Massachusetts
North Shore schools close after teachers vote to go on strike, break Massachusetts law
Students will be out of the classroom in two Massachusetts school districts on Friday after teachers in a pair of North Shore communities voted to go on strike.
Teacher unions in Beverly and Gloucester voted overwhelmingly Thursday to authorize a strike amid ongoing contract negotiations with their respective school committees.
The Beverly School Committee is allowing athletics, theater and band rehearsals, and field trips to continue for as long as the dispute persists, while all school-related activities in Gloucester will be shut down, per district officials.
“None of us wants to do this, but at this point, we have no choice,” Beverly Teachers Association co-president Julia Brotherton said at a press conference Thursday evening. “Beverly schools are in crisis. Critical paraprofessional positions regularly go unfilled because the city pays only poverty wages.”
The Beverly School Committee filed a petition with the state Department of Labor Relations earlier this week “to dissuade educators from a strike vote,” Chairwoman Rachael Abell wrote in a letter to the community.
“We want to make it clear that the School Committee does not condone the illegal actions of the BTA,” Abell wrote. “We will work with state officials to minimize the disruption to our students’ education and we urge all teachers and staff to return to school. We call on the BTA to end their illegal strike and join us in working with the mediator to negotiate in good faith.”
Gloucester High School students walked out of class Thursday “to demonstrate support for their educators,” the student newspaper, The Gillnetter, reported. Roughly 98% of educators voted to go on strike, the union stated.
Gloucester School Committee Chairwoman Kathleen Clancy also slammed teachers in her district for deciding to skip class for the picket line, saying the committee has asked the state Department of Labor Relations to halt the strike.
“Teachers are essential employees who our children depend on for learning and safety during the school day,” Clancy wrote. “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.”
Massachusetts
Mass stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Cape Cod said to be largest in Massachusetts history
Rescuers were working to save around 30 bottlenose dolphins that got stranded off the coast of Cape Cod early Monday morning. It is the largest known stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Massachusetts, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The dolphins had become stranded between First Light and Ellis Landing in Brewster at about 5:30 a.m. when they came in with the tide. A woman noticed the animals and reported it. The IFAW quickly responded to the area, but five to six of the marine mammals died before help arrived.
The IFAW worked throughout the day on Monday to get the mammals away from the shoreline before the next low tide at 5:13 p.m. They said late Monday afternoon that they were still successfully being steered away.
“Our team remains in the area to monitor and herd the animals away from shore,” an IFAW spokesperson said. “We know these events can sometimes repeat in the coming hours and days, but we remain hopeful.”
The organization said it had seen an uptick in bottlenose dolphins becoming stranded off Cape Cod in the last few years.
“Bottlenose dolphins are typically an offshore species,” the spokesperson said.
They asked that anyone who encounters a stranded or distressed marine mammal not get close and never drag or push the animal back into the water.
“Similar to a person involved in a car accident, dolphins can become injured and exhausted during a stranding event,” the IFAW said.
Instead, they recommend calling their IFAW stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.
A man has died following an apparent drowning at a pond in Randolph, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
The Randolph police and fire departments received a 911 call at around 4 p.m. for a swimmer in distress in the water on Pond Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office..
Firefighters located the man a short time later, officials added, and he was taken by ambulance to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Kingston Fire Department had said just before 4 p.m. that their dive team was activated for a missing swimmer in Randolph, but that the activation was canceled after the swimmer was located.
Further information is not being released at this time, including the man’s name.
Massachusetts State Police detectives and the Randolph Police Department are investigating.
Firefighters in Lawrence, Massachusetts are working to contain a fire that damaged at least three buildings on Sunday afternoon.
Lawrence Fire Chief Patrick Delaney said they received multiple 911 calls about the buildings on fire at the intersection of Haverhill and Margin Street at about 12:45 p.m.
When firefighters arrived, there were three occupied multi-family buildings with heavy fire.
“Crews did an excellent job once they arrived on scene to make sure we did a primary search of all three buildings, make sure everybody was out,” Chief Delaney said.
No injuries have been reported. It is unclear how many people have been displaced from the three buildings that were on fire.
Chief Delaney said the firefighters were impacted by the hot weather.
“The crews are working extremely hard, they’re taking a lot of heat in all three fire buildings and we’re trying to get crews in here to make sure that they’re safe and give them some relief,” Chief Delaney said.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. Firefighters from other nearby communities responded for mutual aid.
“We’re at a fourth alarm which brings a lot of resources to our city, but they’re well needed in a fire like this,” Chief Delaney said.
Police are asking residents to avoid the area of Haverhill Street at Margin Street because of the fire.
Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city about 30 miles north of Boston.
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