Schools remain closed in three Massachusetts communities as teachers remain on strike.
Classes were out Thursday in Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead. Students in Beverly and Marblehead will remain out of class Friday, school officials have announced.
Now, the school districts are taking their fight from the picket line to the courtroom.
It is illegal in Massachusetts to engage in a teacher strike, so all three of the districts have taken their respective teachers unions to court to hold them in contempt for refusing to return to the classroom.
Teachers unions in all three towns were ordered to pay $50,000 in fines on the first day, with those fines repeating with an increase of $10,000 each day they refuse to be in class.
The fines against Beverly and Gloucester teachers went into effect Wednesday, meaning they were fined an additional $60,000 Thursday. A judge issued a ruling on Marblehead Thursday, meaning a fine of $50,000 was imposed that day.
Teachers in all three districts are looking for better pay, better benefits, paid parental leave and more support for paraprofessionals.
As it relates to Marblehead, teachers and the school committee there have made progress on parts of a new deal. The big hurdle right now continues to be wages.
"The school committee could get us back in school tomorrow if they would come to the table. We have fair packets on the table. All they need to do is say yes and get us back in school," said Sally Shevory, of the Marblehead Education Association.
These strikes are now becoming more contentious. In Gloucester, the school committee has decided to stop paying teachers for every day they don't show up to school. And in Marblehead, it's having an effect on student athletes.
Unlike Gloucester and Beverly, extracurricular activities in Marblehead were initially placed on hold until a new deal could be reached. But Thursday afternoon, Marblehead High School's varsity football team, which is in the Elite Eight, learned it would be able to compete Friday.
