ANDOVER, MASS. (WHDH) - Andover teachers reporting for the first day of fall preparations on Monday morning refused to go into school buildings due to coronavirus concerns.
Teachers could be seen sitting outside in lawn chairs and on blankets with laptops in hand as the beginning of a 10-day professional development period kicked off ahead of the start of the new school year.
The teachers say they want to negotiate health and safety benchmarks, including upgrades to HVAC systems and other working conditions amid the ongoing pandemic.
Matthew Bach, President of the Andover Education Association, says the town’s school committee has not been willing to negotiate.
“We are logging in and doing our work outside of the building and the building grounds,” he said. “We are eager to work, we are eager to show up for work but we want to have the school committee and the district negotiate in good faith with us, which they have not been doing.”
In a statement, an Andover Public Schools spokesperson said, “It is unfortunate that some of our educators did not report to school…The Andover Education Association might believe this is a ‘workplace safety action.’ It is, in fact, considered an illegal work stoppage.”
At a meeting held Monday, the School Committee responded to the act by voting unanimously to authorize the districts’ legal counsel to petition the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations.
“This was not a decision the School Committee took lightly,” says Chairperson Shannon Scully. “We have worked to ensure that our school buildings are safe for our students and staff, and we are well-positioned to enable in-person learning with the district’s hybrid learning plan to start the school year. It is our responsibility under Massachusetts law to notify the DLR of the union’s action.”
Andover parent Stephanie Sweet told 7NEWS that she is “OK” with added safety measures that have been put into place, but said teachers refusing to show up at school is unacceptable.
“We are OK with the added safety measures. We are not OK with teachers refusing to show up at school,” she said.
Hundreds of parents signed a letter urging both sides to find common ground for the sake of the students.
“We have heard from a lot of different sources that actually many teachers did go into school to start preparing for our children and I want to publicly thank them on behalf of parents,” said Beth Humberd, who helped organize the parent petition.
Andover is slated to begin the new school year on Sept. 16 with a hybrid learning model, which includes a mix of in-person and remote instruction.
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