As the teacher strikes approach the 2nd week, positive progress is being made amongst the 3 North Shore striking communities as contract negotiations continued on Saturday.
The Marblehead School Committee Bargaining Sub-committee announced that a tentative agreement has been reached to create a joint committee with the Marblehead Education Association on school safety. Annie Butkus for the Marblehead School Committee
“This has been an important topic to the Union,” said Annie Butkus of the Marblehead School Committee, “and the Sub-committee hopes today’s momentum will continue and we will get to an agreement soon.”
The sub-committee is continuing meditation throughout the night in hopes of reaching more tentative agreements.
Gloucester school committee also announced a tentative agreement on their Comprehensive Professional Learning Proposal and has begun to put forward proposals for significant wage proposals.
“We know that these are difficult conversations. All of our educators work hard and the reality is that a range of complex factors are taken into account when determining salaries. Our first-year teachers are paid differently from ninth-year teachers. Our first-year paraprofessionals are paid differently than more seasoned paraprofessionals. Our teachers with bachelor’s degrees are paid differently than those with master’s degrees. As you can see in the table below, our wages are competitive with other districts. ” Kathleen Clancy, Chair of the Gloucester School Committee on the ongoing Paraprofessionals Negotiations.