~ Guest Commentary ~ ‘Our schools are in crisis’ – North Shore educators commence work-to-rule

Educator unions across four school districts began their work-to-rule this week amid expired contracts that lapsed over the summer

Thousands of North Shore educators voted to begin work-to-rule this week after contract negotiations across four school districts failed to reach new contracts. Educators in Marblehead, Gloucester, Beverly and Revere have all been working under expired contracts since the summer. With contracts now being a month or longer expired, educators are moving towards this public action to raise community awareness of the crisis in their public schools. Educators across the North Shore are fighting for smaller class sizes, paid parental leave, longer lunch and recess time for the youngest learners and a living wage for all staff. This week’s action comes after North Shore educators held walk-ins over the spring to raise awareness for paid parental leave.

Entering work-to-rule, educators will cease performing noncustomary duties outside contractual responsibilities. Customary responsibilities include grading, lesson planning and emailing families. Educators plan to cease noncustomary duties one day a week: offering extra help outside of required hours, chaperoning, writing letters of recommendation and other additional voluntary responsibilities outside of the contractual day. The action demonstrates how much educators routinely give beyond what is required of them.

Since February, educator unions have had bargaining session after bargaining session, coming to the table prepared and hopeful for meaningful progress. The four educator unions have all voted by more than 99% to enter into work-to-rule as contract negotiations yielded little to no movement.

“Our schools are in crisis. Educators in Revere have raised the alarm on the health and safety crisis in our schools for months,” said Rumney Marsh Academy teacher Jane Chapin, who is a Revere Teachers Association co-president. “When hundreds of our members attend the bargaining sessions as silent representatives, they can see and hear the School Committee’s refusal to listen to our concerns – instead, they choose to keep their heads in the sand and ignore the reality in front of them. And that is exactly why our members unanimously voted to commence work-to-rule. Enough is enough.”

North Shore Educators United is a coalition of educator unions representing over 5,000 educators from Gloucester to Chelsea working to advocate for better schools. To stay up to date, please visit their Facebook and Instagram pages.