ANDOVER, MASS. (WHDH) - Students are set to head back to class Wednesday after teachers and school committee negotiators in Andover reached a deal to end the teachers’ five-day strike, officials said.
Parties agreed on a new contract late Tuesday afternoon. Their deal came after union members voted to authorize a strike on Friday of last week. The strike vote, in turn, followed months of negotiations between the Andover Education Association and the Andover School Committee.
“The AEA is ecstatic to announce that we have come to an agreement and the strike is OVER!” the Andover Education Association said in its statement on social media moments after 5 p.m.
The education association said all educators and students will return to school on Wednesday. The Andover School Committee also confirmed a deal was in place.
“We cannot begin to thank the Andover community enough for their support,” the education association said.
Andover Education Association President Matt Bach soon spoke to reporters, saying
“We are incredibly happy to be returning to school tomorrow.”
Andover School Committee Chair Tracey Spruce discussed the deal in a written statement, saying officials “are pleased that students can get back into the classroom tomorrow morning to continue learning.”
“With this deal, the administration gained important tools to continue strengthening the instructional practices that we know students need to belong, strive, and thrive,” Spruce said.
The roughly 800 members of the Andover Education Association manned picket lines in recent days, also traveling to Boston on Tuesday for a rally at the State House.
Teachers had asked for an 18% pay hike over four years and bigger raises for instructional assistants who they said had a starting pay of only about $25,000 per year.
The school committee said the raises would cause budget problems and could result in the resumption of fees for buses and extra-curricular activities.
In their eventual deal, teachers settled for a 15.5% increase over four years, with a 34% pay increase for instructional assistants over the same time span. The deal also includes more planning time for elementary school teachers and eight weeks of paid parental leave, with a potential for 12 weeks with the use of sick time.
One elementary school instructional assistant speaking with 7NEWS said she is pregnant with twins. Her leave, she said, is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
“So, this is really critical timing for me,” said Marissa Reese.
Reese said she was originally planning to take an eight-week leave that would be mostly unpaid.
“This is huge for me and my family,” she said after Tuesday’s agreement.
Spruce, the school committee chair, said officials “heard clearly from the teachers and many in the community that teacher and instructional assistant pay was the priority in this agreement.” Officials, Spruce said, “responded accordingly.”
“At the same time, the final agreement is inconsistent with the principles of the town’s long-range financial plan so, to live within our means, we will need to make meaningful program, service, and staff reductions,” Spruce continued.
Union officials were not worried Tuesday night.
“What we have seen this last week is this a community that cares about education,” said Bach, the education association president. “They prioritize education. They showed that by standing shoulder to shoulder with us. So, they’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Strikes are illegal among public employees in Massachusetts.
While negotiations continued in Andover, and while schools remained closed, a judge on Monday ordered teachers to return to work. The judge then levied thousands of dollars in fines related to the strike.
Tuesday’s deal initially came in the form of a tentative agreement. A union spokesperson said the contract was ratified later Tuesday night.
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