Beverly School Committee adopts five-Saturday makeup schedule, ratifies Unit B contract

BEVERLY — December 14, 2024 — Beverly School Committee votes 4-1 to schedule five Saturdays as strike makeup days. Meeting remotely on the morning of December 14, the committee first voted 5-0 to ratify a three-year memorandum of understanding with Beverly Teachers Association Unit B, covering July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027, with members Mayor Cahill and Kimberly Qual absent throughout. The committee then approved a makeup calendar placing Saturday sessions on January 25 and the second Saturday of February, March, April, and May, while also converting three existing early-release days — March 12, May 23, and the final day of school — to full instructional days, allowing Saturdays to run on a shortened schedule of roughly four and a half hours pending state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education approval. Member Karen Robinson cast the lone dissenting vote, saying she wanted a family survey and more specificity before committing; Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Chabot noted that the state does not treat strikes as extraordinary events eligible for attendance waivers, and that the district's official last school day currently stands at June 27, 2025.