(NewsNation) — Students remained at home for the second consecutive day Tuesday as teachers in the Boston suburb of Haverhill continued to strike over pay increases.

It’s illegal in Massachusetts for public workers to go on strike, underscoring the severity of the situation, said Haverhill Public School student Melissa Swauncy-Coleman.

“We have students with IEPs that are not getting the support that they (need) and that’s also against the law,” she said. “So we’re kind of in the situation where the law is already being broken, and teachers don’t have the support that they need in classrooms and the city doesn’t really have a plan to address that shortcoming.”