How much did the teachers strike cost taxpayers?

Everyone knows the emotional toll that the teachers strike had on the city. Now comes the financial reckoning.

Taxpayers will pay over $750,000 for costs associated with the 21-day strike in November, according to the city.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Police details at protests and negotiation sessions — $214,960

• Pay for employees (cafeteria, transportation, clerical) who worked during the strike and will exceed the number of work days in their contract by working on the makeup days — $165,850

• Public relations costs — $130,000-$140,000

• Overtime for Saturday make-up days — $100,217

• Legal costs — $82,317

• Increased parental leave costs — $48,871

• Cost for pick-up meals provided to students on days school was closed — $12,023

• Weekend and holiday custodial overtime for negotiations — $4,455

  

  Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

The city plans to pay most of those costs — $628,693 — out of its free cash account. The PR costs, which Bryant Ayles, the city’s finance director, estimated at $130,000-$140,000, was paid out of money left over from the American Rescue Plan Act, which is pandemic relief money from the federal government.

Superintendent Sue Charochak told the City Council Monday night that the city had no choice when it came to the biggest cost of the strike, police details. The strike generated large protests and rallies, and police were on hand to escort city and school officials through the crowds after negotiating sessions.

After councilors questioned some of the costs, School Committee member Lorinda Visnick, who was the only member of the public to speak about the issue during the City Council meeting, said, “I think you would agree if there were hundreds of people outside of a door and they were unhappy with you and they had been dehumanizing you on social media, you too might be a little worried about walking to your car in the dark, especially if you were female.”

“Hindsight is 20-20,” Visnick said. “I too wish the strike had never taken place, mostly because it is, was and continues to be incredibly divisive to our community. Our community has been torn apart in ways that I’m not sure will heal anytime soon, if ever.”

As for the legal costs, Charochak said negotiations lasted 19 hours per day for 21 straight days, with legal counsel in the room the whole time.

There’s another, separate huge cost from the strike. The Beverly Teachers Association was assessed $810,000 in fines by a judge for going on strike, which is illegal for teachers in Massachusetts.

BTA President Andrea Sherman told The Beverly Beat that the union, School Committee and the state’s Commonwealth Employment Relations Board are still working out how those fines will be paid and whether they will be reduced. A judge must approve any plan. One proposal was to donate some of the money to Beverly Bootstraps.

Some city councilors said the city should look into whether the fine money could be used to help pay the city’s costs for the strike.

Ward 6 City Councilor Matt St. Hilaire asked if the city considered a hiring freeze or layoffs as a way to come up with the money to pay for the strike costs, rather than tapping the city’s free cash account.

“No, we did not think that was the right way to go,” Mayor Mike Cahill said.

“I don’t love the $130k for PR costs taken out of the ARPA money,” St. Hilaire said. “We’ve all talked about there’s other things we’d love to do with all this money.”