BEVERLY, MASS. (WHDH) – In the third week of students missing classes, teachers unions in Beverly and Marblehead headed to the State House Tuesday to speak with Gov. Maura Healey about the strikes.

After the meeting, Healey expressed her respect for the teachers but emphasized that she was focused on the students.

“I have great respect for our teachers. My stepfather was a teacher and president of his local union, and my mother is a school nurse,” Healey said in a statement. “I told union representatives today that my focus is on the hundreds of students and their families who have been out of school for more than two weeks. This is unacceptable and all of this is harming our children.”

The governor stressed the importance of concluding negotiations.

“The parties must enter into these agreements now,” Healey said. “And I believe that teachers should go back to school while the final details are being worked out. Our young people need to go back to school – it’s time to get this done.”

The emotions of the week-long strike spilled over into a Beverly City Council meeting when, outside the city, the Beverly Teachers Association vowed to continue fighting for a better contract despite the school committee’s announcement that negotiations were over.

The school board is waiting for a court-ordered expert to intervene. Until then, he is urging teachers to return to classrooms and plans to cut their salaries.

A spokesman for the school committee said in a statement that there were millions of dollars between them:

“The BTA continues to inappropriately deny education to our students as a bargaining chip to secure financial terms for its members, necessitating a reduction in force levels and also impacting the District’s ability to provide a curriculum/program that residents and Beverly students are used to earning.”

In Marblehead, the school committee is accusing the teachers union of harassment after negotiations collapsed Sunday night.

“We were surrounded by people as we walked to our car, we needed a police escort,” said Jenn Schaeffner, co-chair of the Marblehead School Committee. “If teachers want to come back to school, the doors are open. You can come back tomorrow. We ask them to come back and we will continue to negotiate with them.”

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