Marblehead Weekly News

Marblehead Education Association member Mike Giardi rallies his fellow MEA members. (Spenser Hasak) Purchase this photo

Marblehead teachers show solidarity outside Veterans Middle School

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Members of the Marblehead Education Association gathered outside Veterans Middle School to show their solidarity with each other before a meeting with interim Superintendent John Robidoux last Thursday morning.
Educators in the district have been without a contract since Aug. 31.

“We are showing that we are standing together and we are still doing our best job every day, and we come here for the students every day, but we need for the School Committee and administration to recognize how hard we work and that we deserve parental leave, we deserve fair living wages,” MEA Co-President Sally Shevory said. “We are standing out in solidarity, showing that we are still here. We are still standing together and we’re still fighting for a fair contract.”

She added that custodians have been working in the schools all summer and have been without a contract since June 30.

“They continue to show up every day of work and do their best, and they deserve that recognition,” Shevory said.

According to the MEA, Marblehead educators are the second-lowest paid in the area. The only district in the region with lower-paid educators is Salem, and its teachers union is currently in contract negotiations as well.

MEA Co-President Jonathan Heller, a sixth-grade teacher at the Village School, said standing outside Veterans Middle School showed that the teachers are standing in solidarity.

“We stand out together because we are stronger together,” he said.

Marblehead High School teacher and football coach Mike Giardi spoke to the crowd about their perseverance in the ongoing contract negotiations.

“We need everybody to be involved as best we can. That means being visible with your red shirts. That means being visible at the next Town Meeting,” Giardi said. “We need everybody on the same page, because it is going to be a working effort with us, and we have to work with School Committee, and we have to work with this town to get what we want, and that is, we want safe schools, we want parental leave, and we want fair wages for everybody. We need to work together on that.”

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