Negotiations Updates
November 7 Community Update on Teacher Strike
Dear Members of the Gloucester School Community,
We are deeply disappointed by the Gloucester Teachers Association’s (GTA) vote to proceed with an illegal and deeply harmful strike. This action will stall student learning, bring afterschool programs and athletics to a halt, and leave parents scrambling for childcare options with little or no notice. Instead of working to find common ground with the School Committee at the negotiating table, the GTA has chosen to put political grandstanding ahead of our district’s students, their learning and their safety.
The Gloucester School Committee is made up of members of the community who love the Gloucester Public Schools. Each of us ran and were ultimately elected to our positions because of our deep admiration for our educators and our strong sense of responsibility towards the children of Gloucester. It is because of this that the School Committee, over many months of negotiations, has worked incredibly hard to find common ground on critical issues including increased pay, sick leave, and expanded learning opportunities for our students. Each of our proposals have been built off of direct feedback from educators, reflecting the vast respect we hold for them. Our proposals also prioritize fiscal responsibility, ensuring that taxpayers won’t be left to foot higher bills and our schools won’t be put in the unfortunate position of deciding which services need to be cut as a result.
The proposals the GTA have gone on strike in support of today are fiscally irresponsible and impractical. Accepting them would seriously risk tax hikes or service cuts for the district.
Every day the strike continues, our most vulnerable students lack convenient access to warm meals, necessary continuation in education and critical mental health services. This action will put many parents in the tough position where they will have to sacrifice working hours and wages. All of this is absolutely unacceptable.
We are aware that there is a playoff football game tomorrow night. We will provide an update on the game by 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.
For the well-being of our students and their families, we strongly urge the GTA to end their illegal labor action, return to the negotiating table, and continue collaborating with the school committee. We firmly believe that we can come to an agreement, and that student learning and safety should never be upended in the process.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Clancy
Chair
On behalf of the Gloucester School Committee
November 5 Community Update on Teacher Negotiations
Dear Members of the Gloucester School Community,
This afternoon the Gloucester School Committee petitioned the state Department of Labor Relations to step in to stop a planned illegal strike by the Gloucester Teachers Association, which we believe will significantly disrupt student learning in the coming days.
The School Committee took this step based on clear evidence the GTA plans to vote on this illegal strike as soon as Thursday and begin striking as soon as Friday. We are asking the Department of Labor Relations to step in and stop this illegal action immediately, and allow school to stay open and students to continue learning.
Teachers are essential employees who our children depend on for learning and safety during the school day. An illegal labor action will cause direct harm to students by forcing many to stay home without a parent or guardian able to care for them, removing access to mental health service options, and limiting students' abilities to secure warm meals. Additionally, emergency responders such as the Gloucester Police Department will have to shift substantial resources to manage the public impact of a labor action.
It is our intention that with our legal steps taken today, the School Committee and GTA can return to the bargaining table to find common ground and solutions that reflect the immense respect we have for our educators.
We all want our students to become successful, engaged, lifelong learners who feel a strong sense of belonging. The only way we can achieve that now is through bargaining in good faith.
We will keep you updated in the coming days.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Clancy
Chair
On behalf of the Gloucester School Committee
November 1 Community Update on Teacher Negotiations
Dear Members of the Gloucester School Community,
On Tuesday night, we held another negotiation session with the Gloucester Teachers Association (GTA). We entered the session with updated proposals and a serious, passionate desire to find a solution so that everyone’s attention can return to what matters most: Educating students.
The School Committee proposals continue to balance providing our teachers with competitive wages and paid time off that surpasses neighboring districts, while meeting the financial needs of the community and making sure that all teachers have the time to work together to improve student learning and academic achievement.
The GTA declined to consider our new proposals and did not offer any compromises of their own. For example, instead of moving toward the middle on teacher pay as the School Committee has repeatedly done, the GTA restated their initial, unaffordable and unsustainable proposal.
Negotiations are a two-way street. Each side has to move from its original position for progress to be made. We are not seeing that kind of movement from the GTA and their partners from the statewide Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA). If the GTA continues to negotiate with us, we believe we will reach a fair agreement with no disruptions to school or student learning.
Here is where the two sides stand on our salary proposals:
Teacher Pay
The School Committee has come to the table with a competitive salary proposal. On Tuesday, we increased our salary proposal and are now offering teachers a salary increase between 10% and 26% over three years. The School Committee offered to increase the highest paid teachers’ salary by an additional $2,600 above our opening proposal. The highest paid teachers would earn $107,400, up from the $97,500 they are earning now.
The GTA, on the other hand, continues to stick with its original proposal that would increase teachers’ salaries between 28% and 55%, with top teacher pay reaching $125,000 per year.
The School Committee’s salary proposal ensures competitive pay for our teachers without completely straining the city’s financial resources and impacting teaching personnel. Overall, our increased salary plan would cost the district around $1.1 million per year in FY25, FY26, and FY27.
The GTA’s plan would cost the district approximately $1.9 million in FY25, $2 million in FY26, and more than $2 million in FY27. To put that into perspective, the GTA’s FY25 proposal for teacher salary increases alone costs more than the increase in the district’s entire FY25 budget, including all staff salaries, services, and supplies. As we made clear during the negotiation session, the GTA proposal is unaffordable and unsustainable for the city.
To make progress, the GTA needs to engage in negotiations that offer a salary proposal that is more in line with the City’s finances, won’t risk staffing cuts, and overburden taxpayers. We remain optimistic that we can find common ground if the GTA will work with us to find an approach that accomplishes our shared goals.
Please see below for links to further updates about our proposal to offer a new Paid Parental Leave benefit and for ensuring that all teachers are able to work together during the workday to improve student learning and achievement.
Next Steps
Our next GTA negotiation session is planned for November 12 at 4:30 p.m. at the Gloucester High Library. The Gloucester School Committee remains fully committed to finding common ground with the GTA and negotiating solutions that meet the needs of our students, educators, and community members.
As always, ensuring our students become successful, engaged, lifelong learners with a strong sense of belonging remains our ultimate priority.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Clancy
Chair
Gloucester School Committee
Expanding Paid Leave Benefits
The two sides are also trying to work through competing proposals to add a new Paid Parental Leave Benefit.
While we firmly believe that teachers should have access to paid parental leave to care for themselves and loved ones, the GTA’s proposal of introducing 12 weeks of paid parental leave fully funded by the district is cost-prohibitive.
We believe the current approach teachers may take – using accrued paid sick time for reasons related to family and medical leave – is a good benefit for staff. Currently, teachers earn 17 sick days per year and may accrue up to 165 sick days in total. This, in turn, provides them access to 12 weeks of fully paid leave. Beyond that, Gloucester’s existing sick leave policy is already one of the most generous in the state.
Improving Student Learning
The two sides are also negotiating over the teacher work day to ensure that teachers have enough time to work with each other and focus on improving student learning and instruction.
The GTA wants to reduce the amount of time elementary teachers have to work together and eliminate 7 after school hours used for professional development, book studies, learning about student needs, reviewing student achievement data and other important work that improves student learning. The School Committee values educators working together because it is the primary way that schools improve their practice and student learning. Right now our elementary educators have much less time than their middle school and high school counterparts to collaborate. The challenge is that elementary teachers currently have a shorter contracted work day so there isn’t time in the day to do this important work.
Currently in Gloucester, GPS Elementary School teachers' contracted work day is 6 hours 17 minutes, O’Maley teachers' workday is 6 hours 32 minutes, and Gloucester High teachers' workday is 6 hours 52 minutes. This, as you can see, in the chart above is lower than the amount of time teachers in neighboring districts work.
Implementing a unified work day of 6 hours and 52 minutes for all Gloucester Public Schools will ensure that all teachers have the necessary time to plan, prepare, and collaborate.
October 28, 2024 - Update on 10th Mediation Session with the Paraprofessionals Association
Dear Gloucester Public Schools Families,
We want to provide you with a brief update on last week’s mediation session with the Gloucester Association of Educational Paraprofessionals (GAEP) and touch base on tomorrow’s negotiation session with the Gloucester Teachers Association (GTA).
We entered our tenth mediation session on October 22nd with a competitive pay package for our district’s paraprofessionals that goes beyond the wages neighboring districts provide. We increased our previous wage proposal, bringing our current salary offer to what equates to $29 per hour for the highest-paid GAEP staff starting in 2026. The district would do this by increasing pay for all paraprofessionals rapidly over the course of fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
Throughout the past ten months of mediation, we have listened to GAEP member concerns and offered highly competitive pay proposals. Our proposal from last week would set Gloucester paraprofessional pay above comparable districts such as Rockport, Salem, Peabody, and Leominster and on par with Manchester-Essex and Hamilton-Wenham. However, GAEP further increased its wage requests beyond its previous proposal, making it harder to find a compromise.
We deeply value the passion, dedication, and purpose GAEP members bring to Gloucester Public Schools. Paraprofessionals are paramount to fostering a sense of belonging among our students and helping them become successful, engaged, life-long learners.
We continue to work on this issue. The sooner we can come to an agreement with our paraprofessionals, the better for our students, paraprofessionals, and our community.
Finally, please keep your eyes out for another update set to come out shortly after our negotiation session with the Gloucester Teachers Association tomorrow night, where we plan to walk through a new wage proposal. The School Committee remains deeply focused on negotiating a new contract with the GTA as soon as possible, and will keep you informed throughout the negotiation process.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Clancy
Chairperson
Gloucester School Committee