Brookline Teachers Union To Strike Over Distancing Protocol

BROOKLINE, MA — The Brookline teachers union said they voted to strike after a disagreement with the Brookline School Committee over how many feet the district should require for distancing within schools to best prevent against the spread of the coronavirus.

According to a news release issued Monday, members of the Brookline Educators Union voted to go on strike Tuesday, Nov. 3. In response, the School Committee said it reported the move to the state's department of labor.

“We were shocked last week during bargaining when the committee said it would no longer agree to requiring 6 feet of social distancing in classrooms and other areas of our schools. Every other health and safety agreement we discussed was predicated on that 6 feet of social distancing,” said Brookline Educators Union President Jessica Wender-Shubow.

But school committee officials say the district is currently practicing 6-feet of distance, and has been since they began the in-person portion of school.

"That is in effect now. We are doing it," said School Committee Chairperson Suzanne Federspiel. "Superintendent Marini is very committed to the 6 foot distancing, and we will continue to do that."

The point of contention appears to be that the committee is reserving the possibility that, should a vaccine become widely available and recommendations from the CDC change, the distance requirements may change down the road.

But for the foreseeable future it will stay 6 feet, she said.

"If you walk into one of the hybrid classrooms now, you will see it," Federspiel said. "The number of students in those classrooms is half of what it would normally be."

The union and School Committee have been working to come to an agreement on pandemic-related school issues. Although the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has recommended districts allot 3 feet of space for distancing to ensure the safety of students and staff, teachers have expressed a desire for at least 6 feet of distancing.

According to Wender-Shubow, educator unions and school committees in Arlington, Boston, Hanover, Hingham, Milton, Wellesley, Weston have reached agreements with teachers unions that include 6 feet of distancing.

The union and the committee have two more negotiation sessions scheduled for this week, according to Federspiel. But when a teachers union votes to strike the school committee must report it to the Labor Union, because teachers unions are not permitted to strike, she said.

If they don’t strike then it will all just end, and if they do it goes to the Department of Labor to investigate, she said.

"We are making progress we have a lot of progress we still have a few little things to work out," Federspiel said. "The teachers are doing a great job both in classrooms and remote and we expect to come to a mutually agreed upon memorandum of agreement soon."

Federspiel said learning is running smoothly right now.

"It’s a pandemic. It’s not perfect, but it’s going well, hybrid is going well and we look forward to bringing in the high schoolers in on Nov. 9, " she said.

Read more: Brookline Delays In-Person Learning For 9th Grade

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how .