MARBLEHEAD — Members of the Marblehead Education Association gathered outside Veterans Middle School to show their solidarity with each other before an educators’ development day on Thursday morning.

“We are showing that we are standing together and we are still doing our best job every day, and we come here for the students every day, but we need for the School Committee and administration to recognize how hard we work and that we deserve parental leave, we deserve fair living wages,” MEA Co-President Sally Shevory said. “We are standing out in solidarity, showing that we are still here. We are still standing together and we’re still fighting for a fair contract. ”

North Shore educators and community members gathered for a forum in Beverly last Thursday to discuss school safety, low wages, and contracts.

Among them were Marblehead educators, who have been negotiating contracts with the School Committee throughout the summer.

Heller, a sixth-grade teacher at the Village School; Meg Kalpin, the district’s nurse; and Alison Carey, a social worker at the high school, reflected on the event and where the union currently stands in an interview with The Item.

Carey said the event was “pretty incredible” and it was reassuring to work with a group of educators from surrounding districts.

She said seeing other districts experience the same problems that Marblehead teachers are facing is “equal parts validating and also really distressing to hear stories from other educators and surrounding districts, that you know these could be my colleagues really talking about their experiences.

“Everything that was said on that panel was something that I know educators in Marblehead have also experienced,” she added.

Kalpin said the stories of all who spoke at the rally resonated with her, from their descriptions of dysregulation to issues with funding and parental leave.

Heller said with contracts expiring on Aug. 31, educators will head back to school without one.

One of the prevalent problems Marblehead educators are facing now is turnover, which has been “unprecedented,” Heller said.

“There had to have been 50-plus people, and that’s not including the positions that remain unfilled, including positions that have just been posted within the last couple days,” Heller said. “I think I counted just in the last 10 days, there must be another dozen positions that have become vacant, because we continue to have that turnover.

“We need to solve those problems together, and it’s now time for our School Committee to stop the conversations and to start to make real commitments,” he added.

A recent meeting between the School Committee’s bargaining subcommittee and the MEA was scheduled for the purpose of discussing teacher contracts.

According to a member of the committee, it ended abruptly with no resolution.

“The subcommittee was hopeful to discuss all current proposals for Unit A,” School Committee member Sarah Fox said in a statement. “However, during a break requested by the union, the union left and notified the subcommittee via text they were unilaterally adjourning the negotiations immediately.”

This was the last negotiating session scheduled before the start of the school year and before the expiration of the current contracts.

The union had proposed creating a district-wide task force to address student-safety issues.

“The School Committee is not committed to working with us to find solutions to the problems in our schools,” Heller said in a statement.

“We are very disheartened at their position regarding this task force, as it is an eminently reasonable, proactive step towards keeping our students safe, and it would have no budgetary impact whatsoever,” the statement added.

“It’s really unbelievable,” James Douglass, a maintenance worker and chair of the Custodial Bargaining Unit, said. “They’re refusing to budge on basic things like guaranteeing custodians Christmas Eve off, and with no clear explanation as to why. Other town departments get this day off. We work hard and all we want is to be treated fairly.”

Heller touched on the problems of turnover and retention within the district and recounted a story of a custodian who had to stop working in the district because his son stopped attending school there. In the Unit A teacher contract, “if we don’t reside in Marblehead, (we can) bring our children and (have them) enrolled in the Marblehead Public Schools.”

Heller said he would like to see that extended to all who work for the district.

“It shouldn’t be for one unit, it should be for all units,” he said. “This custodian had his child enrolled so they did make an exception for it, but now they’re holding the line because they’re saying it’s not in the contract, they told the custodian that he cannot enroll his son in Marblehead Public Schools.”

Since he had to unenroll his son in the district, he enrolled his son in their hometown, and subsequently got a custodial job there.

“And not only did he get it, he’s now going to be in the same district as his hometown,” Heller said.

He added that the custodian and his child wanted to work and go to school in Marblehead, but by working in his hometown, “he’s earning more money… than if he had stayed in Marblehead.”

Compared to surrounding municipalities, Marblehead currently has the second-lowest salary range, Heller said.

After the committee unilaterally filed for mediation regarding the district’s custodial unit, the union felt it would be most productive for both parties to continue their dialogue during their next scheduled session on Sept. 10. That was why the MEA ended the meeting, according to its statement.

The committee, in its statement, concluded by saying it “deeply values all of its employees, students and community and will continue to commit the time necessary to reach a fair contract.”