Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated that classes were canceled Friday. Haverhill Public Schools said late Friday night that schools would be open and students are encouraged to attend.
A deal was reached late Thursday night to end the teacher strike in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
The tentative agreement between the Haverhill Education Association and Haverhill Public Schools was announced just before 11 p.m.
Earlier Friday, the district said schools would be closed for a fifth straight day Friday. Late Friday night, officials said they would be open, but that buses would not be picking students up.
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"Schools will be open tomorrow and we encourage students to attend. Unfortunately, due to the late hour of the agreement, there will be NO bus service available," read a message signed by Superintendent Margaret Marotta posted to the district's Facebook page. "Students may report at any time tomorrow convenient to families. Those that do not report will be excused."
The union spoke highly of the agreement after it was reached.
"With this contract, we won a financial package that represents a substantial investment in our public schools, closing a damaging wage gap between Haverhill educators and educators in other districts," said Haverhill Education Association President Tim Briggs. "We won language that addresses student safety, we won language to develop more diverse teaching force, all of these are tremendous benefits to the 8,000 students in Haverhill Public Schools."
The school committee and the union had a tentative agreement on wages Wednesday night. The talks Thursday were focused on other issues, like safety.
Barry Davis is a union vice president. He said strikers would stay on Main Street until they have a tentative contract. The people on strike were anxious for news earlier in the day.
"We would like to be in our classrooms. I'd like to get back to my kids but we’ve gone this far to secure them good schools and we’ve got to keep going," Andrew Lefoley, a special education teacher, said.
Strikers say the school committee negotiators want language in the contract that would allow the district to discipline those who organized and lead the strike.
"If you lead a chant, if you talked to a parent, if you put a Facebook post up… that’s how I’m interpreting it. If you did nothing but stand still in silence. But we’re a union. An injury to one is an injury to all and we’re not going back to work until we know that every one of our members is safe," union vice president Barry Davis said.
Davis has been a vocal presence.
"I hope they know better than to fire me because I think everyone would walk back out. But I definitely feel targeted by it. But we’re a union. I come from a union family. I know unions my whole life and unions stand together. We’ll stand together."
Scott Wood of the Haverhill School Committee spoke earlier in the day when there was still hope of a deal.
“The Haverhill School Committee has accepted the union’s financial proposal, which totals approximately $25 million. We believe this contract will put the Haverhill teachers on par with teachers in similar urban school districts.”
The sticking point is the district’s student disciplinary process – where the two sides still don’t see eye to eye.
“The real issue comes down to the difference of agreement relative to the administrative processes and our concern relative to student privacy laws,” Wood said.
Haverhill High School counselor and bargaining committee member Sarah Gauvin said, “Nobody is out to violate student privacy. We absolutely agree to putting in language that cited FERPA and cited HIPAA.”
Teachers were out picketing again on Thursday in spite of the $50,000 fine imposed by a judge Wednesday and the $10,000 fine that is scheduled to be assessed at the end of the day Thursday, as negotiations drag on.
A Massachusetts judge ruled Wednesday that the Haverhill Education Association and Massachusetts Teachers Association were in contempt and fined them tens of thousands of dollars.
The unions failed to comply with a restraining order and injunction sending teachers back to work, Essex County Superior Court Justice James Lang , fining the organizations an initial $50,000 and $10,000 more per day that the strike lasts — $60,000 on Thursday, $70,000 on Friday and so on.
Haverhill teachers have been striking since Monday. They have been without a contract since school started and negotiations between them and school district leaders gridlocked. The union wants compensation for all the work teachers are doing to make up for vacant positions and what they’ve put up with during the pandemic. They also are demanding a safer environment for teachers and students.
