With three educators and members of the Marblehead Education Association still on paid administrative leave after their involvement in a student-restraint crisis at Glover School, dozens of union members gathered outside of each school Friday morning to stand in solidarity with their suspended colleagues.
In December, interim Superintendent Theresa McGuinness placed the three educators at Glover School on leave, along with a fourth who is not an MEA member. The district came under fire immediately following the incident as the union threatened litigation and called for the removal of Paula Donnelly and Emily Dean from their respective positions of director and associate director of student services.
The outcry prompted the School Committee to initiate a third-party investigation into the district’s student-support process. McGuinness said she would “prioritize and implement” recommendations that came from the investigation.
On New Year’s Day, McGuinness announced that Donnelly and Dean had agreed to part ways with the district. However, the educators involved in the incident have remained on leave for nearly two months.
“The MEA continues to demand that our colleagues be returned to the classroom where they belong as soon as possible,” the union wrote in a statement.
Teachers walked into the buildings together at the start of the school day, dressed in a sea of red symbolizing “Red for Ed” in “solidarity with our union siblings in school districts across the North Shore who are also fighting for safe and supportive schools, a fair contract, and the budget our staff and students deserve,” according to the statement.
This wasn’t the first time that the union’s members demonstrated solidarity with their suspended colleagues. At a Dec. 21 School Committee meeting, dozens of MEA members filled the seats inside of the High School’s library to speak out against Student Services leadership. Many told stories of being hit and kicked by dysregulated students, recounted that they had not been provided the resources and proper training to handle those types of situations, and even claimed that their requests or concerns were ignored as they were sent back to “just teach.”
After each member addressed the School Committee during public comment, educators in attendance raised signs that read “We Stand Together.”
On Wednesday, the School Committee met in executive session with the MEA to enter collective bargaining discussions, as the union’s current contract with the district was set to expire.