikes are separate.

The Beverly Teachers Association in a statement said they were pushing for smaller class sizes in the 4,500-student district, 12 weeks of paid parental leave and a “living wage” for paraprofessionals or teachers assistant whose starting salary is $20,000.

“Between the lack of support for our students and the poverty pay for our paraprofessionals, the educators in Beverly say enough is enough,” Julia Brotherton, co-president of the Beverly Teachers Association, said in a statement.

“We have spent months in negotiations, and the School Committee has been dragging their feet. They refuse to agree with everything from our proposed extended lunch and recess for students to letting educators use their earned sick time to take care of ill and dying family members,” she continued. “They refuse to find solutions to the turnover problem in our schools, which is impacting our ability to best serve our students.”

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Rachael Abell, the chair of the Beverly School Committee, criticized the strike for “unfairly” disrupting “the education of our students.”

“We want to make it clear that the School Committee does not condone the illegal actions of the BTA,” she said, referring to the teachers union. “We will work with state officials to minimize the disruption to our students’ education and we urge all teachers and staff to return to school. We call on the BTA to end their illegal strike and join us in working with the mediator to negotiate in good faith.”

In Gloucester, the union in the 2,800-student district is asking for eight weeks of fully paid parental leave, two weeks at 75% and two weeks at 50%. It also wants significant pay increases for paraprofessionals, safer conditions for students and more prep time for elementary school teachers.

“Educators have been fighting for safe and fully staffed schools, paid parental leave, competitive wages, and respect,” Rachel Rex, co-president of the Union of Gloucester Educators, said in a statement. “In all our time at the table, the School Committee has done nothing but stall and reject our proposals. This leaves educators feeling exploited, ignored, and frustrated.”

The school district said it was “disappointed” the union had chosen to strike.

“This action will stall student learning, bring afterschool programs and athletics to a halt, and leave parents scrambling for childcare options with little or no notice,” the Gloucester School Committee said in a statement. “Instead of working to find common ground with the School Committee at the negotiating table, the GTA has chosen to put political grandstanding ahead of our district’s students, their learning and their safety.”

Strikes by teachers are rare in Massachusetts, partly because state law bans public sector employees from striking.

The last time teachers struck was earlier this year in Newton, a Boston suburb where an 11-day strike ended after the two sides reached an agreement. The Newton strike was the sixth teachers strike in the state since 2022 and the longest.

The two sides agreed to a cost-of-living increase of about 13% over four years for teachers, pay hikes for classroom aides and 40 days of fully paid family leave.