ETA Submits Letter to Everett Papers

We will not be silenced.

Message to ETA Members: Here is a letter to the editor that Kim Auger has submitted to the three Everett newspapers seeking more balanced coverage of our ongoing concerns with the school administration. Please share this message widely on social media so that your friends and relatives have a better understanding of what’s going on in our district.

To the Editor:

We are proud that dozens of teachers from Everett and dozens more from nearby communities came to the School Committee on Monday night to show solidarity with Everett teachers who have been subjected to bullying and intimidation for far too long in this district. We will not be silenced anymore.

We had to hold our own “speak-out” about the issues before the meeting because the Everett School Committee, unlike virtually every other School Committee in the state, does not have a public comment period at the start of every meeting. But we will not be silenced.

On September 25, we invited the president and vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association to join us in the parking lot of the Parlin School to greet staff as they entered the building. We gave them coffee and doughnuts and an opportunity to share their concerns. Three police officers showed up and told us that the school administration claimed that we were “picketing” and would have to disperse. That’s nonsense. We have every right as both citizens and union leaders to talk to our members. We left the lot as ordered, but we will not be silenced.

Union leaders in Burlington and elsewhere posted this news on social media and held morning coffee and doughnut sessions with their own members in solidarity with Everett teachers. Those efforts extended to encouraging their members to stand with Everett teachers at the School Committee meeting on Monday. Believe me, many more Everett teachers would come to these and other protests if they didn’t fear for their jobs.

They have good reason to be afraid. Here’s a case in point: On Monday we presented a grievance on behalf of two excellent Parlin teachers who, as union building representatives, had set up a Mutual Concerns Committee to hear the concerns of educators in the building. There are many. Rather than respect their efforts, the district transferred both teachers. They are now working as substitutes, which is both an insult and a waste of their talent. We are fighting this transfer because we will not be silenced.

Everett educators do an excellent job despite the hostile work environment that too many of us face. There is a well-known saying: “A fish rots from the head down.” If there are problems in some of our schools, including high teacher turnover, look first to the school and district leadership. I can guarantee you no one becomes a teacher to do a bad job. We care about our students. We work hard to help our students overcome their obstacles. An obstacle we can’t overcome on our own is poor leadership.

The School Committee needs to shine a bright light on this situation. A good place to start would be to allow members of the community to speak their minds at the beginning of every regularly scheduled meeting. The committee should also diligently investigate every allegation of bullying and intimidation. Granted, there are many, so that will take a while. But it’s important to get to the bottom of what is going on in the Everett Public Schools if we are to move forward in unity as a district and a community.

Until then, rest assured: We will not be silenced.

Kim Auger

President

Everett Teachers Association