##VIDEO ID:H27A2X54wRg## also here with Patrick keer who's the Town Administrator for the town of Marblehead I want to thank everyone for coming this morning in spite of our best efforts to arrive at an affordable and sustainable contract agreement with the Marvel Hood Education Association Union our our teachers decided our children's teachers decided to turn their backs on their classrooms this morning it is an unfort action and given how the mea the union is conspiring with other Massachusetts Teachers Association unions in neighboring community Strife seems more about increasing the collective power of the Statewide teachers union than improving the education of our children we want our school doors open but so far the Nea is refusing to consider realistic options that are in the best interest of our students in fact to avoid a strike on Saturday and again on Monday we offered to release the 15 Union negotiators from work with pay to continue mediation if they cancel their illegal strike so we can reopen schools for students they rejected that offer twice this proposal would have kept students in school and would not have disrupted their education Athletics singing engagements and other after school activities when mediation while mediation continues I want to make it clear that the marble Hood school committee is working diligently through mediation to get our children and teachers back into the classroom we want a fair affordable and sustainable contract for our teachers and our town and we are working to get this done unfortunately the Third 34% increase the union is proposing is not affordable nor is it warranted by the market it would create a $7.5 million shortfall in our existing budget that would require a property tax override which voters in Marblehead have overwhelmingly and repeatedly rejected over the past two decades a failed override would result in layoffs of approximately 75 staff an elimination of crucial programs we want to minimize layoffs so our schools can provide the education and services students and families need and deserve our our four-year offer would increase the average teacher salary to approximately $100,000 and the top scale salary $29,000 for 184 working days our proposals for the other bargaining units also are designed to make us competitive in the market the school committee has responded to the teachers request for increased paid Le adding a new benefit of 12 days of paid rental leave followed by use of sick lead the school committee provides teachers with 15 sick days a year and they can carry over unused sick leave from year to year we also provide a sick leave bank for teachers and we've offered to create one for employees in the other units so all employees have access to additional paid sickly days when needed our efforts to arrive at a contract agreement began in December 2023 when we first requested to start bargaining with the Union long before their contract expired unfortunately the union waited until March of 2024 to meet with us us and then requested a slow paced twice a month meeting schedule ensuring that the contracts would expire prior to the start of the school year we hope the union will quit Grand standing and the petty stunts and will get serious about getting our children back in the classroom thank you um I there question we're hearing that there's a lawsuit being filed by parents in regards to the after school activities what do you have to say about that I am I'm aware of that do you have a response to the labor complaint that was filed by the union there were several complaints filed by the union so any of them any or all we have we have responded to all of them that we don't agree with any of the [Music] complaints not show up on Sunday you could speak to that CH so um we were in um in front of the Department of Labor Relations on Friday when the strike was illegal strike was voted for and a hearing with the Department of Labor Relations they assigned us um a mediate mediator after determining that it was an illegal strike vote the mediator scheduled us for Saturday November 9th um at 10: am or 11: am which we met the mediator did not schedule any sessions mediation sessions for Sunday in fact she um had indicated indicated volume of materials and proposals and counter proposals she needed to review she needed a day to do that um so the next mediation that was scheduled after Saturday was veter guys in comment after the press conference is over we met yesterday in mediation uh beginning at 10: a.m. and we concluded shortly after 8 um the mediator as is typical also noted that they would be making all um appointments for mediation in writing as they did we have a written record that shows they notified us we should be appear for mediation on Saturday and again on Monday both of which we did there's no written record ever asking us to appear on Sunday nor did the mediator herself appear and we are scheduled for mediation today at 3M Marvel high school and that was in writing as well Yer any indication of when you guys might be able to resolve this kids might be able to go back to school would like to resolve it today in mediation it would be great if we could get you a contract um realistically I would say we are far apart or apart on wages and that's really the focus that we would like to have is on wages but I am confident that we will be able to reach an agreement take some time sorry is there any wiggle room in the budget that [Music] please some about that yeah so um as far as the finances so the proposal that that we have on the table uh as right now one is in the realm of what other communities have agreed to uh with their unions but um would require an override to fully fund it um given the track record as Jenna has mentioned um the concern is what happens if an override fails so as I've stated you know my my line is um we can agree to an amount it'll obviously require an override but if the override fails we would still be able to manage the schools what the the proposals we have on the table right now far exceed that if an override fails it would decimate the school system it the the amount of layoffs and restructuring would have a profound impact on the education system so what we're trying to do is find that line that balance of an override that the voters be more willing to accept that's reasonable but is not such a level that if it fails um we don't have an education system uh where that exact dollar number is that's what we're negotiating trying to negotiate to Patrick could you please provide your full name and your title uh Patrick he's Our Town Administrator and under the under chapter 150e the masteral law Rel relative to Collective bargaining I am a voting member of the school committee for purposes of collective bargain I just want to add one comment um what that said and that is that we recognize and the need for us to negotiate a contract with our Union our union members that is fa and that is competitive in the in the in the area the NorthShore and greater Massachusetts um but one of the things that we talked about particularly with the financing and the typ finances and the anemic growth that we talk about in tax revenue in Marble we're a very small SE Coast Community with virtually no commercial tax base um that we need to do this sort of methodical way and this may be a multi-contract process that it may take you two contract Cycles to be able to get where um where the employees and the unions um feel they need to be and where we can realistically fund um and find the revenue to meet that your model will students have to make up days that are missed due to the strike at the end of the year so the way it works with the state regulator is students must attend and we must have 180 school days for them in the over the course of the year so if there is school that is missed and today is a non-student school day um but if there are day missed then yes they will need to be made up to make sure that we need the 180 days what's the plan for that Jen weekends or vacations that has not been discussed at this point because we don't have we haven't missed school yet um and we haven't had to have students miss the school there yet that would be something the full school committee would take into under advisement in conjunction with our superintendent after we reached successful contract negotiations and teachers and employes of sa in the classroom so the current is reporting this morning uh as of last night actually that two local dads are in court today filing an injunction to um allow Lo the local teachers and coaches to continue with sports because there are some very big championships and big competitions on the line it is uh a lot of parents if you I'm sure you're hearing are very angry a lot of these kids are seniors um and they feel like the kids are being used as pawns what do you guys say about that and and like is there any wiggle room with you on that so couple comments about sports and by the way folks It's Not Just Sports it's other typ of extracurriculars which include um arts and Performing Arts um and although the sports scenes do get a lot of the focus it's all extracurricular activities that have been cancelled and school is canceled um the first thing I will say is that that is a decision by the superintendent superintendent John robu made that decision um and that is his purview and we support that he has our support for that um and there are a couple of issues here that need to be considered one is safety we have had no formal communication or indication from members of the Union that they that they would or who would come forward to any of these events and be there so we that that we don't know and so there's concerned because most of our let's just talk about sports for a second most of our coaching staff are faculty we do have some volunteers or non I should say volunteers non faculty coaches but most are on our faculty so we have no idea who may or may not come so teachers are making the decision to not come to a classroom we don't know um who may or may not show up and there could be a safety issue we have to ensure that all of our students no matter what activity it is are being um supported by and have adults who are properly trained with them the other issue frankly to think about and that we had and I know superintendent Robin did is an issue of equity right because there's a number of sports teams both boys teams and girls teams um that have activities coming forward or have playoffs or whatever um and there's been a lot of talk about boys football for instance I know that's been a lot of the email we've gotten and some others but we had to make sure that all teams would be able to go forward in all activities would be able to go forward and if it's just one boys team or girls team then that's an issue of equity and that's not fair is that something you'd work with either the mea or your or your staff with to try and and Sol some of these the way we the way we have tried to make this happen um for our students student athletes and student artists Etc is to offer for the union members to come back to work to allow the bargaining members to be relieved of their duties we would cover their duties with sub have you have them back at the negotiating table all day and all night until we can get a contract that would allow activities to go forward it would allow most importantly the education of our students to go forward it's let's face it that is the priority and so far it's been rejected so let me add one we did not create this situation the union created it by taking illegal strike so so the blame's not on us what we had been asking for for weeks was to have a mediator come in and help us through this process so with the fact that the MTA mea has gone on strike the result of that besides this impact is we have a mediator who's trying to help us come to a res it would have been much better if we had just gone to a mediator and not the strike then we wouldn't even have to have this conversation clear though Facebook what you just said it sounds like it's be either kids are back in the classroom and Strikes over activities res or activities don't resume strikes is that correct and at this point the superintendent is made it clear on his communication I have a question on your unavail unavailability this past weekend um it was critical in finding a contract agreement in order to get kids back in school today do you have a comment about that unavailability that's been circulating and as to where you're um so um any misinformation about unavailability is unfortunate um if not intentional there was no unavailability while thater and myself had trips that were planned several months in advance that we were out of town 4 we were available in on zoom and on conference calls for the entirety we were uh I was present at a hearing on Friday I was present on Saturday and again on Monday as well as thater um so we were zoomed in and present in the room we conversed with the mediator um she shared information back and forth so so any misinformation to that effect I can't speak to but at no time were we not present and engaged with both the State Department of Labor Relations and the meting yeah I I'll I'll just add I don't know what your your schedule was I was already out of state when the vote was taken um but we're in constant touch um and um also the meeting on Saturday is primarily a fact finding by the mediator so what was happening is just the mediator sitting down and collecting all the information that she needed to understand what the issues were so it wasn't even a case even if we were physically there it's not a case that there would have been critical negotiations happening it was fact finding um so again uh at that you know our physical location had no impact on the process um and again I I got in at 2:30 in the morning Monday and I was in place at 10:00 um here in Marblehead for the 10 and a half hours yesterday so again our trials had no impact on the process and to reiterate I just do there was no scheduled mediation on Sunday mediator has provided in writing the schedule of mediation there was one on Saturday and there was one on Monday and there's one today there was no schedule of mediation under the mediator wasn't there either don't I um we're hearing that about $8 million in free cash is about to be certified for the town leftover money right that was not spent from last year is there any wiggle room there can that money be used there was a facility subcommittee meeting of the school committee today that was canceled without notice that was supposed to be talking about some of the unused schools the empty schools in town I know that if the school committee were to hand those over to the town they lose control over where that money is spent but is that a deal that the community could come together and say if the school committee gives up these two buildings and sells them then the money goes to the teachers or to the kids the classrooms the programs isn't there a way to is there a way to come up with some kind of creative funding so we we we don't know yet what the certification of free cash will be um um historically uh in the last few years it's around that amount understand what free cash is for one it is it is the remaining balances of uh items coming in uh uh revenues over budget expenditures under budget uh some other factors the the challenge we've been dealing with in Marblehead is that it has over relied on free cash which is think of it as a savings uh rather than as a revenue um and and so we've been addressing that the challenge is if we rely on free cash to fund these obligations free cash is a one-time Revenue Source it might get us through one year and then we'll be in a bigger structural deficit going forward so the key to be able to have sustainable revenues and to be able to meet our contractual obligations is to have fiscal discipline on how we structure um covering and paying for these obligations it needs to come from reoccurring revenues not onetime revenues that's been a problem marble ahead we're fixing it um if we were to do as suggested probably one of the first impacts is that we would lose our AAA bonding rating and therefore all our borrowing costs would increase putting more strain on the budget so we have been uh very disciplined in how we approach our finances uh we are working to find the balance between meeting uh the needs of our employees to have competitive salaries to the marketplace at the same time um it's a fixed amount that the revenues are coming in and we have to balance year you're saying what's that but it's the same amount every year you're saying no it's been decreasing the the the certification the amount of free cash but within that what we've also been doing is decreasing the amount that is used to supplement the budget right and and use free cash for Capital needs and to maintain our uh reserves we have a policy of maintaining at least 5% our free cash of 5% of the operating budget and that's a major factor in our bond rating um and is considered the best practices by the Department of Revenue and so we intend to maintain that what about the two schools the empty school yeah we um uh yes we would like to see New Uses um of those schools it would be helpful to to bring them on the tax roles and we're working with the school committee they're under the control of the school committee we're having um conversations and it'll be you know a decision by the school committee at some point Jen can you comment on that is that an option um yes absolutely it's an option tell the schools and the school committee's role in regards to the school building is to determine whether any of the buildings under our care and control and custody are necessary for school purposes if the school committee makes that decision which is something that would likely be discussed with through the facilities Department then the the step Next Step would be to go to town me and to request to request to town meeting or you know make an article um on the town warrant that the buildings are no longer needed and then town meeting would decide whether those buildings would be taken over and then what ultimate dispensation would happen in regards to the buildings that is not a decision by the school committee but the school committee is open to maybe bringing that to to town meeting to handing over those schools to the town discussion of the empty facilities we have absolutely is going to be discussed by the school committee this year or this as we get forward in the fall and get into the warrant season I want to make another point to Le talked about the cancelled um meeting this morning the facility St committee meeting Philly subcommittee and the other subcommittees we have as part of the school committee are all part of our routine day-to-day work as school committee members and we are not in anything whatsoever that would be considered routine we are focused as bargaining subcommittee and as a school committee on resolving this contract negotiation and focus solely on that and any other routine business is going to be secondary to getting this contract negotiated and ratified and getting our teachers and our employees back and students back in the class totally understand that but it was not cancelled and there were a lot of people on notice of it being cancelled so the town cler has been was notified that the was and that's the process that we go through after other questions what do you do if this turns into what Newton saw and you're two and a half almost three weeks into a strike well we're first of all taking this day by day right so we are in mediation we'll be in mediation this afternoon it is our commitment it is our focus it is our um expectation that we will resolve this as soon as possible I certainly hope that it doesn't go from multiple multiple days but at this point it is up to both sides to be able to come forward we feel very strongly about the proposals we've offered we believe they're Fair we believe that they are uh market rate um offers and we hope that we are able to very quickly come to a resolution can you speak to the school committee and the baring committee's uh reluctance toward the parental uh Le proposals by the union so um I don't know if reluctance would be the word that would be appropriate um we have offer currently what is available in the contract allows for the parent who has given birth to take up to eat meets of their own time we have proposed that it to a a parental leave that would allow an either parent whether through birth or adoption to have the first 12 working days paid by the district and then a remainder up to 12 weeks out of their ACR time so that is certainly a large Improvement on what exists now um so so you know as all bargaining goes I I do understand that the union has asked for all 12 weeks um we are not in a financial situation to do that um our our offer we feel is very appropriate and when you look at what is available in other districts and what is on the table being proposed in other districts it's extremely competive at what point will you notify parents and public today whether or not there's school tomorrow depending on how negotiations go this afternoon so that would be the responsibility of the superintendent so he would be communicating with parents um at some point during the de who will tell the media um we can work with um our our staff and and folks get get a release out regards to also um our our technology department has been wonderful at updating our website rapidly so as soon as the notice is put out I would expect within minutes it will be on the Marblehead schools.org um website as well so within minutes it will be out in public guys my last question um so obviously this has really sparked a lot of debate and discussion and passion in town the whole town you know was overtaken by teachers on every street corner this weekend and live music and everyone has an opinion and there it's all anyone's talking about and the teachers largely it seems feel very disrespected and a lot of parents also feel like the teachers are being disrespected what happens when this is over and the community has to come back together is that on your mind at all as you engage in these this marketing and using some of the language that's being used also so in response I would say that that is on my mind every minute of every day I have spent almost my entire life in this town many of us have this is a very small Sea Coast Community where we have generations and generations of folks who lived here and folks whove just who've also come um newer um and one thing that we care deeply about is our is our students our children and our families and it is it is on my mind every single day about how we can get our teachers and employees back into the classroom and how we can move forward I think there are some lessons we can take from some other communities but I will say that um I'm confident that our Administration Our Town leaders and our teachers and employees will be able to move forward because they have always acted in the past in the best interest of students I know that I went through the schools here a long time ago my Stu my children went through these schools and I know how much our teachers are dedicated to our students and I'm confident that they will be able to move forward when we've been able to reach an agreement thanks