Hundreds of teachers union members from Marblehead (MEA), Gloucester, and Beverly (BTA) gathered outside the Massachusetts Statehouse Tuesday afternoon as part of the ongoing strikes in the three districts that continue to keep schools closed this week.

Beverly and Gloucester began striking on Nov. 8, while Marblehead’s strike began on Nov. 12. All the unions are negotiating separately, but in solidarity, for measures like competitive teacher salaries, increased parental leave benefits, lunch and recess time, and respect and living wages for paraprofessionals.

Public employee strikes are illegal in Massachusetts, and each striking union has been ordered to pay a $50,000 fine, with an additional $10,000 penalty per day that the strike continues.

“Every one of us understood our unions would face consequences, but justice is not found in outright union-busting like we are witnessing now,” Ruth Furlong, a BTA member told the crowd gathered on the steps of the Statehouse. “Our unions are broken financially, but our will and our spirit are far from broken.”

Union members head to Boston, leaving hundreds on the North Shore picket lines

Teachers filed by the masses into the Statehouse after holding a brief rally on the steps outside where they echoed their main concerns and called on Gov. Maura Healey for support.

Leanne Harwood, a paraprofessional from the BTA, called for Healey to “step off the sidelines,” and fulfill her promised role as “advocate-in-chief” for women, mothers, and public education.

Healey did not speak directly with any teachers on Tuesday, though her staff did. In a written statement reported by AP she called continued school closures, “unacceptable,” urging parties to reach an agreement.

Abby Ash, a first-grade teacher and member of the Union of Gloucester educators, is seven and a half months pregnant. She expressed concern over the proposed 10 paid parental leave days in the current administration plan.

“We give so much of ourselves to every family we serve, and yet Gloucester Public Schools refuses to let us care for our own families,” Ash said.

The North Shore teachers unions have received criticism for causing illegal work stoppages and causing potential burdens to students and parents.

Marblehead teachers and students march in solidarity

In Marblehead, the usual picketing routine on Tuesday morning was interrupted by a Student Appreciation March, where hundreds of teachers and students met at the local high school before marching downtown while chanting and waving signs.

Many signs shared messages of missing students and expressed affection towards them.

“For sure we miss them, this is ultimately for their benefit,” said Conor Ryan, a high school English teacher and organizer for the picket line. “I think it’s important to understand that this is a necessary escalation and necessary action.”

Jenn Billings, a high school English teacher and 20-year Marblehead educator, said she saw the strike as a long time coming. The district hasn’t successfully passed a general override since 2005, a vote which, at that time, Billings said worked to build some of the schools.

Citing low property taxes as a Marblehead homeowner herself, Billing said the infrastructure hasn’t been properly set up to ensure a livable wage or the best safety and efficacy of the schools.

“The town needs to understand that times have changed,” Billings said. “It used to be that a teacher, a firefighter and a police officer could afford a home here … [but] we’ve been priced out.” She added that increased cost of living in the region has resulted in educators needing second jobs to afford to live in the district.

“I just don’t know what’s more important in a town than making sure that your public schools are strong and that your teachers want to come to work here,” Billings said.

Reflecting on her time teaching elementary students, Billings also echoed the importance of getting kids back in school.

“I spend arguably more time with a student than a student spends at home,” Billings said. “We want to make young people into the best people they can be, and that happens when we’re working together in the classroom, so it’s time to go back.”

Many strikers expressed receiving outpourings of support from the local community, exemplified by the constant honking of nearly every car that passed the high school in support of the picket and the march.

“I think that’s really to the credit of how well-informed the people of the community stay,” said Steve Volpe who teaches at the middle school, “because the more informed you are about the situation, the more likely you are to be supportive of the teachers.”

While others observed more anger from inside the community and beyond, a sense of unity was palpable throughout Marblehead on Tuesday.

“I think we all kind of know it’s like the dark secret that we are going to need an override,” high school gym teacher Michael Lavender said, explaining that other labor groups will likely push for new resolutions after the MEA, forcing a general override, which he expressed hope for. 

Lavender described the strike as an attempt to address “15 [to] 20 years of tough contracts in one.” Marblehead teachers in the past took worse contracts to help the town, Lavender said. 

“After doing that over and over again and not standing up for ourselves, we’ve now dropped down from probably one of the highest-paid districts in the area to the lowest or very close,” he added, “and what hurts me the most is every year I make friends with these new staff that are great, and then they leave.”

The strike has also touched many aspects of student’s lives beyond academics.

Brian Heenan, a high school biology teacher and the head coach of the Marblehead Boys Cross Country team, said that the strike was announced the day before the team’s divisional championship meet of the season. 

“The boys were distraught saying ‘Is the season over’,” Heenan said. 

Ultimately the team won the meet, sending them to the state championship where “it remained in limbo as to whether or not they were going to be able to run.”

Describing the end of the season as “a punch in the gut,” Heenan said that the team competed in state championships, though he was only able to attend as a spectator and couldn’t coach the final week of practices.

Phineas is a junior at Marblehead High School. His mom is a teacher and a silent bargainer with the MEA.

“I think it would be beneficial for both them and us if we get a fair contract,” Phineas said. “It’s hard for them to survive and also teach us with the resources we need on the contracts they currently have.”

He said that while some students have seen the strike as a nice break, many want to return, especially amid speculation they may lose February break.

In Beverly, school committee officials said that scheduled breaks could be on the line if striking continues.

Teachers meet with state officials at the Statehouse

Inside the Statehouse, BTA members met with Rep. Jerald A. Parisella of the 6th Essex District and urged the official to help them in their fight.

Some students shared how Beverly’s teachers have helped them overcome daily problems even despite continued systemic struggles. Union members also shared their stories.

Over 50 teachers, students, and community members gathered stood listening with banners and dressed in red school merchandise, with Parisella standing alone in the middle of the crowd writing on a legal pad and asking occasional questions of the speakers.

“Us as educators we have gone above and beyond,” Paul Drake, a paraprofessional with Beverly, said of teacher advocacy efforts to get financial support into schools.

“We just need that to actually come to us so these human costs aren’t part of our community,” Drake told Parisella, before asking him if he would talk to city officials about BTA’s case, to which Parisella agreed.

“It’s a city issue, but we’re here because the city hasn’t resolved the issue,” Drake said in an interview. “We’re really confused as to why the leadership in our city, our mayor, our school committee president just won’t get their heads around really basic humane questions.”

Parisella 89’, told The Beacon that he hopes the strike can get resolved because it’s “dividing our community” He said he is trying to continue to educate himself on the issue and has talked with Beverly’s mayor and teachers association president. 

“We’ve tried to put more money into the schools with our state budget,” said Parisella, which according to him this year alone constituted $6.9 billion statewide with over $15 million to the city of Beverly for Chapter 70 Funding. “So it’s up to the city to decide [that those funds are used properly],” Parisella said.

In a news conference live-streamed late Tuesday on Facebook, MEA Co-president Jonathan Heller said that a new package had been created that would mark a “major concession” from the union including withdrawing or reducing aspects from previous proposals.

Heller said the new proposal “definitely does not put us in such a deep hole that we can not get out of it,” and is hopeful the contract is favorable enough to settle disputes and begin opening schools the following day.

“We know this community is hurting,” Heller said. “There has been no movement on the school committee’s part, [so] this is our bridge to come to a fair contract and get us back in the classroom.”

School was canceled for Wednesday in all three districts as formal agreements have yet to be reached.