Salem Schools Report Progress In Teacher Contract Negotiations

SALEM, MA — Salem school officials reported progress in some aspects of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with its teachers' union while allowing "an important conversation around parental leave" is still forthcoming.

The parental leave negotiation, which the district said will "continue in coming meetings," has become central to contracts with several teachers' unions across the state in recent months with several North Shore unions, including the Salem Teachers Union, planning parental leave awareness demonstrations this week and after it was a sticking point in the historically long Newton teachers strike this winter.

(Also on Patch: North Shore Teachers Unite For Parental Leave Benefits)

"This week STU told the School Committee that Paid Parental Leave should be a right of all workers, including educators," the teachers union said in a post on its social media page.

Educators and municipal employees are exempt from the state's Paid Family Medical Leave program because it doesn't cover municipal workers, including public school teachers.

District leadership said on Monday that Friday's negotiations "gave the School Committee an opportunity to show our support for teachers, students and schools."

"The School Committee expressed our commitment to providing meaningful professional development opportunities for staff, to facilitating flexible and fair sick-leave practices, and to supporting the STU in their teacher onboarding efforts."

The district said in addition to bereavement leave, it reached a tentative agreement with the STU on appropriate schedules for part-time teachers and the establishment of a joint subcommittee to review the bargaining agreement as it evolves."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)