HAVERHILL — The teachers union is demanding $60,000 on behalf of eight high school teachers, including the mayor's son.

If the city refuses to pay, the union said it will sue the city.

The eight teachers were hired last year as "permanent substitute teachers" — a measure devised by Mayor James Fiorentini and the School Committee to deal with crowded classrooms without spending what it would have cost to hire them as regular teachers. Including benefits, full-time teachers cost about $50,000 annually, while substitute teachers are paid about $110 per day. A starting teacher's salary is about $36,000.

The dispute is scheduled to be heard by a state arbiter later this month. If the grievance isn't settled, the union will have to file and win a lawsuit to get the money.

The School Committee canceled a secret meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday in which the members were expected to vote to settle the labor grievance and pay the money. The meeting was canceled after The Eagle-Tribune learned the purpose of the meeting and complained the session was not properly publicized by school officials, as is required under the state's Open Meeting Law.

The grievance seeks the difference between what the eight teachers were paid as substitutes and what they should have been paid as permanent teachers, union President Marc Harvey said. He said he notified Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan before the start of the last school year that hiring the workers as permanent substitutes violated the union's contract and that he would seek financial compensation for the substitute teachers if school officials went forward with the plan.

School Committee member Scott Wood Jr. said Buchanan pushed for the committee to settle the case at a closed-door meeting last Thursday night. The committee did not have enough members present or eligible to vote at that meeting, however, and that led to the scheduling of last Saturday's emergency session, according to Wood.

"The superintendent told us (Thursday) we'll definitely lose and that it will cost us $100,000 to go to court," Wood said. "The administration wanted us to settle last week, but now that the newspaper knows about it, now apparently they want us to go to court."

The mayor and committee members Joseph Bevilacqua and Erin Francescone cannot vote on the grievance because they have immediate family members who are teachers — the mayor's sister and son, Bevilacqua's sister and Francescone's husband. School Committee President Kerry Fitzgerald did not attend Thursday's meeting, leaving only Wood and committee members Shaun Toohey and Susan Danehy to vote. At least four members are required to make a vote binding.

School and union officials confirmed the mayor's son, James "Jay" Fiorentini, is one of the eight teachers seeking back pay. They refused to provide the names of the other teachers, however.

The union filed the grievance on behalf of the eight teachers, Harvey said. He said Jay Fiorentini asked to withdraw his name from the grievance, but that the union refused.

"The Haverhill Education Association (union) is obliged to represent all the members' interests," Harvey said.

The mayor said he has stayed out of the matter and declined comment. A message left for Jay Fiorentini at his home was not returned. Jay Fiorentini, a 24-year-old Latin teacher, lives with his father and mother.

All eight teachers were hired as full-time teachers at some point after they were hired as permanent substitutes, Fitzgerald said. She said offering them permanent positions later was Buchanan's idea for resolving the dispute. It failed to satisfy the union, however, Fitzgerald said. One of the teachers was laid off this year, but seven, including the mayor's son, remain.

The union's demand comes with the city and its schools in the middle of a major financial crisis.

Earlier this month, the School Committee voted to dip into its dwindling cash reserves to hire four more elementary and middle school teachers to address some of the largest class sizes in memory. Just a few months ago, the committee eliminated 34 teaching positions due to money problems.

There's also a good chance the state will make emergency cuts next month to money Haverhill has already been promised. If that happens, rare, middle-of-the-year spending cuts will have to be made at the schools and at several city departments, the mayor has said.

If the School Committee agrees to pay all or a portion of the $60,000 grievance this year, the money will have to come from an account the schools have set aside for pay raises for about 900 teachers and other school workers who are currently negotiating new contracts, Fitzgerald said.

The union proposes paying the high school teachers $30,000 this year and $30,000 next year, according to Fitzgerald.

The School Committee had intended to settle the union grievance at Saturday's emergency, closed-door meeting, Wood said. But the meeting was canceled after The Eagle-Tribune complained school officials were not following the state's Open Meeting Law. That law requires 48 hours public notice before holding such a meeting. The meeting was posted with the city clerk at 10:28 Friday morning. The posting said it would take place Saturday morning at 10.

Fitzgerald said she was prepared to vote to settle the grievance Saturday, even though she opposes it.

"I was strongly against this, but our lawyer has told us we'll definitely lose and have to pay more in legal fees," she said.

She said the eight teachers were hired as substitutes so administrators could see them work before deciding whether to offer them permanent jobs.

"People in private industry work as tryouts all the time before they are hired as permanent workers, but they don't get back pay if and when they're hired," she said. "I don't understand why the union doesn't get that."