No school in Andover Monday as teachers strike continues for fourth day

ANDOVER, Mass. — There will be no school in Andover on Monday as the teacher’s strike continues for the fourth day.

Andover school committee decided around 9 p.m. on Sunday that classes will be canceled for the second day after negotiations between the committee and teachers union did not reach a deal after

The teachers union said earlier Sunday that they submitted their proposal at 12:30 p.m. and were waiting to hear back from the district on whether or not they could hash out a contract that would bring them back to the classroom at the start of the school week.

“These are scare tactics. They want to scare us. They want our members to think, ‘Oh no, I’m going to lose my job.’ They want the community to think, ‘Oh, no. I’m going to lose my kid’s orchestra class.’ The reality, is, if they want to allocate the money, they can allocate the money,” said Julian DiGloria, VP, Andover Education Association.

Although the union says the committee has agreed to terms like extended recess periods, money remains a sticking point. The union wants to see a 16% raise for all educators across the board.

Throughout the day on Saturday and into early Sunday morning, the School Committee heard and answered the AEA’s identified priorities and offered proposals aimed at meeting those specific requests, which included:

• A cost of living adjustment for all teachers of 14% over four years, 3.5% per year.
• A cost of living adjustment for all instructional assistants of 23.4% over four years, which includes 5% per year, market adjustments, step eliminations, and a 2% differential for hard-to-fill positions.
• Accepting the AEA’s proposal to establish district-paid parental leave of eight weeks, with an additional four weeks of paid leave coming from accrued sick time, totaling 12 weeks.
• Accepting the AEA’s proposal to allow the use of up to 60 paid sick days during leave to care for a seriously ill family member.

The union has posted their arguments and a list of their past proposals on a website for the public to read.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW

©2023 Cox Media Group