Educators in four Massachusetts school districts are standing out and standing up for a new contract.
Teachers’ unions in Beverly, Gloucester and Revere are taking part in a “work-to-rule” status Friday, while Marblehead started Wednesday.
But what does that mean for students?
It means teachers in these districts will still be teaching classes as normal, but just not performing work duties outside of contractual responsibilities.
“We are following our contract, we are meeting the needs of our students through the regular hours of our workday today,” explained Andrea Sherman, a health and wellness teacher at Beverly Middle School.
Marblehead High School English teacher Kristina Sholds said, “A teacher’s day is never from 7:30 to 2:30, that is a fallacy. It is a forever job.”
So why are they doing this?
Well, their contracts have been expired for a month or longer at this point, with negotiations stalled since February.
“We’re all looking for living wages for our teachers, custodians, paras, and tutors, we’re looking for more support for school safety measures for teachers and students, and all looking for a more siloed plan for parental leave," Marblehead High School English teacher Anna Buono said.
And the teachers say they hope these “work-to-rule” days and morning “stand outs” will show these communities why it’s important to get these contracts negotiated now to avoid strikes like other districts have had.
“We’re negotiating in good faith. We don’t want to see interruption to school days for these students or for us. That’s why we’re out here, we’re trying to emphasize, let’s get this done, it’s time,” said Lydia Ames, an eighth grade Spanish teacher at Beverly Middle School.
Sixth grade humanities teacher Chris Melanson, who’s also at Beverly Middle School said, “You feel the power when surrounding districts join together and we rise up. It’s what we try to teach the kids to stand up for what’s right, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”
These educators here in Beverly say they’ll be out once per week, rotating the work-to-rule days between the different school buildings in the district to try to minimize the impact on students.
