The School Committee’s bargaining subcommittee and the Marblehead Education Association met to have a negotiation session solely dedicated to teacher contracts.
According to a member of the committee, the meeting ended abruptly with no resolution.
“The subcommittee was hopeful to discuss all current proposals for Unit A,” School Committee member Sarah Fox said in a statement. “However, during a break requested by the union, the union left and notified the subcommittee via text they were unilaterally adjourning the negotiations immediately.”
This was the last negotiating session scheduled before the start of the school year and before the expiration of the current deal on Aug. 31.
The Union had proposed to create a district-wide task force to address student safety issues.
“The School Committee is not committed to working with us to find solutions to the problems in our schools,” a statement by MEA Co-President Jonathan Heller reads.
“The Committee prefers to maintain business as usual and not include frontline educators in the decision-making process. We are very disheartened at their position regarding this task force, as it is an eminently reasonable, proactive step towards keeping our students safe, and it would have no budgetary impact whatsoever,” the statement added.
After the committee unilaterally filed for mediation regarding the district’s custodial unit, the union felt it would be most productive for both parties to continue their dialogue during their next scheduled session on Sept. 10. That was the reason the MEA gave for ending the meeting, according to its statement.
The School Committee, in its statement, concluded by saying it “deeply values all of its employees, students and community and will continue to commit the time necessary to reach a fair contract.”
